Word: ikhwan
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...since the 1979 Iranian revolution, which brought Ayatullah Khomeini to power. The movement has only accelerated since Sept. 11, 2001, with the Internet bringing together Muslims worldwide in condemnation of Western actions in the Middle East. "With the hegemony of the West, we have so many problems," says Muhamad Ikhwan, director of Wahdah Islamiyah, which runs a 1,000-student Islamic academy in the eastern city of Makassar, where many girls wear chadors that cover everything but their eyes. "The world was safe when it was run by Islamic civilizations, so we want to bring Islam back to its former...
...notion of immortality certainly beat Botox. But Ikhwan was using his jewel vs. flower analogy to explain why it was preferable for female students at his Islamic boarding school to wear the chador, a flowing black dress that covers everything but the eyes. Indonesian women, though living in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, have traditionally worn somewhat sexier garb: a loose, lacy veil, a cleavage-hugging blouse and a tight sarong. But over the past few years, as Southeast Asia's moderate forms of Islam have struggled to hold sway against the challenge of a more conservative, Middle...
...cities like Makassar, at least half the women wear the jilbab, a sturdy veil that covers the head and the neck. The preferred dress at Ikhwan's school, which opened in 1999 and now boasts 1,000 students, was unusually conservative for Indonesia. But it pointed to how quickly the Wahhabi influence could take root. "I don't remember any girls wearing the jilbab when I was growing up," says Syamsurijal Ad'han, a sociologist in his mid-20s who helps run a moderate Muslim NGO in Makassar. "Now, where I come from, it's mandatory for girls to wear...
...Ikhwan's jewelry-box lecture was directed, albeit politely, at Tatap and me. Both of us were wearing long shirts and trousers. But our necks were showing and our hair was uncovered. Truth be told, we were showing considerable wrist. The journalistic dress code is tricky in such situations: I don't show up for interviews in miniskirts, as a rule, and I try to be sensitive to indigenous customs. But what if local tradition means ignoring my presence altogether? I once conducted an interview in northern Afghanistan with a formerly Taliban-aligned warlord, who refused to speak directly...
...place. He declined to shake my hand but was intellectually curious and appeared to relish the occasional tough question. "She's a feisty one, isn't she," he commented to TIME's Malaysia stringer, a male. Our stringer gave a noncommittal shrug. Back in Makassar, Tatap and I took Ikhwan's sermon without protest. Sometimes even flowers have to pretend they are jewels...