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John Walker was a model student, says teacher
John Walker Lindh, the American citizen captured with the Taliban in Afghanistan, was a model student at the madrassa where he studied Islam in a remote corner of Pakistan, says his teacher.
John Walker Lindh, the American citizen captured with the Taliban in Afghanistan, was a model student at the madrassa where he studied Islam in a remote corner of Pakistan, says his teacher.
Walker, who grew up amidst upper middle class affluence in California, was determined to fit in at the Islamic religious school, an austere one-storey building in a tiny village outside the town of Bannu in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province.
Speaking with the teacher, Mufti Mohammad Iltimas, Walker was critical of US as a land that exalted self above all else. In the Islamic world, by contrast, he felt cared for by others. "In the US I feel alone," he said. "Here I feel comfortable and at home".
Mufti told Newsweek magazine Walker had no interest in girls or parties or world events. His only real interest was studying.
He seemed determined to memorise every word of the Quran, all 6,666 verses of the Muslim holy book that dictates every aspect of a devout Muslim's life, behaviour and being.
It is not clear how Walker wound up in Afghanistan, the magazine says.
A friend from San Francisco told the magazine that he received an e-mail from Walker a month before he left the madrassa for the cooler mountains in May this year.
"He was intrigued by Afghanistan", the friend recalled.
"He said he was interested in getting a bird's-eye view of how Sharia (Islamic law) was being applied", he added. In his search for purity, Walker gravitated to the most extreme expression of Islam, the Taliban. Now he is in US custody.
The US government has not indicated how it will treat Walker. But a source told the magazine that Attorney General John Ashcroft and other top officials were "disgusted" with Walker's actions and want to "make an example of him".
Walker discovered his early passion for Islam online, visiting various hip-hop websites at age 14.
His family says the turning point may have come at age 16 when he read the Autobiography of Malcolm X, which describes the conversion to Islam of a militant black leader. Walker later converted to Islam.
In 1998, Walker became obsessed with memorising the Quran, at about the time his parents split up.
Walker became convinced he needed to go to Yemen because Yemeni Arabic was the closest to the "pure" language of the Quran. His parents, though strapped for money because of their separation, agreed to pay for it.
Walker later complained to Mufti Iltimas that he was disappointed to find Islam divided between Sunni and Shiites and many other sects and factions.
Bureau Report
Walker, who grew up amidst upper middle class affluence in California, was determined to fit in at the Islamic religious school, an austere one-storey building in a tiny village outside the town of Bannu in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province.
Speaking with the teacher, Mufti Mohammad Iltimas, Walker was critical of US as a land that exalted self above all else. In the Islamic world, by contrast, he felt cared for by others. "In the US I feel alone," he said. "Here I feel comfortable and at home".
Mufti told Newsweek magazine Walker had no interest in girls or parties or world events. His only real interest was studying.
He seemed determined to memorise every word of the Quran, all 6,666 verses of the Muslim holy book that dictates every aspect of a devout Muslim's life, behaviour and being.
It is not clear how Walker wound up in Afghanistan, the magazine says.
A friend from San Francisco told the magazine that he received an e-mail from Walker a month before he left the madrassa for the cooler mountains in May this year.
"He was intrigued by Afghanistan", the friend recalled.
"He said he was interested in getting a bird's-eye view of how Sharia (Islamic law) was being applied", he added. In his search for purity, Walker gravitated to the most extreme expression of Islam, the Taliban. Now he is in US custody.
The US government has not indicated how it will treat Walker. But a source told the magazine that Attorney General John Ashcroft and other top officials were "disgusted" with Walker's actions and want to "make an example of him".
Walker discovered his early passion for Islam online, visiting various hip-hop websites at age 14.
His family says the turning point may have come at age 16 when he read the Autobiography of Malcolm X, which describes the conversion to Islam of a militant black leader. Walker later converted to Islam.
In 1998, Walker became obsessed with memorising the Quran, at about the time his parents split up.
Walker became convinced he needed to go to Yemen because Yemeni Arabic was the closest to the "pure" language of the Quran. His parents, though strapped for money because of their separation, agreed to pay for it.
Walker later complained to Mufti Iltimas that he was disappointed to find Islam divided between Sunni and Shiites and many other sects and factions.
Bureau Report