Al-Ahbash

Al-Ahbash (Arabic: الأحباش, romanized: al-ʾAḥbāsh, lit. 'the Ethiopians'), also known as the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects (Arabic: جمعية المشاريع الخيرية الإسلامية, Jamʿīyah al-Mashārīʿ al-Khayrīyah al-ʾIslāmīyah, AICP) is a Sufi religious movement and, in Lebanon, political party, which was founded in the mid-1980s. The group follow the teachings of Ethiopian scholar Abdullah al-Harari. Due to the group's origins and activity in Lebanon, the Ahbash have been described as the "activist expression of Lebanese Sufism." The Ahbash have been noted for their ardent criticism of conservative strains of Islam, including the Salafi movement and Wahhabism. The movement has been described by some scholars as incorporating elements of Shia and Sunni theology within a framework of Sufi spiritualism. It has also been described as one of the "most controversial Muslim associations" among modern Islamic groups. Within Sunni Islam, opponents of the Ahbash have frequently referred to the movement as unorthodox and deviant.