Allah, Ali, Ah Coulda Had A V-8!!!

"The sunset prayer had just ended, and Sheik Ahmad al-Jilani was already calling his class to order. When the latecomers slipped into the front row, Jilani nodded at them briskly. 'Young men,' he began, 'who can tell me why we do jihad?'

The members of the class were still new and a bit shy. Jilani clasped his hands and smiled encouragingly. Before him, sitting in school desks, were a dozen young Saudi men who had served time in prison for belonging to militant Islamic groups. Now they were inmates in a new rehabilitation center, part of a Saudi government initiative that seeks to deprogram Islamic extremists.
Jilani has been teaching his class, which is called Understandings of Jihad, since the center was established early last year. A stout man who makes constant, self-deprecating references to his weight, the sheik is an avuncular figure, popular with his students. On this chilly evening he had on a woolly, brocade-trimmed bisht, the cloak that Saudi men wear on formal occasions or in cool weather, which gave him a slightly imposing air. But behind his thick glasses, his eyes shone warmly as he surveyed the classroom.

Finally, someone answered: 'We do jihad to fight our enemies.'

'To defeat God’s enemies?' another suggested.

'To help weak Muslims,' a third offered.

'Good, good,' Jilani said. 'All good answers. Is there someone else? What about you, Ali?' Ali, in the second row, looked away, then faltered: 'To . . . answer . . . calls for jihad?'

Jilani frowned slightly and wrote Ali’s answer up on the white board behind him. He read it out to the class before turning back to Ali. 'All right, Ali,' the sheik said. 'Why do we answer calls for jihad? Is it because all Muslim leaders want to make God’s word highest? Do we kill if these leaders tell us to kill?'

Ali looked confused, but whispered, 'Yes.'

'No — wrong!' Jilani cried as Ali blushed. 'Of course we want to make God’s word highest, but not every Muslim leader has this as his goal. There are right jihads and wrong jihads, and we must examine the situation for ourselves.'"

-- Katherine Zoepf, watching the kingdom of Saudi Arabia try to "fight thoughts with thoughts” as a way to end terrorism, in The New York Times.

Breaking the habit of being a follower - someone compelled to do what those who appeal to your feelings ask - can easily be assisted by the continued success of: