Al-Ahbash

File:Al-Ahbash calligraphy.png

File:Al-Ahbash Logo.png

The AICP was founded in the 1930s by Ahmad al-Ajuz{{cite book|last=Rubin|first=Barry|title=Guide to Islamist Movements|url=https://archive.org/details/guidetoislamistm02rubi|url-access=limited|year=2009|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0765617477|page=[https://archive.org/details/guidetoislamistm02rubi/page/n389 322]}} and arrived in Lebanon in the 1950s, where "they blended Sunni and Shia theology with Sufi spiritualism into a doctrinal eclecticism that preached nonviolence and political quietism."{{cite book|last=Gambill|first=Gary C.|title=Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict, and Crisi|year=2009|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0230605879|editor=Barry M. Rubin}} The AICP remained without a leader until the 1980s when Abdullah al-Harari became the nominal head of the organization{{cite book|last=Rougier|first=Bernard|title=Everyday jihad: the rise of militant Islam among Palestinians in Lebanon|year=2007|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0674025295|page=[https://archive.org/details/everydayjihadris00roug/page/113 113]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/everydayjihadris00roug/page/113}} and was taken over by Al-Ahbash in 1983.

Al-Ahbash was founded in the suburb of Bourj Abu Haidar, in West Beirut, as a small philanthropic and spiritualist movement among the Sunni lower classes. From there they spread throughout Lebanon to Tripoli, Akkar and Iqlim al-Kharrub in the Chouf, where they founded educational and religious institutions.{{cite book|last=Sfei|first=Antoine|title=The Columbia world dictionary of Islamism|year=2008|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0231146401|author2=Olivier Roy|page=[https://archive.org/details/columbiaworlddic0000unse/page/26 26]|url=https://archive.org/details/columbiaworlddic0000unse/page/26}} Beginning in the 1990s, Ahbash propelled from a minority group to the largest Sunni religious organization in Lebanon, mainly due to Syrian government backing{{cite journal|last=Pierret|first=Thomas|title =Al-Ahbash|journal=Basic Reference|volume =28|pages=217–229|publisher=Edinburgh Academics|location=Scotland, UK|year=2010|url =https://edinburgh.academia.edu/ThomasPierret/Papers/316709/_al-A_bash_Ahbash_|doi = 10.1017/S0020743800063145|s2cid=154765577 |access-date=27 April 2012}}—having close links to Syrian intelligence.{{cite web|author1=Raphaël Lefèvre|title=The Roots of Crisis in Northern Lebanon|url=http://carnegieendowment.org/files/crisis_northern_lebanon.pdf|publisher=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace|access-date=28 October 2014|page=8|date=April 2014}} The Syrians supported and promoted the Ahbash in order to limit the influence of radical and fundamentalist Sunni movements in Lebanon.{{cite book|author1=Dietrich Jung|editor1-last=Jung|editor1-first=Dietrich|title=The Middle East and Palestine: Global Politics and Regional Conflict|url=https://archive.org/details/middleeastpalest00jung|url-access=limited|date=18 September 2004|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781403982124|page=[https://archive.org/details/middleeastpalest00jung/page/n168 156]}}{{cite journal|author1=Gary C. Gambill|title=Islamist Groups in Lebanon|journal=Middle East Review of International Affairs|date=December 2007|volume=11|issue=4|page=44|url=http://www.rubincenter.org/meria/2007/12/Gambill.pdf|access-date=12 April 2015|archive-date=9 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309212919/http://www.rubincenter.org/meria/2007/12/Gambill.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{cite book|author1=Nicholas Blanford|title=Killing Mr Lebanon: The Assassination of Rafik Hariri and Its Impact on the Middle East|date=25 August 2006|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=9780857714053|page=177}} Their growth was also aided by the forcible seizure and control of many prominent mosques in West Beirut in the early 1980s, despite the protests of Dar al-Fatwa (the official body for Lebanon's Sunni Muslims). At the end of the 1990s there were close to 250,000 Ahbash members worldwide, according to a high-ranking Ahbash activist.

Several public figures became Ahbash members when it emerged in France beginning in 1991, such as rapper Kery James or Abd Samad Moussaoui.{{cite book|last1=Amghar |last2=Boubekeur |last3=Emerson|first1=Samir |first2=Amel |first3=Emerson|title=European Islam: The Challenges for Society and Public Policy|year=2007|publisher=Centre for European Policy Studies|isbn=978-9290797104|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=INpc_hPdFBYC&q=french+rapper+ahbash&pg=PA29|page=29}}

On 31 August 1995, members of a Salafi jihadi group called "Osbat al-Ansar" killed the leader of Al-Ahbash, Sheikh Nizar Halabi,Middle East International No 508, 8 September 1995, Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters MP; G.H.Jansen pp.13-14{{cite book|last=Rubin|first=Barry M.|title=Chronologies of Modern Terrorism|url=https://archive.org/details/chronologiesmode00rubi|url-access=limited|year=2008|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0765620477|page=[https://archive.org/details/chronologiesmode00rubi/page/n275 265]}} who was reportedly being groomed by the Syrians to become Lebanon's Grand Mufti. His murder led to a heavy-handed Syrian response—concluding with the public execution of his assassins in 1997.{{cite journal|author1=Gary C. Gambill|title=Islamist Groups in Lebanon|journal=Middle East Review of International Affairs|date=December 2007|volume=11|issue=4|page=46|url=http://www.rubincenter.org/meria/2007/12/Gambill.pdf|access-date=12 April 2015|archive-date=9 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309212919/http://www.rubincenter.org/meria/2007/12/Gambill.pdf|url-status=dead}}

It has been compared to the Turkish Gülen movement.{{cite web |last1=Mukerrem |first1=Miftah |title=Turkey and Ethiopia at Crossroads: Ahbashism and Gulenism |url=http://insamer.com/tr/turkey-and-ethiopia-at-crossroads-ahbashism-and-gulenism_383.html |website=Insamer |access-date=2018-07-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704093256/http://insamer.com/tr/turkey-and-ethiopia-at-crossroads-ahbashism-and-gulenism_383.html |archive-date=2018-07-04 |url-status=dead }}

{{Ash'arism}}

{{Sufism}}

Al-Ahbash beliefs are an interpretation of Islam combining elements of Sunni Shia Islam with Sufi spiritualism. Al-Ahbash follows the Shafi'i school of fiqh (jurisprudence) and its theological school is Ash'arism, and the Rifaʽi order is the source of their Sufi practices. The group rejects Salafi figures such as ibn Taymiyya, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and Sayyid Qutb. It advocates pluralism, and opposition to political activism; its slogan is "the resounding voice of moderation". It also promotes its beliefs internationally through a significant internet presence and regional offices, notably in the United States.{{cite journal | last =Pierret | first =Thomas| title =Internet in a Sectarian Islamic Context | journal =ISIM Review|issue =Spring 2005|page =15 | publisher =International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World | location =The Netherlands | year =2005 | url =https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/16971/ISIM_15_Internet_in_a_Sectarian_Islamic_Context.pdf?sequence=1 | access-date =10 April 2009 }}

In Canada and the United States, al-Ahbash followers pray using a southeastern qibla, in contrast to most Muslims in the region, who face the northeast in their mosques.{{cite web | url=http://articles.philly.com/1994-05-25/news/25828053_1_islamic-scholars-muslims-in-north-america-islamic-charitable-projects | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019104112/http://articles.philly.com/1994-05-25/news/25828053_1_islamic-scholars-muslims-in-north-america-islamic-charitable-projects | url-status=dead | archive-date=October 19, 2015 | title=Which Way Mecca? It's Relative The Issue Divides Muslims Here. Is It Southeast? Northeast? | publisher=May 25, 1994 | work=The Philadelphia Inquirer | date=May 25, 1994 | access-date=July 17, 2016 | author=Macklin, William R.}}{{cite web | url=http://www.muslimlinkpaper.com/myjumla/community-news/2817-ethiopian-muslims-protest-indoctrination-by-government-sponsored-sect | title=Ethiopian Muslims Protest Indoctrination by Government Sponsored Sect | publisher=The Muslim Link | date=October 12, 2015 | access-date=July 17, 2016}}{{cite web | url=https://archive.islamonline.net/?p=6655 | title=Al-Ahbash: Evolution and Beliefs | publisher=Islam Online | date=September 25, 2007 | access-date=July 17, 2016 | author=A Group of Islamic Researchers}}

