Word: islamics
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...poet, must be sensitive to this split down the middle of his language. He has written a novel whose conceit is that it is a dictionary of three immiscible languages, with three distinct alphabets, corresponding to the three major religions that have shaped the Western world: Greek (Christian), Arabic (Islam) and Hebrew (Judaism...
Massoud and Rabbani, both fundamentalist Muslims, are careful to distance Jamiat from radical visions of an Islamic state; specifically, asserts Massoud, "the position adopted by Iran is not laid down by Islam." Massoud also jabs sharply at one of Rabbani's chief rivals, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the head of Hezb-i-Islami, calling him the "extremist" among the conservative Islamic resistance leaders in Peshawar. Throughout the war, armed clashes have flared between Hekmatyar's men and other mujahedin parties -- Jamiat, in particular -- and a personal rivalry between Massoud and Hekmatyar dates back to their university days in Kabul. "Hekmatyar has always...
...hearts and minds -- and even their souls -- for many simply do not wish to be repatriated under any circumstances. Some of the prisoners of war are defectors who, whether out of fear or conviction, have no intention of ever returning to their homeland. Others are converts who have embraced Islam, the religion of their captors and, for many Asian Soviets, of their parents as well...
According to a number of Soviet POWs held in northeast Afghanistan, who spoke to TIME, conversions to Islam have seldom, if ever, been made at gunpoint. Nor do they seem to owe much to the spiritual appeal of the Muslim faith. In most cases, isolation, fear and the promise of being socially accepted by their captors have drawn the prisoners to Islam. Beg, Nazaro and other Soviet captives say they are free to make occasional accompanied visits to local bazaars and encouraged to join in volleyball games with off-duty guerrillas. "I became a Muslim once I learned the language...
...defectors, particularly central Asians with a genuine commitment to Islam and an antipathy toward European Russians, have reportedly actually taken up arms on the mujahedin side. Almost to a man, the POWs who talked to TIME denied any desire to return to their homeland after the war. "I'd like to stay in Afghanistan and find a job," said Beg, explaining that he feared imprisonment or even execution if he returned home to the Soviet Union. "I'm free here," he explained. "As a Muslim, I'm not oppressed...