Caliphatalism?
by RASHA AL AQEEDI
An Iraqi exile eavesdrops on life in her old hometown of Mosul.
"ISIS issued a four-option warning to the city’s Christians: convert to Islam and be safe; pay the jizya (a per capita tax imposed on non-Muslims); leave the city with nothing but your clothes; or die."
The phone rang around seven on a chilly Tuesday evening in Mosul in early March 2007, displaying an unrecognizable number. I had failed to transfer all the contacts to my new phone, so I assumed I knew the caller. “Hello?” “Assalmu Alaikum”, said the caller in a rusty, apparently rural accent. “Alaikum Assalam”, I replied, convinced, or hoping, he had the wrong number. “[We] are from the Islamic State.”
His demands were clear-cut: Leave your post at the Governor’s office or face the consequences. “We decided to warn you since you are a hurma.1 We kill the men without warning. You have two days to quit or we will behead you. We know where you live and we know your family.” He ended with some emotion, yelling in his rusty, rural accent: “By Allah shame on you for working with these heretics! You have no shame! We are protecting your honor!”
The authorities shrugged off my complaint, of course. Their reactions varied from the over-zealous—“be brave and do not let these cowards determine your life!”—to the white-flag approach: “Just do what they say and keep a low profile.” I was one of many Iraqi public workers on the receiving end of a death threat from the early incarnation of what is today known as the Islamic State, and am fortunate enough to have survived it. Others did not, even before its sudden overt military surge sent ISIS into international headlines this past June. ISIS was waiting, planning, and growing quietly, in my hometown of Mosul, in Raqqa, and elsewhere. And its members were not just threatening people; they were killing them, too. Between life or a job, I chose life.
.................
Readmore: www.the-american-interest.com
An Iraqi exile eavesdrops on life in her old hometown of Mosul.
"ISIS issued a four-option warning to the city’s Christians: convert to Islam and be safe; pay the jizya (a per capita tax imposed on non-Muslims); leave the city with nothing but your clothes; or die."
The phone rang around seven on a chilly Tuesday evening in Mosul in early March 2007, displaying an unrecognizable number. I had failed to transfer all the contacts to my new phone, so I assumed I knew the caller. “Hello?” “Assalmu Alaikum”, said the caller in a rusty, apparently rural accent. “Alaikum Assalam”, I replied, convinced, or hoping, he had the wrong number. “[We] are from the Islamic State.”
His demands were clear-cut: Leave your post at the Governor’s office or face the consequences. “We decided to warn you since you are a hurma.1 We kill the men without warning. You have two days to quit or we will behead you. We know where you live and we know your family.” He ended with some emotion, yelling in his rusty, rural accent: “By Allah shame on you for working with these heretics! You have no shame! We are protecting your honor!”
The authorities shrugged off my complaint, of course. Their reactions varied from the over-zealous—“be brave and do not let these cowards determine your life!”—to the white-flag approach: “Just do what they say and keep a low profile.” I was one of many Iraqi public workers on the receiving end of a death threat from the early incarnation of what is today known as the Islamic State, and am fortunate enough to have survived it. Others did not, even before its sudden overt military surge sent ISIS into international headlines this past June. ISIS was waiting, planning, and growing quietly, in my hometown of Mosul, in Raqqa, and elsewhere. And its members were not just threatening people; they were killing them, too. Between life or a job, I chose life.
.................
Readmore: www.the-american-interest.com
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario