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the Soviet invasion and began to plan action to support the Muslim country of Afghanistan. Lots of
young Muslims from around the world started to organize and travel to Afghanistan. They and their
Afghan brethren became known as the mujahideen—from the word jihad. Jihad is a word that can
also mean “holy war.” I was too young to go, but not too young to cheer for our brave warriors.
The world was divided clearly into that which was permitted and not permitted. Again, lots of
parallels with the digital, binary world of the twenty-first century. Either something is good or it is
not good, 1 or 0. Our Islamic ethics traditionally reflect this kind of approach. Simplicity. We find a
mufti—the person who is allowed to make rules or provide religious advice and judgments—who has
the correct credentials, and we either search his written opinions or ask him directly. Occasionally,
the mufti seems to be talking about things that are not so relevant. Perhaps they are relevant and we
have been focused on the wrong things all along. In any case, you have found a knowledgeable,
qualified religious authority who knows what he is talking about. Over time, you will learn from him
the proper way to be a good Muslim.
Quite often, this binary approach seems more appropriate to a different time and place. Sometimes
you wonder whether there might not be another way in which we Muslims can be good Muslims and
interact seamlessly with the multicultural, multicolored, multifragmented world that we actually live
in. I know it is difficult to face uncertainty. It is more difficult for you in today’s world than it was for
my generation. We had less to be uncertain about. Many of us are now set in our ways. A little
uncertainty can be put out of our minds. But you and your generation need to form your own ideas and
your own approach to the world. Your world is more complicated, more volatile, more
unpredictable. Why is this the case? The simplest answer is that the world is open to you through
technology. There are no walls, no vast open spaces where nothing happens—as there were only a
few decades ago. That is why many of you and your friends will try to lock into whatever certainty
you can or that you find. The need to know that certain things are true is a human instinct. This is the
desire for certainty. It is how we orient ourselves. It is how we give ourselves direction and protect
ourselves. Certainty is the mental shell that pushes away doubt. The world you live in is different
because the building of certainty requires more time, more knowledge, more experience, and more
trust than ever before. Every child of your generation is in the same position, from the depths of
Africa and Asia to the cities of North America.
You used to have friends of the opposite sex. Now you are taught that the sexes should be
separated. This way there is no chance of illicit intercourse—that is, extramarital sex—taking place.
You are initially a little surprised that there is an assumption that men and women are so likely to
have sex the minute they are with each other. Perhaps it is the truth. You wonder whether there might
be other problems that occur because of such a strict segregation. There are rumors of rampant
homosexuality in societies that are so segregated that the opposite sexes almost never have the
opportunity to interact the way they do in the liberal “decadent” West. Your friends from strictly
Islamic countries seem to be relieved to be on holiday somewhere in the West. They breathe easier
and seem more interested in sinning than praying.