By Abdirazak Takar, PhD

Somalia has once again entered a dangerous and sensitive political phase. Disputes are intensifying over the constitution, electoral processes, the relationship between the federal government and regional states, and the overall direction of state-building in the country. For a nation that has sacrificed so much simply to arrive at this point, the gravity of the current moment cannot be overstated.

While political disagreements are an inherent feature of any democratic system, particular concern arises when those in positions of leadership systematically disregard counsel and warnings offered in good faith by fellow political stakeholders, civil society, and the broader national community. In the Islamic tradition of governance, the obligation of a ruler to engage in Shuura, consultative deliberation with those he leads, is not merely a political courtesy. It is a moral and religious duty. To abandon that duty is to begin the journey toward a leadership that has lost its legitimacy in the deepest sense.

There is a principle, old and well evidenced, known as the Law of False Pride. It describes the condition of a leader or institution that becomes so persuaded of its own authority and indispensability that it ceases to listen, ceases to consult, and ultimately ceases to govern in any meaningful sense of the word. The Quran itself warns against the arrogance of those entrusted with authority, reminding us that power is a trust, an Amaanah, not a possession.

History, both globally and within Somalia itself, has demonstrated with painful consistency that political arrogance and the deliberate denial of inconvenient realities are among the most reliable precursors to instability and institutional failure.

A Leadership under Scrutiny

Regarding the situation as it stands today, criticism directed at President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has grown substantially in both volume and seriousness. His critics accuse him of leading constitutional changes without the foundation of genuine national consensus, and of dismissing legitimate concerns raised by the political opposition, several Federal Member State administrations, and significant sections of Somali civil society.

These are not peripheral voices. They represent a broad and credible cross-section of Somali political and social life, and their concerns merit serious engagement rather than dismissal. A leader who silences or ignores those who speak inconvenient truths does not thereby make those truths disappear. He simply ensures he will encounter them under far worse circumstances.

The Human Cost of Political Failure

Somalia is a country still in the process of recovering from decades of conflict and institutional collapse. In such a context, political stability is not something that can be imposed through the exercise of state power alone. It must be built, carefully and inclusively, through dialogue, compromise, and agreements in which all significant parties hold a genuine stake.

The warnings that went unheeded regarding military movements and the mobilisation of armed actors have now given way to direct armed confrontation between opposition forces and the federal government in the streets of Mogadishu. The consequences of this development are neither abstract nor distant. They are unfolding now, and they touch every dimension of Somali national life.

The implications are serious and far-reaching. The broader project of Somali statehood, the federal framework, national security architecture, and the credibility of future electoral processes are all placed at risk. The primary victims of any armed conflict in a densely populated capital city are invariably its civilian residents. Armed confrontation does not discriminate between the political actor and the ordinary citizen. Somalia’s own history demonstrates with devastating clarity that when political disputes are converted into military contests, it is the civilian population that bears the heaviest burden.

Furthermore, Somalia had in recent years achieved meaningful and hard-won progress in areas of international diplomacy, debt relief negotiations, and institutional reconstruction. Political crisis of this nature, particularly one that descends into open armed conflict, carries the serious risk of eroding the confidence of the international community at precisely the moment when that confidence is most needed. Public trust deteriorates. State institutions sustain damage that takes years to repair. The entire trajectory of state-building suffers a setback whose costs extend far beyond the immediate crisis.

Where Responsibility Lies

Given that the situation has now escalated to the level of political violence and armed clashes, the primary responsibility for charting a course toward resolution rests with the Federal Government. This is not an arbitrary assignment of blame. It follows from the fundamental principle that those who hold the greatest institutional authority also bear the greatest obligation to exercise it with restraint, wisdom, and a genuine commitment to the national interest.

A ruler in Islamic political thought is not above accountability. The classical scholars were unambiguous on this point. Ibn Khaldun, whose observations on the rise and fall of states remain among the most penetrating in the history of political thought, identified the corruption of leadership through pride and isolation as one of the primary mechanisms by which civilisations undermine themselves from within. Somalia’s leadership would do well to reflect on that tradition rather than disregard it.

The Federal Government is expected to be the first party to open the doors of dialogue, to actively de-escalate tensions, and to refrain from any action that deepens or prolongs the conflict. That expectation is grounded not in political sympathy for any particular side but in a basic understanding of what responsible governance demands.

Instead, numerous appeals from Somali political figures, academics, intellectuals, and the country’s international partners have gone unacknowledged. Those appeals were consistent in their message: honour existing political agreements, ensure that electoral processes are genuinely inclusive, and ground any constitutional reform in the kind of national consultation that gives the resulting framework real legitimacy.

What Is Truly at Stake

The most consequential danger arising from this pattern of political deaf-ear is not the immediate conflict alone, severe as it is. The deeper and more lasting harm is the damage inflicted on the foundational credibility of Somali statehood itself. When citizens come to believe that agreed frameworks can be unilaterally altered, that the rules of political engagement are selectively applied, the construction of durable and trusted institutions becomes extraordinarily difficult. That loss of institutional confidence, once sustained, is not easily or quickly repaired.

It is essential that all parties to Somalia’s political life remind themselves of a truth that the pressures of the current moment make easy to forget: Somalia is greater than any individual, any political party, or any administration. The president currently in office, the opposition currently in contest with him, and the leaders of the Federal Member States are all, by the nature of political life, temporary occupants of the roles they hold. Somalia endures beyond all of them. National interest must therefore take clear and consistent precedence over the interests of any particular political constituency.

As a scholar of Sharia and Islamic governance, this writer would add a dimension that pure political analysis sometimes neglects. Leadership in the Islamic tradition carries a weight of moral accountability that extends beyond the court of public opinion or the judgment of history. Every decision made in these coming days, every life affected by the choices of those in power, will be accounted for. That is not a rhetorical flourish. It is a sincere reminder to every Muslim leader engaged in this crisis that their authority is borrowed, their time is limited, and their reckoning is certain.

A Warning That Must Be Heard

The current situation carries a warning of considerable gravity. Any leader who comes to believe that their authority supersedes the collective wisdom of the people they govern, and who chooses to bypass dialogue and national agreement in pursuit of unilateral objectives, places themselves squarely in the path of the consequences that the Law of False Pride describes. That is not a political judgment. It is an observation drawn from the consistent record of history and confirmed by the teachings of our faith.

Somalia needs leadership that genuinely listens that engages honestly with perspectives that differ from its own, and that refuses to ask the Somali people to pay yet again the devastating price of political conflict allowed to become a security crisis.

History has demonstrated, repeatedly and without ambiguity, that the path to enduring stability does not run through arrogance or unchecked authority. It runs through compromise, through honest dialogue, and through genuine respect for the agreements that make collective national life possible.

Somalia today does not need a winner and a loser. It needs someone willing to save the nation.

Dr. Abdirazak Takar
Email: amtakar@gmail.com
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Dr. Abdirazak Takar is Deputy Chair of the Higher Education Commission of Puntland State, Somalia. He previously served as Rector of East Africa University, Somalia. He writes on higher education policy, governance, political affairs, and Islamic and comparative law.