Abdirizak Waberi


Abdirizak Waberi is a Somali-Swedish Moderate Party politician. He was a member of the Swedish parliament from the 2010 election until the next election in 2014, representing the Gothenburg Municipality constituency.

Biography

Waberi was born in Somalia. Prior to entering politics, he worked as a principal at the Römosseskolan Islamic private elementary school in Gothenburg. The school teaches islamic doctrine two hours a week, more than other schools. It is taught that a man can have many wives, which is contrary to the values of the Swedish education system which specifies equality between men and women. The institution was criticized by the Swedish School Inspectorate for its unusual grading pattern, wherein all the ninth grade boys within the system graduated with full marks and were eligible to apply for college, while a lower 71% of girls graduated with full marks. This was in contrast to the gender ratio typically seen in other local schools in Sweden, where the girls tended to outperform the boys.
In the 2010 election, Waberi was elected to the Swedish parliament, representing the Gothenburg Municipality constituency. He was a deputy member of the legislature's Committee on Defence.
Waberi has served as the vice president of Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe, where he headed the citizenship and public relations duties.
In addition, Waberi has served as the chairman of several organizations, including the Islamic Association in Sweden, Muslim Political Forum and Islamic Schools of Sweden. He is also a member of the board of the Muslim Council of Sweden.
Waberi lives in Angered, Gothenburg. He is married, with five children.

Religious views

In a 2006 interview by the Ottar magazine published by the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education, he stated that according to the Quran, that a man may have up to four wives. He also stated a man is capable of loving four wives, but that woman cannot love four men. According to Waberi, Islam teaches that a Muslim man may marry a woman of a different religion, but a Muslim woman must marry a Muslim man.