World Policy Institute

"A" Is for Allah, "J" Is for Jihad

Author(s): Craig Davis
Source: World Policy Journal, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Spring, 2002), pp. 90-94
Published by: The MIT Press and the World Policy Institute
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40209794 .
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KNOWLEDGE
Craig Davis is a dual Ph.D. candidate in the departmentsof Near EasternLanguagesand Culturesand Religious
Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. He conductedfieldwork on Afghan education in Afghanistan and
Pakistan in 1999-2000, as a David L. Borengraduatefellow.
"A"Is for Allah, "J"Is forJihad
CraigDavis
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Edu-
cation Center for Afghanistan, located in
Peshawar,Pakistan, and operated by the
Afghan mujahidin (holy warriors),pub-
lished a series of primary education text-
books replete with images of Islamic mili-
tancy. These schoolbooks provided the mu-
jahidin (who, after a ten-year struggle,
drove the Soviet occupying forces from
Afghanistan in 1989) with a medium for
promoting political propagandaand incul-
cating values of Islamic militancy into a
new generation of holy warriorspreparedto
conduct jihad against the enemies of Islam.
Consider the following introduction to the
Persian alphabet in a first-grade language
arts book:
Alif [is for] Allah.
Allah is one.
Bi [is for] Father (baba).
Father goes to the mosque...
Pi Rs for] Five (pan/).
Islam has five pillars...
Ti [is for] Rifle (tufang).
Javad obtains rifles for the Mujahidin...
Jim [is for] Jihad.
Jihad is an obligation. My mom went to the
jihad. Our brother gave water to the Mu-
jahidin...
Dal [is for] Religion (din).
Our religion is Islam. The Russians are the
enemies of the religion of Islam...
Zhi [is for] Good news (muzhdih).
The Mujahidin missiles rain down like dew
on the Russians. My brother gave me good
news that the Russians in our country taste
defeat...
90
Shin [is for] Shakir.
Shakir conducts jihad with the sword. God
becomes happy with the defeat of the Rus-
sians...
Zal [is for] Oppression (zulm).
Oppression is forbidden. The Russians are
oppressors. We perform jihad against the
oppressors...
Vav [is for] Nation (vatn).
Our nation is Afghanistan.... The
Mujahidin made our country famous.... Our
Muslim people are defeating the commu-
nists. The Mujahidin are making our dear
country free.
As in this passage, the promotion of vio-
lence for the sake of Islam is the predomi-
nate theme throughout the mujahidin text-
book series in both mathematics and lan-
guage arts for grades one through six.
Although these violent images were offi-
cially edited out of the schoolbooks in 1992,
my fieldwork in Afghanistan and among the
Afghan refugee population in Pakistan in
1999 and 2000 revealed that the unedited
versions of these textbooks were still in use
in both countries. Aid workers reported that
the unedited versions promoting violence
occasionally surfacedin classrooms in Pak-
istan and were sanctioned by the Taliban
government in Afghanistan. Peshawar'ssec-
ondhand bookshops regularly stocked the
old textbooks, which are filled with mes-
sages of Islamic militancy and illustrations
of tanks, rocket launchers, and automatic
weapons.
When I visited Kabul, Afghanistan's
capital, in May 2000, 1 discovered that the
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WORLDPOLICY
stores stocking Taliban-approvedtextbooks from war was asked, "What did you do in
were selling freshly printed copies of the the war?"He answered, "I cut both legs off
old, unrevised mujahidin texts. Reports an enemy at the knees." When asked why
coming out of Kabul confirm the continued he did not cut off the enemy s head, the boy
use of these schoolbooks, even as the new answered, "Someoneelse had alreadycut it
interim govern- off."
ment assumed These are but
power. These text- two instances in
books glorify mar- which educational
tyrdom, celebrate materials were
jihad, and speak used to train
of execution of young minds in
"the enemy."How- a fanatical form
ever, such mes- of loyalty to the
sages and images nation. The hos-
of violence aimed tile imagery was
at children are by part of the official
no means a recent curriculum dur-
phenomenon. Con- ing the reign
sider this poem (1933-73) of
from a first-grade King Zahir Shah,
language arts text- the 88-year-old
book, published Detail of an illustration from a first-grade language arts textbook exile who has
in 1970: from the monarchist period. This book was purchased in Kabul at lived in Rome
a stall selling used books in May 2000.
since 1973 and
On the road to whom many
to our independence, Afghans still turn for a sense of legitimacy
Our bodies, our heads, our possessions, and stability.
We will sacrifice, A new series of Afghan textbooks was
We will sacrifice. developed during the period of communist
government in Afghanistan, which stretched
If, with designs on our land, from 1978 under Nur Muhammad Taraki's
Our dirty enemies rule- and the subsequent Soviet invasion in
Come forward one step, 1979 - to Muhammad Nagibullah s fall in
We will cut off their feet, 1992. These textbooks promoted Marxist
We will cut off their legs, ideology within an Afghan cultural context.
We will cut off their legs. In "Martyrs,"a poem printed in a fourth-
grade textbook, the students learned that
If, in the direction of our land, they were the "martyrsof Western oppres-
If, in the direction of our land, sion." Martyrdomand sacrifice were stressed
The unjust enemy as necessarycomponents of the communist
If he casts a sharp glance, revolution and resistance against the enemy:
We will pluck out his eyes, "agents of the British," "agents of colonial-
We will pluck out his eyes. ism," and "agents of Western oppression."
These all were euphemisms for the mu-
A joke in fifth-grade language-arts school- jahidin, who formed the militant resistance
book from the same period displays a ma- against the communist government after the
cabre sense of humor: A boy returning Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December

