Abstract:
The political reforms of 1990s in Kenya provided extremist Muslim activists the pro-
spect to articulate a political vision that runs counter to the secular principle of plural
co-existence. The liberalization of the political space led to the democratization of
religious decree-issuing process, thereby undermining the credibility of “moderate”
Muslim leaders in interpreting Islamic texts. The paper’s central argument is that
the articulation of jihadi ideology is a deliberate recourse by sections of Muslims in
Kenya to formulate their political discourse in religious terms. This trend has
granted the country’s Muslims the choice to pick between Islamic and secular ideol-
ogies with the former being espoused by the jihadists. Through their activities and
sermons, the jihadists have criticized the idea of a secular state by issuing fatwas
that completely disregard religious mutual co-existence. This study traces the intellec-
tual genesis and the ultimate growth of the jihadi ideology in the country to a pro-
minent Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdulaziz Rimo whose efforts ushered in a new
way of addressing political issues amongst Kenyan Muslims. It is concluded that
this scenario draws impetus from the jihadists’ framing of the Muslims’ grievances
along religious lines and thereby apply religion to “solve” political problems.
