The Huffington Post | By Yasmine Hafiz

Posted: 07/02/2014 2:26 pm EDT Updated: 07/02/2014 2:59 pm EDT



Though the extremist militant group ISIS has declared a restoration of the Islamic Caliphate and issued a call for all Muslims to pledge their allegiance to it, a Pew survey shows that most people living in Muslim majority countries are very concerned about the threat of Islamic extremism in their nations.

The poll investigated specific attitudes towards groups such as al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, the Taliban, Hezbollah and Hamas, in fourteen countries with significant Muslim populations, and found that almost universally negative opinions were held about them.

The data for the survey was collected between April 10 to May 25, 2014, which was prior to the ISIS takeover of Mosul and other areas of Iraq and Syria. Syria, Iraq, and Iran were not polled.

In the Middle East, fears about Islamic extremism have been on the rise since 2013, with Lebanon reporting that a staggering 92 percent of the country's residents are very or somewhat concerned about Islamic extremism in the nation. Its long border with conflict-stricken Syria is a likely factor in the high degree of concern.


The Middle East isn't alone. The majority of the population in 11 out of the 14 countries said that they were "concerned about Islamic extremism in our country." Only 50 percent of Turkey, 46 percent of Senegal, and 39 percent of Indonesia reported feeling concerned.

Suicide bombing has been a tactic for Islamic militants operating all over the world for years now, though support for the practice has drastically declined in the last decade. No majorities in any of the countries polled expressed the opinion that "suicide bombings can often or sometimes be justified against civilian targets in order to defend Islam from its enemies." However, 62 percent of respondents from Palestine's volatile Gaza Strip did say that suicide bombing could sometimes or often be justifiable.



Regional Variations

The degree of concern about Islamic extremism is over 65 percent in Lebanon, Pakistan, Nigeria, and the Palestinian territories and Israel, which are the countries most directly affected by Hezbollah, the Taliban, Boko Haram, and Hamas, respectively.



Opinions Of Specific Groups

The notorious al-Qaeda, which has been active for over twenty-five years, is viewed negatively by strong majorities in all 14 countries. The group was viewed most positively by the public of the Palestinian territories, where 25 percent reported favorable views.



Eighty-two percent of Nigerians have an unfavorable view of Boko Haram, the group which attracted international condemnation after it kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls. And 79 percent reported a "very unfavorable" view. Eighty percent of Nigerian Muslims have a negative opinion of Boko Haram, a similar figure to the 83 percent of Nigerian Christians who also view the group unfavorably.



Pakistan's negative opinions toward the Taliban have held fairly steady for the past few years, with 59 percent of the population holding an unfavorable view of the group based on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Taliban are even more unpopular than al-Qaeda in Pakistan, with only eight percent of Pakistanis reporting a favorable view of the Taliban, compared with 12 percent holding a favorable view of al-Qaeda.



Hezbollah's unpopularity in the MENA region has significantly increased since 2007, according to the poll, with Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, and the Palestinian territories all showing rises of about 20 percent or more in unfavorable views of the group. Opinion has stayed fairly steady in Lebanon, with 64 percent of Lebanon reporting unfavorable views in 2007 compared to 59 percent in 2014.


The only group that approves of Hezbollah is Lebanon's Shi'ite Muslim population, which was recorded as having an 86 percent favorable view of Hezbollah, which is dominated by Shi'ites.


Hamas has fallen out of favor in Palestine since 2007, when 62 percent of Palestinians viewed them positively. Now, in 2014, only 35 percent reported a favorable opinion, with 53 percent on record as having an unfavorable opinion. In the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas, 63 percent of people have a negative opinion of the group, which is up from 2013, when only 54 percent reported unfavorable views. However, a majority (55 percent) of Lebanon's Shi'ite Muslims have favorable opinions of Hamas.



The results for this survey were based on face-to-face interviews overseen by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. Data on sampling error and methodology are available here.http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/07/01/methods-in-detail-7/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/02/muslims-against-extremism-pew-survey_n_5551693.html

Jul 2, 2014, 10:29 PM ET
By CLAYTON SANDELL and MICHAEL S. JAMES

A suburban Denver teen fell in love with an ISIS fighter online, vowed to aid his cause in Syria, then was arrested at an airport, federal authorities said.

