MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

And let’s not forget Benghazi. It may not be official yet, but that could be added to the list, too. Pledging allegiance to the ISIS Caliphate. It’s quickly becoming the Islamic world’s version of a snowball …

Daniel 11:43, “He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Nubians [Sudan] in submission.”

• Flashback: Sudanese Salafi Group Endorses Islamic State’s New ISIS Caliphate
• Flashback: Egypt: Powerful Islamist Militant Group In Sinai Swears Allegiance To ISIS Caliphate

By Maggie Michael, Associated Press – “On a chilly night, bearded militants gathered at a stage strung with colorful lights in Darna, a Mediterranean coastal city long notorious as Libya’s center for jihadi radicals. With a roaring chant, they pledged their allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group.

With that meeting 10 days ago, the militants dragged Darna into becoming the first city outside of Iraq and Syria to join the ‘caliphate’ announced by the extremist group. Already, the city has seen religious courts ordering killings in public, floggings of residents accused of violating Shariah law, as well as enforced segregation of male and female students. Opponents of the militants have gone into hiding or fled, terrorized by a string of slayings aimed at silencing them.

The takeover of the city, some 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from the nearest territory controlled by the Islamic State group, offers a revealing look into how the radical group is able to exploit local conditions. A new Islamic State ’emir’ now leads the city, identified as Mohammed Abdullah, a little-known Yemeni militant sent from Syria known by his nom de guerre Abu al-Baraa el-Azdi, according to several local activists and a former militant from Darna.

A number of leading Islamic State militants came to the city from Iraq and Syria earlier this year and over a few months united most of Darna’s multiple but long-divided extremist factions behind them. They paved the way by killing any rivals, including militants, according to local activists, former city council members and a former militant interviewed by The Associated Press. They all spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for their lives.

Darna could be a model for the group to try to expand elsewhere. Notably, in Lebanon, army troops recently captured a number of militants believed to be planning to seize several villages in the north and proclaim them part of the ‘caliphate.’ Around the region, a few militant groups have pledged allegiance to its leader, Iraqi militant Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. But none hold cohesive territory like those in Darna do.

The vow of allegiance in Darna gives the Islamic State group a foothold in Libya, an oil-rich North African nation whose central government control has collapsed in the chaos since the 2011 ouster and death of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.” Read more.

Flashback: Al-Qaeda Plants Its Flag in Benghazi, Libya – ‘Whomever Speaks Ill of This Flag, We Will Cut Off His Tongue’ – “Earlier this week, I went to the Benghazi courthouse and confirmed the rumors: an al Qaeda flag was clearly visible; its Arabic script declaring that ‘there is no God but Allah’ and a full moon underneath. When I tried to take pictures, a Salafi-looking guard, wearing a green camouflage outfit, rushed towards me and demanded to know what I was doing. My response was straightforward: I was taking a picture of the flag. He gave me an intimidating look and hissed, ‘Whomever speaks ill of this flag, we will cut off his tongue. I recommend that you don’t publish these. You will bring trouble to yourself.’” Read more.

The “prophet” of Islam said, “whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him” (Bukhari 9.84.57). And not with kindness, either. The teachings of Islam are intended to be taken so literally that even irony ought to be considered a type of metal …

Qur’an Sura 3:85, “And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers [in hell].”

Recommended: Top Muslim Cleric: Islam Would Not Exist If Not For The Death Penalty Of Apostates

Contradicting The “Prophet” Can Be Deadly

By Fredrick Nzwili, RNS – “A Somali scholar is stoking Muslim anger after he published a book questioning the concept of the death penalty for apostasy in Islam.

Now, he is being branded as ‘Somalia’s Salman Rushdie’ a reference to the British–Indian novelist whose book, ‘The Satanic Verses,’ provoked worldwide Muslims protests and a fatwa from Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.

Abdisaid Abdi Ismail’s book, ‘The Rule of Apostasy In Islam: Is it True?’ was published in Kenya in September.

Ismail was following the Meriam Yahya Ibrahim case before starting work on the book. She is the Sudanese woman sentenced to death for converting to Christianity, but later freed. Her case outraged the world and drew attention to the growing abuse of apostasy in Islam. (Ibrahim said she has always been a Christian.)

The book, written in the Somali language, is being read in Western cities such as London, Toronto and Minneapolis, where there are large populations of ethnic Somalis.

