“Upon return to Mozambique, they recruited other disenfranchised young men to join their ranks.”
Jihadists recruit young men everywhere to join their ranks, and not only “disenfranchised” young men. Jihadists are recruited from among all groups: from the poor and the rich, from the educated and the non-educated. Jihadists are guided by Islamic religious dedication, with promises of current rewards as well as eternal rewards in Islamic paradise for jihad activity. And murder in the way of Allah is glorified as the highest calling: martyrdom (cf. Qur’an 9:111).
“Let those who sell the life of this world for the next fight in the way of Allah. Whoever fights in the way of Allah, whether he is killed or victorious, on him we will bestow a great reward.” Quran 4:74
Muhammad said: “I would love to be martyred in Allah’s Cause and then get resurrected and then get martyred, and then get resurrected again and then get martyred and then get resurrected again and then get martyred.” Sahih Bukhari 52:54
A man asks Muhammad “which of men is the best?” Muhammad replies that it is the man who is always ready for battle and flies into it “seeking death at places where it can be expected.” Sahih Muslim 20:4655
Bishop Lisboa says: “The world still has no idea what is happening, because of indifference, and because it seems that we have already become accustomed to wars. There is war in Iraq, there is war in Syria and there is also now a war in Mozambique.”
Bishop Lisboa is correct about the world’s “indifference” to wars, but in the case of Mozambique, it is much more than “indifference.” Islam gets a pass for the most atrocious human rights abuses, even as they are committed globally. Its critics are routinely branded “Islamophobic.” If any other mainstream religion or group did exactly the same as what is being done to Christians in Mozambique, there would be a global outcry. Indifference would not be the issue. Islam’s bloody conquests are carried out exclusively in order to establish the Sharia. What is happening in Mozambique isn’t “war” as such; it is a genocide against innocent Christians by jihadists who are on a mission to spread the Sharia.
The world continues to call Islam a “religion of peace” despite 1400 years of bloody jihad. From ISIL (IS in the Levant) to ISIS-K (Afghanistan) and now IS-M (Mozambique), the Islamic State continues to move rapidly to expand the hegemony of Sharia.
“Crisis in Mozambique,” by Linda Burkle, International Christian Concern, November 8, 2021:
Not long ago I heard a Heidi Baker speak at a worship event. She was visiting the United States but lives in Mozambique, where she runs a large ministry, Iris Global. In the past, she would host visiting teams from the U.S. and other nations, one of which was attended by a friend of mine several years ago. However, such trips are no longer safe and have been discontinued due to violence. Baker shared that many of the pastors and congregants she worked with had been killed or forced to flee their homes. Some had been crucified, others burned or beheaded. Numerous churches and villages have been burned, particularly in the northern region as violent insurgents attack, specifically targeting Christians. [1] The Iris Global website states: “Our most urgent focus right now is the crisis in northern Mozambique. Over the last four years, more than 700,000 people have fled violent insurgents with many seeking safety in Pemba and surrounding villages. The situation has deteriorated dramatically and experts have recommended communities and organizations like Iris serving in the region prepare for a protracted season of terror and instability.” [2]
Beginning in 2017, armed militants, bearing the Islamic State flag, have wrenched havoc primarily in the northern Mozambique province of Cabo Delgado. International Christian Concern has reported that although the conflict “started as a local struggle between a local gang and the wealthy businessmen and government who were taking the region’s natural resources, it has become an international crisis.”[3] As a result, over 3,000 have been murdered and almost a million displaced, creating what the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) has called an acute hunger crisis. [4] Prominent local Muslim leaders have condemned these attacks and, together with Christians, have formed a coalition to address the conflict and support those adversely affected. Traditionally, Christians and Muslims have relatively peacefully co-existed in the secular country, which constitutionally prohibits religious discrimination. [5]
The rise of the Islamic State in Mozambique (IS-M) was in part due to the radicalization of young men who had studied Islam abroad where they received more fundamentalist religious training. Upon return to Mozambique, they recruited other disenfranchised young men to join their ranks. In June 2019, IS-M pledged allegiance to ISIS, affiliated with its Islamic State-Central African Province. Since that time, IS-M has conducted numerous deadly attacks primarily aimed at Christians. [6] In addition to mass killings and burning villages, IS-M is destroying farms and the food supply, as well as disrupting natural gas projects. The international community, namely the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), Rwanda, and the European Union, deployed troops and provided training to assist the Mozambican government in responding to the growing insurgency.[7] These efforts are compounded by the distrust of central government by regional leaders and the general population.
On August 6, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the designation of IS-M leaders Bonomade Machude Omar and Ibn Omar as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists” under Executive Order 13224. Such a designation freezes all assets and blocks financial transactions with these individuals. [8] Mozambican government officials have downplayed the role of IS-M in the violence, instead blaming “external terrorists” such as al-Shabbab. (The Islamic State-affiliated al-Shabbab is thought to have imbedded intelligence cells within the Mozambican military.) As the IS-M organization has grown in strength and level of brutality, as it has broadened its international ties. The insurgents finance themselves by illicit activities, including extortion and kidnapping. There is potential for the conflict to expand into neighboring provinces, also rich in natural resources and ripe for militant exploitation, and even across borders.” [9]
For the first time, Mozambique has been included on the World Watch List, published by Open Doors, as 45th among the top 50 worst countries for persecution of Christians. The year 2020 proved to be one of the most violent in recent history for the country due to the increasing Islamic terrorist attacks. “The country’s army withdrew from important strategic locations, so a persecution phenomenon that was limited to a smaller part of the country expanded in the last year. Finally, the presence of drug cartels in some areas makes the lives of Christians difficult—especially for church youth workers.” [10]
During an interview with CBN News, Bishop Luiz Fernando Lisboa from the Mozambique Pemba Diocese commented on the underreporting of this increased violence. “The world still has no idea what is happening, because of indifference, and because it seems that we have already become accustomed to wars,” said Bishop Lisboa. “There is war in Iraq, there is war in Syria and there is also now a war in Mozambique.” [11]….
Infidel says
There were only some parts of Mozambique that were once a part of the Swahili sultanate, centered in Zanzibar. How has that now become so big that it threatens Mozambique as a whole? If this continues, islam would have done in sub-Saharan Africa what islam did in Saharan Africa in the 8th century
gravenimage says
Mozambique: Islamic State grows in strength and brutality, while broadening international ties
“Upon return to Mozambique, they recruited other disenfranchised young men to join their ranks.”
…………….
I am *so* tired of this tripe–this blames the victims for supposedly “disenfranchising” Muslims. But the fact is that pious Muslims act like this *everywhere*, in free countries and non-free countries, in Islamic countries and Infidel nations. This is about Islam, not about supposed mistreatment of Muslims.
Jerry says
By a strange coincidence, as the Islamist terrorist incursion expands on Northern Mozambque, kidnappings of wealthy Muslims or their their children in nearby South Africa provides a substantial and near steady cash flow to some unknown international criminal Syndicate or Syndicates apparently operating from Pakistan, Nigeria, the Golf Syates and or Turkey raising, firstly, the suspicion as to where the proceeds of those crimes are going, and, secondly whether or not those wealthy South African Moslems ostensibly the victims, are not actually complicit in the financing of the Mozambique Jihadi incursion.