OnIslam.net

TRIPOLI – An influential Libyan scholar has called for a role for moderate Islam in Libya’s political process following the ouster of long-standing leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"We call for a moderate Islam," Ali Al-Sallabi said at a meeting late on Sunday, October 9, that included supporters and opponents, Reuters reported.

"But you all have to understand that Islam is not just about punishment, cutting hands and beheading with swords.

"I believe that Islam covers all, including politics," he said.

Though he has no formal political role, Al-Sallabi has become a hugely significant voice in post-revolution Libyan.

He is a close associate of Tripoli’s military commander Abdel Hakim Belhadj, a rising Islamist figure in post-Gaddafi Libya.

Last month, Al-Sallabi described the leaders of the National Transitional Council (NTC), including prime minister Mahmoud Jibri, as “extreme secularists”.

Based in Qatar, Al-Sallabi frequently travelled from his base to visit opposition fighters in Benghazi.

The scholar spent time in Libya prisons in the 1980s for criticizing the Gaddafi’s regime.

Two decades later, he was recruited by Gaddafi’s son Seif Islam to help negotiate freedom for imprisoned Islamists who renounced violence, including Belhaj.

Observers believe that this is a golden opportunity for Libya’s Islamists to assert their role after decades of repression under Gaddafi.

In public comments, Al-Sallabi has said that he supports a pluralistic democratic model for Libya.

Islamist Inclusion

The influential scholar said that Islamists should play a role in politics in post-revolution Libya after decades of being sidelined under Gaddafi.

"In the past we were deprived from implementing the principles of Islam,” Al-Sallabi said.

“I am a religious person, I am also a Libyan citizen. I have my say with regard to the political issue."

Islamists were aggressively repressed under Gaddafi’s 42-year rule.

The fallen leader called Islamists "heretics" and worked energetically to silence them.

Hundreds, if not thousands, were jailed, and an unknown number were executed.

In 1987, Gaddafi authorized state television to broadcast the hanging of six suspected Islamists in front of a crowd at a sports stadium.

In the 1980s and 1990s, a variety of armed Islamist groups tried and failed to topple Gaddafi.

And in the 2011 war that finally ousted the strongman, Islamist fighters fought in guerrilla groups that played important roles in the taking of Tripoli and other major towns.

But some members of the crowd berated Al-Sallabi, telling him that religious leaders had no place in politics.

"The Islamists are a political group that has used the religion as a reference and turned it into an ideology," Faraj Aby Al-Esha, a longtime critic of Gaddafi who has also recently returned to the country, told Al-Sallabi.

"The political game depends on lies, conspiracies, and deception. Forcing religion into this game is a serious issue."

The NTC has been at pains to assure its Western allies that the rise of Islamists will not pose a threat to their interests.

Its leaders say they will hold elections and build a democratic society based on Islamic law, will respect civil and individual rights.

Several Libyan analysts say they are worried fault lines are opening up between the Islamist-run Tripoli Military Council, which has nominal control over the city and is also believed to be backed by Qatar, and groups loyal to premier Jibril, a Western-trained technocrat who Al-Sallabi has called on to resign.