More from Three Cups of Tea

In August 2003, when the Shariat Court issued its final ruling, it sided firmly with Medhi Ali and Mortenson. The court declared Agha Mubarek's fatwa illegitimate and ordered him to pay for the eight hundred bricks his men destroyed.
"It was a very humbling victory," Mortenson says. "Here you have this Islamic court in conservative Shia Pakistan offering protection for an American, at a time when America is holding Muslims withought charges in Guantanamo, Cuba, for years, under our so-called system of justice."

As he studied the screen, Bashir's bullish shoulders slumped. "People like me are America's best friends in the region," Bashir said at last, shaking his head ruefully. "I'm a moderate Muslim, an educated man. But watching this, even I could become a jihadi. How can Americans say they are making themselves safer?" Bashir asked, struggling not to direct his anger toward the large American target on the other side of his desk. "Your President Bush has done a wonderful job of uniting one billion Muslims against America for the next two hundred years."