Samosas Banned: Islamist Group Calls The Pastry 'Offensive'

Al-Shabaab, the extremist Islamic group that effectively controls much of Somalia, has banned samosas in the famine-stricked, war-torn East African nation, according to the Kenyan Daily Nation. Apparently the ban, which was announced via loudspeaker, was instituted because Al-Shabaab leaders decided the samosa's triangular shape was too closely associated with the Christian trinity. Locals face punishment for cooking, buying or eating the meat- or vegetable-filled pastries.

This hasn't been a good month for samosa-religion relations. Just a few weeks ago, a group of New Jersey Hindus sued a restaurant for covertly serving them meat samosas, in violation of their religious adherence to a vegetarian diet.

UPDATE: The BBC is now reporting, contrary to the early Kenyan Daily Nation report, that Al-Shabaab's samosa ban may have been motivated by concern for public health rather than religious doctrine alone. The BBC explained that "traders were selling rotten meat from cattle that had died because of the famine. This was un-Islamic and threatened the health of people, al-Shabab said."

Comments

[Zia Shah]

11:15 AM on 08/09/2011

Rather than banning samosas to diffuse Trinity they could have borrowed material from my Google-knols about Trinity and published them on a large scale:

http://knol.google.com/k/the-concept-of-trinity-has-no-legs-to-stand-on

If they were even smarter and understood biology, philosophy and theology, they could have used a different Google-knol, where I refute Trinity, from the biological observation that all life form share one and the same genetic code:

http://knol.google.com/k/zia-shah/is-god-the-father-the-creator-the/1qhnnhcumbuyp/301

[jorge bernardo]

09:48 PM on 08/04/2011

Worrisome to face the "sad" truth that Europe, is been taking over by these people.

[onionboy]

06:18 PM on 08/02/2011

When samosas are ciminalized, only criminals will have samosas.

PS - Yes, I know this was an incorrect and sensationalized headline.

[leslie2219]

12:37 PM on 08/02/2011

(a) I rewrote the headline for them:
Samosas Banned: Islamist Group Warns The Pastry May Contain Rotten Meat

(b) Mmmmm..... samosa!

[MolliBlum]

06:20 AM on 08/02/2011

Even the update is misleading. HP really does seem extremely reluctant to back down on this little propaganda tidbit. The BBC is not reporting that the ban "MAY" have been because of the use of rotten meat... it is stated there qutie factually. Nor does the BBC mention anything about it being "rather than religious doctrine alone"...
Even the Kenyan Daily Nation article describes the religious symbolism aspect as "speculation" ... and yet HP is still emphasizing this as the main element!
Good grief -- haven't we got enough stories about mad despots, WMDs, downtrodden women, threats to national security and hordes overrunning Europe? This is just silly.

[gypsynomad]

06:44 AM on 08/02/2011

Astounding negligence, isn`t it ? Sometimes the readers /posters are better informed. When I saw this a couple of days ago, one poster provided the link. The higher ups only care to generate pages and clicks , that`s all there is to it.

[sabelmouse]

07:16 AM on 08/02/2011

i love the way you say '' higher ups ''. reminds me of a novel i recently read about stalinist russia. that phrase was used a lot.

[MolliBlum]

11:25 AM on 08/02/2011

Negligence? It's utterly irresponsible. They may want clicks -- but are they really so desperate for clicks that they have to turn even a tale of rotten meat into yet another "Muslims are intolerant extremists" issue? As one commenter wittily noted earlier: why not make them crescent-shaped instead?
Urgh, sorry, gyspynomad -- I'm just feeling really grumpy today. I'm a little tired of the constant Muslim-bashing and being lectured about how Europe is overrun by Muslim hordes... I'm looking out my window just in case they come charging round the corner any minute...

[Richard Aron]

04:20 PM on 08/01/2011

The BBC reported that it is not a religious doctrine, so why Huff didn't change the title of the article? Not because they are poor people suffering famine that it's OK to feed them rotten meat.

