The UAE sponsored Sufis: Habib Umar & Habib 'Ali al-Jifri

The Sufi/Neo-Traditionalist Network

The Sufi neo-traditionalist network can be said to be the most sponsored by the UAE. The neo-traditionalist discourse emphasizes adhering to one of the traditional four schools of fiqh (jurisprudence) and one of the two schools of ‘aqīda (theology) as well as practising Sufism. For that, they consider themselves the true representatives of ahl al-Sunna wa-l-Jamā‘a (Sunni Islam) and the continuation of the Islamic tradition transmitted to them through an unbroken chain of transmitters. As “neo-traditionalism” doesn’t have an Arabic counterpart, neo-traditionalists are usually referred to as “Sufis” in the Arabic-speaking world. 

The most critical figures for the UAE-sponsored neo-traditionalism are al-Habib Ali al-Jifri – a Yemeni Sufi scholar from the Ba‘Alawi tariqa, Abdullah bin Bayyah – a widely-respected Mauritanian scholar, Hamza Yusuf – an American scholar and founder of the Zaytuna college in the US in 2008, and Aref Ali Nayed – a Libyan scholar and politician who served as Libya’s ambassador to the UAE between 2011-2016.

The contact between the neo-traditionalists and the UAE rulers can be traced back to 2002 when al-Jifri started his preaching tours [jawla da‘awaiyya] organized by the UAE Ministry of Justice and Religious Endowments. In 2004, a bigger group of Sufi scholars were invited by the UAE to celebrate the birth of the Prophet (mawlid); among the group were the late Said Ramadan al-Buti – the widely-respected Syrian scholar whom the UAE chose for the Islamic Personality of the Year Award for that year – and Omar bin Hafiz – a prominent Yemeni scholar among the Ba‘Alawis. 

In 2005 a UAE-based institution was founded to be soon a center for neo-traditionalist scholars: Tabah Foundation. Headed by al-Jifri, Tabah quickly became vocal within the Muslim public sphere. After the Danish cartoon controversy in 2006, Tabah visited Denmark and invited Danish youth to the UAE to explain Islam to them (known as Litaʿārafū [so that you know one another] Initiative) by Tabah’s team.

Drawing a lot of attention, Tabah initiated Al-Mahaba Award whose festivals at the UAE in 2006 and 2008 were major cultural events in the Muslim world as many famous Muslim artists and public figures attended, in addition to the neo-traditionalist scholars assigned to the board of trustees like Abdullah bin Bayyah. 

In 2009, al-Jifri, on behalf of Tabah, visited Ali Gomaa – the then Grand Mufti of Egypt, Muhammad Tantawi – the then Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar, and Ahmed al-Tayyeb – the then president of al-Azhar University and the current Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar since 2010. 

Al-Jifri’s visits to Egypt would increase in the following years, especially after the “Arab Spring,” and he would come to reside in Egypt, becoming a public figure in the Egyptian public sphere and strengthening his ties with Gomaa, who became a member of Tabah’s Senior Scholars Council at least since 2010, and his student Usama al-Azhary, the Azharite scholar who is the advisor of religious affairs to Egypt’s former military head and post-coup president, Abdel Fettah al-Sisi. 

In 2009, another UAE-based institution called Kalam Research & Media (KRM), headed by Aref Ali Nayed, a later political figure advancing UAE’s agenda in Libya, was founded. KRM works with an impressively wide network exemplified by its Senior Consultant Scholars, and its activities and publications focus on Islamic theology and philosophy.

After the July 2013 coup in Egypt, the UAE established institutions that were envisioned to ideologically legitimize the counter-revolutionary camp and delegitimize its dissidents (especially the Ikhwani and the Jihadists discourses). Though such a mission was already pursued by Tabah since its inception, the UAE intensified these efforts through new institutions that focused on delegitimizing political activism, promoting obedience to the rulers, advocating the Islamic legitimacy of the modern state, and prioritizing peace over justice, among others. 

In 2013, the UAE set one of its most important neo-traditionalist institutions under the presidency of Bin Bayyah – the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies (FPPMS). The Forum became a hub for some Muslim (and non-Muslim) scholars from all around the world in its annual conventions, published books and magazines, and sponsored initiatives and interventions in global Muslim affairs. At this stage, the neo-traditionalist discourse centered around the illegitimacy of Bin Bayyah soon would claim a much more central role in the UAE’s policy toward Islam as he became the chairman of the UAE Fatwa Council – an official body controlling fatwas in the UAE, which seems to have been established in June 2018 to increase Bin Bayyah’s authority and officiality. Hamza Yusuf is, notably, a part of this council and the Forum. 

The Fatwa Council was the third step after Bin Bayyah’s presidency of FPPMS and of al-Muwattaaʾ Center – a 2016-established scholarly institution aimed at educating UAE’s future religious scholars and officials and disseminating scholarly knowledge. In addition to its institutional support of such initiatives, the UAE granted these scholars wide media coverage, seeking to popularize their discourse in the Muslim world.

Source: https://themaydan.com/2020/09/the-uae-sponsored-islams-mapping-the-terrain/