“History has proven that the Somalis generally do not want any influence from Al-Qaeda or foreigners in their internal affairs.”—Omar Hammami.
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Omar Hammami, the American jihadist with Al-Shabab, Somalia’s Al-Qaeda affiliate, was killed on Thursday by Al-Shabab fighters according to a report by AP. He was 29 years old. He had been hunted by Godane, the emir of Al-Shabab and his henchmen for over a year and half. It was only on April 25 when he tweeted that an Al-Shabab assassin shot him in the neck.
Born and raised in Daphne, Alabama, to a Syrian father and an American Baptist mother, Hammami grew up in a privileged life. He was raised as a Christian because his father was not a practicing Muslim. As a child, Hammami won awards in Sunday school. Only in his teens when the father became interested in Islam did the son become Muslim. In high school, Hammami became, in his own words, a Salafi, an individual with a literal and puritanical approach to Islam. He started dressing in a certain way and grew a big beard. His father, who by that time had become the head of the Islamic center in their hometown, was not pleased with the path his son had chosen. Hammami fit the typical profile of a confused young man with an identity crisis: He dropped out of school, had toxic relationships with his parents, had difficulty keeping a steady job, and fantasized about a future far removed from reality. Hammami’s discord with his father led to his expulsion from the family home. It became apparent that his father’s lofty expectation of Hammami becoming a doctor was never going to materialize.
Hammami held an assortment of low-wage jobs in Alabama such as counselor at the local YMCA and janitor in the very mosque of which his father was president. He did not have a lot going for him in Alabama and moved to Toronto, Canada. Once again, he worked in odd jobs such as delivering milk to Somali refugees. He met a young Somali woman and they married. The couple moved to Egypt so that Hammami could pursue a degree in Islamic studies at the prestigious Al-Azhar University. However, the young husband, and now father, was restless. He was itching to go to a Muslim country where a jihad was being waged. Somalia was an alluring prospect because in that year of 2006 the country was run by the Union of the Islamic Courts. Hammami took a flight to the United Arab Emirates without informing his wife and from there he went to Somalia. He wanted to be a martyr and ended up abandoning his wife and their infant daughter in an alien country. Hammami never saw his wife and daughter again. The couple divorced because the young wife did not want to return to Somalia, the very country she and her family had fled in the early 1990s.
Hammami found in Somalia young jihadists, some foreigners, who were in the midst of what they called ‘jihad’ against the Ethiopian troops and the Somali government forces. He felt at home and received training in guerilla warfare. In 2007, a federal warrant for his arrest was issued in the U.S.
It was a tough life for the American living in Somalia because he was in a place seemingly resigned to absolute poverty. He remained ensconced with fellow jihadists in the jungle and, at times, in small villages with no modern amenities. Food was scarce; ants were plenty and a nuisance, lions bellowed nearby, and Ethiopian army helicopters, first, and American drones, later, hovered in the skies looking for the militants. All these challenges did not frazzle Hammami: He wanted to die for the sake of God. But the young man, at the time 22, had a habit of sticking his neck out to question military strategies and criticize policies. In his 127-page autobiography that he posted online in 2012, aptly titled “American Jihadist,” Hammami stated that he was constantly labeled as a “virus” and “a trouble maker” bent on challenging authority. When some disgruntled foreign fighters decided to leave Somalia, Hammami stuck around. He saw his future in that African country. The leaders of the Al-Shabab militant group he joined in 2007 were impressed with his enthusiasm, loyalty, wry sense of humor, and his fluency in English and Arabic. Most of all, he was a white man who could make strides in recruiting young Muslims in the West. Hammami relished being a recruiter and mouthpiece for the radical group. His videos were occasionally funny and entertaining: A villainous figure that did not appear villainous on the internet.
But, then, Hammami was not one to stay quiet. He had a penchant for making trouble.
Last March, 2012, Hammami appeared on the internet claiming that Al-Shabab militants were trying to kill him because he disagreed with the group regarding the application of sharia, strategy, and the course of jihad in Somalia. The Al-Shabab leaders were not pleased with the public rants. After several months of tolerating Hammami’s “childish petulance,” the group lashed out at him and accused him of seeking fame at the expense of his fellow jihadists. It was also in that month of December 2012 that Hammami was added to the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
On April 25, 2013, an Al-Shabab assassin shot Hammami in the neck. It was not a critical injury. However, it became clear that Godane, the emir of Al-Shabab, was not letting any internal opposition to his leadership go unpunished.
Hammami was not your typical jihadi. He had a sense of humor and he employed a unique technique in appealing to would-be jihadists in the West. He sang jihadi rap songs and relished in taunting the U.S and members of the Somali government. In a way, despite his radical ideology, he was goofy. “I would also lead [fighters] in singing Nashids [Islamic songs] in an obnoxious loud voice while other people were sleeping or doing ‘serious’ things. I would also go on long passionate rants about everything that was wrong with our situation and then end it all rolling in laughter like a deranged hyena,” he said in a sardonic self-mocking way. When asked if he would ever return to America; why or why not— he replied: “The “why not” would have to be Eric Holder [the United States Attorney General], war ships, most wanted pictures, and kangaroo courts.” Hammami, in an interview with VOA two weeks ago, said that a return to Somalia was not an option “unless it was in a body bag.” Moreover, he labeled the American drones in Somalia as “racist” because “they only shoot white people.” He added for good effect, “They just want to kill off every white [fighter] they can.”
Someone had asked Hammami if he had some commonalities with the late Steve Jobs because the two were born to a Syrian father, dropped out of college, and were leaders in their respective fields. Hammami simply answered, “I never knew about him.” Hammami, however, said if given three days in Alabama, he would spend time visiting his mother, father, and sister. “Then,” he continued, “I would like to make the rounds of restaurants and get some Chinese food, some hot wings, some Nestle ice cream, some gourmet coffee, and a slew of other foods and beverages.” It is now obvious such opportunity will never come along.
Hammami’s old colleagues in the Al-Shabab group did not laugh when he started making snide remarks about Godane, the adroit manipulator and punitive leader. Godane was furious and vowed to flail the young American fighter.
Omar Hammami’s jihadist career was a nexus of religion, bravado, and self-promotion. He will best be remembered as the hip hop jihadist who ran afoul of Al-Shabab, a terrorist outfit that has never deviated from its mission to kill and maim. Jihad, as Hammami used to say, is not fun, but instead is a serious and dangerous enterprise. He was right. His death is the best confirmation.
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