Ever since Al Shabaab insurgents seized the southern Somali port of Kismayu, Sacdiyo Sheeq, 25, can no longer listen to her favorite Bollywood songs on her cell phone, Reuters reported.
"Al Shabaab wants our ringtones to be only a Muslim cleric reading the Hadith or Koranic verse," Sheeq told Reuters.
"I used to listen to my favorite Indian songs on my cell phone, but now I have just thrown that memory away."
The U.S. government refers to Al Shabaab as Al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, Reuters reported.
The heavily armed group controls areas of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital.
Al Shabaab hasn't only banned ring tones. It has forbidden residents from watching movies, dancing at weddings and playing soccer.
"We do not tolerate anything that may corrupt the people," al Shabaab's spokesman in Kismayu, Sheikh Hassan Yaqub, reportedly told Reuters.
"We don't allow anything that goes against our religion, especially music and sexy videos," he said.
The ban on cell phone ringtones presents a dilemma for residents: How to answer their cell phones without interrupting the Hadith — the word of the Prophet Mohammed.
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