Infallible preachers

MULLAHS IN THE corner of Pakistan where I live tend to be brilliant orators. They usually speak extemporaneously for an hour before Friday prayers. Their speeches are peppered with memorized quotes from the Qur'an, from narratives about the Prophet Muhammad, called Hadith, and from folk poetry. The mullahs can be persuasive, humorous, conciliatory, prayerful or bellicose. Frequently they break into song or weep for the sins of their tribe. These gifted preachers hold their audiences spellbound, displaying a masterful use of repartee and the timing of a stand-up comic. They can move listeners from tears to laughter in the time it takes you to fold your turban.

Some mullahs are famous throughout the country thanks to audiocassettes, which sell by the thousands. I've collected a number of them over the years.

The most popular preacher in my area is Bijili Gar ("Electric Mountain"), an octogenarian whose oratorical gifts were discovered while he was a teenager. He told me that his family migrated from the troubled tribal belt between Pakistan and Afghanistan when he was an infant. Like the sons of other poor families, Bijili Gar was placed in a madrassa (religious school) to study Islam because his parents could not provide for him. The normal course of study was eight years, but Bijili Gar was so precocious that he started preaching while still a student.

Once a mullah mounts the small flight of steps at the front of a mosque, whatever he says is regarded as infallible. In a sense his pulpit is an extension of the Prophet's own pulpit; his words become the very word of God.

Such confidence in the mullah's word can sometimes be misplaced. There was quite a stir in February 2005 when a Pakistani mullah announced---in a message relayed from mosque to mosque--that an earthquake was about to happen. Panic ensued. The spurious prediction led to a mass evacuation of homes. About 10 million people spent the night in the cold, waiting for an earthquake that never came.

Anti-Western harangues are regularly delivered to generate crowd support. Familiar targets are George Bush, Israel and the injustices in Palestine and Guantanamo. As their declaiming reaches an emotional crescendo the mullahs will often employ phrases such as "Islam is in danger"; "America is as proud as Pharaoh"; "Western women walk around naked"; and "Export heroin to finish off the unbelievers."

Poetry carries enormous weight in oral-tradition cultures like those of Afghanistan and Pakistan, so mullahs often break into spontaneous verse, along the lines of "Genghis Khan and America must / Eventually come here and bite the dust."

When the crowd is really riled up the mullah is often interrupted with loud cries of "God is greater!" (the Islamic version of "Alleluia!"). Sometimes there is even a designated cheerleader to get the chants going. The mullah uses the cheer interlude to catch his breath.

Cursing America, Christians and Jews is a safe thing to do, but mullahs can get into trouble if they insult the local government. Bijili Gar has been jailed three times for remarks of this sort. For example, he once compared a government official to "a dog that comes to the office to eat all the meat."

The sins of the West are not the central issue, however, for preachers along the Pakistan-Afghan border. The main question is whether Islam is an Arab faith or not. Although Muslims around the globe would agree that Islam has a uniquely Arab flavor, shaped by the culture, language and traditions of seventh-century Arabia, the majority of the world's Muslims are non-Arabs. Beginning in the seventh century Islam took root in the non-Arab cultures of Asia and North Africa. Waves of Arab traders, wandering mystics and military adventurers established outposts of the faith in lands far from the Arabian heartland. Not surprisingly, the forms of Islam that developed in Jakarta and Senegal were vibrant hybrids reflecting local traditions as well as the tradition passed on from the Arabic hub.

That diversity is now under serious threat. Modern communications, effortless travel and abundant petrodollars have brought Arab influence even to remote regions of Pakistan. Local interpretations of Islam are being directly challenged by the Arab Wahhabis, whose entourages regularly appear via land cruisers. Mullahs spend most of their pulpit time addressing the conflict between tribal traditions and austere Wahhabi (Arab-style) norms.

Funds from the Saudis and others have paid for the training of mullahs who are confronting local versions of Islam (though those on each side are Sunni Muslims). One indication of the power of this new influence is the way elders are discarding their delightfully rustic tribal names (for example, "Fig Flower" and "Beetroot") in favor of Arabic titles such as Shaykh Umar or Ibn Rusool.

In February of this year a small war broke out between followers of the Wahhabi-style preacher Mufti Munir Shakir and those loyal to his folk-style opponent, Pir Saifur Rehman. These theologically grounded tussles have already claimed many lives and could very well engulf the whole region. The contention centers on three main themes: direct access to scripture, respect for tradition, and the true nature of Muhammad.