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Nuradin Ali
Monday, January 12, 2009
The grainy video picture does not lie. A young terrified man is being dragged to a slaughter spot. Bound and blind-folded he screams slowly but can be heard audibly repeatedly quoting the Shahada “La Ilaaha Ila Laah ". Far to the left side of the picture, an Alshabab fanatic can be seen clearly, sharpening a Samurai sword like double- edged knife. The man is then dragged to face the camera. An Alshabab fanatic then begins the horrifying scene of slitting the man’s throat but some how has difficulties in completing the slaughter; a sort of gruesome hissing sound could be heard in the interim, blood pouring to the ground like a water fountain before another fanatic takes over and completely slits the victim’s throat. In a macabre scene, the decapitated head is then paraded on camera reminiscent of a horror movie, presumably as a warning to all those who choose to work for the TFG. This is of course not a horror movie but the horrifying end of the life of a young Somali chap in the outskirts of Baidao whose alleged crime was to have been in the employment of the TFG.
The heart-wrenching stories of the atrocities committed by Alshabab fanatics do not end here. Some of you may recall the young fourteen year old girl who was brutally gang- raped by Alshabab, only to be charged with adultery by Alshabab and then stoned to death.
This website also has the u-tube video of Alshabab, destroying much revered centuries old shrines. Their motive behind this sacrilege was their perceived fear that places of historical and religious interest which had been in existence for centuries somehow pose a grave danger their “Islamisation programme”.
The savagery perpetrated by this fanatical cult in the name of religion has of course its corresponding examples in the world. In Uganda, for example, in the form of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) who, along with Alshabab, stand out in world rarity in committing the most heinous of crimes in the name of religion.
I was born and bred in Mogadishu and when I visited it in the immediate aftermath of the Ethiopian invasion was extremely appalled and angered by their presence in our soil. They were blazing a trail of destruction in their wake, bombing and firing at civilians at will and indiscriminately. It was a cruel twist of fate for our long-suffering people that occurred so often in our country and I could see the superficial appeal, in the eyes of many impressionable young Somalis, to join the so-called Jihad against the Ethiopian invaders and their TFG allies.
However, the Eithopian invasion was entirely avoiadable had it not been for the unfortunate hot-headedness of the then Union of the Islamic Courts and their doomed refusal to take part in a negotiated settlement to their dispute with the TFG.
Whilst the TFG and their Ethiopian allies have shown scant concern for our people and indeed there is overwhelming evidence supporting this, it is nothing compared to the contempt for human life by these religious Alshabab zealots whose perverted interpretation of Islam continues to poison and fatally subvert the minds of our young brothers and sisters. They promote a nihilistic doctrine of hatred for everyone and pose a far greater danger to our Somali way of life than any outside invader ever could.
It is therefore impossible to exaggerate the magnitude of the Alshabab danger to our civilization, religion, Somalinessnes and way of life. We have always been Muslims and do not need this Wahabbi propaganda and fanatical non-sense which, if not stopped, risks wiping out our entire heritage and subvert our Islamic teachings as we know them today in Somalia.
We also need to stand out to the hollow and dangerous efforts of the Alshabab apologists who seek to salvage some decency in this gruesome, deplorable and horrible tale of destruction being waged by Alshabab. Theirs is nothing to do with Ethiopia – Alshabab is a danger to us all.
As I write this article, I mourn the recent death of my distant uncle, a humanitarian aid worker, who was shot dead in front of his local mosque after prayers – his crime working for an infidel organization.
Alshabab is not therefore a nationalistic or religious insurgency group which is opposed to Ethiopia's presence in our land, but a bunch of monstrous religious zealots who are laying the foundations for generations of virulent hatred and anti-somalinessnes. They, not the Ethiopians, remain a real threat to all Somalis. We must not allow them to win.
Nuradin Ali
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