Shannon Maureen Conley, 19, of Arvada, Colorado, was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization after FBI agents arrested her at Denver International Airport on April 8 as she tried to board a flight to Frankfurt, Germany, according to a U.S. criminal complaint and a supporting affidavit. She allegedly had connecting flights to Istanbul, Turkey, and then to Adana, Turkey, just a few hours' drive from the Syrian border.

Conley, licensed as a certified nurse's aide in Colorado, according to the affidavit, told investigators that she hoped to meet her online suitor in Syria and reside with him near the Turkish border as his wife and a camp nurse. Her parents told investigators her suitor was a 32-year-old Tunisian man, whose name is redacted in the documents.

"When Conley told the suitor she wants to provide his camp with medical services and training, he told her that was good because they needed more nurses," the affidavit read.

"Conley stated that she was aware that her plans were potentially illegal and she could possibly get arrested, and therefore she has no intention to return to the U.S.," the account read. "Conley mentioned an incident where an individual was arrested for attempting to go fight in Syria. She told [investigators] there was nothing they could do to change her mind and that she was still going, although she admitted, 'I know things can go terribly wrong.'

"When asked if she would engage in actual combat on the battlefield, Conley said, 'If it was absolutely necessary, then yes. I wouldn't like it ... but I would do it,'" according to the affidavit.

Earlier, Conley had told an FBI agent in December that she "joined the U.S. Army Explorers (USAE) to be trained in U.S. military tactics and in firearms," according to court papers.

"She said she intended to use that training to go overseas to wage jihad," the affidavit added. "She also intended to train Islamic Jihadi fighters in U.S. military tactics. She previously wanted to serve in the U.S. military but no longer wanted to because she felt the military would not accept her due to her religious beliefs and her wearing of a hijab and niqab."

Conley first came to the attention of investigators in November after she was reported behaving suspiciously at Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada, the scene of a 2007 shooting incident, according to the affidavit.

Officials repeatedly and openly seemed to try to dissuade Conley from acting out on her stated aims to join ISIS, which stands for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and subsequently gained a higher profile in the U.S. media for military victories against the government of Iraq.

Officials even enlisted Conley's parents, who were described as opposing Conley's plans to travel to the Mideast and her desire to marry her Tunisian suitor.

The April 9 court documents were unsealed Wednesday after an order by a federal judge, according to Jeff Dorschner of the local U.S. Attorney's Office.
"There was a detention hearing where we argued she was a danger to the community and a risk for flight, so she was ordered held without bond pending the resolution of the case," Dorschner said. "Since then, there was some litigation. We are currently in the motions phase. ... No trial date has yet been scheduled and she remains in custody."

Dorschner said federal officials did not oppose the release of a redacted version of the documents.

"At the time of her arrest, there was an active criminal investigation ... [so] the records remained sealed," Dorschner said. "The investigation is ... at a point where the redacted documents won't compromise it."

Shannon Conley's father, John Conley, told ABC News, "At this time we have no comment."

Her public defender, Robert Pepin, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

ABC News' Shahriar Rahmanzadeh contributed to this report.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/us-teen-allegedly-falls-love-online-join-isis/story?id=24407029

AdekunleBalogun:

U no fit it blame them? Can u hear urself, but u can all scream and shout when a woman is been prosecuted for changing her faith in sudan. All am saying is people should be allowed to practise their religion as long as they do it within the confines of lay down rules and regulations and as long as their practise do not have any negatives effect on themselves, another person and their immediate society. Ramadan is the best thing that can ever happen to any living Muslim in his life time, because its a great privilege to observe the Ramadan wit all its benefit, its a blessing for every Muslim. Prayers are answered wit little effort, sins are forgiven and most all Allah's words is a constant resonance in ur heart.

