In Pakistan: Your Moustache Or Your Life

Apr 27, 2012
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A man in Pakistan who has a handlebar mustahce has faced death threats, intimidation and forced to leave his home
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 Afridi’s 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 wife’s 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 Pakistan’s 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 Pakistan’s first family of politics ended with Benazir Bhutto’s 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
 

OutHouse

Lifer
Jun 5, 2000
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cavemen. there is a reason that culture remains in mud huts and wanting to kill somebody over their facial hair.
 

Xecuter

Golden Member
Aug 17, 2004
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Pakistan has a sizeable amount of nuclear weapons, we'd never intervene there.
 
Apr 27, 2012
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cavemen. there is a reason that culture remains in mud huts and wanting to kill somebody over their facial hair.

I know, these people will never advance and will continue to suffer

Good for the man with the mustache , a true freedom fighter
 

Jaskalas

Lifer
Jun 23, 2004
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cavemen. there is a reason that culture remains in mud huts and wanting to kill somebody over their facial hair.

Imagine school bullies given religious sanctity and a militia to enforce their Nazi ["kill everyone not the same as us"] routine. Imagine a nation too cowardly to stop them.
 

StrangerGuy

Diamond Member
May 9, 2004
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News like this makes people with a functional brain roll their eyes so much that the barbarism almost goes unnoticed.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
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These people are absurd, (JUST LIKE WE ARE). Look how some of us react to body piercing or tattoos or Gothic dress. I know a gentleman who, back in the sixties worked in the Post Office in the Bay Area and was ordered to cut his long hair or be fired. I suspect there was a fear it might be hiding Blue Meanies and Apple Bonkers. I myself have gotten many comments on my clown avatar from folk who fail to realize it's not a self portrait as they suspect, but a reminder if just this phenomena we are discussing hear, seeing ones own stupidity and evil in others.

This ridiculous urge to have nobody stand out from the norm, this herd mentality and fear of difference, is exactly that, fear, a fear that has its origins in the right amigdala of the brain, that part of the brain that is larger and more developed in conservative vs liberal brains.

The trouble can really start big when one conservative only perfection runs into a different but also only perfection.
 

Steeplerot

Lifer
Mar 29, 2004
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The trouble can really start big when one conservative only perfection runs into a different but also only perfection.

Sounds just like the USA actually. You get the same treatment from the same types of people for looking like you dont buy the corporate fashion of the season/dont have short hair etc.

Another reason why being around lame people is bad for the soul and creativity.

Dont fool yourself though Moonie punk rockers are the freaking worst, if you dont have your 'hawk charged and your jacket covered in beerbottlecaps and face covered with a ton of steel shavings dirty grime from hopping freight trains across America (with your pitbull dog) you are a "outsider" -a Representative of "babylon" (mainstream US culture and the cities).

Conformity comes in many stripes. Boring people abound everywhere.

People ask me why I always wear black, peopel either assume:

A: I am a priest of some sort -I get called father in my neighborhood and get asked religious advice (which I dispense happily in my own way)

B. I work for some shady government agency. (which is not 100% wrong)

When someone asks why, over the years these are my favorite:

I wear black because I like my dryer lint to match.

Everyday is Halloween (a classic)

Or if they are somewhat cool I just tell them I am a big Johnny Cash fan (which makes people think you are a priest again -you cannot win!
 
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peonyu

Platinum Member
Mar 12, 2003
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Thanks for the laughs Islam! As always its never a surprise to see the most intolerant people on Earth find a way to reach a new low with their tolerance, what would Muhammed do???
 

umbrella39

Lifer
Jun 11, 2004
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One of the folks suffering from feigned indignation syndrome should go over there and offer to bring him back to his/her home via mustache ride while chanting sharia law sharia law thank God almighty we are sharia law... :rolleyes:
 
Apr 27, 2012
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Thanks for the laughs Islam! As always its never a surprise to see the most intolerant people on Earth find a way to reach a new low with their tolerance, what would Muhammed do???

Well said, these guys are very intolerant yet there prophet had an advisor with a similar style of mustache
 

CrackRabbit

Lifer
Mar 30, 2001
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Apr 27, 2012
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Oh look our favorite troll posting again.
I now understand why you didn't post a link to the source article, it's because it happens to be from a British blogger posted FIVE MONTHS AGO.

This is not news, just more propaganda from your buddies over at Jihadwatch, right?
Put a sock in it and go elsewhere, you are not welcome here.

Do you have anything useful to add to the thread? This is something that is important to discuss with everything that is happening now
 

CrackRabbit

Lifer
Mar 30, 2001
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Do you have anything useful to add to the thread? This is something that is important to discuss with everything that is happening now

My post is 100% relevant to your troll thread.
You hid the fact that your article wasn't anywhere near recent in order to "stir up" shit and continue spewing your islamophobic garbage.

It is sad that this forum has become un-moderated to the point where people like you are allowed to post garbage like this on a continual basis.