I think the more difficult question is, how does a country become successful in implementing sharia law? Clearly, nearly all Somalis in Somalia are Muslim and follow shariah law on a personal and family level, and most would agree (and it is even in the constitution) to implement it. However, no Islamic country has arguably established a proper sharia governed country on a national level since the early 20th century with the Ottoman Empire.
I think there are two radical sides to this debate over whether shariah law should be established in Somalia. You have a minority of radical extremists in Somalia (i.e. AS) who claim to implement a caliphate upon the majority of Somalis and try to seize power via terrorizing, mass murdering and killing other Somali Muslims, which goes against basic principles in the Quran on murder and killing. On the other hand, there is a lot of misinformation about shariah law. For example, the fear that a shariah law would cause practices seen among non-Muslims as barbaric such as the act of stoning. Taking an example from the ottoman empire, there was only ever recorded to be a single sentence of stoning by a judge in the empire's 623 year history. This is because crimes that require stoning as a punishment in sharia law are largely a preventative measure. For example, adultery requires 4 witnesses to see penetration occur during intercourse, which is a high bar that is unrealistic to actually achieve. Mass stonings do not actually occur when sharia law is properly implemented.
Quite frankly, most Somalis probably do not care about the system of governance except in how such government can take them out of poverty. Somalia is one of the most poorest countries in the world, and in 2022 alone, over 1 million Somalis were displaced due to droughts. Somalis care about putting food on the table, building the country up and recovering from decades of war. Sure, nearly all Somalis are Muslim, but creating a sharia country is not an easy feat. A caliphate must be chosen and created by a society - not vice versa. Somalis would need to unite together and agree on how a caliphate should work, how a caliph earns their power, how long a caliph holds their power, the checks on their power by islamic courts, how sharia laws will be chosen to be established in the country, how the government will work on a local level, etc. This is extremely hard to do when a country is ravaged with poverty, lacks economic stability and education, and if everyone is not on the same page and agrees as to how a sharia governed country will be established, there will quickly be chaos as Somalis disagree on the governance of a caliphate and potential civil war occurs due to disagreement. Whereas, if Somalia improves and becomes a more established country, and with proper religious education and unbiased scholars, the average Somali will know what a sharia governed country entails. Ultimately, I think the question of whether Somalia should become a sharia governed country should be chosen collectively by Somali society as a whole once there is proper education on what sharia entails (that way all citizens know what they are getting into, minimizing disagreements) and there are well educated leaders/scholars who can implement this in a fair way if Somalis decide on this form of governance. Currently, this bar has not been reached yet.
I think the main disagreement to this argument to wait for Somalia to be well developed before considering a transition to an Islamic government is that, because the rules of Allah are perfect, that nothing can go wrong with establishing sharia in Somalia, even today in a impoverished country. However, it is important to realize that sharia is still implemented by rulers, judges, governance, and even if the rules themselves are from Allah - the implementation, interpretation of these rules are still done by humans, prone to error, greed, corruption, etc. The lack of education on how sharia should function among people, the lack of stability causing a shortage of well educated leaders to properly create an Islamic government all increase the likelihood that an Islamic government is improperly implemented or implemented by a ruler with malicious intent. I think Somalia can still implement sharia law to a limited extent with its current government. For example, implementing Islamic courts or ensuring that the laws passed follow teachings of the Quran/Sunnah are all things that can be done without a caliphate, and much more safer form of government when Somalia is still struggling to establish itself.
I think there are two radical sides to this debate over whether shariah law should be established in Somalia. You have a minority of radical extremists in Somalia (i.e. AS) who claim to implement a caliphate upon the majority of Somalis and try to seize power via terrorizing, mass murdering and killing other Somali Muslims, which goes against basic principles in the Quran on murder and killing. On the other hand, there is a lot of misinformation about shariah law. For example, the fear that a shariah law would cause practices seen among non-Muslims as barbaric such as the act of stoning. Taking an example from the ottoman empire, there was only ever recorded to be a single sentence of stoning by a judge in the empire's 623 year history. This is because crimes that require stoning as a punishment in sharia law are largely a preventative measure. For example, adultery requires 4 witnesses to see penetration occur during intercourse, which is a high bar that is unrealistic to actually achieve. Mass stonings do not actually occur when sharia law is properly implemented.
Quite frankly, most Somalis probably do not care about the system of governance except in how such government can take them out of poverty. Somalia is one of the most poorest countries in the world, and in 2022 alone, over 1 million Somalis were displaced due to droughts. Somalis care about putting food on the table, building the country up and recovering from decades of war. Sure, nearly all Somalis are Muslim, but creating a sharia country is not an easy feat. A caliphate must be chosen and created by a society - not vice versa. Somalis would need to unite together and agree on how a caliphate should work, how a caliph earns their power, how long a caliph holds their power, the checks on their power by islamic courts, how sharia laws will be chosen to be established in the country, how the government will work on a local level, etc. This is extremely hard to do when a country is ravaged with poverty, lacks economic stability and education, and if everyone is not on the same page and agrees as to how a sharia governed country will be established, there will quickly be chaos as Somalis disagree on the governance of a caliphate and potential civil war occurs due to disagreement. Whereas, if Somalia improves and becomes a more established country, and with proper religious education and unbiased scholars, the average Somali will know what a sharia governed country entails. Ultimately, I think the question of whether Somalia should become a sharia governed country should be chosen collectively by Somali society as a whole once there is proper education on what sharia entails (that way all citizens know what they are getting into, minimizing disagreements) and there are well educated leaders/scholars who can implement this in a fair way if Somalis decide on this form of governance. Currently, this bar has not been reached yet.
I think the main disagreement to this argument to wait for Somalia to be well developed before considering a transition to an Islamic government is that, because the rules of Allah are perfect, that nothing can go wrong with establishing sharia in Somalia, even today in a impoverished country. However, it is important to realize that sharia is still implemented by rulers, judges, governance, and even if the rules themselves are from Allah - the implementation, interpretation of these rules are still done by humans, prone to error, greed, corruption, etc. The lack of education on how sharia should function among people, the lack of stability causing a shortage of well educated leaders to properly create an Islamic government all increase the likelihood that an Islamic government is improperly implemented or implemented by a ruler with malicious intent. I think Somalia can still implement sharia law to a limited extent with its current government. For example, implementing Islamic courts or ensuring that the laws passed follow teachings of the Quran/Sunnah are all things that can be done without a caliphate, and much more safer form of government when Somalia is still struggling to establish itself.