It might not be a problem to be a Muslim in a Muslim nation but China never was and never will be (If the Chinese have their way) a Muslim stronghold. They have suffered vicious attacks carried out on civilians by radical Muslim terrorists. The smart way is to nip this in the bud now. The modus operandi of Muslims is to grow in population and start attacking the laws of the land they are hosted in. They seek to make others (their hosts) bend to their needs. It doesn't work like that. Muslims in the US and UK have constantly attacked the courts of law, finding loopholes to ramrod through their intention to set a precedence of shari'a; first using "soft" issues which on liberal and "humane" grounds could be seen as reasonable such as divorce law and inheritance. But once they get their foot in the door it is a push for parallel court of law on up to issues such as theft, murder, adultery etc. What I find extremely annoying is that people from Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Iran and many other countries which are, for all intents and purposes Muslim majority countries, leave their countries to the UK, France, US, Sweden, Norway and other far flung points and then start DEMANDING that their host countries bend over backwards to feed, clothe them, provide them with security that is trained and "sensitive" to the Muslim community. NO! If you have left your country behind and gone to another host country you must adapt, not the other way around. Muslims are not happy in Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Pakistan, Jordan, Turkey, Palestine, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, China, US, France, UK, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Ethiopia, Thailand, Belgium, Somalia, Libya, Mali, Sudan, Bahrain, Myanmar, Syria, Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Holland, the list goes on and on. The irony of the photo below is that these are Muslims protesting in LONDON. If you do not like your host country-go. And if the "religion of peace" cannot make you settle your differences with your shia or sunni Muslim "brother" without beheading him, I'm sorry, but it seems that Islam itself is part of the problem. Show me where different Christian sects are currently blowing each other up AND killing innocent Muslims in the mix. Silence. It isn't happening. There is only rage and savagery coming from the Muslim populations of the world. ISIS is drunk on power, hatred and killing. It is their poorrnography, and they devote hours long videos to filming live killings, from multiple angles. They are completely insane, delusional and mad. My only hope for this new "Caliphate" announcement is that the whole world will see for once and for all that Islam is a cancer that must be surgically removed and destroyed, at least the non-peace loving cells that are currently holding the world hostage. Russian will not stand by, neither will China, neither will the House of Saud as they will not permit such blasphemy and bloodshed at their doorstep. Those who espouse the violence and jihad of Islam WILL die by it, and China is simply taking steps to make sure this cancer does not take root in their nation. Very wise move in my opinion.

tintingz: There are many ways and chances for her to file for divorce .

• Leave the house and report to the police about the physical abuse her husband inflicted on her .

• Run up to the Muslim women forum or group, they will stand for her .

• She should meet with a lawyer as Sharia law allows divorce .

The sharia marriage law is against force marriage .

Arrange marriage is allowed but not to be forced on anyone .

The girl is probably angry, sad, confused and not exposed, she didn't get to meet the right person to save her from their marriage .

Oh yes, in that "perfect shari'a world" on paper your points might be able to happen. There is no "women's group"! She probably would be beat within an inch of her life if she even dared stick a TOE out of that house! I think you're confusing "moderate" Islam with the harsh reality of this girl;'s life and environment. Shari'a law is run by IGNORANT VILE CRACK POTS, you know, the ones in the dusty streets with a thirst for drawing blood so they can feel pious and holier than thou. It is not practiced by suit and tied "lawyers" in shiny skyscrapers where little girls like her have access to. If yoiu are born into Islam as a girl, you will suffer and suffer and poay for it til you take your last breath, and hopefully not at the hands of some old wrapper defiling you or your own family butchering you because you dared stand for love. Barbaric, primitive, backwards, ignorant, stone age cult. I pity those women born into it.

Please, can we just do the obvious which is to divide this nation and isolate the N NE with their miserable shari'a bull crapp once and for all. Nigeria is going down the toilet because of this eeediotic religion of violence, murder and jihad. I want nothing to do with Islam, nothing. It has no place in a civilized society.

Shine u Eye: Why are half the posts hidden? The mods are supporting this Boko haram woman or what?

They most always delete my posts of Muslim barbarities around the world....especially when it speaks of Northern Nigeria. I guess we can make our own conclusions.... sniff

