5)0.

"4 1* &33&5 The Assoclatlon of |slamlc Charltable

Pro[ects (A|CP) was founded ln 8elrut ln
l982 by a group of Sunnl ulama who,
together wlth thelr followers, were
nlcknamed "al-Ahbash (The Lthlopl-
ans) after thelr Lthloplan-born splrltual
leader, the scholar and Sufl Shaykh
Abdallah al-Hararl al-Habashl. Slnce lts
lnceptlon, the A|CP has been backed
by the Syrlan reglme, whlch conslders
lts strong commltment to tradltlonal
non-polltlcal Sunnl prlnclples and lts
lnslstently antl-Salafl stance as a means
to counter the rlse of polltlcal |slam ln
Lebanon. However, thls radlcal neo-
tradltlonallst ldeology and the paranold worldvlew lt lmplles are not
excluslvely llnked to the partlcular context of Lebanon but constltute a
vehlcle for an organlzatlon that has become transnatlonal by establlsh-
lng branches ln Prance, Germany, the Unlted States, Australla, and even
the Ukralne.
As a global but numerlcally marglnal network made up of small
groups, often faclng hostlllty of other Sunnl communltles, the Ahbash
have been qulck to take advantage of the |nternet. The Lngllsh speak-
lngl.e. global-orlentedofflclal webslte of the A|CP (www.alcp.
org) ls dedlcated to conventlonal uses but ls rather lnnovatlve from
a technologlcal polnt of vlew. Slnce the web makes rellglous materlal
avallable worldwlde at very low cost, the A|CP's webslte provldes a
wlde range of exoterlc and esoterlc contents through wrltten as well
as audlo resources, among whlch ls a radlo statlon broadcastlng from
the 8elrut headquarters of the movement and dally lnteractlve rell-
glous lessons. A look at the webslte's Guest 8ook shows that vlsltors
uslng thls materlal to lmprove thelr |slamlc knowledge are not neces-
sarlly members of the A|CP and sometlmes llve ln reglons where the
assoclatlon ls not formally present (South Asla, Turkey, Nlgerla, and
Mlndanao). Therefore, one may conclude that the webslte leads to an
extenslon of the A|CP's ldeologlcal sphere of lnfluence. However, we
need to be somewhat more cautlous than Ollvler Poy who asserts that,
thanks to the |nternet, "one dlrectly [olns the Sufl neo-brotherhood
|among whlch ls al-Ahbash| and "one can learn the thought of the
Shaykh through lts dlscourse and no longer |have to be| ln |dlrect|
contact wlth hlm.
l
As far as Suflsm lnforms the content of thls slte, we
would suggest that thls klnd of electronlc materlal ls baslcally more of
a showcase for the brotherhood or an ald for the rltual-mystlcal prac-
tlces of geographlcally lsolated mem-
bers. |ndeed, vlsltlng a webslte does
not replace the master-dlsclple rela-
tlonshlp, whlch remalns an essentlal
part of Suflsm, lncludlng that of the
Ahbash. Strlklngly, Shaykh Abdallah ls
only surreptltlously referred to on the
A|CP's websltes slnce, to use Mlchael
Gllsenan's words,
2
the management of
the physlcal absence of the foundlng
salntwho ls more than 80 years old
and can only travel abroad occaslonal-
ly to meet hls dlsclplesls stlll carrled
out orally by hls deputles.
The second functlon of the |nternet for the Ahbash ls to lmprove the
global coheslon of the movement by weavlng llnks between grass
roots members of the dlfferent branches worldwlde, all the more so
slnce these branches are establlshed ln hlghly "connected countrles.
Of course, such llnks are not really useful wlth regard to close and slze-
able communltles as ln Lebanon or Prance, but they are of lnvaluable
help for lsolated lndlvlduals llvlng ln Australla or North Amerlca. |t ls
certalnly not a colncldence that the Ahbash's webslte was the flrst ln
the |slamlc cyberspace to provlde 24-hour volce chat groups ln dlffer-
ent languages.
IdeoIogicaI spider webs
At flrst slght, devlces such as llve lnteractlve lessons or volce chat
groups seem to encourage debates wlthln the movement, but, on the
contrary, close examlnatlon reveals that these lnstruments are prlma-
rlly used by the leadershlp to lncrease lts ldeologlcal control on thelr
followers and to attract new devotees. Slmllarly, lf one checks the A|-
CP's unofflclal e-forums (www.talkaboutlslam.com), one dlscovers that
they functlon as ldeologlcal splder webs. Nothlng polnts to the fact
that these websltes, whlch only present themselves as belng "|slamlc,
are actually part of the Ahbash's cyber network. Por lnstance, they are
not related to the offlclal websltes by any hypertext llnk. Therefore, the
random vlsltor ls normally unaware that he or she ls exposed to a set of
selected oplnlons through carefully controlled debates. Plrstly, zealous
partlclpants frequently post chapters of books edlted ln Lebanon by
the A|CP, but wlthout any reference to the author or the edltor. Second-
ly, veteran members answer questlons concernlng GJRI ([urlsprudence)
and reprlmand novlces whose rellglous knowledge ls consldered "devl-
ant. Thlrdly, a team of regulators supervlse the dlscusslons and are ln
charge of censorlng the Ahbash who are too keen to use UBLGJS (excom-
munlcatlon)slnce such a stance ls consldered a mark of extremlsm by
most of the Sunnlsbut above all of ellmlnatlng most of the messages
posted by partlclpants of Salafl persuaslon. |deologlcal hegemony ls
thus achleved by the creatlon of a neo-tradltlonallst vlrtual space ln
whlch they assess very crltlcally the ldeas of leadlng |slamlc personall-
tles such as Amr Khalld, Khalld al-1undl and usuf al-Qaradawl. |n the
same way they reduce the wahhabl doctrlne to a mere "heresy ln llne
wlth the Ottoman scholarly tradltlon of whlch they conslder them-
selves to be the lnherltors.
|e|||ea. |at|er|t
7he Lebanon-based aI-Ahbash movement
advocates a radicaI neo-traditionaIist
version of Sunni IsIam. AIthough numericaIIy
modest, it has estabIished branches in severaI
Western countries, where it continues the
campaign it started in the MiddIe ast against
the SaIafi trend. 7he movement uses the
Internet innovativeIy and demonstrates that
the strategic use of web-based interactive
communication tooIs does not necessariIy
Iead to the reinforcement of a cuIture of
diaIogue, on the contrary they can aIso serve
as a means to achieve virtuaI ideoIogicaI
hegemony.
*OUFSOFUJOB4FDUBSJBO
*TMBNJD$POUFYU
5IPNBT1JFSSFU |. + ||.|. c+aa|a+te |a Ma.||m \er|a |e||t|c. +t :c|eace.-|e |+r|..
|-m+||. t|em+.j|erretz+|ee.lr
Notes
l. Ollvler Poy, -*TMBNNPOEJBMJT(Parls: Ldltlons du Seull, 2002), l27.
2. Mlchael Gllsenan, 4BJOUBOE4VGJJO.PEFSO&HZQUBO&TTBZJOUIF4PDJPMPHZ
PG3FMJHJPO (Oxford: Clarendon Press, l973).
http//:www.taIkaboutisIam.com, viewed 7 1anuary 2005
l Sl M P L v| L w 15 / S P P | NG 2005