After Brunei, Somalia bans Christmas and New Year festivities

Thursday, 24 December 2015 - 1:44pm IST | Agency: PTI

Sheikh Mohamed Khayrow said security forces had been ordered to break up any such celebrations.

Somalia's government has banned celebrations of Christmas and New Year in the Muslim majority country, saying the festivities might attract Islamist attacks.

"All events related to Christmas and New Year celebrations are contrary to Islamic culture, which could damage the faith of the Muslim community," the director general of the religious affairs ministry told reporters on Wednesday.

Sheikh Mohamed Khayrow said security forces had been ordered to break up any such celebrations. "There should be no activity at all," he said. Sheikh Nur Barud Gurhan, of the Supreme Religious Council of Somalia, said that non-Muslim festivities might provoke the ire of the Shebab, East Africa's Al-Qaeda branch, which is headquartered in Somalia.

"We are warning against the celebration of such events which are not relevant to the principles of our religion," Gurhan added, saying it could provoke the Shebab "to carry out attacks". Last year Shebab militants launched a Christmas attack on Mogadishu airport that killed at least 12 people.

Somalia is at least the second Muslim majority country to ban Christmas this year, after Brunei announced a similar prohibition. Somalia also issued a previous ban in 2013

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Feeling Christmasy? In Brunei, you could get five years in jail!

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Abdifatah Halane, spokesman for Mogadishu mayor, told Reuters. "Christmas is for Christians. Not for Muslims."

Al-Shabab won control of almost all of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, in 2006, until a United Nations-backed force from the African Union pushed the militants out of the city in 2011 and out of the port of Kismayo in 2012.
The government of Brunei announced a similar ban on Christmas earlier this December, threatening five years in jail for violations, according to Al Jazeera.
Imams in Brunei said that using religious symbols like crosses or singing religious songs are against Islamic faith, Al Jazeera reports.


Somalia bans Christmas, New Year celebrations

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/12/24/somalia-bans-christmas-new-year-celebrations/77874208/
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Somalia bans Christmas celebrations -

BBC News

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35167726/
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Brunei, Somalia ban Christmas festivities; violators face music

Arab News

Disciples of the Grinch?

Did you notice the PC logic?
It more or less says...
"Oh..they did it before (so it must or may be temporary) & it is for ALL our safety & good . "



Well..no worries, it will all be over next year & we can dance in the sun & sing in the rain, & slide down rainbows & saddle up our unicorns.

Somalia doesn't deserve Christmas.

"Mujahideen Youth Movement" or "Movement of Striving Youth"), more commonly known as Al-Shabaab is a jihadist terrorist group based in East Africa. In 2012, it pledged allegiance to the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda. Al-Shabaab's troop strength was estimated at 7,000 to 9,000 militants in 2014. As of 2015, the group has retreated from the major cities, controlling a few rural areas.
Due to its Wahhabi roots, Al Shabaab is hostile to Sufi traditions, and has often clashed with the militant Sufi group Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a. The group has also been suspected of having links with Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb and Boko Haram.
All these terrorist groups are the result of the schools of Saudi Arabia.