Word: salfi
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...happened that one of Morocco's weapons against this jihadi fantasy was also riding the bus that day, a seat in front of the glue-sniffing trio. With her chubby cheeks, quiet voice and large glasses, Fatima Zohra al Salfi makes an unlikely heroine, and she's clearly nervous about a few of the sinister-looking passengers on the bus. What al Salfi has going for her is the same thing the jihadis have: religion. She is a murshida, a Muslim "guide" or preacher, and as such a rarity in the Islamic world, in which religious instruction is usually...
...Salfi knows the Koran by heart and is prepared to do battle with the Islamic extremists on their turf - in prisons and in shantytowns where sometimes the only escape from despair is through the fumes of glue or hashish or a DVD of an al-Qaeda sermon extolling the pleasures that await a martyr in paradise. "If I found someone who wanted to blow herself up," says al Salfi, "I'd recite a verse from the Koran telling her that in Allah's eyes, suicide is the road to perdition...
...mission is not just a matter of combatting extremism. Al Salfi and the other 200 women graduates from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs' new training school for murshida also want to help restore what they see as women's rightful place within Islam. They take inspiration from the strong and often opinionated wives of the Prophet Muhammad. One wife, Khadija, helped him recognize that Satan once came to him disguised as the Archangel Gabriel; another wife, Aisha, was the source for many of the sayings and deeds of Muhammad, who trusted her wisdom and integrity. "For centuries, women have been...
...Kinder, Gentler Faith Inside the Salé shantytown mosque, more than 300 women of all ages are waiting for al Salfi, whose voice gathers volume and fluency as she warms to the subject of how women should behave in a mosque. Lesson 1: Refrain from gossip. Afterwards, women tell her of their family woes, confiding about the daughter turned prostitute, say, or the drunken husband who punches his wife. "Sometimes it's as much about psychology as it is religion," says the murshida program director, Mohamed Amin Chouabi, who notes that their year-long training teaches the women preachers...