Jihad

SAN FRANCISCO — Here are the rules of jihad, direct from the Koran, according to a Muslim cleric:

"Do not kill children. Do not kill women. Do not kill old men. Do not kill old women. Do not kill religious people. Do not cut fruit-bearing trees. Do not poison the well of your enemy."

These verses I got from Hakim Ouansafi, president and chairman of the Muslim Association of Hawaii, as part of my lessons in Islam 101. I asked him about jihad a day after the United States bombed strategic targets in Afghanistan.

Islam, Hakim said, allows killing in self-defense. "But if you forgive," he said, again quoting from the Koran, "it’s closer to piety."

He does agree with Muslim sentiment that if US policy in the Middle East leads to the killing of Palestinians, it could call for jihad. But he enumerates those rules of jihad, and he emphasizes that jihad "doesn’t mean those waging it have to go to another country and bomb something."

"Nothing justifies terrorism. Nothing," he says. "Suicide? It’s forbidden. Hundred percent."

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Americans, however, are bracing for counter-strikes from the terrorist forces of Osama bin Laden, who has called for intensified jihad following the start of US military operations against Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban.

People are trying to go on with business as usual, but you can’t miss signs of the extraordinary times. It’s jolting to see uniformed national guards with long firearms watching the airports here and in Honolulu. Our United Airlines flight from Hawaii was full, and the pilot thanked the passengers so profusely for flying UA’s "friendly skies" after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "We really appreciate your business," he said, promising the smoothest flight.

In the October issue of UA’s in-flight magazine there was a recruitment ad for "possibly the most demanding career in the world": clandestine service and professional trainees, for future assignment with the Directorate for Operations of the Central Intelligence Agency. Maximum age, 35. Foreign language is a plus. The taxi driver who brought us to our hotel, a former soldier, seemed interested. Business has been bad since the tech meltdown last year, he said, but these days "business sucks."

The American press is engaged in soul-searching, debating where to draw the line between patriotism and the people’s right to know. At the Community College of San Francisco, where we asked foreign students about what they thought of events in the past weeks, there were posters pasted everywhere declaring: "Our College community is a hate-free zone."

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Support here for US military action can tilt quickly if the civilian casualty count rises. Some people tell me that they believe military action can achieve only limited results, and that education and development are the long-term solutions to terrorism. Washington’s policy in the Middle East should also be reviewed, they tell me, but with a special request that I don’t identify them because they don’t want to sound unpatriotic.

There must be a growing market here for understanding Islam and the Middle East. At the Borders branch near our hotel on Union Square the books on display include one on germ warfare, Afghanistan, Understanding Islam and A Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Middle East Conflict.

Filipinos may also want to start boning up on this conflict, whose progress could affect not only security in the Philippines but also jobs and the economy. In the Middle Eastern tinderbox, land claims go back to the days before Christ. The Israelis say they simply returned to the Promised Land. Hakim Ouansafi says Muslims believe the Promised Land was originally part of Egypt and is in fact Palestine. Since it may now be impossible to kick out the Israelis, even moderate Muslims believe the Palestinians should get at least half of their country back.

The only reason the Israelis have remained so long in a land that isn’t theirs, Muslims believe, is American support. Bin Laden, former ally of the CIA, has learned to exploit these Muslim resentments to rally people to his cause. And some people have responded, ready to face death for what they believe is the glory of Islam.

Hakim says such fanatics "are victims of the people who have hijacked Islam." Unfortunately, there are enough of such people out there to bring further destruction and bloodshed. And they are ready for jihad.