Word: afzal
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...paradox here is that historically, Pakistanis have practiced a syncretic version of Islam that venerates saints and emphasizes a personal relationship with God. But the influx of Arab preachers during the war against the Soviets brought a more austere form of the religion. Shayan Afzal Khan, an Islamic scholar who writes about women and Islam, thinks Pakistanis lack the confidence to defend their moderate beliefs. "People are afraid to take on the mullahs because we can't quote the Koran the way they do," Khan says. "We have to take our religion back," but fear gets...
...relaxed kingdom with movie theaters, women wearing short skirts and plenty of Western tourists. After the U.S.S.R. invaded, its army dug in near the seventh hole, and the course became a battlefield, with mujahedin fighters attacking from the hills above. The Soviets arrested the local pro, Mohammed Afzal Abdul, for being a U.S. spy; his interrogators said it was because golf was such a capitalist, bourgeois sport. After fleeing to Pakistan, Afzal returned to Kabul shortly before the Taliban seized power. He tried to interest a few turbaned Taliban in the game, but he says, "They were only interested...
After U.S. and Afghan troops toppled the Taliban in 2001, Afzal teamed up with McNeill, who, as a hobby from his relief work, helped restore golf courses in war-ravaged Rwanda and Georgia. "I thought we should leave a few of the rusted tanks and missile launchers out there on the fairways as a testament to history," McNeill says, "but Afzal said, 'No, it's time for a new chapter.'" Afzal cleared away land mines by borrowing a flock of sheep from a nomad and setting them loose on the course. A few were blown up, but Afzal's philosophy...
...ball, slow down your upswing, swivel your hips. I could almost hear his sigh of exasperation. Instead I swung hard, too hard, and completely missed. I tried again, and this time skulled it, sending the ball ricocheting off a few boulders before it disappeared. With admirable stoicism, Afzal dispatched two caddies to find his precious ball in the dry scrub. "Maybe you try putting," he said...
Although he once entertained dreams of becoming a pro golfer, Afzal is set on teaching a young generation of Afghans to swing a club. But in a country just emerging from two decades of war and tyranny, the game is still a tough sell. "Many Afghans think that golf is the devil's game," says McNeill. "Of course, many golfers would probably agree with that...