Ismail said the book furthers the growing voice of Muslim scholars, intellectuals and prominent clerics worldwide who are increasingly rejecting the abuse of Islam by extremist groups such as the Islamic State, Nigeria’s Boko Haram and Somalia’s Al-Shabab.

‘What we need are secular states where there is democracy, justice and equality for all,’ he said. ‘Not theocratic ones where leaders rule by the name of God.’

Ismail’s concern is that Somali Islamic militants, clerics and other extremist groups in Muslim-majority countries are applying apostasy as a political tool, branding those with contrary opinions as apostates who need to be killed. He has watched Al-Shabab justify the deaths of those who oppose their hard-line interpretation of the Quran by branding them apostates. Somali civil servants, national army officers, local or international nongovernmental organization officials, are considered devil’s spies who deserve death, he added.” Read more.

Flashback: Somalia: Islamists Kill Fifth Lawmaker This Year ‘On The Orders Of Allah’ – “And they vow that more ‘apostates’ will soon be slain. If Islamic terror organizations like Al-Shabab ignored the Qur’an, then it would be dead and we would not be seeing the mass slaughter of all those who oppose them and their vision of ‘pure’ Islam. But they do not ignore it. Rather, they breathe life into the ‘Word of Allah’ by imposing its draconian dictates upon all with deadly force, whether small or great, rich or poor, free or slave. And since ‘Allah’s word’ already speaks loud and clear for them — for all those who have already received the Mark of the Beast — they are therefore compelled to see to it that everyone who has an ear to hear listens and obeys …” Read more.

Flashback: Somalia: Islamist Group Vows To Kill Anyone Who Supports Christians – “Somali terror group Al-Shabaab told Al-Jazeera that it wouldn’t be negotiating with the government and would continue its quest to kill ‘anyone who supports the Christians.’ … ‘Anyone who works for the apostate government, no matter where and at what level, they are supporting the apostates and the Christians who sent them. Our stand is clear is on such people. We will fight them and kill them anywhere we see them … Anyone who supports the Christians, either through the pen or by carrying a weapon, they are the same to us and we will kill them …” Read more.

According to an Islamic State spokesman, however, “the Emir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is well” and is recovering from his injuries. Given this latest development it would be wise for all Western nations to raise their terrorism threat level if they have not already done so, especially if al-Baghdadi eventually succumbs to any sustained injuries. It isn’t difficult to imagine this top terror leader having a prerecorded posthumous message calling upon all those who have pledged obedience to engage in worldwide terror in the event of his death …

This Beast’s Head May Be Wounded, But What Doesn’t Kill It Only Makes It Stronger

By Kieran Corcoran, Mail Online – “American war planes have reportedly launched a strike on a gathering of ISIS leaders, critically wounding their leader.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hurt in the strikes today, according to local witnesses and government sources.

Two witnesses confirmed that bombs had fallen on the town of al-Qaim, next to the Syrian border.

Local government sources described how an aircraft had swooped over a meeting of senior ISIS figures and dropped its payload, killing more than a dozen people.

Another witness said that eight people had died when a bomb struck a market.

A local hospital was said to be overwhelmed with the volume of patients from the raid – including al-Baghdadi.

Local ISIS officials were reportedly roaming the streets with loudspeakers ordering residents to donate blood to help the wounded.

Striking Baghdadi would be the most significant blow yet in the campaign against ISIS, who have been defiant in the face of sustained air attacks from the U.S. Air Force and allies.

A provincial leader from Anbar in western Iraq, as well as his deputy, are said to be among those killed instantly by the bombs.

Al-Qaim and the neighbouring Syrian town of Albukamal are on a strategic supply route linking territory held by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The so-called Caliph, who declared himself leader of all the world’s Muslims in a televised speech, was formerly a prisoner of the U.S. during their occupation of Iraq.

The shady figure was eventually released, and rose through the ranks of the jihadist groups which eventually united to form ISIS, or the Islamic State.” Read more.

Pentagon Silent As Iraqi Officials Say Airstrike Wounds Islamic State Group Leader – “Two Iraqi officials and state television say an airstrike in western Iraq wounded the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Pentagon officials said they had no information on such a strike or al-Baghdadi being wounded. An Interior Ministry intelligence official told The Associated Press on Sunday that the strike happened early Saturday in the town of Qaim in Iraq’s Anbar province. The official, citing informants within the militant group, said the strikes wounded al-Baghdadi. A senior Iraqi military official also said he learned in operational meetings that al-Baghdadi had been wounded. Neither knew the extent of al-Baghdadi’s apparent injuries.” Read more.