Still, in the turbulence of that moment, and in the broader generational tensions stemming from Pakistani families who, like Malik’s, go to Saudi Arabia for opportunity and return practising a more conservative brand of Islam, there are clues to the cultural and religious way stations of her apparent transformation.
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The institute has no known extremist links, though it has come under fire in the past from critics who say its ideology echoes that of the Taliban.
While Hashmi has not propagated violence, her promotion of a specific interpretation of Sunni Islam does not tolerate other Muslims and non-Muslims, who are sometimes referred to as non-believers walking a “path of sin”, said Sadaf Ahmad, anthropology professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
Washington Post correspondents came to what is believed to be the epicenter of Sunni extremism after it emerged that Chicago-born Pakistani-American Farooq may have followed his wife, student Tashfeen Malik, to the US.
The southern region of Punjab from which Tashfeen hailed has always been associated with Sufism, a mystical form of Islam whose adherents worship with song and dance, attend shrines and devote themselves to historic saints-practices viewed as heretical by more orthodox Muslims.
It shows the Malik dressed in black and looking directly at the camera while Farook stands behind her, both with sullen expressions.
“She was raised in Saudi Arabia so she became a Salafi”.
Al-Huda’s founder, Farhat Hashmi, now living in Canada, has been criticized for promoting a conservative strain of Islam. “Such people should be punished, must be punished”, said Jamil of Tashfeen, adding: “She has dishonored Pakistan”.
Malik reportedly returned to Pakistan in 2007 and was set to pursue a degree in pharmacology at the Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan.
“She was very brilliant, asking questions to the teachers”, Butt said.
The country’s intelligence service has quite a bad reputation in “welcoming” foreign correspondents as they used harsh methods towards New York Time’s female journalist Carlotta Gall after the publication of her book in which she revealed that ISI sheltered Bin Laden.
Sahi further added that one of the close relatives of Tashfeen Malik told him that the latter was posting pro-Islamic State group on social media networks.
“We felt she could be an asset to the university if she joined the faculty after completing her studies”, Khalid Hussain Janbaz, a former lecturer, said in a phone interview.
Badar Alam, editor of the prestigious Herald magazine, said that Malik appeared to have become radicalised gradually.
Many more women in Islamabad and other cities now cover their hair, part of a trend toward religious conservatism that has been inspired by Sunni religious doctrine from Saudi Arabia.
A classmate of Malik said she did go there to attend lectures and class, but left after a few weeks.
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Tariq Masood, regional police officer for Multan, confirmed police had “taken action” after university authorities requested that they intervened, but he declined to give more details.
