Word: islamically
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...financed a proxy army. The band of mujahedin, or holy warriors, that the U.S. backed came not just from the fractious, ethnically diverse Afghan tribes but also from cadres of Muslim volunteers - including Osama bin Laden - who saw resistance against the Soviets as a God-ordered defense of Islam. And they won, sending the utterly demoralized Soviet army home...
...expected of us was to go first - rise to this test, grow into the job. He told the Taliban the terms on which their survival depended: Hand over Osama bin Laden, or share his fate. He told Muslims at home and abroad that we are not at war with Islam but with those who desecrate their peaceful faith. "We are not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We have seen their kind before. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century ... They follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will follow...
...wear T shirts, jeans and short, sleeveless dresses and read Enid Blyton novels and the Guinness Book of World Records. But when they get a rare visit from Aslam and his family, things become tense. Aslam is a zealous member of Pakistan's Tableeghi Jamaat, a massive, well-organized Islamic proselytizing movement. His forehead bears a permanent mark from touching the ground in prayer. His wife, like most Pakistani women, does not work, and keeps her head and face covered by a veil. At Attiya's home, she complains that there is nowhere to pray, because Islam forbids prayer...
...choices they have made and the paths they have taken in life mirror the choices that a polarized Pakistan must also make. Should the nation move forward and be part of the modern world? Or will it seek answers from the past and retreat into a rigid interpretation of Islam? Can it do both? The sometimes violent clash between progressive moderates and dogmatic hard-liners is increasingly defining Pakistan?when it should be the resolution of that conflict that defines it instead...
...Even so, Musharraf had to couch his decision in religious terms, calling Pakistan a "fortress of Islam" and drawing inspiration from the Prophet Muhammad's example. Musharraf and his advisers are well aware of piety's place in Pakistan. There is a groundswell of people turning, or returning, to Islam for answers. Some do so as a rejection of America and Western values; others are seeking hope and a sense of purpose in an ever more dismal and disillusioning national scene. "This is a generation of hopelessness," says former National Assembly member Daniyal Aziz, "and people need hope...