ABIM. An acronym for Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia. The Muslim organization Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia or the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement was officially registered on August 17, 1972, in Selangor state, after operating as a loose forum of concerned Muslim activists (1969-1971). Its major objectives, as contained in its Articles of Association, were as follows: to establish and propagate Islamic tenets and principles as enshrined in the Qur’an and the sunnah; to spread and defend, in a progressive manner, the Islamic message, in particular its universalistic dimension; and to mobilize Muslim youth to collaborative endeavors in all fields, including the economy, society, education, culture, and technology.
The man most instrumental in the establishment of ABIM was Anwar Ibrahim. Born in Bukit Mertajam in Penang state, Anwar was an active student leader while studying at the Universiti Malaya (1968-1971). In 1968, he was president of both the National Association of Muslim Students and the Muslim Students Association of Universiti Malaya. In 1969, he became president of the Malay Language Society at the university. He held these appointments until 1970/1971.
While a student leader, Anwar and his group were often very critical of government policies, particularly on the role of the Malay language, and other policies regarded as prejudicial to Malay (bumiputra) interests. At that time, Anwar supported Malay nationalist figures such as Dr. Mahathir Mohamed in their criticisms of Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, whose leadership style and policies were said to be responsible for the worsening plight of the Malays. The Tunku was also blamed for the racial riots on May 13, 1969, which pitted the Malays against the Chinese. When Anwar and his activist friends were about to graduate from the university, they realized the need to form an association to enable them to continue their Islamic activities. Hence ABIM came into being in 1972, and Anwar became its first secretary-general. He later assumed the presidency of the movement in 1974.
Helping him to establish ABIM were Kamaruddin Mohammad Nor, who later became one of ABIM’s vice presidents and the official representative of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY); Ahmad Hajj Ismail, a secretary in the Defense Ministry; Fauzi 'Abdul Rahman, the parliamentary secretary of the Ministry of Information; and Zakaria Hashim, a successful businessman. At the time of its formation, ABIM had only forty members; in 1992, the membership reached more than fifty thousand nationwide. In its first decade of existence, a large proportion of the members were school teachers and university students. Today, many are also executives in both the government and private sectors. Although the president is significant in projecting the image of the movement, ABIM’s leadership is known to operate under the Islamic principle of shura (consultation) in its decision-making process.
ABIM’s relationship with the government has undergone change over the years. In the first decade of its existence, the relationship was tense: Anwar was arrested without trial under the Internal Security Act in 1974 on the charge of instigating Malay farmers against the government; in turn, ABIM criticized the government openly on issues such as corruption, abuse of power, and exploitation of workers, and called upon the authorities to abolish the Internal Security Act, which ABIM regarded as “repugnant to the Islamic spirit.” ABIM also charged that the nationalist-secularist orientation of the government would never solve the nation building problems of multi-racial Malaysia. Only an “Islamic solution” would do so. However, since Anwar was co-opted by the UMNO (United Malays National Organization) party a year after Mahathir Mohamed became prime minister in 1981, the government somewhat tolerated ABIM’s many criticisms and accommodated some of its demands and representations.
Anwar’s successors continued the foundations and philosophical orientations set by him. Siddiq Fadhil, who assumed the presidency of the movement from Anwar, was a former neighbor whom Anwar had invited to join ABIM. Lacking the charisma of Anwar, Siddiq compensated with his deeper knowledge of Islam and the Arabic language, amply demonstrated by his frequent quotations from the Qur’an and the sunna. Siddiq vacated the position in August 1991 on the occasion of ABIM’s twentieth convention (Muktamar Sanawi) in Kuala Lumpur. Having been Anwar’s deputy for many years prior to his elevation as president in 1983, Siddiq had served ABIM longer than Anwar. His wife Zulaikha was also, during his term as president, the head of ABIM’s women’s wing.
After 1991, ABIM’s fourth president has been Dr. Muhammad Nur Manuty. Dr. Manuty received his early Islamic education in Perak state before becoming a staff member of the National University of Malaysia in 1970. He continued his post-graduate education at Temple University in Philadelphia, where he met the renowned Muslim scholar Isma‘il Raji al-Faruqi. He secured his doctorate degree from Temple in the field of contemporary Islamic thought and movements and began teaching at the International Islamic University in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Dr. Manuty began his active involvement in ABIM in 1978, when he was appointed assistant secretary-general, and later was vice president for international relations (1989 -1991).
As previously, Manuty’s leadership was characterized by the policy of maintaining close relations with Muslim organizations and movements overseas. In 1980, ABIM established formal relations with twenty-four international Muslim groups, especially with non-governmental Muslim bodies such as the Jama‘at-i Islami in the Indian sub-continent , the Ikhwan al-Muslimin in the Gulf region, and the Muhammadiyah organization in Indonesia. By 1993, the number of bodies had reached more than thirty-five. Locally, ABIM’s dealings with other Muslim dakwah (in Arabic, da‘wah; “Islamic propaganda”) organizations were cordial. While the movement did not seem to approve of the propagation methods of movements like PERKIM and Dar ul Arqam, it often collaborated with them, for example with Perkim in recruiting non-Malay converts to Islam.