Shaykh Habashi's syncretic teachings draw upon different branches of Islamic theology, and thereby elude unambiguous classification. In an address to his followers, Habashi stated, "[w]e are Ash'aris and Shafi'is. The Ash'ariyya is the basis of our belief, and the Shfi'iyya is our daily code." According to Thomas Pierret, Ahbash's ideology "can be termed 'neo-traditionalist', in that it aims to preserve the Islamic heritage of the Ottoman era, which they consider themselves to be the inheritors."

Shaykh Habashi in his books and lectures blends{{cite book|last=al-Habashi|first=Shaykh 'Abdallah|title=Sarih al-Bayan (Explicit Declaration)|year=1990|publisher=Jam'iyyat al-Mashari'|location=Beirut, Lebanon|pages=86, 88, 90, 105 ('These ahadith are: "For whosoever I am master, this Ali is his master; O God support whosoever is"'), 111 ('Habashi does not give much importance to the Hanafi and Maliki Schools of Law'), 107, 195}}{{cite journal |title=none| journal =Manar Al-Huda | publisher = Association of Islamic Charitable Projects | location =Beirut, Lebanon |date=1992{{ndash}}93|orig-year =November 1992, 32; April 1993, 37; April–May 1993, 45}}{{cite book|last=al-Habashi|first=Shaykh 'Abdallah|title= Al-Kafil bi-'Ilm al-Din al-Daruri (The Guarantor of the Necessary Science of Faith) |year=1994|publisher= Burj Abi Haydar Mosque |location=Beirut, Lebanon|pages=46}}{{cite book|last=al-Habashi|first=Shaykh 'Abdallah|title= Bughyat al-talib | publisher= Association of Islamic Charitable Projects |location=Beirut, Lebanon|page=31}}{{cite news|last=al-Habashi|first=Shaykh 'Abdallah|title= Shaykh Abdalla's lecture, 26 January 2003 |publisher= Association of Islamic Charitable Projects |location=Beirut, Lebanon}} elements of Sunni and Shi'i theological doctrines with Sufi spiritualism by supporting the legitimacy of Ali and his descendants while condemning Mu'awiyya, the caliph and governor of Damascus, and his son Yazid, as "seditious" thus adopting the Shi'a tradition.{{cite book|last=Rubin|first=Barry|title=Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict, and Crisis|url=https://archive.org/details/lebanonliberatio00rubi|url-access=limited|year=2009|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0230623064|page=[https://archive.org/details/lebanonliberatio00rubi/page/n149 139]}}{{cite book|last=Marshall|first=Paul|author2=Shea, Nina|title=Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide|year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=978-0199812288|page=356}} Although not explicitly stated, Sufism plays also an important role in al-Ahbash's doctrine as demonstrated by the practice of several Sufi traditions such as the ziyarat (pilgrimage), mystical dancing sessions, use of musical bands in religious ceremonies,"A Sufi Response to Political Islamism" by R. Hrair Dekmejian & A. Nizar Hamzeh, p.225. and the support of three tariqas. The contention that it is a primarily Sufi movement, however, has been disputed.

