INSIDE JIHAD U. (The Education of a Holy Warrior) A long read, but GOOD

The New York Times Magazine ^ | June 25, 2000 | JEFFREY GOLDBERG Photographs By Laurent Van Der Stockt

[SLB]

Mullah Muhammad feels no such warmth, however. A couple of days after seeing the foreign minister, I asked Muhammad what he thought of America.

"America is the place that wants to kill Osama," he said. "Osama is a great hero of the Muslims."

Does anything good come out of America?

He thought about that one for a while.

"Candy," he answered finally. "Candy comes from America. I like candy."

Did I mention that Mullah Muhammad is 17 years old?

Because he seemed to have a lot in common with madrasa students in Pakistan -- and having no expectation that I would be allowed to plumb the mysteries of Taliban spirituality -- I began to ask Muhammad about his life. He was born in Kandahar, he said, but lived for a while near Quetta, one of the Pakistani cities that absorbed millions of refugees during the Afghan wars. He has attended madrasas all his life. He has never studied math or science or English or computers or history. He had learned the Koran, by heart, by the time he was 9. But he learned it in Arabic, and he speaks Pashto. All he learned were the sounds.

I asked him if he has read any books beside the Koran.

"Yes," he answered. "A book of Hadith."

"Are you interested in reading other books? "

"No. Why?"

I asked him if he knew any women.

His sisters, he responded.

Any women not his relatives?

No.

I learned that he hasn't hugged his mother since he reached puberty. He listens to no music; he has never seen a movie.

I asked him what the future held for him. He said he has already fought once with the mujahedeen against the northern alliance, and might do so again.

And if you're not martyred in that fight?

"I will return to my job."

Why do you want to work at the Information Ministry?

"This is not my regular job," he said, meaning baby-sitting for me.

Where do you work, then?

"I'm a teacher."

Mullah Muhammad teaches the Koran to 9-year-old boys.

his is what Maulana Samiul Haq imparts to his 9-year-old boys, and everyone else enrolled at his madrasa: America, he told me in one of our many conversations, was controlled by the Jews, who were in turn controlled by Satan. His is a worldview shaped by his understanding of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, but it is a worldview moderate Muslims might say is shaped by something else.

Ask yourself how ready the general population of the United States is to take this mindset on. We have got to be 100% committed to winning this war.

[SLB]

FYI

[logos]

If you fill a young boy's mind, from pre-pubescence to maturity with any one thing, it will never leave of its own accord, nor, I suspect, will any other influence ever eradicate it. This is a kind of teaching which removes and erases the natural desire to question born in every human being.

Eradicating this kind of evil from the world will never be possible. At best, it will ebb and wane, with the resulting terrorism cropping up every other decade or so, even if all the current leaders and teachers are eliminated.

In that sense, these mullahs are absolutely correct: jihad is forever.

[SLB]

In that sense, these mullahs are absolutely correct: jihad is forever.

Should be scared of this notion or envious for the job they have done where we have failed?

[ScreamingFist]

Excellent post.

[ScreamingFist]

"Ask yourself how ready the general population of the United States is to take this mindset on." I was in Karachi, Pakistan for quite some time and I have found that Americans in general don't have a clue that a world exists beyond Florida or California, nor do most care. I hope reality dawns quickly for Americans.

[logos]

Have you read the Sixth Chapter of Deuteronomy lately? Perhaps the first curricula for the schooling of young minds ever written down.

[Temple Drake]

exactly -- and check out this post:

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3ba809c37dbd.htmost:

[sadimgnik]

Indeed.

It reminds me of the oft-(mis)quoted Jesuit aphorism: "give me the child unrtil they are seven, and I shall give you the adult".

Fundamentalist / Primitive Islam is today in the same position as Fundamenalist / Primitive Christianity 400 years ago.

But our forebears didn't have access to weapons of mass destruction :-(

Thank you, by the way, to whoever posted this article. It was worrying, unsettling, thought-provoking and fascinating .. something all journalism should aspire to.

Sadim

[Mamzelle]

I had missed this article, though generally I read the Times. This is a must-read bump.

[liberallarry]

The article you posted was written in 2000. Robert D. Kaplan wrote about the very same thing in his book "The Ends of the Earth". Many similar articles were published in the intervening years in The Atlantic.
There are several things I notice about the situation;
1) The authors are Jewish and yet were permitted to see and write about these things and were even treated with hospitality.
2) The madrassas have Web pages.
I make no attempt to explain these seeming contradictions because I can't.
I would not like to be the analyst attempting to weigh these tendencies in order to formulate the correct response to the attack on America. But there is a distinct possibility that the terrorists who planned and executed it were neither madmen or idiots but rather very clever and determined people who've seen some critical weaknesses in our system which we are blind to and intend to exploit these weaknesses to the fullest. They believe they can win. There is a distinct possibility they're right. That means that we must seriously consider the necessity of killing hundreds of millions of people now in order to avoid killing (and being killed) many more later.
There will be many casualties in any case.

[SLB]

I was in Karachi, Pakistan for quite some time and I have found that Americans in general don't have a clue that a world exists beyond Florida or California, nor do most care. I hope reality dawns quickly for Americans.

I have only traveled to one "third world" nation, Vietnam. I was just amazed at the totally different society I had been thrust into. Our church has a family that travels to Central America frequently for mission trips. They understand the difference in societies. However, as you said American's in general don't know what exists in the next state let alone in some poor third world country.

[liberallarry]

Kaplan's book was published in 1996.

[borkrules]

This is a MUST read for all Americans. Fantastic insight into the mind of the enemy.

[borkrules]

BTTT.

[cake_crumb]

Thank you for the great post. Everyone should read it. While I knew the concepts already, and have always believed the goal of Islamic extremists is complete world domination and a global government - a theocracy, of course - this story puts all of my fears into horrible perspective: the whole thing is much worse than even I thought.

How can we fight terrorism if we can't fight the ignorance breeds those terrorists?

[freefly]

How can we fight terrorism if we can't fight the ignorance breeds those terrorists?

You hit on a key point with this statement.
The "leaders" of these people ARE educated.
They know how to use the poverty and ignorance of their people as well as
their interpretation of Islam, to maintain power over those people.
That is why that poverty and ignorance is maintained.
Winning the war will take more than just a military operation.

[SLB]

Winning the war will take more than just a military operation.

Exactly!

[cake_crumb]

"How can we fight terrorism if we can't fight the ignorance breeds those terrorists?"

Should have been:

"How can we fight terrorism if we can't fight the ignorance that breeds those terrorists".

Missed that in the preview. I don't type any more literate than they seem to be <G>