Incorruptible
Lifer
A man in Pakistan who has a handlebar mustahce has faced death threats, intimidation and forced to leave his home
The mustahce was deemed un-Islamic by Lashkar-i-Islam a group wanting hardline sharia in that area. Amir Muhammad Afridi had to move to Peshawar in order to escape the radicals, he has vowed not to remove the mustache
As well barbers offering close shaves have been threatened not to do it anymore
This is just another case where radical Islamists are showing there stupidity and how extreme they are. Its also interesting that one of Muhamads advisers had a mustache that was twirled into points as well.
Do you think these radicals are wrong for what there doing and should sharia law be allowed
Amir Muhammad Afridi has braved Islamist death threats and given up his home in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, all for the sake of his giant moustache
There is no finer mark of a Pakistani man than a fully oiled, waxed and twirled moustache. For 18 years, Amir Muhammad Afridis vast handlebar moustache, curling as high as his forehead, made him a celebrity throughout the rugged, tribal lands that border Afghanistan.
But that was until his luxuriant facial hair came to the attention of Lashkar-i-Islam, extremists who are fighting to impose hardline Sharia in the Khyber agency where Mr Afridi lived.
For the past two years he has braved death threats, intimidation and been forced to flee his home all in the name of a moustache that demands 30 minutes of grooming every morning. (It's a highly specialised regimen involving almond oil, hairdryers and a secret wax that no amount of pleading will make him reveal.)
They arrested me in broad daylight, put me in their car, he told me. They took me to a religious scholar who declared the moustache un-Islamic and ordered it removed.
There was nothing I could do. I was surrounded by guns. If I had resisted I would be dead."
They set about his moustache, which at that time stretched 12 inches away from his face, reducing it to what Mr Afridi described in a sorrowful voice as ordinary.
Since then Mr Afridi, 42, has given up his home in the town of Banna and moved his wife and 10 children to the north-western city of Peshawar where he lives anonymously running a small business importing watches. He has regrown his moustache and only now, with violence declining in Peshawar in the past year, is he prepared to speak publicly about the threat to his life.
I promised myself I would pray for death but would never surrender my moustache, he said, despite his wifes protestations. She said earlier it was your hobby, but now it's endangering your life so please remove it.
Such was the local pride in the great moustache that officials in Banna paid him about £40 a month to help with the cost of maintaining it a significant sum in Pakistans tribal belt.
Male grooming is something of an obsession in Pakistan, and well-tended moustaches are sported by prominent politicians, sportsmen and military leaders (although you should never appoint a man with a moustache as the head of your army he'll overthrow you, according to this brilliant analysis of Pakistan's facial hair).
The ritual showdown at the Wagah border crossing, when Indian and Pakistan border guards strut and stamp their rivalry, is conducted amid much moustache twirling.
And legend has it that a quarrel within Pakistans first family of politics ended with Benazir Bhuttos brother, Murtaza, shaving off the moustache of her husband, Asif Ali Zardari. Today her brother is dead and her widower is president.
However, the moustache is also a target of Islamic extremists. They point to one of the lessons attributed to the Prophet Mohammed: Act against the polytheists, trim closely the moustache and grow beard."
Anything long enough collect flecks of food is deemed un-Islamic, apparently.
As a result, barbers in the city of Peshawar have been threatened or bombed for offering close shaves.
Mr Afridi, however, disputes the idea that moustaches are unIslamic and points to the example of Umar ibn al-Khattab, an adviser to the Prophet Mohammed who became the second Muslim caliph. He was a renowned wrestler and wore a moustache twisted into points.
Mr Afridi even tucks his moustache behind his ears for the fasting month of Ramadan in order to show his devotion.
I have left my dear homeland, my friends and relatives, he said. I am prepared to sacrifice all that but will not compromise my moustache.
The mustahce was deemed un-Islamic by Lashkar-i-Islam a group wanting hardline sharia in that area. Amir Muhammad Afridi had to move to Peshawar in order to escape the radicals, he has vowed not to remove the mustache
As well barbers offering close shaves have been threatened not to do it anymore
This is just another case where radical Islamists are showing there stupidity and how extreme they are. Its also interesting that one of Muhamads advisers had a mustache that was twirled into points as well.
Do you think these radicals are wrong for what there doing and should sharia law be allowed