Okay. This is what I have learned dealing with VO.
1. Fill out the forms legibly. I mean perfectly able to read.
2. Put all documents in a clean, crisp new folder and in the order they will likely ask for them. For some reason there are VO that get enraged with staple or paper clip. Judgement call. If you have put paper clip it is better, as when asked to hand papers, if you notice a frown, take the paper clip off immediately before handing over so they don't have to take it off. (trust me on this one)
3. Be truthful. They will sniff out a lie before it even leaves your lips. If you must embroider, better do it carefully and skillfully researched.
4. Arrive looking neat and clean. Don't dress informally but don't overdo it. Sunday service clothes will do.
5. Act nice, natural and neutral. Smile and greet them appropriately: "Good Morning, Good Afternoon" then SHUT UP.
6. Put your best intentions and attitude forward, keep it simple, know your answers and give them the information they need when asked without a long winded speech.
7. Forget everything you think you know about communication. Americans are very direct and expect you to be the same. They are expecting you to start the Oga routine, and they despise that one. Stand on your own two feet and in very clear concise responses, show them that you know exactly when, where, why, and how about the need for this visa. Do not chew gum, pull your hair, scratch your head, turn around and talk to others behind you, make faces, sigh, etc. Just look straight at them and get down to business efficiently, make their work easier and they will reward you. People with a head on their shoulders and a plan, i.e. "going somewhere" with their life, get visas.
8. If you are planning to burn the visa (which I don't recommend) you better have solid proof of all the ironclad reasons you are coming back to naija (wife, kids, business, sick mom, whatever).
9. If you do get the visa, congratulations, but remember that you still have to pass customs and immigration once arriving. Same routine there. There is a good possibility you will get pulled out of line. Have your folder with documents in order, all documents pertaining to your "business" overseas, and have them on your person, in order and at ready. If they seem intent on starting a fishing expedition with questions, pull your folder out with letter of invitation, travel documents, all proof you need to instantly quell any need for them asking questions which could veer off of the basics.
10. NEVER hint, ask or suggest if there is a way to "understand" each other. Never. Don't even go there.

Ekundayo7:
The man is truly frightening, efficient, all lean muscle, he's like a fox on the hunt for the goal..love that guy!

davidif:

I endorse everything you said besides love that guy.

Okay, maybe love was too strong a word, how about "admire". I would def love to see him on an all star "dream team". I'm still calling this copa as Holland and brasil in the final (if brasil can start waking up quicker).

NA WA O!!!

More postive news from the heartland of "true" Islam. They just keep on showing the infidel world the "proper" way life should be lived....
AFP
3 hours ago

A teenage girl died in Pakistan after being doused in petrol and set alight by a man who wanted to marry her but whose proposal had been rejected, police said Sunday.

It was the second brutal killing in Pakistan's Punjab province within days, after a 17-year-old girl and her husband were murdered by a group of relatives for marrying against their wishes.

The latest incident took place Saturday in a village which is part of Toba Tek Singh town.

Sidra Shaukat, 18, was at home without her parents when 22-year-old Fayyaz Aslam entered her house, doused her with petrol and set her alight, Mohammad Akram, a police official told AFP.

"She was taken to a local hospital which referred her to the main hospital but she died before reaching there," Akram said.

Aslam has been arrested and a case registered against him.

"The boy loved her and had also sent a proposal to marry her, but that was rejected by her family," Akram said.

Sidra's father, Shaukat Ali, confirmed the killing and accused Aslam of harassing his daughter.

"He used to harass my daughter -- yesterday he came in the afternoon and threatened dire consequences after we asked him to avoid coming again," Ali told AFP.

Another teenager, Maafia Bibi, 17, and her 31-year-old husband Muhammad Sajjad were murdered by Bibi's father, her two uncles, grandfather and mother on Thursday night for marrying against their wishes in Daska town.

beremole: No one is telling us how exactly they want the girls to be rescued alive, all they do is criticise.
What about their US soldiers who are here to ''give us advice''?
What useful advice have they given?

The problem is that foreigners can't wipe Nigeria's yansh while also holding her steady as she defecates. Why not just go back to the Brits then if Nigeria is not producing the brains and will to handle her own problems.

This man can't even suck Five Alive out of a juice box unaided let alone follow world cup. I would much rather see pictures of him or his VP (is the guy still breathing??) on track and on top of the abuja bombing and sympathizing with world cup bomb family victims. Epic FAIL GEJ, with each passing week you disgust me more and more. We don't need photos of you sitting on your yansh amidst splendor and luxury, we need you showing you are taking care of the nation (try, at least try to show you have a heart and are not comatose).

tonididdy: seriously?...do u know who robben is in an eighteen yard box?...

The man is truly frightening, efficient, all lean muscle, he's like a fox on the hunt for the goal..love that guy!

I called it weeks ago, will end up brasil vs holland. Other teams playing better than brasil but they got home on their side.

chibwike: The lord is angry with the people of Chibok...lets pray for his mercy upon them.

