The wonders of shari’a: Somali Islamic Militiamen Break Up Wedding. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The Islamic militiamen controlling the Somali capital broke up a wedding celebration because a band was playing and women and men were socializing together, witnesses said Saturday, describing the latest crackdown by a group feared to be installing Taliban-style rule in this African nation.

The Islamic fighters beat band members with electric cables and confiscated their equipment, said Asha Ilmi Hashi, a singer with the group Mogadishu Stars.

“We had warned the family not to include in their ceremony what is not allowed by the sharia law. This includes the mixing of men and women and playing music,” Sheik Iise Salad, who heads an Islamic court in the northeastern Huriwaa District, told The Associated Press. “That is why we raided and took their equipment.”

“What was going there was un-Islamic,” Salad said.

UPDATE at 7/9/06 8:19:48 am:

Radical Islamic front group CAIR says the takeover of Somalia by Dark Ages fanatics is “a positive change.” (Hat tip: Killgore Trout.)

What has happened in Somalia, for the majority of Somalis inside and those who are abroad, is a positive change. I truly suggest that we should not prejudge this change, or any change for that matter, based on the religious affiliation of those in power.