Islamic State: Diary of life in Mosul
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29600573
28 November 2014
From FaisalI washed and got ready to go to Friday prayers, and to hear the imam address the congregation.
In his Friday sermon, the imam spoke about the value of the gold dinar in the ancient eras of Islam and about how trade and economy flourished at the time.
"How can I use this new currency which is only recognised in IS territory?! ”
The aim was to make the new Islamic dinar a force to be reckoned with against the US dollar used by the infidels, as the imam said, in what turned out to be the same sermon forced by IS on all the mosques.
Panic-selling
I went home feeling worried and confused. I have business and bank accounts and bank dealings with other countries. How can I use this new currency which is only recognised in IS territory?!
The IS dinar was going to replace the official Iraqi currency and use of the dollar was going to be banned. I didn't know what to do, and I sat with a group of friends to discuss what would happen to our money and to our business.
Everybody agreed they would exchange the existing Iraqi currency for US dollars or for gold jewellery.
We all agreed that the IS plan was not religious or ideological as they said, but merely a scheme to rob us of our money and savings.
The next morning a state of chaos gripped the market as everybody was trying to get rid of the Iraqi dinar and to buy dollars or gold.
21 November 2014
From FaisalOnce upon a time in our land, which is rich with water and oil, we used to have a big supply of water and electricity. However, now in the time of the IS caliphate, we lead the most difficult life imaginable.
We don't have water because the supply station does not work most of the time due to a power shortage.
"We dug a well to find enough water for our needs”
We totally rely on private generators. Life would have been impossible in my beloved city without them.
My neighbours tried to find a solution to the water shortage, so we dug a well to find enough water for our needs during the continuous shortage of water supply.
Digging water wells became very prevalent in Mosul, and everybody is digging for water in my country that boasts two major rivers.
We now try to save kerosene for heating, although it's very scarce and expensive. The price of a barrel is about $250, although its price on the international markets is no more than $100.
But this is not surprising because we live in Iraq, the land of miracles.
14 November 2014
From Mays
School began in Nineveh [Mosul's province], but this year is not like any other year.
IS has issued very strict instructions to the students and the school administrations.
Dulqarnain is a name new to the people of my city. It's the name of the IS person in charge of education in Nineveh. His name, as the highest authority for education, is signed on our books.
"They completely banned the use of colours and coloured pens in school”
Public schools are funded by the education authority and the ministry of education, and they have a large supply of teachers - male and female - and a lot of buildings.
Private schools, on the other hand, are educational and commercial projects owned by private individuals who do not have the resources to supply the teachers and the buildings.
This means that the demand for private schools will decrease in a time when job opportunities are very scarce and money is hard to come by.
'They cancelled art'
School syllabuses have been changes by IS. There are no physical education classes anymore. Instead there is "jihadi education", which is a subject in which students are taught to love jihad [an Islamic concept meaning "struggle"] and how to do so.
IS cancelled both geography and history lessons, but then they changed their mind. They cancelled art classes, and instead teach Arabic calligraphy. They completely banned the use of colours and coloured pens in schools.
All these matter make the running of schools very difficult, even impossible, especially banning students from activities, such as sports and painting, that mean the world to them.
5 November 2014
From Nizar[Editor's note: Before Islamic State overran Mosul, the city was home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. Most fled with the arrival of IS, who ordered the city's remaining Christians to convert to Islam, pay a religious tax, or face being killed.]
Not one house owned by a Christian in Mosul was not taken over and looted by IS members, and all their belongings stolen, down to the last broomstick.
"I cannot bear to look at their evil faces”
We feel ashamed to call our Christian and Yazidi friends, and I feel I cannot even phone them any more, as if it was me or one of my family or friends that committed those heinous crimes against them.
I decided not to talk or salute any IS member who occupies a Christian house near me, and I cannot bear to look at their evil faces.
Fleeing air strikes
I've taken notice of their behaviour during coalition air strikes. They immediately switch off the lights in the homes they occupy, and some drive off in their stolen cars in some unknown direction.
Then they return as soon as the air strikes cease. A friend of mine had the nerve to ask one of them: "Why do you run away during the air strikes?"
The IS member answered that they fear the strikes will target the houses of Christians that they've occupied because the Christians would have told the coalition their location.
Another friend of mine tried to get close to a house occupied by an IS member and his family to see what was happening there, but he was unable to as they never leave the door open, and don't even talk in the garden.
My friends and I vowed that once this is over, and our city is cleared of the dirt and nastiness, that we would rehabilitate a Christian house to show the world, or at least our Christian friends, that those who did this to them abide by no religion at all.
24 October 2014
From FaisalFour months have passed since Islamic State took over, and a friend of mine is still in hiding here.
He worked as a bodyguard for some judges in Mosul, but after the city fell all the judges left and my friend went into hiding. He moved home so no-one would know where to find him.
Most of them have left, fearing execution by IS. These kinds of actions have pushed people away from supporting IS. Their criminal acts have terrorised peaceful citizens.
IS members can be seen executing activists in front of everyone in the streets. They wear black fighter outfits, have let their hair and beards grow - some look as if they haven't seen a shower in ages!
Every day they increase in number, hold new positions and consolidate their presence, undeterred by the air strikes from coalition forces which do nothing to change things on the ground. It it is actually our reality which has changed and become even more horrific.
From Mays
I teach at a school in my beloved city, Mosul. Like other Iraqi mothers I work to provide some sort of financial assistance to my husband, albeit negligible, to help fend off the hardships of life through such hard times and in such an expensive country.
This year, when the summer holidays began, I decided to go to Baghdad to visit some family and relatives there and attend a family ceremony.
After the party, when we were all still full of excitement and surrounded by our loved ones, I received news of a curfew back home, and the start of the fighting between government forces and Islamic State rebels.
From that moment I spoke to my husband in Mosul every day to find out the latest news.
'Horror and panic'
I spent the worst days of my life in Baghdad, the city of my childhood innocence, and where I lived my dreams as a woman in my 20s. I had always been thrilled to live in Baghdad until I got married and moved to Mosul.
"Those were moments I will never forget”
Cities were falling in hours - not even days - after governmental forces fled or retreated, which left everybody puzzled.
After several attempts by my husband and thanks to some of his connections, we managed to book flights from Baghdad to the north.
But then another obstacle faced us - I had not brought my children's documentation as I was travelling by land. Yet as we were now flying, it was a must, or we wouldn't be able to leave.
Armed groups
Thanks to good thinking and God's will we received the documents via a friend who was leaving Mosul by car and who later flew to Baghdad and brought us the papers.
I finally got home to my family in Mosul, shortly after midnight on 20 June. I was shocked and frightened by what I saw in the streets, where armed groups were roaming around. I prayed and fasted for three days.
I stayed at home for a while, until I got used to the situation we are now living under, but those were moments I will never forget.
Mosul profile
- Iraq's second biggest city
- Overrun by Islamic State in June 2014
- Home to about 1.8 million people before IS takeover, when some 500,000 fled
- Majority Sunni Arab population, with Kurdish, Turkmen and Christian minorities
A mother's fear for her son at Mosul school
IS fighters parade through Mosul
Tense times in IS-held Mosul
Christians flee Mosul after IS ultimatum
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