Please tell me you're joking, right?? God has nothing to do with the people of Chibok! It is the ignorance, greed and corruption of MAN that has everything to do with Chibok! MAN makes the rotten choices to kill others and take away their loved ones, MAN and his idiotic insistence to mess up a perfectly good planet earth. Chibok needs a freaking Nigerian president who actually CARES about the people he "rules" over, a military that isn't corrupted from inside with boko haram sympathizers, and they need the right to defend themselves via guns. The only sin of the Chibok people was being born into a shari'a shite hole with a clueless president and an even more clueless administration. Nigeria is a non functioning zombie at this point.

Brainless and talentless. I can't imagine anyone taking her seriously after this, other than being a Whoore.

THIS IS THE MATCH TO WATCH! GONNA BE GOOD!!!!

ANN COULTER CAN GET ON HER KNEES AND CHUPAR A MINHA LINGUICA. Sensationalist idiot looking for controversy.

This is the madness that murderers, underage girl wrappers cling to, thinking they are pious Muslims defending their "family honor". This is what Boko Haram wants to make the norm in Nigeria. If these people would stop marrying their immediate first cousins they might have a chance at cleansing the gene pool of their hopelessly idiotic and evil ignorance of LOVE and the right of ALL BEINGS ON THIS EARTH TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES IN SONG, IN MUSIC, AND IN THE CHOICE OF WHO THEY MARRY. Islam is a cancer. Nigeria needs to rid itself of anyone who is sympathetic to this type of nonsense murder.
Reuters
By By Mubasher Bukhari 15 hours ago

By Mubasher Bukhari

LAHORE Pakistan (Reuters) - A young couple in Pakistan were tied up and had their throats slit with scythes after they married for love, police said Saturday.

The 17-year-old girl and 31-year-old man married on June 18 without the consent of their families in eastern Pakistan's Punjabi village of Satrah, police said.

The girl's mother and father lured the couple home late on Thursday with the promise that their marriage would receive a family blessing, said local police official Rana Zashid.

"When the couple reached there, they tied them with ropes," he said. "He (the girl's father) cut their throats."

Police arrested the family, who said they had been embarrassed by the marriage of their daughter, named Muafia Hussein, to a man from a less important tribe.

Cultural traditions in many areas of Pakistan mean that killing a woman whose behavior is seen as immodest is widely accepted.

Immodest behavior that sparked recent killings included singing, looking out of the window or talking to a man who is not a relative. For a woman to marry a man of her own choice is considered an unacceptable insult by many families.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 869 so-called "honor killings" were reported in the media last year - several a day. But the true figure is probably much higher since many cases are never reported.

The weak Pakistani government, battling with a troubled economy and a Taliban insurgency, does not collect centralized statistics and has no strategy to combat the killings.

Pakistani law means that even if a woman's killer is convicted, her family are able to forgive the killer.

Many families simply nominate a member to do the killing, then formally forgive the killer.

That's what happened earlier this week, a lawyer said, when a tribal council in central Pakistan's Muzaffargarh district sentenced another young couple to death for marrying for love.

The couple's lawyer, Zia Kiyyani, said the two had appealed for police protection after their marriage on June 21, but had not received any.

The 19-year-old girl's family came to take her from her husband's family, swearing on the Koran that they would not harm her and would hold a proper wedding ceremony, he said.

"During this the girl shouted, cried and mourned for her life and her husband's life because she knew that they will kill both of them," he said.

The girl, named Mehreen Bibi, was shot by a member of her family when she returned home, police said. Her husband went into hiding and her father registered the murder complaint so he could forgive the killer, Kiyyani said.

"That will end the case," he said.

(Additional reporting by Asim Tanveer in Multan; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Matt Driskill)

Just another article to highlight the rot young women and girls face daily in Nigeria. What would actually surprise me would be an article where human rights are upheld, corruption eschewed, and religious tolerance enforced or be met with prison terms. The so-called "men" who marry any girl or young woman under the age of 18 are truly wicked, perverse, morally and spiritually corrupt. I pray that each and every one of them meets their deserved reward for being a pedophile wrapper. Just one more reason why I support complete division between S SE SW and this shari'a North madness.

Associated Press
By MICHELLE FAUL 6 hours ago


In this Sunday, June 1, 2014 photo, Maimuna Abdullahi sits outside her school in Kaduna, Nigeria. Maimuna wore the scars of an abused woman anywhere: A swollen face, a starved body, and, barely a year after her wedding, a divorce. But for Maimuna, it all happened by the time she was 13. Maimuna is one of thousands of divorced girls in Nigeria who were married as children and then got thrown out by their husbands or simply fled. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
.



