The Real Truth: Iraqi Youth Losing Faith in Muslim Religion

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Iraqi Youth Losing Faith in Muslim Religion

Iraqis in their teens and 20s, having been reared in a world of kidnappings, disappearances, beheadings and bombings, have grown weary of the severe “do’s and don’ts” Islamic extremists imposed upon them. Caught smoking? Be ready to have your fingers broken. Boys who wear long hair? Be ready to have it cut, and then forced to eat it. Even wearing shorts brings severe penalties. No longer wanting to live under the burden of extremism, many young people in Iraq are turning away in droves. Weekly prayer sessions are shrinking in attendance. Graduate students are losing interest in attending religious classes.

“‘I used to love Osama Bin Laden,’ proclaimed a 24-year-old Iraqi college student. She was referring to how she felt before the war took hold in her native Baghdad. The Sept. 11, 2001 strike at American supremacy was satisfying, and the deaths abstract.

“Now, the student recites the familiar complaints: Her college has segregated the security checks; guards told her to stop wearing a revealing skirt; she covers her head for safety. “‘Now I hate Islam,’ she said, sitting in her family’s unadorned living room in central Baghdad. ‘Al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army are spreading hatred. People are being killed for nothing.’”