The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

“Unfortunately, this is not always taken into consideration by PDPA activists or thespecial services of the DRA, which are eager to establish control over the propagandaactivities of the Muslim clergy. Usually party activists or AGSA agents go to a mosque tohear a sermon in order to uncover the anti-government activities of a particular cleric. Suchactivities would never bear any results, because mullahs hesitate to conduct antigovernmentpropaganda in the presence of many people. They do it with greater successthrough personalized communication with each believer, particularly when visiting thehomes of the members of their parish.“As in any clerical structure, the Muslim clergy has a hierarchy, although it is lessrigid than that of the Christian clergy. This hierarchy is formed less in connection to thesocial position of the cleric than by his authority. The cleric’s authority is composed of suchfactors as his origin (the pedigree and history of his family, proximity of his ancestors tothe Prophet’s family and the great saints), high theological education, and goodness ofcharacter. Because of this, hardly any of the so-called “official clerics” who enjoy highpositions in the main centers of religious affairs, at the Council of Ministers and other statestructures, can be considered ‘mardzhe taklid’: the model for clergymen to imitate. Thisfactor should be of particular interest to advisers to the PDPA, particularly to those whoprepare political proposals for the DRA leadership, because many of them falsely believethat the authority of a Muslim clergyman corresponds to the position that he holds in thestate apparatus.“Heads of ancient Sufi orders have the highest authority among the Afghan Sunniclerics. There is no limit to the adoration of the holy man by his followers. His every word isperceived by his adherents as the word of God. Any order that is issued by him must be406