Hassan Ghedi Santur

The Youth of God

Somalian-Canadian journalist, editor, and novelist Hassan Ghedi Santur tells the story of Nour, a young boy with Somali origins growing up in Toronto. He is shy, religious, and academically gifted but is bullied by his classmates for his traditional attire and beard. His teacher, however, sees great potential in him and tries to help him as far as he can. But as his family situation becomes more difficult and Nuur does not have anyone he can talk to, he finds belonging in a local mosque. Due to his vulnerability, the Imam of the mosque is able to draw him onto a radical path. This book is very moving and so important to understand how young people can get radicalized.

“Don’t be naive,” his father said. “Cadaan people will always care about how big your beard is.” He used the generic word Cadaan for all white people the way some white people said blacks – not as a mere description of skin colour but as a category of people who shared a particular character defect.

“Cadaan people will always want you to look like them, talk like them, think like them. They like to surround themselves with people who are just a little different, to make life a bit more exotic, add a bit more colour to their bland lives, but not so different that it challenges their sense of the world. Cadaan people don’t like to be challenged with the presence of too much difference. It scares them.”

Ismail spoke with the confidence of a man who had known these Cadaan people intimately all his life. “Their tolerance has limits,” he continued, emphasizing tolerance sarcastically.

“Really?” was all Nuur could come up with, in the face of his father’s confident assertions.