ABIM’s role in Malaysian life was considerable. First, it had on many occasions acted as the voice or conscience of Muslims in Malaysia in matters affecting Islam and the Muslim community. Second, with its systematic and comprehensive approach to Islamic propagation, the movement educated many Malaysian Muslims about the relevance and efficacy of the Islamic faith in confronting the perennial problems faced by an increasingly open and modern Malaysia. Third, among all contemporary Muslim bodies and groups in the country, ABIM was the most organized force, instrumental in the birth of Islamic revivalism in Malaysia after the late 1970s. Finally, because many ABIM activists continued to occupy key leadership positions in the religious, social, educational, and political arenas, the movement not only had access to the decision making channels of government and the bureaucracy, but also the ability to affect policy directions as well as the intensification of the Islamic ethos in the country.
Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia see ABIM.
Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement see ABIM.
Abkarius (Iskandar Agha ibn Ya‘qub) (d. 1885). An Armenian man of letters from Beirut. He composed anthologies of Arabic literature, and is the author of a narrative of the events in Lebanon from 1860 to 1869.
Iskandar Agha ibn Ya‘qub see Abkarius
Abkhaz (Abkhazians). A people of the Western Caucasus region located on the Black Sea coast south of the main Caucasus Mountain chain between the Psou and Inguzi Rivers. The Abkhazians are a Caucasian ethnic group mainly living in Republic of Abkhazia. A large Abkhazian diaspora lives in Turkey who are descendants of Abkhazians who emigrated from the Caucasus in the late 19th century as part of Muhajirism. Many also live in other parts of the former Soviet Union, particularly in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine.
The Abkhazians were attacked by the Muslims in the early part of the eighth century but won their independence towards 800. By 1010, their land was united to Georgia. From about 1325 until 1864, Abkhazia was ruled by the House of Sharvashidze. After the Ottomans had settled on the east coast of the Black Sea in the sixteenth century, the Abkhaz came under the influence of Islam, although Christianity was but slowly supplanted. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, many Abkhaz adopted Sunni Islam of the Hanafi school. In 1801, Georgia was incorporated into the Russian Empire, and Abkhazia followed in 1864. In 1866, an attempt to impose taxation led to a considerable emigration to Turkey. Soviet power was proclaimed in 1921 and, in 1930, Abkhazia became part of Georgia as an autonomous republic. The status of Abkhazia was downgraded in 1931 when it became an autonomous republic within Georgia. Under Stalin, a forcible collectivization was introduced and the native Communist elite purged. The influx of Armenians, Russians and Georgians into the growing agricultural and tourism sectors was also encouraged, and Abkhaz schools were briefly closed. By 1989, the number of Abkhazians was about 93,000 (18% of the population of the republic), while the Georgian population numbered 240,000. The number of Armenians (15% of the population) and Russians (14%) also substantially grew.
In recent times, ethnic conflicts have broken out and the Abkhazians became involved in a struggle for independence from Georgia. The 1992-1993 War in Abkhazia and the ensuing ethnic cleansing of Georgians left the Abkhaz in ethnic plurality with the Russians, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, and Jews comprising most of the remainder of the population of Abkhazia.
Abkhazians see Abkhaz
James George Abourezk (b. February 24, 1931, Wood, South Dakota – d. February 24, 2023, Sioux Falls, South Dakota) was an American attorney and politician from South Dakota. A member of the Democratic Party, Abourezk served as a United States Senator and as a United States Congressmember for one term each, and was the first Arab American to serve in the United States Senate. He was also the founder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
He was the first Greek Orthodox Christian of Lebanese Antiochite descent to serve in the United States Senate. He was seen as generally critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) area, particularly regarding Palestine and Israel.
Abourezk represented South Dakota in the United States Senate from 1973 until 1979. He was the author of the Indian Child Welfare Act, passed by Congress in 1978 to try to preserve Native American families and tribal culture, by arranging for the placement of Nature American children in homes of their cultures, as well as to reunite them with families. It gives preference to tribal courts with custody of Native American children domiciled on reservations and concurrent but presumptive jurisdiction in cases of children outside the reservation.
James George Abourezk was born in Wood, South Dakota, the son of Lena (née Mickel), a homemaker, and Charles Abourezk, an owner of two general stores. Both of his parents were Lebanese immigrants, and he was one of five children. Growing up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, Abourezk spoke only Arabic at home and did not learn English until he went to elementary school. At the age of 16, he was expelled from school for playing a prank on a teacher, and left home to live with his brother Tom. He completed high school in 1948.