"A"Is for Allah, "J"Is forJihad 91

1979. Ironically,the term "mujahidin"was Revolution.... Boundless glory to the
avoided in the textbooks of the time. mothers of the heroes and the proletariat
l nis series was women or the
still in limited use in nation."
May 2000 in some Ironically,the
Afghan schools in the emphasis these text-
region, including in books placed on
Estiqlal Lycee, a women's participa-
small coeducational tion in Afghani-
Afghan elementary stan's communist
school in Islamabad, revolution may
Pakistan. Almost half have played into
of the 236 students the hands of the Is-
then at the lycee lamic extremists
were girls, many of who stripped Af-
whom had come from ghan women of their
Afghanistan after rights when they
1996, when the Tal- gained control of
iban seized power and the country.
implemented policies Far more violent,
that denied girls ac- religiously oriented,
cess to education past and potentially dam-
grade three. aging to Afghan
One reason the children was the
school uses these next generation of
books may be because textbooks, developed
women tend to fare in Peshawarin the
"Jihad - Often many different wars and conflicts arise
better in the commu- among people, which cause material damages and loss of late 1980s by a com-
nist-era textbooks human life. If these wars and disputes occur among people
for the sake of community, nation, territory, or even because
mittee of Afghan
than in most of the of verbal differences, and for the sake of progress..." educators under the
other series. The text- This page is from a third-grade language arts textbook dating auspices of the sev-
books attempted to from the mujahidin period. A copy of the book was purchased new
in Kabul in May 2000. en-party alliance
to
appeal young of mujahidin, who
Afghan girls by formed the legiti-
stressing the important role that women mate political and military resistance to
played in the April Revolution, as the the Soviet-backed regime in Kabul. These
Afghan communist revolution was called. textbooks aimed both to counterbalance
Mothers, female combatants, and the the Marxist ideology of the communist se-
women of the proletariatwere elevated to ries and to indoctrinate young Afghan chil-
hero status at the expense of the revolution's dren in Islamic militancy. Thus this sub-
enemies: "Eternalglory to the nation's hero- traction problem, from a third-grade mathe-
ic martyrswho have sacrificed their own matics textbook: "One group of mujahidin
lives in the struggle against the enemies of attack 50 Russian soldiers. In that attack
the April Revolution and of the people of 20 Russians were killed. How many Rus-
Afghanistan.... Women combatants of the sians fled?"
nation! Become active participants in the A fourth-grade mathematics textbook
social, political, and economic life of the poses the following problem: "The speed
homeland, and strengthen...the April of a Kalashnikov bullet is 800 meters per

