It’s not your run-of-the-mill job classified, and not totally because it appears in video form. One detail that sets it apart is its regional focus — the recruiters are looking specifically for Minnesotans — though the main distinguishing feature is the compensation. It comes in the afterlife, in the form of 72 virgins.
According to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, the al-Kataib Foundation, the media arm of the Somali-based terrorist group al-Shabaab, is behind the effort to recruit would-be jihadists from non-Muslim nations. In the video, which follows, four Somali fighters appear with their faces digitally obscured, all brandishing AK-47s. One of them says in slightly accented English:
Those that are living in the U.S., especially Minnesota, Great Britain, Germany and many parts of the kuffar [unbelieving] world, you have a decision to make today.
If you choose to not make this decision and not answer the call of Allah, note that there is a clear evidence against you on the day of judgment in the court of Allah. For what are you still living in Dar al-kuffar [Land of disbelief] for? Is it the schools, the jobs and the settlements you have? Know that this world is only temporary and the hereafter is eternal.
So save your souls from the great punishment of Allah … and make Hijrah. Come join us.
Know that our war against you is not based on geographical borders or securing tiny strips of land, but between truth and falsehood. You should know that this war will continue until the last drop of your blood is spilled.
IPT’s John Rossomando writes that the terrorist outfit has already attracted to its ranks numerous Muslims from abroad, including British-born Samantha Lewthwaite, aka the “White Widow,” and Omar Shafik Hammami (aka Abu Mansour al-Amriki), an American-born jihadist. An Alabama native and Muslim convert, Hammami served as a leading propagandist for the group before being killed in September 2013. Forty of the recruits from the U.S. are from the Minneapolis area.
The call to action, like so many others, is unequivocally religious in nature and openly specifies that the fight is on behalf of Islam. In spite of this, President Barack Obama adamantly refuses to refer to attacks by groups like this as “Islamic extremism,” instead calling it just-plain “extremism.” He also recently declared that ISIS “speaks for no religion,” that despite the fact that the first “I” in the acronym standards for “Islamic.”
