Excerpts from an article clearly iterating how young boys are fed an anti-Americanism, based on religious fervor, which can become an integral part of their reason for being:

Religious Schools in Pakistan Are Breeding Grounds for Pro-Taliban Militants

Monday, September 24, 2001
Associated Press [link inactive]

Excerpts:

AKORA KHATTAK, Pakistan — At one of Pakistan's biggest islamic schools, students begin their studies with prayers for a Taliban victory if the United States goes to war with Afghanistan.

"Oh Allah, defeat the enemies of muslims and make islam and the Taliban victorious over the Americans," an all-boy class of 12-year-olds prays before beginning a lesson on the quran, islam's holy book.

Fired by a conviction that islam must be defended, older students at the Haqqania school — and thousands like it across Pakistan — are ready recruits for the Taliban in a "jihad," or holy war, against the United States.

...

"The biggest danger for Pakistan is from young, disillusioned and angry Pakistanis, many of them poor and jobless, who may be driven to join the radicals in a jihad," said Mirza Aslam Baig, Pakistan's army chief until he retired in 1991.

Schools like Haqqania have strong links to militant groups that recruit students for guerrilla training. Most are sent to fight Indian forces in Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan
region claimed by both countries.

Of all of Pakistan's religious schools, or madrassas, Haqqania is considered among the most militant. Most of the Taliban's leaders studied here.

Its 3,500 male students mostly study the quran, though the curriculum also includes some secular teaching such as mathematics and geography. Students sit cross legged on
a carpet, rocking back and forth and chanting from the qurans resting before them on low tables.

Since most of the madrassas are unregistered, no one knows how many there are here. Unofficial estimates put the number of schools at more than 30,000 and the number of students at several hundred thousand. The schools are largely funded by wealthy Pakistanis and donors in other muslim countries.

The religious schools have a strong hold on Pakistan's impoverished masses. They provide not only basic education but also food, clothing and other necessities to students, many of whom come from poor families.

Haqqania's message of holy war may be stronger than that of other madrassas, but critics say the schools as a whole foster intolerant attitudes. The government has been trying to persuade them to adopt more secular curricula, but many schools have resisted those efforts.

Many of the schools are telling the young that America is gearing up for a war against islam.

"The United States should think a thousand times before attacking Afghanistan," said Maulana Sami ul-Haq, rector of Haqqania. "Religious fervor is something that can't be
assessed beforehand. If America attacks, then jihad becomes an obligation, and then there is no saying what will happen."

That is the message of the Taliban in trying to rally muslim support worldwide against the United States. And in the madrassas, which train the rising generation, that message has resonance.

"The United States is an enemy of islam, and we will defeat the enemy," said 14-year-old Mohammed Abid, as other boys his age or even younger waited for a lunch of lamb
curry and potatoes.

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What is Jihad?

Excerpts from a BBC video clip, with pertinent details on what the islamic jihad is and how it can be used based on individual and group interpretations of the quran:

BBC Video Clip With Details on Jihad, Both Historical and In Its Current Context

...

Nothing is to be neglected in the book, god said in the quran.

To accept the entire work as the direct speech of the almighty is binding on all muslims, and it has much to say about jihad.

Some say jihad is one of the pillars of the faith, but jihad in the quran need not mean armed struggle.

...

Any striving for the faith counts as jihad.

Quote from the quran ... Jihad: "God has exalted in rank those who fight for the faith with their wealth and their souls over those who sit idle."

...

In any religion, the fire of faith can blaze out of control.

And today in Pakistan and other parts of the islamic world, there are believers who are jubilant at the prospect of holy war.

Some talk of jihad to defend Afghanistan against infidel attack. Others want a war pitting all true muslims against the west.

Warriors helped spread islam in its early years.

But by the time muslim armies were fighting the crusaders, jihad had already become a defensive concept.

It was a duty to protect muslim lands, but war was supposed to end when the faith was no longer under threat.

...

But who is to decide who is the victim and who the oppressor?

For the many muslims who feel victimized, there is a quranic verse to justify resistance.

Quote from the quran ... Jihad: "And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them from where they drove you out. Oppression is worse than killing. And do not fight them by the Holy Mosque unless they fight you there. If they fight you, then fight them. Such is the retribution for unbelievers."

...

Quote from a muslim leader of a United Kingdom group advocating an islamic nation, Anjem Coudary:

"If the American alliance should attack muslims in Afghanistan then it would be an obligation upon the muslims in the area to fight and it would be an obligation upon the muslims worldwide to support that jihad which is a defensive type of jihad to protect muslim life and to defend muslim honor and property.

And, you know, we believe that if we fight and struggle, and if we die in the process, we become shaheed, in other words we become martyrs.

Quote from the quran ... Afterlife: "Think not of those who are killed in the way of allah as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their lord."

Quranic descriptions of paradise are taken literally by the vast majority of muslims, but there's dispute about who earns afterlife. Most scholars say any form of suicide is forbidden under islamic law.

Quote from a muslim scholar: "As a theologian, I don't know what a martyr is because this, the whole thing, is being a martyr is to be guaranteed a place in paradise, and since I don't have a key to that, I don't know who is going to paradise and who is going to hell, how god is going to treat us in the day of judgment."

Since the days of the prophet and his immediate successors, there's been no earthly authority acceptable to all muslims, letting individual scholars and religious courts to interpret the faith.

