To the Makers of Guns

 

I think the crowd couldn’t stop what happened because they were afraid. Afraid of only one thing: the guns that the guards were carrying.

At one stoning two relatives did rush forward to reach the girl who was about to be stoned, and one of them, a child, was shot and killed.

Nobody else dared to move.

If the guns were not there then the crowd could have surged forward and freed the woman. If I had been there I too would have surged forward. I also would have wanted to hold back the ones who had stones in their hands, but had I really been there then I too would have been afraid and would have had to stand by and do nothing.

The guns would have made me afraid.

To the maker of guns.

To those that design the shape, sculpt the grip and polish the whole assemblage. Your guns will always fall into the wrong hands. Your guns will always intimidate those that would wish to step forward to right a wrong. Your guns will always kill a child. Your guns always bring fear and never a sense of security.

So in Somalia we have a Stone Age method of execution that can not be prevented because the men who encircle the girl with hands full of stones, are protected by a circle of men wielding modern guns.

The guns you designed.

The guns you made.

The guns you sold, which as always have fallen into the wrong hands. It was ever thus.

Men are foolish with guns.

So why are you still making them?

The girl was stoned to death, and none could rescue her because the foolish Islamic sentence was backed by men holding guns.

And guns will ensure that the next girl, once she has given birth, can also not be saved from the fate that awaits her. The presence of your guns will see to that.

So if it was you that designed the guns, made the guns, shipped the guns, trafficked the guns and then defended the use of the gun, then you are the ones holding the stones that will be thrown at the next Somalian girl’s head.

To the makers of guns, you are the Stone Age murderers. You are the stone throwers.

To the men who stood behind Islamic laws and condemned a girl to death by stoning, words can not express my disgust.

To the men that tied and bound her, words can not express my disgust.

To the men that dug the hole and partly buried her, words can not express my disgust.

To the men that threw the stones, words can not express my disgust.

To the makers of guns

To the ones who were stoned to death I wish you the deepest peace.

Halima Ibrahim Abdurrahman