Mustafa Kabla and Haggai Erlich identify "moderation" (wasatiyyah) as the key word in al-Ahbash's "necessary science of religion" and instance the group's twelve-goal platform whose second item calls for "[p]reaching moderation [...] and good behavior as ways of implementing religious principles, while combating extremism and zeal." This position is also reflected in the groups's decided opposition to the Salafist movement and Islamist thinkers, namely Sayyid Qutb, Muhammed ibn 'Abd-al-Wahhab, and Ibn Taymiyyah.

One further critical cleavage is al-Ahbash's strict rejection of any form of anthropomorphism of God of which they accuse Wahhabis. Consequently, Shaykh Habashi holds that "it does not befit God to speak like that, and his word is not a voice or letters"Cited in Kabla and Erlich 2006: 531 and that therefore, the Qur'an contains the word of God but could be written only after "Gabriel listened to His word, understood it, and passed it on to the prophets and the angels." This is a highly controversial point of view within Islam which is not fully compatible with the consensus of Sunnis, and Wahhabis accuse Ahbash of doubt regarding the origin of the Qur'an. Another famous example regards the interpretations of the Qur'anic sentence describing God seated on his throne after creating the world. According to Wahhabi texts, this means that he literally sat on his throne; however, according to Shaykh Habashi, copying the Mu'tazila school of thought, it meant that he took control of the world.{{cite book|author1=Mustafa Kabha|author2=Haggai Erlich|title=Al-Ahbash and Wahhabiyya: Interpretations of Islam|date=November 2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=531|url=http://aigaforum.com/documents/Al-Ahbash-whaibyya.pdf|access-date=27 October 2014}}{{cite book|author1=Patrick Desplat|author2=Terje Østebø|title=Muslim Ethiopia: The Christian Legacy, Identity Politics, and Islamic Reformism|date=18 April 2013|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781137322098|page=181}}

The arguably most important split, however, is the question of the relation between religion, politics, and the state. Departing from most Islamic writings on this topic, al-Ahbash advocates a separation of religion and state and thereby rejects the idea of an Islamic state. Al-Fakhani, an AICP representative said "Most of our states are Islamic and Muslims wish the presence of an Islamic state, but the regional and international conditions do not allow it."{{cite news|title=Al-Ahbash: Their Ideology and Evolution|url=http://the-levant.com/ahbash-ideology-evolution/|access-date=12 July 2017|agency=The Levant News|date=18 December 2015}} Consequently, the group repeatedly emphasized the need for Muslim-Christian co-existence and tolerance towards other religious groups in Lebanon.

The tolerant stance in Al-Ahbash's public rhetoric is doubted by some Muslim groups, orthodox Sunni in particular. They accuse the group of an excessive use of Takfir – the act of declaring another Muslim an unbeliever – and thereby of the provocation of inner-Islamic tensions.{{cite web | url=http://www.ethiomedia.com/2012_report/ahbashism_campaign.pdf | title="Ahbashism", Government and Ethiopian Muslim Protests | publisher=Ethiomedia | date=May 12, 2012 | access-date=July 17, 2016 | author=Mul’ataa, Yuunus Hajji | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161004185447/http://www.ethiomedia.com/2012_report/ahbashism_campaign.pdf | archive-date=October 4, 2016 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-t3RAysVJkC | title=Lebanese Salafis Between the Gulf and Europe: Development, Fractionalization and Transnational Networks of Salafism in Lebanon | publisher=Amsterdam University Press | author=Pall, Zoltan | year=2013 | pages=44–47 | isbn=978-9089644510}} Al-Ahbash has mainly used takfir against Wahhabi and Salafi leaders.{{cite book|last1=Rougier|first1=Bernard|title=The Sunni Tragedy in the Middle East: Northern Lebanon from al-Qaeda to ISIS|publisher=Princeton University Press|page=88|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2blKCAAAQBAJ|access-date=17 July 2016|isbn=9781400873579|date=2015-10-13}}{{cite journal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nP66AAAAIAAJ | title=The Beirut Review: A Journal on Lebanon and the Middle East | author= | journal=The Beirut Review: A Journal on Lebanon and the Middle East | year=1994 | issue=7 | pages=124}} According to Tariq Ramadan, Al-Ahbash "adherents carry on a permanent double discourse: to Western questioners, they claim to support the emancipation of women and laicism to oppose the "fundamentalists" (all the issues they know are sensitive and useful for getting them recognized). However, within Muslim communities, they carry on an extremely intransigent and closed discourse, usually treating most of the principal Muslim ulama as kuffar by which they mean "unbeliever,' "impious people"). They base their teachings on interpretations recognized as deviant by all other schools of thought and all other scholars of note (for example, their singular understanding of the meaning of the name of God, or their assertion that the Qur'anic Text was interpreted by the angel Gabriel, or the practice of praying to the dead). Their approach on very specific points of doctrine (such as those we have referred to) is hostile and usually violent."{{cite book|last=Ramadan|first=Tariq|title=Western Muslims and the Future of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2DIL9h8WBJcC&pg=PT55|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-517111-2|page=55}}

