Word: wahid
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After Abdurrahman Wahid, the first democratically elected President of Indonesia, died on Dec. 30 at age 69, thousands of people lined the roads as his body was driven to the cemetery. Some held signs saying farewell, gus dur - his affectionate nickname. Many wept openly...
...Wahid was not a manager; he was forced from office by Parliament after less than two years. But he was a visionary, and as President, he planted a vision of an Indonesia - the country with the world's fourth largest population and the most Muslims - committed to religious freedom and human rights...
Even more important, as the spiritual leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's biggest Muslim organization, Wahid fought against the fanatics who he said "pervert Islam into a dogma of intolerance, hatred and bloodshed." He could quote the Koran by heart as he defended the right of all people to follow their conscience in matters of religion, and he constantly spoke up for persecuted minorities, even at the risk of his own popularity. He said he wanted his tomb to read here lies a humanist. That he was. He was beloved by millions, Muslims and non-Muslims alike...
That rejection extends to Western demands for Afghan women to have basic rights. Listen to Abdul Wahid, 26, a Taliban member jailed for his involvement in a car-bomb blast that claimed several lives. Wahid says compromise on the establishment of Islamic law is out of the question - and to him, that means women would not be able to work. "They could leave the house, but only if they were dressed appropriately. They could go to school, but they would never be able to work in offices - only in women's hospitals or as teachers at girls' schools...
...Thankfully, there are people like Body Guard Studio's King Fisher, whose real name is Emrys Savage, working toward peace - and doing it with music. "When you go to a club and the music says, 'Go down, go down,' people go down," says Aruna Hakim Dumbuya, a.k.a. Wahid, one of the musicians at Body Guard on the rainy Saturday. "And when the music says, 'Come up,' they come up. If you say 'Make peace,' people will make peace...