[ALBSA-Info] NYTimes.com Article: Jihad's Women

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Jihad's Women

October 21, 2001 

By LYNSEY ADDARIO


 

In some of the larger cities in Pakistan, like Islamabad,
Lahore and Karachi, many women work, go to the movies, eat
at McDonald's, wear pants and otherwise live a modern,
Western-influenced life. But in certain areas, particularly
in the Northwest Frontier Province, which abuts
Afghanistan, many girls and young women spend much of their
time in one of the more than 100 religious schools, or
madrassahs, for women. (There are about 10,000 madrassahs
for boys and men throughout Pakistan.) Here they are
steeped in Islamic fundamentalism -- reading and reciting
the Koran many hours a day and learning Arabic grammar and
pronunciation. At some of these madrassahs, like Jamia
Khadijatul-Kubra-Lil-Binat, immersion is complete;
students, who tend to come from poor or lower-middle-class
families, board during the week and leave only on weekends
to visit their homes. These madrassahs instill a religious
ideology that is at the heart of the jihad now being waged
against the United States. 

Girls as young as 5 and women as old as 65 attend
madrassah. But generally, when a student turns 15 or 16,
she weds in an arranged marriage and leaves school to start
having babies. She spends almost all her time inside the
home taking care of her children, praying and reading the
Koran. If she leaves the house, she must do so fully
covered. 

These photographs were taken in and around two madrassahs
in Peshawar in the Northwest Frontier Province, just before
the United States began bombing Afghanistan. 

Lynsey Addario is a photographer based in Mexico City.




<HR size=1 align=left width=60> 



Rehima, 35, kissing her son Osama. Rehima, the wife of a
powerful member of Jamaat-i-Islami, one of the most
prominent fundamentalist groups in Pakistan, is a
supervisor at Jamia Khadijatul-Kubra-Lil-Binat madrassah.
Most of the students and teachers at this religious
boarding school are the children and wives of
Jamaat-i-Islami members. This photo was taken in Rehima's
home, across the street from the school in Peshawar. 



''I named my son Osama because I want to make him a
mujahid. Right now there is war, but he is a child. When he
is a young man, there might be war again, and I will
prepare him for that war. In the name of God, I will
sacrifice my son, and I don't care if he is my most beloved
thing. For all of my six sons, I wanted them to be
mujahedeen. If they get killed it is nothing. This world is
very short. I myself want to be a mujahid. What will I do
in this world? I could be in heaven, have a weekly meeting
with God. 

"Jihad is when you are attacked, you attack back. This is
God's wish. We are not afraid. I am already asking my
husband if I can go to Kashmir and train to fight. I will
suicide bomb. If there are 20 to 30 non-Muslims, there I
will commit martyrdom. If America attacks, we will put our
hands on the throats of Americans and kill them.'' 



<HR size=1 align=left width=60> 



Mehreen Zair, 9, far
left in white, during a Koran-reading session at the
Mohamadia Mujadadia Izhar-ul-Koran madrassah, a day school.




"If America attacks, we will do jihad. I don't know how,
but we will do it together." 



<HR size=1 align=left width=60> 



Shafia Salaam, 16 (in
black), at a celebration for a 13-year-old girl, at right,
who has memorized the Koran at Jamia
Khadijatul-Kubra-Lil-Binat madrassah. Shafia is an Afghan
refugee who has been living in Pakistan for more than a
decade. 



"I have seen images in the newspapers of what happened in
America, and I feel it was not good. But perhaps God
punished America for the wrongs she is doing in other
countries, like Palestine and Kashmir. If the Americans
attack us, we will fight. Non-Muslims are our enemy
according to the Koran, so Americans are our enemy. We hate
America. "I believe in jihad. I will do whatever I can do.
If I am provided the opportunity to get weapons, I will use
them." 



<HR size=1 align=left width=60> 



Shumailia Kiran, 12, center, learning the first five
chapters of the Koran at the Mohamadia Mujadadia
Izhar-ul-Koran madrassah. 



"Osama is not involved because he is a Muslim, and Muslims
are not capable of such a terrorist act. He is a mujahid
and is supposed to fight on the path of God." 



<HR size=1 align=left width=60> 



Munaza Kanwam, 10, at
her Koran ceremony at the Mohamadia Mujadadia
Izhar-ul-Koran madrassah. 



"I am very happy. I feel like a bride. My father gave me a
20-gram gold set, my grandmother has sewn my clothes and my
hair band, and my mother has sewn me two new suits. I have
received a lot of gifts. I think Osama is a great man, and
he is fighting America." 

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/21/magazine/21WOMEN.html?ex=1005026042&ei=1&en=5d25b3417834c5d3



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