As a political party, when al-Ahbash ran for the 1992 Lebanese parliamentary elections, this constituency enabled its candidate, Adnan Trabulsi, to win a seat in a Beirut district after the Ahbash and Hezbollah concluded an undeclared alliance in Beirut that assured the election of their respective candidates. However, Trabulsi lost in the subsequent 1996 elections.Hamzeh and Demekjian 1996: 225; el Khazen 2003: 620, Table 2 In 2018, Trabulsi was again elected to serve on the Lebanese Parliament.

The Ahbash are also allied to the Amal Movement, a Shia party, and Mustaqbal.{{cite web|url=https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/157969/CMEC_6_abdellatif_lebanon_final.pdf|title=Lebanon’s Sunni Islamists—A Growing Force|website=Carnegie Middle East Center|author=Omayma Abdel-Latif|date=January 2008|issue=6}}

The group are seen as being controversial within Islam for its anti-Salafi religious stance and also, as their Sufi and other beliefs are seen as heretical.{{cite book|last=Grayling|first=A. C.|title=Ideas That Matter: The Concepts That Shape the 21st Century|year=2010|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0230623064|page=139}} As a result, they are commonly described by Wahhabis as combining "Sufi polytheism, shirk, with Shi'i covert anti-Sunna tactics".{{cite book |author1=Mustafa Kabha |author-link=Mustafa Kabha |url=http://aigaforum.com/documents/Al-Ahbash-whaibyya.pdf |title=Al-Ahbash and Wahhabiyya: Interpretations of Islam |author2=Haggai Erlich |date=November 2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=529 |access-date=27 October 2014}} (Refers to Al-Ahbash's own monthly magazine, Manar Al-Huda 93 (December 2000): 36-42 and their other sources and web-sites.) According to Samuel Bar in Warrant for Terror: The Fatwas of Radical Islam and the Duty to Jihad, the Wahhabis have described the Ahbash as being outside of Ahl al-Sunnah and have argued that their fatwas should not be considered.{{Cite book |last=Bar |first=Shmuel |url=https://www.google.com.pk/books/edition/Warrant_for_Terror/SiwB5fxXfhwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=al-ahbash+uthaymeen&pg=PA105&printsec=frontcover |title=Warrant for Terror: The Fatwas of Radical Islam and the Duty to Jihad |date=2008-06-13 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=978-1-4616-4685-3 |language=en}} Some of these fatwas have drawn significant controversy, including rulings that permit transactions involving interest with non-Muslims, the permissibility of intermingling between genders, and allowing prayer in a state of impurity under certain circumstances. Critics argue that such rulings deviate from the consensus of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah.

