The military should hand out Korans in Afghanistan as a goodwill gesture

The American-distributed Qurans would be gratefully received. Americans, who come from a country awash in books, simply don’t realize how important books (especially “the book” for Afghanistan’s Muslims) are to a people that has very few of them. Even prayer leaders and imams often do not have a copy of the Quran, especially in remote regions. Instead, they memorize. Indeed, people who memorize the entire Quran are revered in Afghanistan and other Muslim-majority lands. And these people, these legendary memorizers, are not as rare as you might think. I’ve met several in my travels across the region.

And largely secular political leaders fail to understand how a holy book is, itself, an object of reverence. All three major monotheistic religions draw their strength from a holy book and have rituals involving the book. A Roman Catholic priest will often kiss the Gospels and hold the book aloft during a mass. Jews treat the Torah with special reverence. Muslims are not unique in this regard. And all these Abrahamic faiths have special rituals for disposing of their holy books, which usually involve burial, placing in a sealed chamber, or, for reform Jewish congregations, recycling. None involve burning. As for burning the books with the trash, that is simply unimaginable…

For the hardheaded, distributing Qurans would have another benefit. When some Islamic groups distribute Qurans, the books often come with an appendix written by a contemporary Arab scholar on the “necessity” of jihad. That appendix is taken more seriously because it is between the covers of a holy book. Simply giving people a true copy of the Quran, in whatever language they prefer, would inoculate them from a copy of the Quran containing that dangerous appendix.