"The head of the Swedish Security Service stated, “130 cases of people who have left to join the fighting have been confirmed, then there are the presumed cases, and then there are those that have not been counted, which brings the total to between 250 and 300.” As many as 30 men from Sweden have died on the Syrian battlefield"
(
foreignpolicy) GOTHENBURG, Sweden — When he was 3 years old, Ahmed arrived in southern Sweden from Iraq, together with his older brother and parents. The family settled in one of their new country’s cut-off suburbs, where its many new immigrants come to live, but mostly to be forgotten.
The family found a home in one of the many rows of gray, faceless apartment buildings that make up these deeply segregated suburbs that ring Sweden’s urban centers — in
Angered, outside Gothenburg. As he grew into his teenage years, Ahmed began to scold his siblings to be more religious. He spent considerable time in front of his computer, becoming engrossed in graphic, violent videos from the civil war in Syria. Inspired, he read the biographies of martyrs who had died in battle, waging jihad in the holy land. And gradually he turned inward, withdrawing from society and his former life.
A troubled teenager in search of his identity, 17-year-old Ahmed was asking the basic questions of coming of age: Who am I? What is my place in the world? At the local mosque, extremist recruiters made easy work of him, providing the answers he sought. In just six or seven weeks, he became radicalized — changing his beliefs and adopting a Salafi interpretation of Islam, with a strict, binary outlook on life. He distanced himself from his friends, labeling them apostates. Or, as he said, kuffar.
In the summer of 2013, with the war in Syria intensifying, the mood among the youth of Angered, including Ahmed, began to change. Described by social workers as an “ordinary” young man, Ahmed spent his time on the streets due to unemployment. He hovered on the periphery of gangs and petty criminals. Worried, his mother began calling Ahmed’s youth workers, asking them for help. (Ahmed’s parents were Muslims but certainly not devout.)
One social worker, who asked that his name not be used due to the sensitive nature of his job, said he also noticed the rapid change in Ahmed — one he had seen many times. Whereas before Ahmed wore baggy clothes and listened to hip-hop music, now he wore a white robe (thawb) and a Palestinian shawl (keffiyeh), and he sported a new beard. He argued that music should not be played at one of Angered’s youth centers. It was haram, forbidden.
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