They are also viewed by other Muslims groups as being favoured by the governments of the United States, Europe, Ethiopia, and Australia, who "do indeed welcome the Ahbash activities among their Muslim citizens."{{cite book|author1=Mustafa Kabha|author2=Haggai Erlich|title=Al-Ahbash and Wahhabiyya: Interpretations of Islam|date=November 2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=527–8|url=http://aigaforum.com/documents/Al-Ahbash-whaibyya.pdf|access-date=27 October 2014}} They have been described as a sect by various commentators,{{cite news|title=Syria and the Hariri assassination|url=http://www.economist.com/printedition/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_VDJDJNN|newspaper=The Economist (print edition)|date=27 October 2005 }}{{cite book|last=Roy|first=Oliver|title=Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah|year=2006|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=0231134991|page=227}} while others see them as a valid religious movement. The AICP runs a network of Islamic schools in affiliation with Al-Azhar according to Kabha and Erlich although a range of scholars from the latter institution, including previous Presidents and Ali Gomaa, the former Grand Mufti of Egypt, have described the Al-Ahbash movement as deviant and unorthodox in their edicts or Fatwas (an official statement or order from an Islamic religious leader),{{cite web | url=http://www.rferl.org/a/caucasus-report-grozny-fatwa-controversy/27987472.html | title=Analysis: Grozny Fatwa On 'True Believers' Triggers Major Controversy| publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/RFE/RL, Inc. | date=September 14, 2016 | access-date=March 27, 2017 | author=Liz Fuller}} (Excerpt: "Conference participants, who included Ahmed El-Tayeb, rector of Cairo's Al-Azhar Islamic University, adopted a fatwa stipulating that the sole true adherents of traditional Islam are those who abide by Kalam scholastic theology, belong to one of the four madhhabs (legal schools)......It identifies the Salafi strain of Sunni Islam professed in Saudi Arabia as a "dangerous and erroneous contemporary sect," along with the extremist group Islamic State, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and the Habashis."){{Cite book |last=Yawar |first=Athar Ahmed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ALwzQEACAAJ |title=From Madness to Eternity: Psychiatry and Sufi Healing in the Postmodern World |publisher=UCL (University College London) |year=2020 |location=London, United Kingdom |pages=166 |language=en | access-date=March 2, 2021}} (Refers to the fatwās against the Ahbash from a range of scholars, including Ali Gomaa, the Mufti of Egypt (fatwā dated 1999), and Ahmad Umar Hashim, the president of Al-Azhar University (2001).) and members of the movement were arrested "attempting to spread their beliefs on the campuses of Al-Azhar University" under the Egyptian penal code.

In 2011, the Australian National Imams Council accused the Muslim Community Radio Incorporated as being associated with Al-Ahbash, which they described as a fringe cult organisation and violent, and made public announcement for government officials not to renew its broadcasting license.{{cite news|last=O'Brien|first=Natalie|title=Muslims call for 'radical' radio station to be closed|url=http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/muslims-call-for-radical-radio-station-to-be-closed-20110108-19j9r.html|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=9 January 2011}} However, the Australian Communications and Media Authority granted a 5-year license in 2011, which drew criticism from Islamic groups.{{cite news|last=Norrie|first=Justin|title=Muslim radio stays on airwaves|url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/muslim-radio-stays-on-airwaves-20110521-1exo6.html|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=22 May 2011}} In 2006, the Imam of Lakemba Mosque in Sydney, Taj El-Din Hilaly, threatened to back out of the Howard government's, Muslim Community Reference Group because of the inclusion of Dr. Mustapha Kara-Ali, who was affiliated with Al-Ahbash.{{cite news |title=Divided, angry Muslim advisory body meets |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2006-02-27/divided-angry-muslim-advisory-body-meets/806764 |agency=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=26 February 2006}}{{cite web |last1=Kerbaj |first1=Richard |title=Howard's Muslim advisory team split |url=https://wwrn.org/articles/20466/ |website=WWRN |publisher=The Australian}}

In 2003, Ali Gomaa, the former Grand Mufti of Egypt, issued a fatwa describing the Ahbash as "deviant" that sought to "corrupt the Muslim creed and incite sedition amongst the Muslim Ummah. Moreover, they are paid agents to the enemies of Islam." In 2007, Egypt also arrested 22 men for seeking to spread the Ahbash faith in the country.[https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054204/http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2007/12/13/42886.html "Egypt arrests 22 men for corrupting Islam"][http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2007/12/13/42886.html - Reuters], 13 December 2007. ("The source said they belong to the al-Ahbash sect – which has a significant following in Lebanon and strong historical ties to Syria – and which is considered unorthodox by many Islamic clerics including the ones at Al-Azhar.")

