Nouakchott — Mauritanians rang in the new year Tuesday night despite pressure from radical Islamists who had urged authorities to ban celebrations.
A group calling itself “Ansar Tatbeek al-Sharia al Islamia” or “Supporters of the Implementation of Islamic Sharia” threatened to harass anyone who celebrated the holiday in Mauritania.
“We condemn and denounce the so-called New Year’s Eve celebrations because they are against the Holy Book and the Sunna, and given what they produce in terms of immorality and evil,” the extremists said in a December 26th statement.
The statement called on the Mauritanian government to prevent these gatherings and celebrations that the extremists claim are shameful and degrading.
In a statement to Magharebia before the holidays, Yahdhih Ould Dahi, secretary-general of Ansar Tatbeek al-Sharia al-Islamia in Mauritania said his group planned several activities to steer people away from marking the occasion.
“We will also disturb them with speeches and sermons on loudspeakers to stop them from celebrating,” he said.
Describing his group, Ould Dahi said they were “unemployed young graduates of Saudi universities” and their mission was “to fight against vices and to apply Sharia”.
The threats of this group to curtail freedom of expression and interfere in the private lives of citizens have prompted some young people to launch a counter movement.
A statement issued by the campaign to collect signatures against militancy led by activists, intellectuals, media workers, and writers noted, “The authoritarian role posed by these groups in secret and in public is a risk to the civil state and threatens its existence as a civilian social entity, based on the law.”
“Trusteeship imposed by these groups through excommunication and accusations of treason, verbal terrorism and physical abuse, threaten to transform the national state into a failed entity of the kind that distant and neighbouring experiences have shown to be a failure and a risk,” the statement added.
“They are seeking to transform this country to a takfiri emirate with an inquisition, run amok, destroy crops and cattle and humiliate human dignity and humanity,” the activists warned.
The moderates also warned that radicals threatened to “destroy the authentic identity of this country that is based on a tolerant understanding of Islam”.
The statement concluded by saying, “The seriousness of this campaign lies in the mentality of restriction, the custody of thoughts and behaviours of individuals and adults and an effort to reshape them. It is a matter that is threatening our linguistic identity, culture, and intellectual diversity, which is the currency of this society.”
On the street, Mauritanians were sharply critical of the Islamists’ attempts to curtail freedom of expression.
“What is new in this call is that it does not discriminate between the targets,” said media figure Ahmedou Ashrif. “This group used to target Westerners but this time, it seems to have made a leap in terms of goals and is pursuing to return Mauritanian society to what it sees as Sharia, and the fight against westernization and decay, by taking advantage of these celebrations.”
For his part, theatre director Mohamed Salem Ould Khliyah said that the radical group’s call to harass revellers was “an immoral intervention contrary to the values of tolerance and a flagrant violation of the right of any person celebrating Christmas in Mauritania”.
“We have to give others the right to celebrate without harming them or using force against them,” Ould Khliyah told Magharebia.
