• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Jihad terror group recruiter invites reporter to convert to Islam, says “everywhere there is music, there is ungodliness”

Feb 16, 2014 4:52 pm By Robert Spencer

AbubakarShariffAhmedAbubakar Shariff Ahmed is a recruiter for jihad. “His advice is that, if Islam is under attack, which he says it is, then it is every Muslim’s duty to wage jihad.” This is in line with the classic formulations of Islamic jurisprudence, which stipulate that exactly that: that jihad becomes the personal duty of every Muslim if a Muslim land is attacked. He also invites Gabriel Gatehouse to accept Islam, and denounces music as leading to ungodliness — in line with Islamic law’s prohibition on music.

What Ahmed says actually coincides with what “moderate” Muslim spokesmen say in the West, that jihad only has a military component in defense of Muslim lands. However, his involvement in a jihad terror group is strange, since those spokesmen routinely claim that jihad terror groups are made up of people who do not know anything about Islam and do not follow it properly, but only use it as a cover for their activities. Yet Abubakar Shariff Ahmed seems to be quite pious and devout. What he assumes about music also contradicts the common claim that the Islamic prohibition of music is the invention of greasy Islamophobes. Does Abubakar Shariff Ahmed have a secret stash of the writings of greasy Islamophobes under his bed?

There Is No Fun In Islam Update: “An atheist meets an al-Shabab ‘recruiter,'” by Gabriel Gatehouse for BBC News, February 16 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Abubakar Shariff Ahmed is not a hard man to find. Ask around in the Majengo area of Mombasa and people will know where he lives.

But ask around too conspicuously and you are likely to arouse suspicion.

Mr Ahmed is perhaps better known by his nickname, Makaburi. It means “graveyard” in Swahili.

His name features on US and UN sanctions lists of people suspected of involvement in terrorism – accused of recruiting young Kenyan Muslims for violent militant activity in Somalia.

He himself believes the Kenyan police will one day try to kill him. So he is careful about his security….

Makaburi’s manner may be charming but his beliefs are uncompromising. The time is near he told me. An army of Allah will rise up out of the desert. It will come bearing a black flag and establish a global Islamic caliphate.

He denies recruiting for al-Shabab, or calling on his followers to travel to Somalia to fight.

“I do not have any followers,” he says at one point. I nod towards the bearded teenagers. “Who are they?” I ask. “They have come to ask my advice,” he says.

His advice is that, if Islam is under attack, which he says it is, then it is every Muslim’s duty to wage jihad.

After the interview we sat together on the roof where the breeze had picked up and the air was beginning to cool. “Let me invite you to Islam,” he said, breaking once more into that charming smile.

I smiled back. “Regretfully,” I said, “I am an atheist.”

He screwed up his face, and waved towards the two bearded students, loitering now next to a nearby pigeon coop.

“Look at them,” he said. “Each from a different Kenyan tribe, and me from yet another. But thanks to Islam, we are brothers. Religion brings us together.”

I countered with a story I had once heard on this very programme. A BBC reporter in Bosnia, during the war in the 1990s, had asked an elderly gentleman whether he was a Croat or a Muslim?

The man’s reproachful response had struck home: “I am a musician,” he had said. Music could unite where religion divided. Makaburi was unimpressed.

“Everywhere there is music, there is ungodliness,” he said
The Koran

“Define ungodliness,” I challenged him. I was beginning to enjoy our discussion.

He told me a story about a sailor he had known who had spent a long time at sea aboard a cargo ship. According to custom, after going to the toilet, he would wash instead of wipe.

But he was the only Muslim on board, and eventually the other sailors confronted him about the splashes of water around the loo. Could he stop it please, they found it unhygienic.

They were sitting at breakfast and there was a can of condensed milk open on the table. Makaburi’s sailor friend took the hand of one of his colleagues and dabbed it with some of the sweet sticky substance.

“Now wipe it off with a tissue,” he told him, “then lick your hand. Tell me does it still taste of condensed milk?”

The sailor did so and admitted that yes, his hand still tasted sweet.
Kenya and Somalia map

The dabbing was repeated and the sailor was now invited to wash his hand with water.

Did his hand still taste of milk? It did not. The point was made.