In 2012, Muslim protesters in Addis Ababa accused the Ethiopian government of Meles Zenawi of promoting Al-Ahbash among the Muslim population of the country.

During the 1990s fighting broke out between the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Ahbash in what became known as the "war of the mosques". The fighting was started due to the brotherhood believing that Jordan's Ministry of Religious Endowments were giving precedence to Al-Ahbash members being allowed to teach in mosques from which they themselves were banned.{{cite book|last=Tal|first=Nahman|title=Radical Islam in Egypt and Jordan|year=2005|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|isbn=978-1845190989|page=215}}

Due to its strong historical links with the Syrian government of the al-Assad family, the Ahbash have often been in conflict with the Lebanese supporters of the anti-Syrian Hariri family and in 2005 at least two of its members were initially implicated—jailed and later released—in the Assassination of Rafic Hariri.{{cite news|author1=Elise Knutsen|title=STL defense strategy takes shape in Sabaa questioning|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Mar-20/291501-stl-defense-strategy-takes-shape-in-sabaa-questioning.ashx|access-date=13 April 2015|work=The Daily Star (Lebanon)|date=20 March 2015}} The Ahbash also strongly opposed and demonstrated against the Cedar Revolution that was triggered by Hariri's assassination.Barry Rubin, Guide to Islamist Movements, pp.322-323.David Gardner, I.B. Tauris, Last chance: the Middle East in the balance, 15 June 2009, the University of Michigan, pp. 135, 140. Ahbash reportedly remains neutral in the Syrian Civil War, despite pressure from both sides.{{cite web | url=http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/14719 | title=Lebanon: Al-Ahbash Retreat from Politics | publisher=Al-Akhbar | date=January 29, 2013 | access-date=July 17, 2016 | author=Choufi, Firas | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304112215/http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/14719 | archive-date=March 4, 2016 | url-status=dead }}

In 2010, Ahbash and Hezbollah members were involved in a street battle which was perceived to be over parking issues. Both groups later met to form a joint compensation fund for the victims of the conflict.{{cite news|title= Hezbollah, Al Ahbash chiefs meet over Borj Abi Haidar incident|url=http://www.yalibnan.com/2010/08/30/hezbollah-al-ahbash-chiefs-meet-over-borj-abi-haidar-incident/|work=Yalibnan|date=30 August 2010}} However, despite this instance of violence, the Ahbash have "normal" and "friendly" relations with Hezbollah. The Ahbash have also engaged in bloody clashes in Sidon and Tripoli, in the 1990s, against the rival Sunni Al-Jama'ah Al-Islamiyah.

Former grand mufti of Saudi Arabia Ibn Baz declared Ahbash a "deviant faction".{{cite book|last1=Rougier|first1=Bernard|title=Everyday Jihad|publisher=Harvard University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/everydayjihadris00roug/page/296 296]|url=https://archive.org/details/everydayjihadris00roug|url-access=registration|quote=bin baz ahbash.|access-date=11 April 2016|isbn=9780674025295|year=2007}}

Roman Silantiev states that the mufti of Ukraine, Ahmad Tamim, a Lebanese citizen, has been accused of belonging to the "sinister sect" of Ahbash by his opponents, however, his opponents find it difficult to define the heresy of Ahbash. Ahmad Tamim's opponent mufti Said Ismaigilov allegedly has links to groups affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.{{cite news|last1=Silantiev|first1=Roman|title=Nationwide Ambitions|url=http://www.ng.ru/facts/2014-09-17/6_muftiat.html|access-date=12 February 2017|agency=Nezavisimaya Gazeta|date=17 September 2014}}

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