UPDATE: Asalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. i just wanted to update my dear brothers and sisters in Islam. i'm in a state of confusion and sadness at the moment. my heart feels heavy. However, my young nephew has been found. well what i mean is, we know where he is. but he hasnt' been brought back to the family. He has joined Al-Shabab. he's actually 11 years old and his name is Zakariya. He is in a training. he calls his family every morning...he is allowed to call his family. and he has told them, that he will not be back until the training is over. he has told the family, that his name has been changed, his clothes, and his head is shaved so that noone who knows him will recognize him. My confusion is, since the deen doesn't allow the child to fight in jihad until the age of 15...why would these mujahideen pull him in, away from his family at the age of 11. But dear brothers and sisters in Islam...i PERSONALLY still believe that even if a group of muslims make a mistake, that they still do have good hearts. since i'm not there, and i have not seen with my own eyes the right and wrong side of Al shabab, i cannot and i will not judge them. maybe, it is a few people FROM al shabab that are doing bad and not all. this is my opinion which i have stuck to from the beginning. I'm just glad his safe now...if he dies, he is a shaheed, and if he lives, he's a mujahid. i'm very proud of him being strong and brave, although i've never met him. but my heart aches with confusion of who's right and who's wrong...and that i still have to figure out. but as Islam teaches us, we must think positively of our brothers and sisters in Islam, even if we know what they did or didn't do. that's my update to you all.
ps: my nephew is somewhere around kismayo. and he calls his family every morning. take care, wasalamu Alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu.
