An influential Muslim preacher, Jamil Yahya, along with
dozens of his followers, also said they will not support the BBL which is part
of the peace agreement signed by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the
Aquino government last year.
Yahya said the Shari’ah laws should be fully sourced and
implemented based on the teachings and practices of Prophet Mohammad called
Sunnah and the interpretations of the Islamic holy Qur’an, and not the
provisions in the BBL.
The elderly preacher is reported to have the support of many
MILF commanders who are pursuing Muslim independence in Mindanao .
MILF’s spokesperson Von Al Haq denied the reports and said
it was meant to discredit and break the BBL to derail the peace process. Al Haq
said he had met with MILF field commanders and all expressed their loyalty to
the former rebel group, their leaders headed by Murad Ebrahim and the peace
process.
Abdullah Macapaar alias Commander Bravo, a senior MILF
leader, said their current “Amerul Mujahideen” is Ebrahim and they will support
him whatever the outcome of the peace process.
The MILF has been pushing for the approval and ratification
of the BBL and other provisions stipulated in the Comprehensive Agreement on
the Bangsamoro and the Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro, including the establishment
of the new Bangsamoro autonomous region.
According to field members of the MILF in Munai town of Lanao del Norte , two of their “sub-leaders” identified
only as Abu Ansari and Abu Arafat had attended a clandestine meeting in Marawi City
Yahya was originally a member of the MILF’s board of
committee based in Jeddah , Saudi Arabia
Last year, Yahya along with masked men identified later as
members of the another shadowy group called Khilafah Islamiyah Movement,
locally known as Ghuraba, were able to lure some 100 civilians, including women
and children, and reportedly pledged their allegiance to ISIS.
The reports on Yahya could not be independently confirmed,
although various independent sources claimed the issue on the controversial BBL
was the main reason for the disillusionment of many Muslim tribes in the
restive South.
http://mindanaoexaminer.com/philippine-islamists-reject-bbl/
Sheikh Yahya does hold radical Islamist views.
ReplyDeleteBelow is an excerpt from a October, 14, 2014 Manila Bulletin article:
However, in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, Aleem Jamil Yahya told the Manila Bulletin that they expressed their support to the ISIS leader during their Eid prayer.
“I led ‘salat’ (prayer) Eid at Jamio Mindanao Grand Masjid, and again we took oath of allegiance to Khalifah (caliph) Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. May Allah protect him,” he said in a text message.
Yahya, who once worked in Saudi Arabia as a “mutawwa” (religious police), said Saturday’s “number of participants multiplied.”
On Sept. 19 he led the first instance of their bai’ah, saying there were hundreds who demonstrated their support to the ISIS."
http://www.mb.com.ph/moros-reject-isis-but-others-vow-allegiance/
Excerpt from the Manila Bulletin on September 30, 2014:
As this developed, a Moro Islamic religious leader, who twice issued a “fatwa” (religious decree) against former President, now Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada, yesterday confirmed the presence in Marawi City of “followers” or “supporters” of the ISIS.
But Aleem Jamil Yahya, 75, chairman of the Bangsamoro Supreme Council of Ulama (BSCU), said their support is only through peaceful means, such as through prayers and “dua” (supplication) for the success of the “caliphate” that the ISIS proclaimed in captured territories from Syria and Iraq.
Yahya emphasized that those who pledged “bai’ah” (allegiance) to the leadership of ISIS head Abu Bakr Al-Husaini Al-Qurashi Al-Baghdadi on a Friday on September 19, 2014, are not members of ISIS.
He said that on that Friday of congregational prayers inside the Marawi Grand Mosque, of which he is the grand “imam” (chief prayer leader), he asked the “jama’ah” (worshipers) who among them wished to join the “bai’ah” rites.
“It is not only 100 who made the ‘bai’ah’ but hundreds – old men, youth, women, even young children. There are still many who wished to make the pledge,” Yahya said.
He said they have no plans to commit violence and they are unarmed. Neither are they forming an ISIS group, he said.
“We expressed our ISIS support peacefully as commanded by our ‘agama’ (religion). We have not committed any crime against the Philippines in our bai’ah, but the PNP (Philippine National Police) and military who are now monitoring us now commit mistake of harassing us and violating our human rights…we are ready to die,” said Yahya.
He added that he had not met any local or foreign ISIS leader when he decided to back the Middle East militant group, which created a caliphate in its conquered territories. “It is only my religious conviction that pushed me to declare my ISIS support and make bai’ah. My Islam is not for sale even for billions (of money),” he said, alluding to reports those who are ISIS supporters were receiving money and/or arms.
Yahya issued a fatwa against Estrada and other political leaders whom his group deemed to be anti-Moro and anti-Muslim.
Part of their support to ISIS, Yahya said, is “to explain to Muslims that the so-called ‘Khilalfah Islamiyyah’ or Islamic caliphate means to have one “amir” (leader) to unite the ‘Ummah’ (world Islamic community) and restore its lost power, world leadership, after the demise of the caliphate under the Ottoman dynasty and the rule of Shari’ah so the world would experience again what he called true peace, security, justice, and prosperity under Islam.”
http://www.mb.com.ph/immigration-watching-foreigners-who-may-be-recruiting-for-isis/
I would say that Alim Yahya's radical Islamic credentials are quite apparent from the excerpts above.