“But surely this is not what it all boils down to,” I protested. “Of course not,” Makaburi beamed. “But let me give you a copy of the Koran,” he pleaded. “You read it, you will see.”

I promised I would, but on one condition. Would Makaburi in return listen to my favourite jazz album, and tell me honestly what he thought?

He looked disgusted. “No,” he said, “no way. I have not listened to music for more than a decade.” And so we parted, our cultural exchange, between atheist and Islamist, unconsummated.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Al-Shabaab, Kenya, Sharia, Somalia Tagged With: featured


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. dumbledoresarmy says

    Feb 16, 2014 at 5:14 pm

    “Wherever there is music, there is ungodliness”.

    This Muslim man is mad; barking mad.

    Music can express, unforgettably, the deepest and highest longings of the human soul.

    Psalm 23 (the same psalm that was recited by Todd Beamer, along with the Lord’s Prayer, aboard Flight 93, in his final phone call).

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQNOCeJIC8M&feature=related

    J S Bach setting the Latin translation of the Song of Mary Mother of Jesus, the Magnificat:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlKcMJwcgq4&feature=related

    Magnificat anima mea dominum
    My soul doth magnify the LORD

    Psalm 42

    “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for thee, O Lord”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLtnUimriZ4&feature=related

    Psalm 130, De profundis (a great psalm for all the secret Christians in Somalia, apostates from Islam, who have found something so wonderful that they are prepared to risk death rather than renounce it)

  2. Salah says

    Feb 16, 2014 at 5:15 pm

    Ave Maria vs Sharia!!!

    http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2011/09/us-and-them-nous-et-eux.html

    • Wich says

      Feb 16, 2014 at 5:37 pm

      One way bridge…

  3. PJG says

    Feb 16, 2014 at 5:44 pm

    “’Let me invite you to Islam,’ he said [with obligatory charming smile].
    I smiled back. ‘Regretfully, I said [no doubt less charmingly], ‘I am an atheist.'”

    No need for apologetic attitude. A simple “No thanks,” would suffice.

    I was charmingly asked by the Dean of an Islamic University once if I had any questions about Islam. “No thanks,” I said, and we talked about other things.

    Bugger them. (Sorry, JWers…common Australian expression…)

    Seriously though, for non-Muslims in Muslim countries, apparently it would be very unwise to say “no” to such an invitation. The safe answer is, “I will think about it.” “No” can make them…angry…

  4. Infi Dell says

    Feb 16, 2014 at 6:09 pm

    And I was merely invited by someone from an Islamic state to come and visit.

    As soon as you find another prophet, I replied.

  5. Jerry says

    Feb 16, 2014 at 6:12 pm

    And I was merely invited by someone from an Islamic state to come and visit.

    As soon as you find another prophet, I replied.

  6. dumbledoresarmy says

    Feb 16, 2014 at 6:18 pm

    This Mohammedan wants to turn planet earth into Hell. There is no music in Hell.

    There is no music or song – none whatsoever – in Dante’s “Inferno”. Not even in the “first circle”, Limbo. There’s the trumpet blast of a demon’s fart in one of the lower Circles, but that’s all.

    The Purgatorio and the Paradiso, on the other hand, are simply *full* of references to music, singing and dancing.

  7. CogitoErgoSum says

    Feb 16, 2014 at 11:54 pm

    “Everywhere there is music, there is ungodliness,” he said.

    Any man who would say such a thing is surely a fool.

  8. Defcon 4 says

    Feb 17, 2014 at 3:14 am

    I always wondered how Yusuf Islam (once Cat Stevens) responds to the ban on music suggested by some muslime “scholars”.

  9. PJG says

    Feb 17, 2014 at 4:40 am

    Let me tell you something. If I had listened to the sufi (mahdeeh) music of Sudan and knew nothing about Islam, and was young and romantic, I would probably have thought Islam was absolutely wonderful.
    I still really love the music.
    To wipe out the music of places like Sudan, Mali and so on, would constitute a crime against humanity.
    Islam IS a crime against humanity. Humanity fights back, but Islamic humanity fights back weakly.

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • Crusades Were Right on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • William Garrison on The Fantasy Islam of Rice University’s Craig Considine (Part 3)
  • Vladimir on Islamic Republic of Iran: Turkey’s Erdogan champions Islam only as a tool to further his own interests
  • John on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • Vladimir on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.