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Sharia Alert from Somalia. From the TimesOnline, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
Sheikh Ahmed used to be a teacher until a gang kidnapped one of his students. He began campaigning for Islamic courts, with strict laws and punishments, to counter the chaos of a city run by warlords since the fall of President Siad Barre in 1991. Today his Union of Islamic Courts runs Mogadishu, its militias having expelled the warlords last week, and Sheikh Ahmed is causing consternation in the West.Washington is widely believed to have been backing the warlords to check the spread of the Sharia courts and the alleged influence of al-Qaeda.
In an interview with The Times Sheikh Ahmed insists the courts have no interest in turning Somalia into an Islamic state or governing like the Taleban in Afghanistan. He claims to have no agenda beyond keeping the warlords from the city.
“We don’t do anything. We will make facilities for the community — whether politicians or intellectuals, women or youths — we make facilities for people to choose what they want,” he says. “We just want to defend our people.”
He denies any links to al-Qaeda even though his movement includes jihadists such as Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, leader of Al-Ittihad, who has admitted meeting al-Qaeda leaders and is wanted by the US.
“The USA has to bring evidence of whether he is a criminal. After that we will have a discussion,” he says. The West has got it all wrong. “We ourselves have a question. The Westerners are against our religion, but we don’t know why,” he says before a muezzin’s call to prayer abruptly ends the interview.
Outside Sheikh Ahmed’s ramshackle headquarters lies a city in ruins. Minarets and mobile phone masts are the only structures that stand more than two storeys high. Donkey carts carrying water barrels traverse sludge-filled tracks that may once have been paved roads. Mango trees and acacia bushes have spread through the rubble as the African scrub reclaims parts of Mogadishu. Sheikh Ahmed’s network of Sharia courts began life in the mid- 1990s, set up by businessmen sick of seeing their profits skimmed by the warlords....
But the restoration of some semblance of order has come at a price. The courts have closed cinemas accused of showing immoral films and made celebrating New Year a capital offence. A boy was recently allowed to stab his father’s killer to death in front of a cheering crowd.
At Mogadishu’s Peace Hotel weddings used to finish with hundreds of people dancing in the car park, but no longer. “The Islamic courts have told us there can be no pop music,” says a waiter. “It’s very sad. We all hope that things are not going to be like Afghanistan.”...
It has opened talks with the Sharia courts to see whether they might be able to work together. Mohamed Abdi Hayir, Somalia’s Information Minister, said: “Like any organisation there are extremists and moderates within the courts. We will see if we can work with the moderates so that the extremists do not have any power.”
But Sheikh Ahmed’s allies include many who believe that the Sharia courts’ triumph in Mogadishu should be replicated nationwide, turning Somalia into an Islamic state.
Posted by Robert at June 13, 2006 6:06 AM
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I don't trust one word of the soothing sheik. It's all lies. We all know the objective is to convert Somalia into an Islamic state. If he is not radical enough he will be snuffed out by someone who is.
There are no good guys in this one.
Posted by: Turbinehead![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 13, 2006 6:19 AM
Could Somalia become the new Afganistan for Al-Qaida?
Posted by: bigcatgirl13106 at June 13, 2006 6:20 AM
"A boy was allowed to stab his father's killer to death in front of a cheering crowd." What does it matter who is making the rules, the warlords, who are Muslim, or the guys who are running the Union of Islamic Courts? Somalia is a country filled with dysfunctional, violent, tribal, all-the-time Muslims. Please, politicians of the West...no money, no increased refugee programs, no troops of any kind for this place. We already have too many Muslim countries on the dole.
Posted by: maryrose at June 13, 2006 10:23 AM
They're already demanding aid from the US.
Please, let our government not be stupid enough to give it to them.
at June 13, 2006 10:34 AM
I wouldn't mind sending them aid... As long as the aid comes in the form of 1,000,000 500 pound explosive parcels dropped from 30,000 feet...
Posted by: skald at June 13, 2006 12:33 PM
From the above article
Washington is widely believed to have been backing the warlords to check the spread of the Sharia courts and the alleged influence of al-Qaeda.If Islam is a "noble religion", and Islamic forces in Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar et al are worth supporting, why does Washington feel the need to check the spread of Sharia courts? Huh?
at June 13, 2006 1:07 PM
Sheikh Ahmed and Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys are secure in their future careers. They can help set up a murderous regime and make made celebrating New Year a capital offence. Then if they ever lose their jobs, they'll get full scholarships to study at Yale.
Allah is gracious!
Posted by: Provoslavni at June 13, 2006 1:58 PM
Somalia is slowly turning into a replica of Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. I hope the world does not ignore Somalia like it did to Afghanistan in the years before the Taliban came to power. If that happens, our next war or one of our next wars may be fought in Somalia.
Posted by: Christian at June 13, 2006 6:04 PM
Does anyone remember that quote from a year or two ago by Nicholas de Genova? He is an assistant professor of Anthropology and Latino Studies at Columbia University, who said he hoped the US would encounter "a million Mogadishus".
"A million Mogadishus"--Mogadishu is now most likely the most hoffifying city in which to live on the entire planet--sharia law, warlords battling in the streets, no economy--a society too dangerous even for relief agencies to venture into most of the time. . You have to be pretty knee-jerk anti-western to consider Mogadishu to be a fine model for the world to emulate.
gravenimage
p.s. this is my first posting. I have been visiting this site for awhile--disturbing, but very informative!
Posted by: gravenimage at June 13, 2006 11:56 PM
gravenimage,
Welcome!!! The quote by deGenova is not unusual from "professors" in western colleges and universities. I often tell myself that there are three great ideological evils that existed in our lifetime: Communism, Nazism and Islam. Sometimes I think there is a fourth: Academia.
Posted by: Provoslavni at June 14, 2006 2:10 PM
Why are you infidels so scared of having an Islamic State exist in a different country. I bet you all crap your pants just in case that one Islamic state may expand and take over your lives too.
Islamic state is not an option, its a MUST.
Posted by: Khalid Bin Waleed at June 15, 2006 10:21 AM
Khalid Bin Waleed wrote:
Why are you infidels so scared of having an Islamic State exist in a different country. I bet you all crap your pants just in case that one Islamic state may expand and take over your lives too.
....
Yes, why would we have any concern about anyone having to live under such a primitive and unjust system?
Petty thieves have their hands and feet chopped off, rape victims are afraid to report the crime lest they themselves be charged with adultery, and children as young as nine may be subject to stoning?
Already cinemas in Mogadishu have received bombing threats unless they stop showing Bollywood films, and a hotel that held its annual New Year's party after ignoring warnings found the festivies interrupted by a rocked fueled grenade.
gravenimage
P.S. thanks for the welcome, Provoslavni!
Posted by: gravenimage at June 17, 2006 4:31 PM
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