A teacher at an Islamic school, a mufti, surely knows all about the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah. And yet he joined these bloody jihadists. How did he come to misunderstand Islam, the religion we must believe is peaceful on pain of charges of “Islamophobia,” so spectacularly? Why do no authorities ever ponder the implications of such questions?
“Waliur Rehman: From madrassa teacher to Taliban commander,” from the Express Tribune, May 30 (thanks to Quarles):
Waliur Rehman Mehsud, 40, was a member of Malkhel tribe, a sub-clan of the Mehsuds inhibiting Sarokai Manzai area of South Waziristan. He received his early education from a madrassa in Tank district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and then went to Faisalabad district of Punjab where he studied at the Jamia Imdadia seminary.
After a teaching stint at Karama madrassa, in South Waziristan, he joined the Haqqani network — the deadliest of all Afghan Taliban factions. Later when the TTP was founded in 2008, he joined the group and became the spokesperson of its head honcho, Baitullah Mehsud. Among militant circles he’s known as Mufti Waliur Rehman. He is the eldest of six siblings, had three wives and two daughters….