John Mohammed Butt: The hippy who became an imam

[unknownprince]

John Mohammed Butt: The hippy who became an imam 22 January 11 12:31 GMT By Nadene GhouriDeoband, India Forty years after following the hippy trail to South Asia, John Butt is still living in the region, and still spreading a message of peace and love - though now as an Islamic scholar.As our car turned around the bumpy Indian road, a gleaming white marble minaret came into view. My fellow passenger, John Mohammed Butt, could barely contain his excitement. "Can you see it?" he asks. "It's like the Oxford University of Islamic learning. For me these minarets and domes are just like the spires and towers of Oxford."It's been almost 30 years since I was last here and I am still getting the same thrill. This is my alma mater." The alma mater in question is Darul-Uloom Deoband, South Asia's largest madrassa, or Islamic school. Driving through the madrassa gates, we entered a world rarely seen by Western eyes. Deoband was built in 1866 by Indian Muslims opposed to the then British rule. Little has changed since - winding streets and tiny courtyards lined with stalls selling fragrant chai, bubbling pots of rice and paintings of Mecca. Everywhere are the Talibs, religious students, young men with dark-eyed fervent expressions carrying books or quietly reciting the Koran. And in another scene reminiscent of Oxford, students riding bicycles. A chai seller recognises John and runs towards him. "John Sahib, John Sahib." The two had not seen each other in decades, yet the man remembers him instantly. "John Sahib was the only student I ever saw who used to go jogging. "There was only one John Mohammed - unique," he laughs. That is perhaps not so surprising, when you learn that John Butt remains the first and only Western man ever to have graduated from Deoband. He showed me his old dormitory room, a windowless cell where he spent eight years in a life of virtual seclusion, living under a regime of prayer and Koranic study. Imposing figureBut that is just one facet of this man's extraordinary life.Aside from his time at Deoband, he has spent most of the past 40 years living among the fierce Pashtun tribes, who inhabit the lawless hinterland between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He went there in 1969, he says, as a dope-smoking young hippy and never came home. He laughs. "When people call me an ageing ex-hippy, I always reply that I am ageing maybe, but I'm certainly not ex. I'm still a hippy." John Butt cuts an imposing figure. At 6ft 5ins (1.9m) tall, he sports a long white beard and alabaster skin that is almost translucent. Dressed in flowing white ethnic robes, he reminds me of a Benedictine hermit monk or a Victorian explorer, swashbuckling straight out of the pages of an historical novel. He tells me he adores the Queen, Stilton is his favourite cheese and that football is his passion. Yet among the border tribes, he is regarded as a native Pashtun and revered as an Islamic scholar.Home for him, until recently, was a tiny village in Pakistan's Swat valley. Swat was once a popular tourist destination but is now the scene of regular battles between the Pakistani military and the Taliban. But back in 1969, the young John was hooked from the moment he saw Swat, describing to me snow-capped mountains, rivers like flowing jewels, forests and alpine pastures. It was, he says, "like Tolkien's Middle-earth, magical and other worldly" inhabited by tribal people who were "very pleasant, big-hearted, tolerant, easy-going and welcoming". When his fellow hippies grew up and went home to become accountants and lawyers, John stayed on - becoming fluent in the Pashto language and studying Islam. But John's world changed in the late 1980s, with the arrival of jihadists, who came to the border areas from all over the world to fight the war against the Russians in Afghanistan. "I saw the rural, religious Pashtun way of life I had come to love so much being diluted, contaminated and poisoned, in particular by Arabs from the Middle East," he says. "The way they practise Islam is very different to the tribal areas, but they used money and influence to impose their own set of values." So he decided to fight for his adopted culture. Peaceful IslamIn the early 1990s, he joined the BBC World Service Pashtu service and helped to set up New Home New Life, a now Iconic Afghan radio soap opera, known as The Archers of Afghanistan. Six years ago, he set up a radio station which broadcasts across the Afghan-Pakistan border and which tries to promote tribal traditions along with peace and reconciliation. More recently, John has switched his attentions back to Afghanistan and is spearheading the formation of a new Islamic university in the predominantly Pashtun city of Jalalabad. "It makes perfect sense. There is currently nowhere in Afghanistan where a young man can do higher Islamic studies. They go to Pakistan, where as we know some of them have become radicalised," he says, emphasising that his university will give a platform to moderates. But this promotion of peaceful Islam by the English former hippy has set him on a collision course with militants. His beloved Pakistan has now become too unsafe for him."Swat is a militarised zone and people I see as foreigners there now treat me like I'm the foreigner, even though I lived there for 40 years. "It's hard to work out who is who any more - who is Taliban, who is criminal. The waters are very muddy." Last year, waters of another kind finally put paid to his idyll, when his house was washed away in the floods which devastated the area and killed thousands. "It was a relief in some ways. When I lost the house, I knew I'd never go back there." Afghanistan has also become increasingly perilous after Taliban death threats. The Taliban have delivered so-called night letters - notes hand-delivered in secret and at night for maximum impact - warning students not to study at the university and denouncing John as a Christian missionary or an "orientalist". Death threats have also been made to his teachers and staff. "I've hired some of the best Islamic scholars in the region - pious, good and brave men," he says. "They know this is for the benefit of Afghanistan and they insist they will stay working with me despite the dangers." As I said goodbye, he was planning to travel to Jalalabad on the local bus. We talked about the possibility of him being attacked and he admitted he could easily be killed. But when I asked if he was scared, he brushed me off with a shrug. "You only die once. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow."

