EFL
He is old—around 70—and frail, relying on a walking stick. But the imam's voice is strong, and the some 50 men, women and boys crammed into a dingy room sit enraptured as he talks for two hours, waving his hands for emphasis and making eye contact with his listeners.
| ... rolling his eyes, spewing equal amounts of vitriol and spittle, jumping up and down... |
The subject matter is familiar: verses of the Koran spliced with denunciations of the war the U.S. and its allies are waging against Islam; the suffering of Muslims worldwide; the sacred duty to struggle against those who would deny Muslims the chance to worship in peace. The preacher's voice—he requested anonymity—rises as he issues a final, passionate appeal, a call for jihad against a cruel government that, he says, is oppressing the faithful. "Will you join hands with me to fight? Fight the army that tortures and kills our people? The army that has caused the disappearance of many Muslims?" The crowd cries out in assent, the younger men standing together, holding hands and shouting "Allahuakbar!" (God is great!) again and again.
| Joining hands with Mr. Imam "to fight" means the young and stoopid lugging the arms and ammunition and explosives while he sits back in the mosque, writing sermons that'll eulogize them when they've been dismembered, so's to recruit yet more cannon fodder... |
A scene like this, witnessed recently by a TIME reporter, would not be unusual in Indonesia, which, since the Bali atrocity two years ago this week, has been periodically rocked by bombings instigated and executed by Islamic extremists. But this assembly took place in Sungai Golok, a small town deep in the Thai south, a poor region that borders Malaysia and which is home to Thailand's 6 million-strong Muslim minority.
| Whenever I read the words "poor region," I automatically think "strong Muslim minority"... |
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