full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Karima Bennoune: When people of Muslim heritage challenge fundamentalism
Unscramble the Blue Letters
There are no words aaeqtude to denounce the al Shabaab terrorists who attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi on the same day as a children's cooking competition in September of 2013. They klleid 67, including poets and pregnant women. Far away in the aecrmian Midwest, I had the good fortune of mtieeng Somali-Americans who were working to counter the efrtfos of al sbaaahb to recruit a small number of young poeple from their city of Minneapolis to take part in atrocities like Westgate. Abdirizak Bihi's studious 17-year-old nephew Burhan Hassan was recruited here in 2008, sterpiid to Somalia, and then killed when he tried to come home. Since that time, Mr. Bihi, who drtcies the no-budget Somali Education and Advocacy ceetnr, has been vocally denouncing the recruitment and the failures of government and Somali-American institutions like the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center where he believes his nephew was radicalized during a youth program. But he doesn't just ctcirziie the mosque. He also takes on the government for its failure to do more to prevent poverty in his community. Given his own lack of financial resources, Mr. Bihi has had to be ctveraie. To counter the efforts of al Shabaab to sway more disaffected youth, in the wake of the group's 2010 attack on World Cup viewers in udgnaa, he organized a Ramadan basketball tunmraeont in Minneapolis in response. socres of Somali-American kids came out to embrace sport despite the fatwa against it. They played basketball as baurhn hsasan never would again. For his efforts, Mr. Bihi has been ostracized by the leadership of the abuabakr As-Saddique Islamic Center, with which he used to have good relations. He told me, "One day we saw the imam on TV calling us infidels and saying, 'These families are trying to destroy the mosque.'" This is at complete odds with how aradbizik Bihi understands what he is trying to do by exsopnig al Shabaab recruitment, which is to save the religion I love from a small number of extremists.
Open Cloze
There are no words ________ to denounce the al Shabaab terrorists who attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi on the same day as a children's cooking competition in September of 2013. They ______ 67, including poets and pregnant women. Far away in the ________ Midwest, I had the good fortune of _______ Somali-Americans who were working to counter the _______ of al _______ to recruit a small number of young ______ from their city of Minneapolis to take part in atrocities like Westgate. Abdirizak Bihi's studious 17-year-old nephew Burhan Hassan was recruited here in 2008, ________ to Somalia, and then killed when he tried to come home. Since that time, Mr. Bihi, who _______ the no-budget Somali Education and Advocacy ______, has been vocally denouncing the recruitment and the failures of government and Somali-American institutions like the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center where he believes his nephew was radicalized during a youth program. But he doesn't just _________ the mosque. He also takes on the government for its failure to do more to prevent poverty in his community. Given his own lack of financial resources, Mr. Bihi has had to be ________. To counter the efforts of al Shabaab to sway more disaffected youth, in the wake of the group's 2010 attack on World Cup viewers in ______, he organized a Ramadan basketball __________ in Minneapolis in response. ______ of Somali-American kids came out to embrace sport despite the fatwa against it. They played basketball as ______ ______ never would again. For his efforts, Mr. Bihi has been ostracized by the leadership of the ________ As-Saddique Islamic Center, with which he used to have good relations. He told me, "One day we saw the imam on TV calling us infidels and saying, 'These families are trying to destroy the mosque.'" This is at complete odds with how _________ Bihi understands what he is trying to do by ________ al Shabaab recruitment, which is to save the religion I love from a small number of extremists.
Solution
- directs
- hassan
- people
- shabaab
- tournament
- uganda
- abdirizak
- center
- scores
- spirited
- burhan
- adequate
- killed
- criticize
- abubakar
- american
- meeting
- efforts
- creative
- exposing
Original Text
There are no words adequate to denounce the al Shabaab terrorists who attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi on the same day as a children's cooking competition in September of 2013. They killed 67, including poets and pregnant women. Far away in the American Midwest, I had the good fortune of meeting Somali-Americans who were working to counter the efforts of al Shabaab to recruit a small number of young people from their city of Minneapolis to take part in atrocities like Westgate. Abdirizak Bihi's studious 17-year-old nephew Burhan Hassan was recruited here in 2008, spirited to Somalia, and then killed when he tried to come home. Since that time, Mr. Bihi, who directs the no-budget Somali Education and Advocacy Center, has been vocally denouncing the recruitment and the failures of government and Somali-American institutions like the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center where he believes his nephew was radicalized during a youth program. But he doesn't just criticize the mosque. He also takes on the government for its failure to do more to prevent poverty in his community. Given his own lack of financial resources, Mr. Bihi has had to be creative. To counter the efforts of al Shabaab to sway more disaffected youth, in the wake of the group's 2010 attack on World Cup viewers in Uganda, he organized a Ramadan basketball tournament in Minneapolis in response. Scores of Somali-American kids came out to embrace sport despite the fatwa against it. They played basketball as Burhan Hassan never would again. For his efforts, Mr. Bihi has been ostracized by the leadership of the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center, with which he used to have good relations. He told me, "One day we saw the imam on TV calling us infidels and saying, 'These families are trying to destroy the mosque.'" This is at complete odds with how Abdirizak Bihi understands what he is trying to do by exposing al Shabaab recruitment, which is to save the religion I love from a small number of extremists.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| performing arts |
4 |
| al shabaab |
4 |
| muslim heritage |
3 |
| armed groups |
3 |
| muslim fundamentalism |
3 |
| human rights |
3 |
| armed islamic |
2 |
| islamic group |
2 |
| law student |
2 |
| dark decade |
2 |
| international community |
2 |
| view muslim |
2 |
| arts festival |
2 |
| maria bashirs |
2 |
| afghan prosecutor |
2 |
| small number |
2 |
| burhan hassan |
2 |
ngrams of length 3
| collocation |
frequency |
| armed islamic group |
2 |
| performing arts festival |
2 |
Important Words
- abdirizak
- abubakar
- adequate
- advocacy
- al
- american
- atrocities
- attack
- attacked
- basketball
- believes
- bihi
- burhan
- calling
- center
- city
- community
- competition
- complete
- cooking
- counter
- creative
- criticize
- cup
- day
- denounce
- denouncing
- destroy
- directs
- disaffected
- education
- efforts
- embrace
- exposing
- extremists
- failure
- failures
- families
- fatwa
- financial
- fortune
- good
- government
- hassan
- home
- imam
- including
- infidels
- institutions
- islamic
- kids
- killed
- lack
- leadership
- love
- mall
- meeting
- midwest
- minneapolis
- mosque
- nairobi
- nephew
- number
- odds
- organized
- ostracized
- part
- people
- played
- poets
- poverty
- pregnant
- prevent
- program
- radicalized
- ramadan
- recruit
- recruited
- recruitment
- relations
- religion
- resources
- response
- save
- scores
- september
- shabaab
- small
- somali
- somalia
- spirited
- sport
- studious
- sway
- takes
- terrorists
- time
- told
- tournament
- tv
- uganda
- understands
- viewers
- vocally
- wake
- westgate
- women
- words
- working
- world
- young
- youth