92 JOURNAL• SPRING2002
WORLDPOLICY
second. If a Russian is at a distance of 3,200 aware of Afghan "religious and cultural sen-
meters from a mujahid, and that mujahid sitivities" during the war with the Soviets.
aims at the Russian'shead, calculate how Moreover,the University of Nebraska did
many seconds it will not wish to be seen
take for the bullet to as imposing Ameri-
strike the Russian in can values on Af-
the forehead." ghan educators.1
Another irony is After the Soviet
that this textbook se- forces withdrew
ries was underwritten from Afghanistan,
by U.S. grants. One the Education Pro-
of the responsibilities gram for Afghan-
of the mujahidin-op- istan- under in-
erated Education creasing pressure
Center for Afghani- from Afghan parents
stan was to write, and teachers, and
print, and distribute various aid organ-
textbooks. The ECA izations- decided
was funded by the in 1991 to remove
Education Program the militant images
for Afghanistan at from the mujahidin
the University of Ne- textbook series. The
braskaat Omaha revision process was
(UNO), under a $50 completed by 1992.
million grant from Educatorscommonly
the United States refer to the edited
Agency for Interna- versions as the re-
tional Development "Story - Dear students, I will tell you the story of crimes vised UNOtextbooks,
committed by atheist Russians who were able to material-
that ran from Sep- ize over our land due to the carelessness of one group of which are widely
tember 1986 through Mujahidin. You had better listen well and be aware of the used in Pakistan
results that carelessness and lack of concern can have. and Afghanistan
June 1994. The UNO It was on a dark autumn night that merciless Russian
program staff chose to forces launched a heavy attack near our village. With strong today.
ignore the images of faith and took in complete unity, the brave and zealous
However, two
Mujahidin position. Since the forces of the atheists
Islamic militancy in were very numerous, the zealous Mujahidin placed one years ago, Joyce
the children's text- armed group [there] for the protection of the region and the Gachiri, a project
other groups raced in an orderly fashion toward the enemy
books during the to confront it. The enemies of religion and the homeland, officer on education
first five years of the having MIG airplanes and helicopters..." for the Afghanistan
program. This page is from a fifth-grade language arts textbook from the
Country Office of
Raheem Yaseer, mujahidin period. A copy of the book was purchased new in Kabul UNICEF located in
in May 2000.
an Afghan educator Islamabad,reported
who worked at the seeing many of the
UNOoffice in Peshawarduring the early unrevised mujahidin books in Taliban-con-
years of the program and now acts as the trolled Afghanistan as well as in the pro-
campus coordinatorfor the program in Om- vince of Badakhshan,which was then in
aha, defends the decision to allow the mu- the hands of the anti-Taliban Northern Al-
to
jahidin parties develop the violent con- liance.2During my visit to Kabul in May
tent of the textbooks free of outside inter- 2000, 1 purchasedan entire series of the
vention. The staff, he says, was acutely unrevised textbooks.

"A"Is for Allah, "J"Is forJihad 93

 According to Ahmad Shah Durani, the
printing press manager at the Agency Coor-
dinating Body for Afghan Relief (acbar)
in Peshawar- the organization responsible
for printing the revised UNOtextbooks-
the unedited mujahidin textbooks were
not printed by acbar after 1992. When I
confronted him in June 2000 with new
copies of the violence-filled unrevised text-
books I had purchasedin Kabul, he said
that the inferior quality of paper and ink
used pointed to an independent printing
press in Peshawar.
The appearanceof these unedited text-
books freshly printed in Peshawarand sold
at textbook shops in Kabul some eight years
after they were to have been replaced sug-
gests that the Taliban wished to inspire a
new generation of militants with the mes-
sage of jihad. But the Taliban, who came to
power in 1996, may not be entirely to
blame. Between 1992 and 1996, militant
factions of mujahidin ruled and battled over
Kabul. Thus it is likely that these textbooks
never fell out of favor with the mujahidin
leadership, who were responsible for the
militant content in the first place.
Much has been written since September
1 1 about the madrasa(theological school)
system of education in Pakistan and Af-
ghanistan. In the wake of the Soviet inva-
sion of Afghanistan, extremist Muslims in
Saudi Arabia and elsewhere helped to fund
the madrassas,many of which have become
vehicles for inculcating militant values in
students. The most violent product of the
madrasasystem are the Taliban, who pro-
moted absolute theocracy,public militancy,
violent repression,and jihad in conjunction
with terroristgroups. Even though the Tal-
iban has been crushed, it would be a mis-
take to underestimate the political force of
the madrasasystem. Because of the inability
of both the Afghan and Pakistani govern-
94
ments to provide universal education within
their respective nations, many parents still
look to madrassasto fill the void. In other
cases, many students attending secular
schools in the morning regularly study at
madrassasin the afternoon. Recent estimates
suggest that between 10 and 15 percent of
Pakistan's45,000 madrassaspromote vio-
lence; if true, the next generation of gradu-
ates will likely be a political force to be
reckoned with.
One of the greatest challenges to the es-
tablishment of a lasting peace in Afghani-
stan and to the success of representative
government there may lie in reforming the
country'seducational system. But as the
new interim government assumed power in
Kabul, the future of Afghan education was
unclear.Will the mujahidin, who are once
again in a position to influence policy, insist
on teaching Islamic militancy to school-
children? Will Afghan children once again
be exhorted to cut off the legs and pluck out
the eyes of their "dirty enemies"?If so,
Afghanistan'sroad away from violent unrest
will be a long one indeed. •
fromthePersianfor thetextbook
Thetranslations
illustrations byNahidSeyedsayamdost.
wereprovided
Notes
This essay is drawn from a longer, unpublished
analysis, "Nationalism, Revolution, and Jihad: Im-
ages of Violence in Afghan Primary Education Text-
books," the researchfor which was made possible by
a David L. Boren graduate fellowship. The author
would like to thank Jamsheed Choksy, Paul Losen-
sky, and M. Nazif Shahranifor their comments and
insights.
1. Interviews with the author, December 5 and
7, 2001.
2. Conversation with the author, March 30,
2000.
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