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Asslamau alaykum

Subha Allah, if these people are not granted paradise I have no chance. May Allah ease their suffering and reunite them in jannah, ameen I simply can't imagine anything worse. May Allah swt protect us all, ameen.

Daniel Joseph Maldonado, an American convert, was arrested by the Kenyan military in January 2007 and handed over the US authorities. In April he pleaded guilty to a charge of receiving training from a foreign terrorist organization. He was sentenced to ten years in June. In this exclusive first-hand account from his cell in Houston’s Federal Detention Centre he describes the circumstances around his migration to Somalia, the tragic death of his wife Umm Muhammad, his subsequent arrest in Kenya and imprisonment there and in the US.

In the name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Please and Blessings be Upon Muhammad. Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmahtullahi wa Barakatuhu.


Migration with Umm Muhammad (May Allah accept her):

Once my wife (may Allah accept her) and I found out that an Islamic State was established in Somalia, especially after the taking of Mogadishu, we decided to go and make Hijra (migration) from Egypt. Immediately we made plans and tried to sell everything in our apartment. After being offered about $7,000–$8000, Umm Muhammad (May Allah accept her) made such a beautiful statement. She said, “You know that everything (in the apartment) is worth more than that Daniel…But what Allah offers me is better!” So she gave away everything in the apartment to someone to distribute to the poor in a small village. If that wasn’t enough, we had about $2,800 cash after we had gotten tickets etc. She decided to give $2,000 to a close friend in deep debt, so as to reap as many blessings as possible for the trip ahead.

None of the above do I attribute to myself and Allah is a Witness over what I say. With only $800 we left for Somalia…Did that stop her? No, she still gave to those in need! To this day, I don’t even know half of the good she did. Such was her custom to keep it hidden.

Something worth mentioning, we ended up staying in the airport [at Dubai] for three days, waiting for a flight. What did Umm Muhammad say about going out in Dubai? She said, “I lived with poor people in Egypt; I am going to live with the poor in Somalia. Dubai will be a fitnah (trial)” Thus we slept in the airport. I can still see her (thinking back) nodding off while nursing the baby under her abaya (coat-like burqah) in secrecy.

She became extremely devout; everything about her changed for the better. Her faith was stronger than I have ever seen! She became so pious, and put all her trust in Allah to the point I felt I was no longer even on the same level as her…Not even close! While I was away from her and the children, I would try to call her and them as much as possible. We would constantly entertain Allah’s praise and express our deep love for one another. Her patience was truly amazing!
After the bombing of Mogadishu airport, I advised that she and the children leave to the South to meet me as soon as possible. I remember asking her, “Did you hear it [the bombing]?” She said, “Yes”. I asked, “Were you scared?” She simply said, “No”.

I met her and the children in a town between the area she had left and the area we would head to before she would leave the country. She had dirt all over her abaya from the difficult trip; her eyes were tired and weary. I approached her and said, “I swear, I have never seen you more beautiful than today!”

So we went further, South. We would stay in a house with many other families before we left (the next morning). After Fajr (the pre-dawn prayer), the sisters started preparing to evacuate. Umm Muhammad refused to go. After some talking to by me and others, she – while weeping – listened and prepared to leave.

Knowing that the Ethiopians were coming and the women were about to leave, she though that there was a great possibility I would be killed. So we had a nice, long beautiful talk as she prepared. We expressed our love and admiration for each other. She thanked me by saying: “You are the greatest teacher I have ever had! You are the only man who has stuck around in my life! (Her father and grandfather etc were never around for her. She grew up in a house of women.) You are a real man! I love you so much!” She was weeping. Then she said something that I will never forget:



“Forgive me…I could not ask Allah to make you a martyr. I love you too much to see you go… So I asked Him to make me a martyr instead!”

After much loving talk, the S.U.V. (off-road-vehicle) started to ride away. Her eyes watered while it pulled off… Seeing it was pulling off slowly by me, I said: “Peace be upon you oh women of Paradise, insha’Allah!” She asked why I said such. I said “If any women are the women of paradise, it is you, the women of the migrants.”

The S.U.V. pulled away and she recited a verse from Quran as they drove off... It was Eid. That would be the last [time] I would see my wife….May Allah accept my beloved and join me with her in Paradise with our children. Ameen.