- The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its ideology, and regards it as law. Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished (RECOGNITION AKA ICTIRAF).
- Mind-altering practices (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, or debilitating work routines) are used in excess and serve to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s) (TRUE-KHAT).
- The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel (e.g., members must get permission to date, change jobs, or marry—or leaders prescribe what to wear, where to live, whether to have children, how to discipline children, and so forth) (TRUE IN SOMALILAND).
- The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and its members (e.g., the leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avatar—or the group and/or the leader is on a special mission to save humanity (TRUE-JEEGAN SUPERIORITY COMPLEX).
- The group has a polarized, us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society (VERY TRUE IN SOMALILAND).
- The leader is not accountable to any authorities (TRUE-WAR CRIMINAL MUSA BIHI).
- The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group (e.g., ATTACKING SOOL).
- The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt in order to influence and control members. Often this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion (e.g. DIGGING UP GRAVES).
- The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members (TRUE-FORCING SOOL/SANAAG and AWDAL).
- Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities (e.g, 18 MAY, constant useless protests and conferences, whining about Siad Barre online)
- Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members (TRUE).
- The most loyal members (the “true believers”) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be, and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave—or even consider leaving—the group (TRUE IN SOMALILAND).