Ammon News - PAKTIKA PROVIENCE, Afghanistan – “We don’t have an agenda or goals,” said 1st Lt. Ahmad Rizik Jafar Al-Shamayleh, Jordanian Engagement Team, Jordanian Land Force, “We are here to clarify.”

For three days Al-Shamayleh and his two fellow soldiers on the Jordanian Engagement Team; Maj. Murad Salah Ibrahim Jumah, commander, and 2nd Lt. Thabet Abdelrahman Saleh Bani Amer visited with the soldiers of the Afghan National Army’s 2nd Battalion, 203rd Corps based at Kari Karicote Garrison, Sey Ghana as well as local and provincial officials. The topic of their discussions was Islam and the Koran.

“What’s the true Islam and what’s the wrong Islam,” said Al-Shamayleh, “Some people have the wrong meaning and some people have the right meaning. We are here to …deliver the right meaning of Islam.”

Al-Shamayleh and Amer are Islamic scholars and Imams [priests]. Their mission here is two-fold: answer any religious questions that anyone has and combat any propaganda that is being spread by the enemies of Afghanistan.

“The right Islam is to follow the path, the right path of Islam; the Koran, the Sunnah [traditions] …and the principle rules of Islam,” said Amer.

The wrong Islam, according to Amer, is when a person or group has an agenda and they are trying to use the Koran to justify their actions.

“Nobody is allowed to take personal advantage from Islam,” said Amer,” A person who uses Islam for personal advantage [on] judgment day, he won’t get any kindness from Allah.”

The enemies of Afghanistan would argue that their interpretation of Islam is the correct one.

“We have a reference. We go back to the Koran and what the Prophet (peace be upon him) said. This is the reference we go by,” said Amer. “If I don’t agree with someone, we go back to the reference; the reference is the Koran, very simple.”

What makes the JET so effective is they are Islamic scholars, and they are able to read the Koran in its original Arabic. Many Afghans cannot read the Koran in its original form and base their beliefs on what they are told.

“We have common ground between us as Jordanians and the Afghans, we share the same religion,” said Al-Shamayleh. “They do have respect [for] Arabs, since the Koran was written in Arabic, our language. The Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) spoke Arabic.”

There had been reports that the enemies of Afghanistan had been going into villages and telling the inhabitants that anyone who wears a uniform (members of the various branches of the Afghan National Security Forces) was an infidel. This was an attempt to turn the villagers against the government and the ANSF. One of the soldiers asked the JET if this was true.

“It is not permissible to say that [a person] is an infidel just because he has a uniform,” said Al-Shamayleh, “the prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) didn’t … link the infidelity [to] the uniform. He said [an infidel can be identified] by the deeds …by the wrong doings, not by the uniform. So the insurgent is the infidel, because they are not doing the right things. At the end of the day who is the legitimate [organization]? The legitimatecy is with.. the Army.”

This is because, stressed Amer, the ANSF is representing the freely elected government.

“If you want to oppose someone you do not do it with weapons and killing,” said Amer, “This is wrong doing.”

The JET met with the soldiers for hours; sometimes lecturing other times listening to their concerns.

One soldier said that they had heard from relatives that the enemies of Afghanistan were telling local residents that any soldier who was killed did not deserve a proper Islamic burial and that the deceased’s family did not deserve their final salary.

“We have to pray on the dead body,” said Amer angrily, “No one has permission to take away another Muslim’s rights. The salary you are getting is yours … you worked for it and you use it to provide for your family.”

There is one type of question the JET does not deal with; questions that have a political background. When the JET met with the soldiers they were joined by Mullah Zabtullah, Patkita provincial director of Hajj and Islamic affairs.

A soldier stood up and said that the enemies of Afghanistan were saying that they wanted Islamic law in Afghanistan. He wanted to know if the laws of Afghanistan were based on any Islamic laws?

“The Afghanistan Constitution is based on Islamic law,” said Zabtullah, “No law can take the place of Islamic law in Afghanistan. This part of the Afghanistan Constitution … is clear.”

Not all the questions asked dealt with politics or propaganda from the enemies of Afghanistan. Some dealt with purely religious questions especially with the month of Ramazan only a few days away.

One soldier asked if you can still be a good Muslim if you fast during Ramazan, but do not pray five times a day as required. The answer was that you cannot be a complete Muslim if you do not do everything you are supposed to do.

“We observed how much pressure those people are under, especially in rural areas,” said Jumah, “ They are under pressure from [the enemies of Afghanistan], we can tell [by] their questions and we clarify [their] questions. We [told] them ‘What you are doing, you are doing the right things.”

“The families of the soldiers are being pressured [by those who are sympathetic to the enemies of Afghanistan’s beliefs], said Amer, “The people don’t know who to follow and they are confused by the insurgent’s propaganda. So we need to clarify and enlighten the mind of the people … and we need to face the propaganda … of the insurgents.”

When the meeting was over, many of the soldiers came over to the JET and thanked them.

The next day the JET met with a diverse group of local leaders; Mohammad Zahir, district sub-governor, Zarghun Shar, as well as local village elders, local mullahs and representatives of the ANSF.

At first, the elders asked the JET for help in rebuilding some schools that had been destroyed by the enemies of Afghanistan. As much as they would like to help, explained Jumah, that was not their mission here.

Jumah stressed that the Imams could only help with religious questions.

Many of the questions asked dealt with the same topics the soldiers asked; is what the enemies of Afghanistan saying true. In each case the JET used the Koran to disprove the propaganda.

Zahir asked if suicide bombings were allowed in the Koran.

No, replied Amer; It is a sin in Islam to kill innocent people and suicide is banned by the Koran.

Murder is banned in the Koran, especially non-combatants.

“He who kills someone intentionally,” said Amer, “will be in hell forever.”

There was one major difference between the questions posed by the two groups.

Toward the end of the meeting with the local leaders, one of the elders asked if it was permissible for a man to dye the grey out of his beard.

Yes, replied the JET; as long as you do not do it in an attempt to lie about your age in order to marry a much younger woman.

Everyone laughed.

*Regional Command East