KADUNA, Nigeria (AP) — By the time she ran away, Maimuna bore the scars of a short but brutal marriage.

Her battered face swelled so much that doctors feared her husband had dislocated her jaw. Her back and arms bristled with angry welts from the whipping her father gave her for fleeing to him. She was gaunt from hunger, dressed in filthy rags. And barely a year after her wedding, she was divorced.

It would be a tragic story for a woman of any age. But for Maimuna Abdullahi, it all happened by the time she was 14.

"I'm too scared to go back home," she whispers, a frown crinkling her brow as she fiddles nervously with her hands. "I know they will force me to go back to my husband."

Maimuna is one of thousands of divorced girls in Nigeria, children who were forced into marriage and have since run away or been thrown out by their husbands. They are victims of a belief that girls should get wed rather than educated, which drew the world's attention after Boko Haram terrorists abducted more than 200 schoolgirls two months ago and threatened to marry them off. Most are still missing.

Maimuna's former husband, Mahammadu Saidu, blames her few years of school for her disobedience. A handsome man of 28 who is obviously proud of his ankle-high boots, he does not deny beating his wife.



"She had too much ABCD," he says. "Too much ABCD."




Nigeria, a young country of about 170 million, has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. The law of the land states that the age of consent, and thus of marriage, is 18. However, the custom of child marriage is still ingrained enough that even a middle-aged federal senator has married five child brides and divorced at least one.

Across the country, one in five girls are married before the age of 15, according to the United Nations. In the desperately poor Muslim north, where child marriage is often considered acceptable by shariah or Islamic law, that number goes up to one in two.

This is also where Boko Haram is trying to impose its extreme version of Islam, changing the face of the region and especially of its girls. Children as young as five now hide their heads and shoulders in hijabs, a rare sight just a few years ago. Some girls become wives as early as 9.


There are no official numbers for just how many of these girls get divorced, often ending up destitute and shunned by their families. But they are all too visible. A few miles from where Maimuna lives, children her age and younger sell their bodies to truck drivers, flitting in and out of vehicles.

Maimuna was saved from this fate by Saadatu Aliyu, who has turned an old family home into a school for divorced girls. At the Tattalli Free School, which gets by on private donations, a couple of dozen girls gather in the courtyard for a sewing lesson. Toddlers mill around, the children of divorced girls who came in pregnant.

"Nobody knows how many thousands of them there are," says Aliyu of the girls. "That's why we have so many prostitutes, and very young ones, in the north."

Maimuna grew up on the outskirts of Kaduna, in a half-finished brick building on the edge of a middle-class suburb. Her father, a farmer called Haruna Abdullahi, picks up a stone and throws it at a stray dog as scrawny as he is. At 45, he's been married for 30 years and has fathered eight children.

"It's our culture to give our girls in marriage," he says in a reasoning tone. "From the age of 12, a girl can go to her husband's house."

His wife, Rabi Abdullahi, nods, and asks her husband's permission before talking. She too was a child when she married, although she does not know exactly how old.

"It is our way of life," she says. "In my day, a bride would never dare to run away."

Her life is hard, she says, but her marriage good. She insists that her husband is not a cruel man, pointing to a well he built so she did not need to walk more than a mile to collect water.

The tradition of child marriage is rooted partly in poverty. This is an area where most people do not have running water, electricity or indoor toilets, where children get only three or four years of schooling. A marriageable daughter can bring in a bride price and mean one less mouth to feed.

So in late 2012, Maimuna's father arranged to marry his eldest daughter to his best friend's eldest son. The son, Saidu, paid a dowry of $210 or 35,000 naira for Maimuna — more cash than Abdullahi has had in his life. She was 13, and he twice her age.

Saidu farms his own plot of land and owns a small motorbike, making him relatively well off and eligible. He says he has known Maimuna all his life, and waited years for her to reach what he considers marriageable age.

"When she was a kid, I would bring her candy and call her 'wifey,'" he says. "We were always meant to be together."

Saidu left his village school at fifth grade, the highest level offered, and says he regrets it. The high school was in another village, too far to walk. Now he cannot write, and must find someone else to read him even the most personal of letters.

He says he promised Maimuna she could carry on going to school, even if it meant he had to find work in town. But he also worried.