So it's not been difficult for political groups all over the world to use jihad as justification for their individual struggles.

...

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Support for the U.S. from the world's most populous muslim nation? Nope, not if it's Indonesia's top islamic authority, the Council of Indonesian Ulemas, or islamic teachers, that you're looking to for support.

While condemning the attacks on the U.S., the Ulemas were steadfast in labeling any U.S. efforts in Afghanistan as worthy of an islamic jihad.

Key quotes from their statement:

• "We ask for all the muslims of the world to unite and gather all their forces to fight in the name of allah in a jihad if an aggression by America and its allies occurs against Afghanistan and the islamic world."

• "We support all wars against terrorism. But we have to define terrorist. In the perception of many muslims and many countries, the government of America is the terrorist."
  

Source:

• CNN

Pakistan Religious Leader Backs Anti-Taliban Action

Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, an influential Pakistan religious leader formerly involved in politics, backs a US-led strike on the Taliban as necessary to eradicate terrorists, restore islam's image.

Key quotes:

• "We support the viewpoint of the government of president Pervez Musharraf supporting action against the Taliban as we think it is the most appropriate stand that can be taken in the present situation."

• "People around the world should not consider the issue as one that pits muslims against non-muslims but one that affects peace, national security, humanity and elimination of terrorism."

• "I personally feel that muslims should not view the decision to strike the Taliban as a decision by non-muslims against muslims but should be viewed in the light of justice and fair play. Even in the times of prophet Muhammad, there were decisions made by the courts which were in favor of non-muslims. Similarly we should see this situation in an unbiased fashion."

• "Islam abhors terrorism and killing of innocent lives. There is no place for fanaticism and extremism in islam."

• "They (many muslims in Pakistan and the rest of the world who would react adversely to a US military strike in Afghanistan) would walk out of madrasah and masjid to the call to defend islam because they are convinced that the religion is under attack. It is the responsibility of religious leaders to explain the situation so that they could make a fair decision."

• "Islamic leaders especially at the grassroot level should not exploit the issue by stirring up sentiments and inflaming emotions which would lead the people in the wrong direction."

• "It is time for wisdom, strategy, a cooling down period and thinking of a solution and muslims all over the world should be pragmatic and have justice in their minds when weighing what decision to make in this situation."
  

Source:

• New Straits Times [link inactive]

Muslim-Christian Tensions Palpable in Nigeria

Shortly before the attack upon America, over 500 Nigerians were killed in clashes between muslims and christians in Jos, Nigeria. As a result, charred buildings are spread throughout the city and over 15,000 displaced people are awaiting relocation due to the violence.

The ethnic and religious conflict has been simmering for two years. It is feared that the violence could happen anywhere in Nigeria and it may at some point erupt into a nation-wide conflict.

The primary causality of the recent religious violence? Intense emotions and abhorrence to fundamentalist islamic sharia law by those who feel no compulsion or identification with such laws but who are nevertheless being forced to live under such laws in many muslim areas of a divided country.

The long history of muslim-christian tensions began with muslim conquests of northern Nigeria in the 19th century.

One frightening prospect is present in this quote from the article: ""If the developments related to the U.S. attacks in the international arena are allowed to fall along the christian-muslim divide, it is not unlikely that Nigeria could easily become one of the major flashpoints of worldwide religious conflict that might emerge."

Source:

• AllAfrica.com [link inactive]

Fountain of Youth?

As folks age, injuries take longer to heal, the skin wrinkles, muscles atrophy, and ailments become increasingly likely. This is due, in part, to a reduced expression of a particular gene called FoxM1B.

In experiments on aging mice, scientists have discovered that by increasing expression of the FoxM1B gene, cell restoration can be sped up to mate to that of younger mice.

Key quote from the article: "Ponce de Leon was looking in the wrong place for the fountain of youth. He should have been looking for the FoxM1B gene."

Source:

• Science Daily

Good vs. Evil

Excerpts from an article discussing religious and scientific explanations for human behavior known as good and evil:

• "In a universe controlled by an all-powerful, loving god, why do bad things happen to innocent people? Eighteen-hundred years ago, a christian named Marcion suggested there could be two gods: a supreme god of love and an inferior god who allows violence, sickness, and pain. Marcion was condemned as a heretic."

• "The problem did not exist before the rise of monotheism. In earlier times, the world was believed to be in the hands of a multitude of gods of equal stature, some benevolent, some mischievous. The bad gods sometimes got the better of the good gods, and that was that."

• "Insofar as science has addressed the problem of animate evil - aggression, disease, death - the evidence seems to favor the idea that violence and death are necessary conditions for the existence of life."

• "From the human point of view, the death of an innocent child by malaria, say, is evil. But the malaria pathogen is just trying to survive, as we do. Like the malaria pathogen, we kill and consume other species to endure - plants, or other animals that eat plants."
  

• "Humans have appeared on the scene relatively recently, bearing in our genes the baggage of the past, including, apparently, a propensity for aggression, especially among males. We may even carry tendencies towards clannishness or religious extremism, all of which may have given our ancestors a competitive edge."

• "But our uniquely aware and self-reflective brains offer us escape from the relentless logic of biological destiny. Our genes may predispose us to act in certain ways, good or bad, but they do not constrain us. The complexity of our brains is such that we can choose good over evil."

Source:

• Boston Globe [link inactive]