Reply #2: And yet it's not as though it was as clear and

[Igel]

simple as your snip would imply.

"Their stated goal is to restore a system of Sharia law in the city. Last month in Mogadishu a teenager stabbed his father's killer to death before a large crowd, after a death sentence was passed.

"The head of the BBC's Somali service described the rise of the Islamic Courts group as a popular uprising....

"Analysts say it is not entirely certain where the Islamic Courts militia has obtained its substantial weaponry and financing - some fingers have pointed towards Saudi Arabia, others to wealthy foreign supporters of Islamic militancy."

Sa'udi Arabia has had praise for this initiative. After all, it extends the theocracy. Da'wah and agitation for implementation of shari'a in an Islamic state have been led by 'businessmen', even if the 'businessmen' have been the head of Islamist NGOs fully in the employ of the Sa'udi government.

"Popular uprising" is a weasel term, and oddly used here. Does it mean that people independently clamored for it, is it possible that after several years of being told that Allah requires the faithful to join the shari'a judges' private milita to impose the shari'a courts' rule the people finally fell into line with the required 'popular uprising', or does the person mean that it's a 'rising up that enjoys popularity'.