"If she is educated, she will be looking down on me because I didn't go to school, so she will be the husband and I will be the wife," he explains.

Maimuna said she did not love him and begged her father to let her stay in school. She had always been a good daughter, obedient, hard-working and popular among her friends, so her stubborn refusal to accept her marriage surprised her parents.

But her wishes were not up for discussion. Her father was clear on what counts: "It's what is good for the family and the community."

_________

The link between child marriage and education is clear. Only 2 percent of married girls in Nigeria go to school, compared to 69 percent of unmarried girls, according to the United Nations. Some 73 percent of married girls received no schooling, and three out of four cannot read at all.

Many of Maimuna's friends from school were already married and not one was happy, but they had no idea how to escape.

Nobody prepared Maimuna for the marriage bed. There was no advice, no warning of what to expect, even from her married friends.

She settled into a new life where she felt like a slave. When she wasn't working in the fields, she was cleaning, carrying water and firewood, cooking and at the beck and call of her husband's demanding parents. Every day she was exhausted, and when she finally got to bed, her husband wanted to "bother" her, she says.

He never kept his promise to let her go to school.

When she objected to her treatment, her husband locked her into their hut, for days. He would not even allow her to visit her parents.

Maimuna bided her time until the rainy season was over and her husband went to town to find work. Nine months ago, she took off, escaping to her father and begging him to let her return home. Instead, he whipped her until her back was raw. Then he summoned her husband and forced her to go back to him.

Saidu, humiliated and furious, slapped her repeatedly in the face, jerking her head from side to side with the force of his blows. She fled once again, first to a sympathetic aunt in a nearby village and then to a cousin in Kaduna.

She now shares one cramped room with her cousin's family, just a short walk away from Tattalli school, down a dusty alley and along a road lined by open drains stinking of stagnant water.

When Maimuna showed up at the school, she had been badly beaten and refused to speak, says teacher Victoria Dung. They took her to the hospital, where doctors found she was badly malnourished. The whip marks on her back may last a lifetime.

Her husband waited the customary three months to make sure there was no baby. Then he divorced her, as a husband can do under shariah or Islamic law by declaring the divorce aloud three times. He informed her parents of the divorce in a letter dated Feb. 14, which he could not write himself.

____________

Maimuna considers herself among the lucky ones. She balances a broken chair on a tree stump at the school to sit in front of a sewing machine, learning to make garments she can sell in the market. She thinks she'd like nursing, and wants to master English and Arabic.

"I don't know what I want to be when I grow up but, even if I get married, I want to have some education to back me up," she says in her native Hausa, with a teacher translating. "I pray that what I have done will help the younger ones, that my parents learn from the experience of my running away from home."

It is by no means certain.

After her departure, Maimuna's father called a community meeting to discuss the problem with elders. He says he knows of many girls who ran away from home because of marriages, but the elders have not yet come up with a solution.

Some girls are rebelling in other ways. A 14-year-old forced to marry a 39-year-old in April poisoned the groom's food a week after their wedding, killing him and three of his friends.

Abdullahi denies beating his daughter, and says he is no longer angry with her. He insists he is happy that she has found a place where she can get the education she craves. Yet he gets visibly upset, the tendons in his neck standing out, as he describes the financial problem she has left him.

Maimuna's former husband is demanding back his money, but Abdullahi has spent it on land. And Saidu already has land - what he wants is cash, so he can look for another bride. Abdullahi does not know where he will find it.

Asked if he will treat his five younger daughters differently, he is ambivalent. The eyes in his chiseled face narrow, and he looks down at the ground.

"I would allow my daughters to go to school if I had the money. I have seen what happens, otherwise," he says. "But my reason is poverty, always financial problems. What can I do but give them out in marriage?"

Saidu, in the meantime, says he no longer cares for Maimuna and will move ahead with his life.

"This time I will marry a girl of 12, so that she will do what I want to do," he says. "Because if you marry a girl who is older, then she will not listen to you."

As he speaks, his eyes slide to the porch where Maimuna's 10-year-old sister, Hafsat, is cuddling a neighbor's baby. A sly smile curls his lips.

The photo speaks exactly why the African Continent has not produced a world cup worthy team. Material and spiritual corruption, lack of humanistic morals and character, lack of values, no foresight, no hindsight, colonized mind and pure laziness.