Word: aziz
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Nearly two years after the arrest of Abdul Aziz on multiple charges of inciting violence against the state of Pakistan, the firebrand cleric of Islamabad's radical Red Mosque has returned to the pulpit with a promise that he will continue with his struggle to establish Shari'a, or Islamic law, throughout the country...
Just a day after he was released on bail, Aziz, wearing his trademark spectacles and graying beard, returned to the Red Mosque, the site of a weeklong siege in 2007 between the mosque's seminary students and the Pakistani military, to deliver a sermon ahead of Friday prayers. Thousands of worshipers flocked to the centrally located mosque, spilling into the surrounding streets and kneeling on makeshift prayer rugs while Aziz's voice boomed out over loudspeakers. He told the story of Moses' struggle against the Pharaoh of Egypt to allow his people to practice their religion. Moses, considered by Muslims...
...siege of the Red Mosque was a turning point in Pakistan's inexorable slide toward religious extremism and violence. Lal Masjid, as it is locally known, became a rallying cry for the Pakistani Taliban who have declared war on the central government. It is their Alamo, and as such Aziz's return to the pulpit after two years in jail marks an ominous victory for the forces that are determined to bring the secular government of this nuclear-armed nation to its knees. "This is the second coming of the Red Mosque," says columnist and politician Ayaz Amir. "It will...
...Aziz's release (the Supreme Court ruled that it had insufficient evidence against him) comes on the heels of another Taliban victory: On April 13 Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari signed an ordinance imposing Shari'a in the Swat Valley and its surrounding district, effectively ceding administrative and judicial control to the Taliban insurgents who have turned the one-time vacation destination into a war zone. The Nizam-e-Adl regulations, as they are known, were part of a controversial peace deal negotiated in February between the provincial government and an influential religious leader affiliated with the Taliban movement...
...sermon, Aziz took credit for the Taliban's successes in Swat, comparing himself to another prophet. "I sacrificed my son, my mother and my brother for Islam, following in the path of Abraham. What we have seen in Swat and the tribal areas is the result of the sacrifices at the Red Mosque," he told his rapt audience. "You too should be ready to make sacrifices. The day is not far away when Islam will be enforced in the whole of the country." The crowd erupted with a chant for Jihad...