Adow lived in the United States for nearly 25 years and worked as an administrator at the American University in Washington, D.C., before returning to his native Somalia in 2002.

Adow represented the ICU in its ongoing discussions in Khartoum and Nairobi with the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

[5] In September 2006 he announced that though the Islamic Courts had the power to declare themselves Somalia's government, they had refrained from doing so to maintain peace with the TFG.

[6] By October 2006, Adow had adopted a more confrontational stance towards the TFG due to the increasing numbers of Ethiopian troops invading Somalia.

While Adow, other ministers, students and professors and journalists were partaking in the ceremony, a suicide bomber from Al-Shabaab detonated in the packed audience.