In the Land of Blue Burqas

"I lived in Afghanistan for five years. I learned the rules - I had to."

The gray-bearded and black-bearded men in the back of the rickshaw eyed me. The gray-bearded man asked me, "Are you a Muslim?"

 For him, the word Muslim had a very clear definition. He did not just mean, "Are you submitted to God?" To which I could have said, "Yes, of course." He meant something much more precise: "Do you submit to the laws of the Prophet Muhammad as recorded in the Holy …