19-year-old Muslim Girl leaves Minnesota to fight for Islamic State

Every day the mainstream media is now reporting on the growing number of Muslims from the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia who are flocking to the Middle East to wage jihad, but in none of the coverage do they discuss why these young Muslims are leaving their homes to wage war in the cause of Islam.

A young Muslim girl from the Twin Cities is en route to Syria to fight for Islam. Much like this girl, whom I reported on yesterday.

Every article covering Muslims flocking to the Middle East to wage jihad avoids the story, and instead waxes poetic about how peaceful Muslims are and how Muslim leaders condemn “the actions of ISIS.” But they never ask these Muslim leaders what they are doing to reform Islam and expunge the Qur’an of its violent teachings. Their disingenuous condemnations are of a particular savage action (i.e., a beheading) but never the motive behind it.

Here are the questions the media aren’t asking but should.

“19-year-old Muslima leaves Minnesota to fight for Islamic State,” (thanks to Robert Spencer)

This article spends most of its time assuring readers that Somali Muslims in Minnesota abhor the Islamic State, and that the FBI and the Muslim community is working to prevent people from going to join the Islamic State, but it doesn’t address the key question: why are so many Muslims trying to join the Islamic State, despite ostensible opposition from the Muslim community, and despite the FBI’s efforts, and despite the Islamic State’s opposition to the U.S., which is supposed to be the state to which they owe loyalty, and despite the obvious risks and dangers of doing so?

“St. Paul Woman Leaves Minnesota to Fight for ISIS,” by Tim Sherno, KSTP.com, September 5, 2014 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

The latest person to leave Minnesota and travel to Syria to fight for ISIS is a 19-year-old Somali woman who had been living in St. Paul. It’s a troubling development considering recruiting in Somali communities has been limited to men in the past. Now, women appear to be the new targets.

Sadik Warfa is a Deputy Director for the Global Somali Diaspora, which is an organization supporting Somalis that repatriates expatriates here in Minnesota and around the world. Warfa says the Somali-American community shares the universal revulsion of the brutality of ISIS.

“The actions of ISIS is roundly condemned by all religious leaders all over the world,” he said. “First of all, we are Americans. We are Somali-Americans. The concern for the safety of this country concerns us all.”

Warfa points out the number of Somalis that have traveled to Syria to join ISIS is a tiny fraction of the larger community and represents individual decisions. He also says this most recent case serves as a good example that these recruits are misguided.

Kyle Loven with the FBI in Minnesota says the Bureau is working closely with the local Somali community to prevent this from happening.

“We are very actively engaged within the Somali community,” Loven said. “We’re engaged with religious leaders. We’re engaged with community leaders, and we’re engaged with concerned members of the public who are abhorred by what they see with respect to their young people and want to put a stop to it.”

The FBI says their investigation is ongoing, and they continue to look for connections between the young people on the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul and ISIS in Syria. The community is trying to help.

Warfa’s message for young Somalis thinking about leaving the state is this: “Please work hard. You’re living in one of the greatest countries in the world. You have opportunities that don’t exist in other parts of the world. Please take advantage and study hard and become a productive member of society of this great country we have.”

Stay on top of what's really happening. Follow me on Twitter here. Like me on Facebook here.