[IamDZJ]

stop talking to yourself.

[IamDZJ]

thoughts are thoughts while they are still confined by the boundries of your skull. they become opinions when expressed and plain blabbering when it's effortlessly sprawled all over the place. okay annoying little unknown brother prince??

[Catya Sher]

I like his style of musing out loud.

He is processing the news and
ANALYZING possibilities.

Hardly anyone here on PF seems particularly capable of doing a good job of this.
Not many have INQUIRING INTELLIGENT MINDS like Unknown does.

He should be valued by you all,
not denigrated with spiteful
sarcasm.

I haven't read the article yet but the point remains :
WHY is BBC telling us this
and why NOW?

One has to critically assess such factors, as well as how much
truth is really in the story.

[faye]

keep thinking unknownprince, some people find it a strain. it could destroy their illisions of grandeur.

[nadg]

Hello
I'm the BBC reporter who made this programme. I can assure you unknown Prince that there are no lies or propaganda here as you say on another post, why would you think someone would lie about something so important? This Imam is a true man of peace and of Islam and he spoke only in his own words. He truly believes in non-violence. But sadly he and many others who work for peace have been targets for militants who prefer to promote violence and kill the innocent. This is fact. I've been to afghanistan and pakistan several times in the last ten years and I have met so many people working for good who are threatened this way by either the taliban, criminals or others. Many even get killed. This is a painful truth out there not a lie, so please don't start accusing others of propaganda without checking facts? Isn't it wrong as a muslim to spread gossip and to
tell lies about others? You just did that about me! Please don't. I am glad some of you found the article interesting. The main radio programme - which has the Imam speaking in his own words - will be broadcast on world service radio in about ten days time. Please listen if you can because as I say, it is in his own words and voice. So how it be untrue?! I think you will find his message and his views really interesting and hopefully inspiring. when I find out the time of the next broadcast I will post it and let you all know.

[graveyardofempires]

wow a bbc journalist ,is the orwellian theory near fact?

i like the report,i really do.

how about you go and make a report on how pakistani authorities are killing people in pukhtunkhwa,and how the foreign invaders are acting in Afg.

[ScimitarXEdge]

Deoband Madrassa? Yep this guy is a very likely con artist, Deoband produces con artists.

[ScimitarXEdge]

The reason I say this is because Deoband Madrassas are known for their extremely stringent approach to Islaam, which is on par to Arab Wahhabis. This is clear attempt at misaligning Ethnic/Cultural relations of Muslims, with ideolgical currents amongst Muslims. The Deoband Madrassa has always had a strongly anti-cultural flavor, much like Wahhabism. Most of the Taliban stem from such Madrassas.