[climbing panda]

03:37 PM on 08/01/2011

lunacy in somalia......huh? who woulda though........?

and the update is tantamount to the libyan rebel leaderships response to international interest in the killing of their senior military officer. "there was pro-ghadaffi material in his tent which we burned and you reporters can't photograph. no, really there was....."

[BestGuest]

02:21 PM on 08/01/2011

The usual bunch obviously didn't read the update...

[Farina Idris-Carr]

01:38 PM on 08/01/2011

And yet HuffPost is still using the misleading title despite knowing that it is NOT true. Shame on you HuffPost!

[Robert Petch]

12:53 PM on 08/01/2011

A country is starving so they ban a food? Thats religion for you, putting ideology ahead of the welfare of human beings.

[MolliBlum]

06:23 AM on 08/02/2011

Read the article:

"... al-Shabab has banned the sale of beef and samosas in the famine-hit Lower Shabelle region. It said traders were selling rotten meat from cattle that had died because of the famine..."

[IamFluff]

04:24 AM on 08/05/2011

Yes they now say it is because of bad meat... they also deny that there is any famine at all, so obviously they are the ones to trust.

[Robert Petch]

12:12 PM on 08/01/2011

Isn't it amazing that in a country where people are starving to death, religion comes up with the great idea, to BAN a food! What is wrong with the world? It's religion and all other purveyors of irrational thought.

[Farina Idris-Carr]

01:33 PM on 08/01/2011

Did you even bother to read the whole thing before spewing your hatred? Your most recent comment was 37min ago so im sure the update was already there.

UPDATE: The BBC is now reporting, contrary to the early Kenyan Daily Nation report, that Al-Shabaab's samosa ban may have been motivated by concern for public health rather than religious doctrine alone. The BBC explained that "traders were selling rotten meat from cattle that had died because of the famine. This was un-Islamic and threatened the health of people, al-Shabab said."

[Erewhon7]

10:52 AM on 08/01/2011

Islamic fundamentalism is hyper-violent political force.
It is supported by theologically conservative clerics, theocratic Islamist states, and terrorist groups that blend their fanatical religious dogma with unlimited hunger for worldly power.

This faith s heavily steeped in primitive tribal cultures of the Arabic peninsula of the 7th Century.
Billions of people around the world are being forced to digest and accept savage Arabic tribal customs as an expression of their religion. This religion, in its essence is Arabic cultural imperialism.

[Farina Idris-Carr]

01:34 PM on 08/01/2011

UPDATE: The BBC is now reporting, contrary to the early Kenyan Daily Nation report, that Al-Shabaab's samosa ban may have been motivated by concern for public health rather than religious doctrine alone. The BBC explained that "traders were selling rotten meat from cattle that had died because of the famine. This was un-Islamic and threatened the health of people, al-Shabab said."

[Erewhon7]

02:04 PM on 08/01/2011

Noticeably, no other shapes of food have been targeted.

regardless, anyone who believes Al Shabab is a fooI.

[Erewhon7]

10:50 AM on 08/01/2011

"And Allah, actually existed, it very unlikely that She would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt Her existence.

[Jcray]

10:06 AM on 08/01/2011

At first I was wondering how Al-Shabbab could ban Sambusa, not Samosas, because it is a basic Somali food. But, then the reality comes out from the BBC, you can never trust Kenyans, that it is because people are selling rotten meat in the sambusa.

[Wairimu]

11:11 AM on 08/01/2011

Why precisely is it that you 'can never trust Kenyans'?

[Wairimu]

11:12 AM on 08/01/2011

While you're at it, will you defend the Al Shabab bra ban as another story by the untrustworthy Kenyans? What public health are they protecting with that?

[Jcray]

12:14 PM on 08/01/2011

Huh? I'm not defending Al Shabbab. But, if people are selling rotten meat. Its a story by a kenyan source with wrong information. Sorry if I offended you that Kenya isn't a great source for information of realities from Somalia. Some might be but some are biased in their reporting,

[ThinkCreeps]

05:57 AM on 08/01/2011

Rotten-meat samosas were presumably suffering from modest demand anyway.

It's good to see the practice of religious extremists messing with your life isn't restricted to just the flatter, less-educated parts of the USA.