According to Islamic law, dhimmis — primarily Jews and Christians under the “protection” of the Islamic state — are “forbidden to openly display wine or pork, (A: to ring church bells or display crosses,) recite the Torah or Evangel aloud, or make public display of their funerals and feastdays” (‘Umdat al-Salik, o11.5(6)).
in this case, no actual dhimmis or churches are involved. The bells just remind the Islamic supremacists of churches, and so they have to be silenced.
“Bells toll no more for schools in Somali town,” from Reuters, April 15 (thanks to Alexandre):
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somalia’s al Shabaab militants have ordered schools in Jowhar town to stop using bells to signal the end of classes because they sound like those of Christian churches, teachers said on Thursday.
Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab is Somalia’s most powerful insurgent group and controls large parts of the south and the capital Mogadishu. It is battling the western-backed government for control of the Horn of Africa nation.
Teachers and a school headmaster in Shabaab-controlled Jowhar town, some 90 km (56 miles) north of Mogadishu, said an al Shabaab member had ordered schools to silence their bells because the sound was too similar to those in Christian churches.
“We were called by Sheikh Farah, the head of Al Shabaab’s education, and he told us that we can’t use bell sounds from now on. He said any school heard using bell sounds after now will be brought to Islamic justice,” a school teacher in Jowhar told Reuters by telephone.
A local headmaster confirmed the report and added that al Shabaab had informed his school that it would begin explaining to students the significance of Islamic Jihad.
Now here is yet another opportunity for CAIR’s gentle stomach-stapled beekeeper, Honest Ibe Hooper, and Brave Ahmed Rehab and all the rest. They could send a CAIR team over to Somalia to teach the Misunderstanders of Islam of al-Shabaab the true, peaceful significance of Islamic Jihad. How about it, Honest Ibe? Brave Ahmed? What better way to demonstrate your moderate bona fides, eh?
Al Shabaab runs administrations in the areas it controls using a harsh version of sharia law, cutting off hands of thieves, making sure women wear veils and banning what it calls social vices, like music and TV sports….
That “harsh” version of Sharia is rooted in Qur’anic literalism — for example, the amputation of thieves’ hands is commanded in Qur’an 5:38.