Between 1948 and 1952, Abourezk served in the United States Navy before and during the Korean War. Following 12 weeks of boot camp, he enrolled in Electricians' Mates School, after which he was sent to support Navy ships stationed in Japan.
Following military service, Abourezk worked as a rancher, blackjack dealer, and as a judo instructor. He earned a degree in civil engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City in 1961, and worked as a civil engineer in California, before returning to South Dakota to work on the Minutemen missile silos. At the age of 32, he decided to pursue law, and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of South Dakota School of Law in Vermillion in 1966.
Abourezk began a legal practice in Rapid City, South Dakota, and joined the Democratic Party. He ran in 1968 for Attorney General of South Dakota but was defeated by Gordon Mydland. In 1970, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives and served from 1971 to 1973.
In 1972, Abourezk was elected to the United States Senate, where he served from 1973 to 1979, after which he chose not to seek a second term. He was the first chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. In 1974, TIME magazine named Senator Abourezk as one of the "200 Faces for the Future".
Abourezk's legislative successes in the Senate included the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, as well as the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. His signature legislation was the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA, 1978), designed to protect Native American children and families from being torn apart. Native American children had been removed by state social agencies from their families and placed in foster care or adoption at a disproportionately high rate, and usually placed with non Native American families. This both deprived the children of their culture and threatened the very survival of the tribes. This legislation was intended to provide a federal standard that emphasized the needs of Native American children to be raised in their own cultures, and gave precedence to tribal courts for decisions about children domiciled on the reservation, as well as concurrent but presumptive jurisdiction with state courts for Native American children off the reservation. He also authored and passed the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, which provided Indian tribes with greater autonomy. The BIA made grants to the tribes but they could manage contracts and funds to control their own destiny. That legislation also reduced the direct influence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the tribes.
Abourezk was an early supporter of a National initiative process. With fellow Senator Mark O. Hatfield (R-OR), he introduced an amendment to support more direct democracy. However, this amendment failed to receive sufficient support.
As a senator, Abourezk criticized the Office of Public Safety (OPS), a United States agency linked to the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), which provided training to foreign police forces. Officers they trained were used to suppress civilians in several countries in Central and South America during a period of military governments, dirty wars, and social disruption.
In 1973, Senators Abourezk and George McGovern attempted to end the occupation of Wounded Knee by negotiating with American Indian Movement leaders, who were in a standoff with federal law enforcement during a protest against the federal government’s treatment of Native American tribes.
Abourezk was also instrumental in the creation of both the American Indian Policy Review Commission and the Select Committee on Indian Affairs. Deeply interested in representing the tribes in Congress to work toward better federal relations, he chaired the Policy Review Commission the entire time it existed. He took the gavel as chair of the Indian Affairs Committee from its creation in 1977 to 1979, when he retired.
In 1977, Senators Abourezk and McGovern went to Cuba with a group of basketball players from the University of South Dakota and South Dakota State who played against the Cuban national men's basketball team.
In 1978, Abourezk chose not to run for re-election. He was succeeded in office by Republican Larry Pressler, with whom he had a long-running political feud.
Following his retirement in 1980, Abourezk founded the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a grassroots civil rights organization.
In 1989, Abourezk published his Advise and Dissent: Memoirs of South Dakota and the U.S. Senate. He is also the co-author, along with Hyman Bookbinder, of Through Different Eyes: Two Leading Americans — a Jew and an Arab — Debate U. S. Policy in the Middle East (1987).
In 2007, Abourezk gave an interview to the Hezbollah funded news channel Al-Manar TV. In this interview Abourezk said that he believed that Zionists used the terrorists that perpetrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks as a way to sow Islamophobia, that Zionists control the United States Congress, and that Hezbollah and Hamas are resistance fighters.
After his retirement from the Senate, Abourezk worked as a lawyer and writer in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He continued to be active in supporting tribal sovereignty and culture. In July 2015 Abourezk spoke out against a suit filed against the ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act) by the Goldwater Institute. It was one of three suits seeking to overturn the act. Some states and adoption groups, who make money off adoptions, have opposed any prohibitions on their placements of Native American children. Abourezk considered this his signature legislation and the new rules instrumental in protecting Native American children and preserving tribal families. He noted that the late Senator Barry Goldwater, his friend and colleague, had voted for the legislation in 1977 and had often consulted with him in tribal matters.
In 1952, Abourezk married his first wife, Mary Ann Houlton. They had three children. Abourezk's marriage to Mary Ann Houlton and his subsequent marriage to Margaret Bethea ended in divorce. Abourezk married Sanaa Dieb in 1991. They had one child from this union along with a step-child.
Abourezk lived in South Dakota for most of his life. He died at his home in Sioux Falls on February 24, 2023, his 92nd birthday.
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