Koran schools

Construction work is being carried out outside a school in which hundreds of young girls are trying to concentrate on their Koran lessons. Abdul Aziz Ghazi explains the workers outside are building a new classroom for more students. He will be expanding the school which currently has 5,000 students. He also explains that other schools are being expanded and that new schools are being built.

The preacher is doing very well for himself. Not bad for someone who was behind bars just two years ago. Once in a while the government prevents him from teaching in certain places, but generally, it appears he has freedom to preach his ethics. He says his number one dream is "to implement the Islamic system in Pakistan."

Islamic law

Sharia Law is Islamic law. Abdul Aziz Ghazi has already failed at introducing it in the country's capital. At that time there was a massive conflict between his students and the government. Scores of his Red Mosque students had volunteered to fight for a justice system advocated by the Taliban. They wanted to cleanse the city of immorality, attacking video shop owners for selling "filth". President Pervez Musharraf gave the command for security forces to storm the mosque in the summer of 2007. It then became clear that some of the young students were heavily armed. Abdul Aziz Ghazi attempted to escape disguised as a woman wearing a burka, but he was caught and arrested. His brother, with whom he had run the mosque, was shot dead.

Now the preacher is more careful. He says it is not his job to train the children at his schools to fight alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. But he also adds: "Every nation has the right to defend itself. When a country is attacked by foreign invaders, it will defend itself. When the United States attacked Vietnam, do you think the Vietnamese welcomed them? No, they defended themselves against the US occupation. Whether in Afghanistan or in Iraq, Muslims have the right to defend themselves against attacks from foreign military forces."

"Freedom fighters"

Without calling for a holy war, the cleric manages to declare the Taliban freedom fighters. And at times it becomes clear that he agrees with the culture war theory. For instance, when he says that the USA has declared war on Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. So it doesn’t seem surprising that he believes al Qaeda, whose leader Osama bin Laden was recently killed, is spreading the right kind of message. Where they agree, he says, is that al Qaeda says "Islamic countries should make their own decisions and that they should not allow foreigners to attack and brainwash them according to their own ideology. With a few small exceptions, al Qaeda’s school of thought is right."

Despite these words of support for the terrorist organization, Abdul Aziz Ghazi has the air of a docile and friendly man taking care of his Western guests - generously offering us tea, water and Sprite. He doesn’t have much reason to complain now that he is successfully expanding. At his peak, he and his brother were teaching 10,000 students. He would happily have as many students again.

Author: Kai Küstner / Sarah Berning
Editor: Grahame Lucas