Morning Star

Al-shabaab and "marriage"

Human Rights Watch has brought to light the terror waged against the girls of Somalia:

Gunmen from the Islamist al-Shabaab militia have routinely abducted teenage girls to work as servants on the frontline and forced them to marry fighters, according to a new report documenting the abuse of children in Somalia's civil war.

Girls who resisted capture can face the most appalling consequences, Human Rights Watch found. A 16-year-old girl who refused to marry an al-Shabaab commander who was three times her age was killed by his men and beheaded. Her head was brought back to the school as a warning to others.

A 19-year-old student from the Bakara district of the capital Mogadishu described how girls were taken from his school.

"Girls were taken at gunpoint. One girl said she could not go and al-Shabaab shot her in the forehead in front of my class. They said that she was a spy for the government. She was 19 years old," he said.

The forced marriage campaign by the al-Qaeda affiliate is part of its effort to impose its harsh version of Sharia on every aspect of the personal lives of women and girls, according to Human Rights Watch.

The report depicts a nightmarish world where the childhoods of boys* and girls are effectively ended at the barrel of a gun and in the short time it takes heavily armed fighters to force children from their classrooms and on to waiting trucks.

Shari'a is the legal code inspired by Islamic theology which clearly sanctions this behaviour, since the wife's consent is not integral to the union, nor is she ever an equal partner in the marriage. While the al-Shabaab version of "marriage" is extreme, it is not unIslamic. Muslim marriages only take on a gentler approach when outside influences appeal to natural law and the dignity of the human person.

[* the HRW report is likewise gravely concerned about the boys, who are also kidnapped at a young age. They are forced to fight in militia battles, and thus essentially provide cannon fodder, due to their inability to do anything of value on the front lines.]

"There is no compulsion..."

Prayers for our sisters, Sofia and Leila, who are suffering grievously for their Christian faith. First, from Somalia:

A Somali convert from Islam was paraded before a cheering crowd last month and publicly flogged as a punishment for embracing a “foreign religion,” sources said.
 
Sofia Osman, a 28-year-old Christian from Janale city in Somali’as Lower Shabelle region, had been taken into custody by Islamic extremist al Shabaab militants in November; the public whipping was meant to mark her release. She received 40 lashes on Dec. 22 while jeered by spectators.

“Osman was whipped 40 lashes at 3 p.m., but she didn’t tell what other humiliations she had suffered while in the hands of the militants,” an eyewitness, told Compass, adding that whipping left her bleeding. “I saw her faint. I thought she had died, but soon she regained consciousness and her family took her away.”

and then from Iran:

Leila Mohammadi, was arrested after a number of security agents raided her home on 30 July, 2011 at 10:30 P.M. in Kianshahr town, east of Tehran. The agents thoroughly searched her house and also confiscated some of her belongings.

Ms. Mohammadi was taken to Horr custody center which belongs to the Iranian police forces. From there, she was transferred to Evin prison. On December 28, 2011, she was released on a bail of $150,000 USD after 74 days in harsh conditions in solitary confinement in Evin prison.

Unfortunately, I don't think that five months counts towards the two years, and there is no telling what abuse was already suffered during that time--usually in an effort to break the will and have the person renounce Christ (such procedures are part of shari'a law).