In other words, don’t resist. Submit passively. “U.S. strikes in Pakistan ‘justify jihad’: cleric,” by Kamran Haider for Reuters, March 26 (thanks to James):
QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – An expansion of America’s secret war in Pakistan to Baluchistan province would justify jihad and see many more young men rally to fight foreign forces in Afghanistan, a radical cleric said….
“America is trying to scare us but it won’t work. Rather it will be a justification,” Noor Muhammad, a well-known radical cleric who runs a madrasa, or religious school, in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province, said of possible U.S. strikes.
“America is foolish because it will only force more people here to stand up against it,” he said.
Sitting in a room his madrasa complex, the 60-year-old grey-bearded Muhammad denied any policy of sending young men from his school to fight Western forces in Afghanistan.
But he said it was the duty of every Muslim to do that.
“If infidels occupy a Muslim land then it’s obligatory for all Muslims to do jihad … Preaching jihad is my duty,” he said….
In the Pashtunabad area on the outskirts of Quetta, support for militancy appears strong. Walls on a street leading to Muhammad’s madrasa are daubed with slogans such as “Long Live Mullah Omar.”…
Officials in Kabul also say young men are pouring out of radical religious schools in Pakistan into Afghanistan to join the Taliban and become suicide bombers.
If the lessons that students get at Muhammad’s seminary are anything to go by, it’s not hard to understand why.
“We spread the message that the Taliban and Osama (bin Laden) have adopted the right path and that’s the solution of all problems,” Muhammad said.
“The protection of Koranic teachings is only possible through arms …. those who make weapons, make them available and use them will go to heaven,” said Muhammad as four of his teenaged students with black turbans and wispy beards sat at his feet.
I trust that Honest Ibe Hooper of CAIR and all other moderate Muslim leaders in the U.S. are on their way to Pakistan right now to explain to Muhammad that the idea that “the protection of Koranic teachings is only possible through arms” is a hijacking of Islam perpetuated only by venomous Islamophobes.
Tiny Minority of Extremistsâ„¢ Update:
Pakistan has for years been saying it wants to reform madrasas but little has been done. Muhammad said there was nothing the government could do to quell zeal for jihad.
“The love and affection for jihad have developed among the youth to the extent that neither their relatives nor the government can control them,” he said….
Major General Salim Nawaz, chief of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in Baluchistan, also said drone strikes in Baluchistan would merely stir up militancy.
“That would be music to the Taliban, music to their ears,” said Nawaz at his headquarters in the city center….
Nawaz said the United States should try to engage moderate Taliban, a possibility that Obama has raised.
“They need to demotivate these so-called terrorists. Some space needs to be given to the Taliban. Some confidence-building needs to be done,” he said.
Yes, the onus is always on the West. No Muslim entity — even fictional ones, like the “moderate Taliban” — ever needs to do anything to build confidence among unbelievers. No, the responsibility is always upon non-Muslims to gain the confidence of Muslims, even amid jihad violence and the spread of Islamic supremacism.
Anyway, I don’t think the U.S. should try to engage moderate Taliban. I think the U.S. should instead open diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Prester John.