Like the Beatles’ Jo-Jo, Ahmed Mahad Mohamed left his home in Tucson, Arizona, but he wasn’t in search of California grass. Instead, young Mohamed had a loftier aspiration in mind: he wanted to become a great warrior for Allah, wielding his righteous sword to cast off the heads of the enemies of Islam until he was killed and taken up to paradise, where the famous heavenly virgins would be waiting to greet him.
It wasn’t the most common career path for a young man from Tucson, but this is not Barry Goldwater’s Arizona, and Mohamed was able to find at least one companion of like mind, a brother in Islam named Abdi Yemeni Hussein. Together, they set out to join ISIS. Now, they’ve been sentenced to prison.
The abortive excellent adventure that Mohamed and Hussein tried to embark upon demonstrates yet again the importance of Trump’s concerns about unvetted mass migration. When the Justice Department announced recently that Mohamed and Hussein had been sentenced for Conspiracy to Provide Material Support and Resources to a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, it mentioned in passing that both men were “citizens of Somalia who were living in Tucson at the time of the offense.”
That was all the DoJ had to say about that, and more’s the pity. How long had these two been in Tucson? Did they learn about Islam there, and if so, from where and whom in particular? Or did they bring their jihadi sentiments with them from Somalia?
Either way, their story should be a cautionary tale, although it’s extremely unlikely that anyone is looking at it that. If they learned about Islam in a way that made them want to join in ISIS from an imam or someone else in Tucson, the place where this teaching is going on should be shut down before it produces any more jihadis. And if they were already jihad-minded before they came here from Somalia, they are yet more evidence that the government’s studied willful ignorance regarding the jihad threat is dangerous, and that vetting procedures that try to discern if someone trying to enter the U.S. is a jihadi should urgently be instituted.
Chief U.S. District Judge Jennifer G. Zipps sentenced Mohamed was sentenced to eleven years in prison, and Hussein to eight years. After they serve these sentences, or whatever fragment of them officials deem sufficient, they are to be deported back to Somalia, “followed by lifetime terms of supervised release.” That’s a curious condition. Is someone actually going to go to Somalia and watch these guys to make sure that they don’t end up joining ISIS or some other jihad group there? Trump just struck ISIS in Somalia on Saturday, so by the time they get there, they may not have any organization to join, but at least Ilhan Omar will be looking out for their best interests.
For the aspiring jihadis, all this is a big comedown. Once upon a time, they had very big plans. The DoJ notes that “from late 2018 or early 2019 until their arrest on July 26, 2019, Mohamed and Hussein conspired with each other to travel to Egypt for the purpose of fighting for ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula.” Mohamed started during the summer of 2018 to chat online with other supporters of the Islamic State. He told them about his big dream: to travel to territory that the Islamic State still controlled, even though Trump had destroyed the caliphate they once had had in Iraq and Syria, and become “the beheading guy.”
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The Qur’an guarantees a place in paradise to those who “kill and are killed” for Allah (9:111), and Mohamed hoped ultimately to be killed while going about his beheading duties, and attain that promised bliss. In the meantime, he was determined to “fight jihad.” His friend Hussein was a trifle less starry-eyed, and warned that if he and Mohamed simply had to make it into ISIS territory, “or we go to jail.” Right you are, Hussein. He also “suggested attacking the White House if they were prevented from traveling.”
Their grand plan came to naught. On July 26, 2019, with Mohamed carrying $10,000 for their travel expenses and weapons, they checked in at the Tucson International Airport, got through security without a hitch, and made their way to their departure gate. Once they got to Egypt, they planned to travel to the Sinai Peninsula and join up with their ISIS brethren.
Sometimes, however, Allah has crueler plans in mind for his slaves. Just as they were about to board their flight, the Tucson jihadis were arrested. And now, instead of laying Allah’s enemies low and hurling their heads into the dust, they will be languishing in the prisons of the Great Satan. But who are they to question the will of Allah?