[ScimitarXEdge]

Hello
I'm the BBC reporter who made this programme. I can assure you unknown Prince that there are no lies or propaganda here as you say on another post, why would you think someone would lie about something so important? This Imam is a true man of peace and of Islam and he spoke only in his own words. He truly believes in non-violence. But sadly he and many others who work for peace have been targets for militants who prefer to promote violence and kill the innocent. This is fact. I've been to afghanistan and pakistan several times in the last ten years and I have met so many people working for good who are threatened this way by either the taliban, criminals or others. Many even get killed. This is a painful truth out there not a lie, so please don't start accusing others of propaganda without checking facts? Isn't it wrong as a muslim to spread gossip and to
tell lies about others? You just did that about me! Please don't. I am glad some of you found the article interesting. The main radio programme - which has the Imam speaking in his own words - will be broadcast on world service radio in about ten days time. Please listen if you can because as I say, it is in his own words and voice. So how it be untrue?! I think you will find his message and his views really interesting and hopefully inspiring. when I find out the time of the next broadcast I will post it and let you all know.

Are you Nadene Ghouri? I've been doing some spot google searching on you, I found some material such as your facebook and other materials with ample photos taken from your life.

I have several questions.

What is your ethnic background/national origin, what is the ethnic/national background of your parents?

are you a Muslim? If yes, are you practicing? Do you feel you represent Islam and it's values and standards in their most accurate manifestation?

Is your spouse also Muslim?



If you feel comfortable answering, what was your upbringing like, were you raised to live according to Islam? If you decline answering I understand

what was your role/motive for publishing this article and being a journalist in this region?

What are your views regarding the current climate of the region? (Af/Pak)

What do you envision is the proper conditions/way of life for the region?

Why should we take your portayal of things as wholly credible?

What should the regions attitudes towards the West and Western culture be?

What sort of relationship should the region have with the Western societies?

How do you yourself view Western society and it's lifestyle/culture? Do you view it as ideal; what would you keep or what would you change?

Do you feel there are certain inconsistencies in your report? Namely the relationship between this man and Deobandi Madrassas, who are known for their extreme and austere views, in contrast to Wahhabi ideas.

Do you feel the information portrayed in this report is correct regarding the different Islamic sensibilities between Arabs and Deobandi approach of Islam?

Would expressing doubt on the nature of the material here equate to gossiping or telling lies?

[Alchemist]

^ Given em a break ...
If the imam says he wants to open a university in Jalalabad, and try to preserve the pashtun way of life, untainted by OBL et. al, then I see no harm...even if he is Deobandi educated.


There is no conspiracy here...

[ScimitarXEdge]

No conspiracy; but the logically inconsistent connections, Deobandism is as austere as Wahhabism. Only certain aspects of Deobandism such as Tablighi Jam'at may take a more peaceful approach, generally however Deoband Ulema favor militancy and favor the Taliban.

Whether he says he wants to preserve Pashtun way of life, which has an often violent and feudalistic component, is not what's in question here. The inconsistencies in the article are.

[Catya Sher]

Scimitar's questions are of great interest.
At least to me
I would like to know more about those features too.
I hope she comes back and answers them thoughtfully.
Tells a lot about which type of person is chosen as a journalist
to cover the Muslim world.
I hope she will be very honest about her answers, too.
It's illuminating for readers.

[ScimitarXEdge]

I am an Ex-Deobandi (if you want to use that term) my early islamic education was through a Deoband affiliated school in Upstate NY, I have first hand experience at the ideology and approach that Deoband Scholars project. I of course now reject most of it, but I am familiar with a great deal of it.

[graveyardofempires]

nothing wrong with deobandi stop spreading bias.
thats like the shias when they hate sunnis call them wahabi.
and i already told you that in Afghanistan peopel dont know what deobandi is and people dont care.you are making a big deal out of it and condemning a large group of muslims based on your passive nature.