The Awakening of Hassan

"If you love enough you will forgive anything," said Queen Sheherezade, and=
 Fatima did. Rapes, daily beatings, death threats, constant verbal abuse, m=
urder of her daughter - she forgave her husband Abdul everything. But Abdul=
 would forgive absolutely nothing, no matter how little or insignificant. A=
 speck of dust on the floor, a pot in the wrong place, kebab slightly overc=
ooked, a spot on the clothes - all this was met with barrages of fists. Eve=
ry little thing she's ever done he would remember and use against her years=
 later. Nothing was ever good enough for Abdul, and everything was always F=
atima's fault, whatever the actual source of the problem.

They had a daughter named Najida, who was nearing marriage age. Najida was =
beautiful, and Abdul hoped to give her to the son of the town's biggest bus=
inessman. Then one day she went out to the market and came back, every inch=
 of her body in agony, her face and body scarred beyond recognition. A man =
had thrown a bucket of sulphuric acid into her face because she accidentall=
y let the burqa slip for a moment and uncover her head. Najida forgave, but=
 now she was family shame whom no man would ever marry. And that could not =
be forgiven, ever, no matter what else she did.

They had another daughter named Shaheena, who was gang-raped by a young tou=
gh named Kemal and his friends. This was the worst family shame possible. S=
o Abdul beat Shaheena to death and threw her body to the dogs. That way, th=
e family no longer had to live with that embarrassment.

They had a son named Hassan, who did not like what he saw around him. Abdul=
, neighbors, kids, kept calling him traitor, calling him crazy, calling him=
 weak, calling him infidel. He still did not like what he saw. The imam arr=
anged for a public whipping of Hassan, but that still did not sway him. So =
the imam told Abdul, "Send your son to a madrasa. They will teach him true =
Islamic ways."

The madrasa was a boarding school dedicated to the teaching of Islam. Its s=
tudents were boys from all over Pakistan, cramped in small quarters. The ed=
ucation consisted of memorizing fully the Quran and applying its teachings =
rigorously day in and day out. The boys were trained to burn with the holy =
fire of Islam, and it was frequently heard them say, "I grow up to kill inf=
idel." Hassan stayed there until the students were summoned to holy cause.

The name of the holy cause was Taliban. The mission: Invade and conquer Afg=
hanistan and subdue it to true Islamic values. They crossed the border on a=
rmored vehicles, Toyota pickup trucks, buses, old tanks. They encountered m=
inimal resistance. "Nobody wants to shoot a Talib," locals said, "it's like=
 shooting a nun." Little did they know what the holy Talibs had in store fo=
r them.

The country was put under curfew, with roadblocks everywhere and inspection=
 of everyone passing by. Businesses, homes, farms, were constantly raided, =
with any non-Quranic material confiscated and its owners publicly whipped. =
People were publicly executed - for playing music, for practicing Buddhism =
or Christianity, for traveling without a male relative, for talking to a pe=
rson of other gender. Rape victims were charged with adultery and publicly =
stoned. Priceless artifacts were destroyed, schools shut down, economic act=
ivity slowed to a crawl. Women were forbidden to go outside the home, and h=
usbands were given life-and-death power over them. And most promising men w=
ere drafted into the Taliban, leaving their businesses and jobs unattended.

The only thing that grew under the holy Talibs were the jails. People were =
arrested for everything and anything. Hassan was assigned as a guard to a w=
omen's prison in Kandahar. "Surely," thought the commanders, "this will set=
 this boy straight."

The prison was a fetid place crawling with lice, where human feces ran down=
 the floor and food bowls were placed in it. The guards went from cell to c=
ell every day, beating the inmates black and blue. The guards demanded that=
 Hassan take part in the beatings; but he could not bring himself to do it.=
 So they claimed that he was weak and corrupt, that he was not a man, that =
he should be shot, that he was a traitor to Islam, that the women there wer=
e evil whores who had destroyed the fabric of Afghan society and were using=
, manipulating and controlling him to serve Satan. Still Hassan would not t=
ake part in the beatings.

One day, the guards had had enough. Two of them accompanied Hassan to a cel=
l occupied by four young women. They pointed their AK rifles at him and sai=
d, "You beat them, or we kill you."

There was no Quaranic justification for what Hassan did next. He knew that =
this was against Islamic principle, that he could be executed for it and ma=
y go to hell. But at this point he no longer cared. In the women he saw Naj=
ida's scars and Shaheena's corpse and realized that, if this was to become =
the way, then any daughters he may himself ever have would be subjected to =
a world where this was the fate they would have to suffer. And that, nothin=
g could ever forgive.

Reaching behind for his AK, he slammed its butt into the heads of the two g=
uards, knocking them unconscious. He then took off the key ring and went th=
rough the prison, opening every cell, and conducted the women quietly outsi=
de.

Outside was the sound of gunshots, bombs, people running from place to plac=
e. NATO troops were taking over the country. The Taliban was collapsing, an=
d Allah was nowhere in sight. There were no easy solutions, but now they ha=
d a chance at a better future. A future not owned by barbarism and oppressi=
on; a future with possibility of freedom, peace, justice, and opportunity; =
a future into which it was rightful and sensible to bring new life.