Free Republic

The Arab World And The Cult Of Death By Robbie Friedmann, PhD PipeLineNews.org - The Arab obsession with death (as evident in Palestinian and Lebanese terror attacks "inspired" by Iran, Syria, Egypt, and others) is deeply embedded in their societies as they indoctrinate their children to aspire for "holy" death which will bring them to heaven "Ask for Death! The Indoctrination of Palestinian Children to Seek Death for Allah", Shahada, Itamar Marcus, Palestinian Media Watch. Their clerics even pray that their leader - Arafat - will die as a "martyr""PA Imam Prays for Arafat's Death as Shahid", Itamar Marcus,...

Madarassas not involved in terrorism: Ijazul HaqStaff Report ISLAMABAD: If General Ziaul Haq had not considered degrees from religious madrassas the equivalent of graduate degrees, ulemas would not be sitting in Parliament today, said Religious Affairs, Zakat and Ushr Minister Muhammad Ijazul Haq. While speaking at Daraul Aloom Hanfia in Rawalpindi on Monday, he said that Pakistan was passing through a crisis involving nuclear technology, Kashmir and madrassas. But, he said, the government would resolve these problems successfully. He said Pakistanis should fight against anti-Islam propaganda, specifically in the Western media. He said about one million children study in madrassas...

In his hospital bed last week, 16-year-old Abid Tanoli sat listless and alone, half of his body covered by burns that all but destroyed both his eyes and left his face horribly disfigured. The teenager talked, with difficulty, of how his life had been destroyed since the fateful day in June 2002 when he refused to have sex with his teacher at a religious school in Pakistan. The boy was horrifically injured in an acid attack after he rebuffed the Muslim cleric's sexual advances. Now, he has alarmed Pakistan's powerful religious establishment by pressing charges against his alleged assailants. A...

Jihad remains key subject in Pakistan's religious schools Sun Oct 26, 2:44 AM ET QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) - Religious schools in parts Pakistan's poverty-hit southwest remain fountainheads of militancy, despite reforms initiated by President Pervez Musharraf two years ago to regulate seminaries. AFP Photo   About 3,000 Islamic schools, or madrassas, operate in Baluchistan province, most run by the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI), a key player in the countrys politically powerful Muttahida Majlis Amal religious alliance. And with JUI, like the Taliban, comprised of fundamentalist and conservative Sunni Muslims, there are concerns that the madrassas are becoming hothouses for...

<p>JOHANNESBURG &#8212; Authorities in South Africa are worried that large numbers of Islamic extremists from Pakistan are entering the country illegally to join religious schools or "madrassas," some of which may have links to international terrorism.</p> <p>A spokesman for the South African Ministry of Home Affairs, which has jurisdiction over immigration issues, told The Washington Times that while more than 12,000 Pakistanis visit the country each year as genuine tourists, there has been an alarming jump in the number of illegal immigrants.</p>

<p>Through a new $255 million reform package, the Pakistani government is trying to do something that has never been done before: wrest control of the country's 8,000 religious schools from the mullahs. The clerics, obviously, have pledged to resist. The Muslim religious schools, known as madrassas, are blamed for spreading intolerance and hatred against the West. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a key U.S. ally in the war against terror, has pledged not to allow this to continue. Previous attempts to bring the madrassas under the government's control have failed, but the Musharraf government says it will succeed. "We are not looking to confront the [religious scholars], we want a constructive engagement," says Information Minister Shaikh Rashid. But Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who leads the country's largest religious political alliance — the MMA or Muttahid Majlis-e-Amal — says what the government really wants is to control the madrassas. "We will not let that happen — never." There are thousands of madrassas in Pakistan, and along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Through these madrassas, religious leaders such as Mr. Rahman exert enormous influence over hundreds of thousands of madrassa students and often use them to promote their brand of violent politics.</p>

<p>ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan's military government is moving step by step to tighten control over several thousand religious schools that have become cradles of terrorism by promoting jihad, or holy war, among young Muslims.</p> <p>President Pervez Musharraf is not attempting to impose a blanket ban on the schools, known as the madrassas. But some schools that were offering military training to young student clerics, particularly in the autonomous tribal areas near the Afghan border, are being kept under closer scrutiny.</p>

PAKISTAN'S madrassas show no sign of reforming, writes Julius Strauss in Rawalpindi The young faces gathered around, glowering. "May Osama bin Laden have a long life," one of the young men said. "May sharia be made law in every country in the world," said a second. Others, barefoot on the filthy pavement, nodded their approval. Outside the Jamia Islamia madrassa in Rawalpindi the students gathered to deride their pro-Western government, cheer al-Qa'eda and pour scorn on American-led efforts to defeat Islamic militancy. They exuded a hatred born of years of indoctrination and an acute suspicion of Westerners. "He's a CIA...