Hiiraan Online

It is very possible that the leadership of the Al-Shabab units in south central Somalia which includes Mogadishu may not have been aware or told a mission that another brigade have planned and carried out. If Mogadishu Al-Shabab brigades were not told and kept in the dark which brigade or region carried out the assassination and bombing, it is too bad they were not told, but that does not mean Al-Shabab did not carried out the operation. The Al-Shabab leaders of Mogadishu know very well the modus operandi of Al-Shabab, and should not be surprised if this act was beyond their knowledge or too big to chew. As long as the top echelon like Axmed Cabdi Aw Maxamuud Godane a.k.a. Sheikh Maxamed Mukhtaar Cabdiraxmaan “Abu Zubeyr” knew the operation, it stands as Al-Shabab operation. They can tell the world all the lies they want but make no mistake this lie will not be sold to the Somali people. They can certainly dupe the world media and people around the world who could not comprehend their brutality. We Somalis have seen enough of Al-Shabab. The blood of our teachers, professors, intellectual and the ministers are on their hands.

In Al-Shabab worldview, the ends justify the means. They want to eliminate the government, and ministers are part and parcel of this government. We understand they wanted to kill the ministers but what about the people around them, the students, professors, journalists and bystanders? Recall June 18, 2008 similar bombing in Medina Hotel in Beledweyne? They killed the Somalia’s security minister Omar Hashi Aden and the Somalia’s former ambassador to Ethiopia but who else died there? 28 Muslim bystanders were killed. Did Al-Shabab deny that one? No, in fact Ali Mohamud Rage the spokes man for Al-Shabab said “We killed the national security minister and the former ambassador to Ethiopia” They admitted that they carried out and congratulated each other. But hold on, what about those 28 Muslim lives that have been taken down with the two targets? Remember we are talking 28 innocent lives and many that are injured! Well the ends justify the means. Al-Shabab believes collateral damage is part of this messy business called assassinations. If students, professors, journalists and bystanders are killed, according to Al-Shabab they have been standing with the wrong crowd, sorry! If you were not standing with the wrong crowd but innocent bystander they believe Allah will bring you a Shaheed like the guy who carried out the suicide mission. This is their twisted and simple logic.  

There is a little problem with their logic. Isn’t there a question session with Allah before you go to paradise? Do you not know LAA ILALAAHA ILALAAH will come that day and will ask its right? Remember the Hadith in Sahih Muslim: “Jundub ibn ‘Abd-Allaah al-Bajali reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sent a group of Muslims to fight some mushrikeen, and they met in battle. One of the mushrikeen was ambushing individual Muslims and killing them. One of the Muslims wanted to catch him out and kill him. [Jundub said:] “We used to think that that man was Usaamah ibn Zayd. When he raised his sword, the mushrik said ‘La ilaaha ill-Allah,’ but he [Usaamah] killed him. A messenger came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and reported to him about what had happened in the battle. When he told him about what had happened to the mushrik who said Laa ilaaha ill-Allah, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sent for Usaamah and asked him,

‘‘Why did you kill him?’ He said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, he had caused much grief to the Muslims, he killed So-and-so and So-and-so,’ – and he named a number of people – ‘I attacked him and when he saw the sword he said Laa ilaaha ill-Allah.’ The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, ‘And then you killed him?’ Usaamah said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘What will you do when Laa illaha ill-Allah comes on the Day of Resurrection?’ He said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, pray for forgiveness for me.’” The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) simply said, “What will you do when Laa ilaaha ill-Allah comes on the Day of Resurrection?” He did not say any more than that. (Reported by Muslim, ‘Abd al-Baaqi edn., no. 97).”

What will Al-Shabab suicide bombers and leaders do when LAA ILALAAHA ILALAAH shows up the Day of Resurrection? The prophet peace and blessing be upon him did not excuse for the difficult situation the Sahaabi found himself in or the fact he was in a battle or the man killed a number of his companions. So on what grounds did Ali Mohamud Rage authorize the killing of 28 innocent Muslims and Omar Hashi Aden the Somali minister of security? The same reasons and the logic he used for the people in Hotel Medina is what he used to kill and maim the people in Hotel Shaamow. You cannot press hard or ask questions or you will be accused of being spy or worse a heretic. Islamic Scholars who studied universities in Mecca and Medina such as Umul Qura University and Medina University are leaving Somalia because they are being hunted by Al-Shabab  as the government ministers are, why? Because they can challenge their ideology and demolish their false creed and wrong interpretations of Quran and Hadith.  You cannot understand Al-Shabab through the prism of the normal people, they are a unique sect and death cult that does not prescribe to humanity. Every terrorist action they carry will be worse than the last one as they become more entrenched and project their power.

Another possible question that people may be asking is if Al-Shabab did this action are they not marginalizing themselves? Not really, they are counting on the weakness of the TFG government. It is the same reason they throw grenades at UN compounds. They know the UNISOM soldiers will launch random missiles and kill innocent lives. They reason if the UNISOM carelessly as they always do will hit Bakaaraha Market. By killing innocent Somalis civilians creates resentment and hate for the UNISOM and not for Al-Shabab.  Al-Shabab gets new recruits from the misery which they were part of and they are not blamed for.

Hotel Shamow created angry people for Al-Shabab but equally created people angry with the government’s weakness. If it cannot defend their own members what makes you think they can defend you? Is the message sent to the population? The second objective was to eliminate heavy weight intellectuals within the government. The more they take out the best ministers of the Sharmarke government, the more the government look illegitimate and weak and it works for Al-Shabab’s favor. By assassinating most of the Islamists ministers within the government the government looks like vulnerable and questionable.

While Roobow and Godane are sleeping different house each night fearful of sudden death,  they are sending teenagers to commit suicide by promising a permanent place in heaven. If these individuals really believe there is paradise ahead by committing suicide, why they don’t commit such a mission themselves? Think about it, everyone is working hard to go to paradise right?  Why they are not the first to go and why is it always a teenager or someone under 20 years old? They either know there is no paradise ahead by killing innocent Muslims or they are hypocrites who are using the young unsuspecting to achieve a political gain. Imagine if every Al-Shabab behaved like them, wears Burqa, hides and run at the slightest danger, hires body guards! For sure there will be no suicide missions, there will be no missiles being thrown to government offices and certainly we would have peace in Somalia by now.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of misfits who are also ignorant about Islam. These youth are confused, angry about what is happening and they have been manipulated. They are unstable, naïve, and are utterly disgusted with their daily life. They are looking ways to escape a miserable life and it does not matter whether they join piracy group or Al-Shabab. And these cult leaders very well know their art of deception and manipulation. They perfected ways to inject extreme ideas into empty heads and translate into action. They know who is vulnerable to their propaganda and deception and through careful selection, and mind control peppered with out of context Jihad verses and images of Muslim sufferings around the world produce a nut-cases ready to kill themselves for heavenly causes. These folks become a tool that can be shaped to a lethal human missile. This human missile guided by cult laser is what smashed and killed so many innocent students, professors and ministers at Hotel Shaamow. Al-Shabab has no grounds to deny, the fact remain that they are behind this atrocity and they are not done yet. Al-Shabab declared war on authentic Islamic teachings, civilization, reason and humanity as a whole. It is up to the Somali people to decide if they are going to continue in harboring, supporting and hiding these ruthless killers.