Ever since the mysterious disappearance of about a dozen Somali-American men — many in their late teens — the FBI has being intensifying investigations, questioning University of Minnesota students and others at a local mosque.
The investigation left some University students and others participating in programs at Abubakar As-Saddiq mosque who were questioned bewildered.
FBI special agent E. K. Wilson said the FBI is not targeting one group of people or mosque, but it’s reaching out to the entire community asking about the disappeared men.
Among those who disappeared, two are students from the University. Though there is no clear evidence about what exactly the missing men are doing, speculations in the community say they left for Somalia to fight in jihad.
With these rumors and the suicide of Shirwa Ahmed , 27, — a Somali-American citizen from Minneapolis who blew himself up in Somali — the FBI started questioning those who they think know the missing men.
News reports have said FBI Chief Robert Mueller confirmed someone in Minnesota recruited Ahmed to go to Somalia.
A 19-year-old junior at the University, who requested to remain anonymous because of the ongoing case, spoke of her experience with the FBI.
She was first questioned a month after the men disappeared.
Unlike other Somali girls with a mix of American-style and traditional Muslim clothing, the student’s clothing conforms to the standards laid down by the Islamic Sharia — a hijab that covers her entire body with the exception of the face.
She recalled the questions from the FBI, which she described as “irritating.”
“The FBI showed me pictures of the men and asked me how they behaved, who they looked up to, and the mosque they went to,” she recalled.
The student who told the story was confused about the reason she is going through “all this drama” and asked if the questions are “even relevant.”
The investigation created fear and distrust in her family, she said.
Feeling hopeless and helpless, the student said “they should not be chasing after me to solve their mystery.”
FBI questions a mosque
Abubakar As-Saddiq mosque attendee Abdinasser Hussein admits some of the men who left used to pray and participate in Islamic programs in the mosque.
Because of this, many said, the reputations of the mosque are now in jeopardy.
But “mosques don’t have memberships unlike churches,” Hussein said, “it is open for all Muslims . We don’t determine who will do what when they’re out of the mosque.”
Speculations about the missing youths revolve around the Somali community in Minnesota.
Some say the young men left from the Twin Cities to fight side-by-side with the Islamists who arose to revolutionize the Ethiopian-backed transitional Somali government, which has just been replaced by a new government that agreed to rule the country with the Sharia Law.
Some Minnesotans think the disappearance of the young men has been exaggerated. None can prove they disappeared.
But if the case of their disappearance is really fighting in Somali with Ethiopia, that should not be interpreted as having terrorist links, some in the community said. They conclude that just like any other patriots, the men stood up to liberate their country.
“The country was invaded by a historic enemy [Ethiopia ] with U.S. approval,” Peter Erlinder , professor of constitutional criminal law and international humanitarian law at the William Mitchell Law School, said in a previous interview. “The Somalis whose country was invaded might feel the need to try resist.”
However, the FBI’s Wilson said the department is aware of the situation in Somali and that the recently disappeared Somali men went back home to fight with terrorist troops.
Since the former dictator, Mohammed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991, the war-torn country remains without a stable central government. Since then, the country became a field for rival factions to fight, bringing killing, dislocation and starvation for thousands of Somali people.
Despite the disorder and anarchy, Somalia — a Muslim nation — has united in times of interference from other nations.
Three years ago an Islamic group emerged to confront the invasion of Ethiopian troops, which came to the country with the approval of the former transitional government. Authorities say the disappeared men joined in that movement.
Comments:
BACKLASH.
The Backlash:
The Somali community of Minneapolis feels it´s being prosecuted in the court of public opinion. They believe the reputation of one of their respected religious leaders-- Sheikh Abdirahman Sheikh Omar-- is being smeared.
Sheikh Abdirahman, as he is known, is the imam of Abubakar Mosque. An imam is the highest cleric of a given mosque. And though Sheikh Abdirahman is in the center of this whole controversy, his version or that of the mosque is seldom sought by the media.
Interested in his perspective regarding the vanishing youth phenomenon and any backlash against his person, the mosque, and the Minneapolis Somali community, I called the imam for an interview. He called back an hour or so later ready to speak.
The imam opened up: "The fact of the matter is that the Somali community in Minneapolis is made of primarily refugees who settled here in recent years. And as an uprooted society coming from a war-torn country, Somalis, especially the youth, have been facing numerous challenges. They are at-Risk of being attracted to truancy, delinquency, and gangster life," said Sheikh Abdirahman.
The problem is exacerbated as some families are led by single parents, or parents who are not literate in their own native language. Many of these parents face difficulties in becoming functional in this new society. This coupled with the incrementally diminishing role of the extended family which provided social safety net that not only sustained family cohesion, but helped retain their Islamic values. So, as a result of the current condition, parents and children grew apart- both in terms of culture and values. There are some mothers who were abandoned by all their children; in some case five or six children. This is an anomaly both within the Islamic context and in Somali culture. "Of course, we, like any community, have all types of people. We have a number of our youth graduating from colleges and universities who are becoming productive citizens, and we have close to 3000 in the juvenile justice system and the prisons (out of an estimated 70,000) and 9 Somali-on-Somali murders," said Sheikh Abdirahman.
It was these daunting realities that compelled some concerned leaders to galvanize the entire community to pull its resources and build institutions such as mosques and schools in order to help save these at-risk youth and build their character which should be based on the best aspect of their two worlds. Therefore, the role of Abubakar Islamic Center mosque is the same as any other mosque which is to operate as a house of God and provide a spiritual ground where people can "worship The Creator, so He may strengthen their piety and spiritual purification."
As to whether or not the allegations that the mosque has been engaging in some criminal activities that include brainwashing children into becoming suicide bombers and providing resources and contacts necessary to join Al Shabab in Somalia, he said these are "unsubstantiated…politically motivated rumors that unfortunately started within our community. Our mosque is far from being such an evil institution that would promote or engage in such activities," added Sheikh Abdirahman.
"I am an educator. I have been working for the Minneapolis public schools for 10 years. I teach math and science. I am not in the business of corrupting minds and hearts or leading the same young minds that I am committed to save to their annihilation in this life and the hereafter," said the sheikh whose pictures have been paraded around in the pages of many media outlets, especially in the US and UK. Sheikh Abdirahman is currently a PhD student at the Graduate Theological Foundation.
There are a number young men and women who before graduating from universities in the Twin Cities have studied Quran and developed good character in the mosque. The mosque, according to Sheikh Abdirahman, encourages the young to embrace their religion and adopt all the good values in their newly found community. "We emphasize the importance of promoting that which is good: peace, justice, and good neighborliness and to prevent that which is evil and harmful to the individual and the society" said the Sheikh.
There is a glaring deficiency in this…everything is overblown out of proportion without having credible evidence to substantiate a transnational threat that. Many wonder if this is the hysteria of global war on terror- still kicking. Whatever the case may be, the last thing that all concerned parties want is, as one Somali community member put it, "to create another one of those all too familiar scenarios where the devil is repeatedly painted on the wall, until he shows up in person."
In the spirit of preventing such a scenario, Abubakar Mosque, together with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-Minneapolis,) has hosted a community wide open house in which the director of the FBI is among the invitees
Source: mndaily.com
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