Jihad or Terrorim...Mujahid or Terrorist

[sajjad_dar2000]

After the terrible terrorist attack in London, everyone is pointing the finger at Islam and Muslims.

So does Islam promote violence?
Does Islam support terrorism?
Is Islam a religion of extremist and fanatics?

The following tradition of prophet Muhammad (PBUH), will clarify that Islam is a faith that promotes peace and harmony and one that is against violence.

<b>“a perfect Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands mankind (word mankind used instead of Muslims) is safe”.</b>

<b>“it is unworthy of a Muslim to injure people’s reputation and it is unworthy to curse any one and it is unworthy to abuse any one and it is unworthy of a Muslim to talk arrogantly”.</b>

<b>“faith is a restrain against all violence, let no Muslim commit violence”.</b>

The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was asked<b> “what actions are most excellent in Islam?” he replied “ to gladden the heart of a human being, to feed the hungry, to help the afflicted, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful, and to remove the wrongs of the injured”(words are used for all human being not only for Muslims).</b>

<b>Some people asked Allah’s messenger “who is a good Muslim?” he replied one who avoids harming the people (words used people not Muslims therefore it is for all human being) with his tongue and hands”. “a believer remain within the scope of his religion as long as he doesn’t kill another person illegally.”</b>

<b>The Quran sums it up by saying “anyone who has killed another person it is as he has killed the whole of mankind and anyone who save one life, it is as if he has saved the whole of mankind”.</b>

Islam’s basic teaching is the promotion of peace between individual and the implementation of peace within society. Islamic teaching is totally against violence, terror and chaos.



Sajjad Dar




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[sumaaan]

True.

Killing innocent (bombing buildings, buses in london, etc) people is by no means 'jihad'.

[Desert Sleet]

In an atmosphere where only Muslims are expected to keep protesting our humanity and to defend our religion, my politics dictated that I should not speak at all in any forum on Islam. But, my religion teaches the jihad of knowledge and, as a Muslim, this jihad is obligatory for me. That is why I am here today, to speak to you about jihad.

The word jihad means “striving” or “struggle,” and not “war”. So, the Qur’an speaks of the jihad of the soul, of the tongue, of the pen, of faith, of morality, and so on. This is the “greater jihad” and it is what allows us Muslims to actualize our identity as Muslims.

There is also the jihad of arms whose aim is to struggle in the cause of God; this is the “smaller jihad” and it permits fighting as a means of self-protection. There are a number of verses in the Qur’an about this form of jihad and I will quote two of the main ones

“Permission to fight is given to those against whom war is being wrongfully waged—and verily God has indeed the power to succor them—those who have been driven from their homelands against all right for no other reason than their saying, ‘Our Sustainer is God.’ For, if God had not enabled people to defend themselves against one another, all monasteries and churches and synagogues and mosques—in all of which God’s name is abundantly extolled—would surely have been destroyed [before] now” (22 39-40).

The second verse is,

“. . . fight in God’s cause against those who wage war against you, but do not commit aggression—for, verily, God does not love aggressors. And slay them wherever you may come upon them, and drive them away from wherever they drove you away—for oppression is even worse than killing” (2190).

Although references to killing make most of us recoil, it’s important not to let our horror become an alibi for refusing to recognize some transparent truths.

First, one can kill huge numbers of people, while also avoiding any casualties to oneself, without even fighting a war. Consider the economic sanctions on Iraq that are killing off nearly 5,000 children a month, all because our government opposes one man. My point is not to justify war, but to draw attention to one of its faces that we routinely ignore.

Second, Islam did not invent war; it merely teaches a specific approach to it. This approach forbids aggression, or attacking one’s enemies unawares, and it also instructs Muslims to cease hostilities if aggression against them ceases. The last point may seem unimportant until one recalls that the U.S. destroyed Nagasaki and Hiroshima after the Japanese had broadcast their terms of surrender. More recently, the U.S. army shot about 100,000 Iraqi troops retreating from the battlefield during the Gulf War, with senior U.S. generals calling it a “duck shoot.”

Third, it is not just any type of aggression Muslims must resist, but religious persecution. Thus, jihad is not for extending territories, protecting political or economic interests, or killing one’s foes, reasons for which all nations, including Muslim, generally go to war.

Fourth, the Qur’an also teaches the precepts of forgiveness and peace. As it says, “Since good and evil cannot be equal, repel thou evil with something that is better, and lo, he between whom and thyself was enmity may then become as though he had always been close unto thee, a true friend” (4134); and “. . .when you are greeted with a greeting of peace, answer with an even better greeting, or at least the like thereof” (486).

Of course, quoting verses selectively from the Qur’an is not the best way to convince people of the truth of one’s argument, much less to impart a holistic understanding of its teachings, but such are the limitations of a ten-minute talk. The point I want to stress is that the Qur’an asks us to read it for its best meanings and it defines Islam as “sirat ul mustaqeem”, the straight path, the middle path, the path of moderation, not excess.

There is no question that some Muslims have fallen into extremism and excess and there is also no question that we need to do a better job of reading the Qur’an for liberation than we have done so far. This requires us to struggle constantly to try and redefine our understanding of it. That is why I’m never averse to anyone wanting to know what Islam “really” teaches because such questions can help in that definitional struggle, or jihad.

But, unfortunately, many people who are beating up on Muslims today to identify the “real” Islam are not really interested in our doing so; rather, they use such questions to cast the proverbial first stone at us. To such people, I would say, you have no right to ask this question until you also are willing to assume the responsibility of asking “which is the ‘real’ U.S. the one that advocates freedom, civil liberties, and democracy at home, or the one that carries out wars and violence and repression abroad?” Surely, there is much to be learned by asking the “real” U.S. also to “please stand up.”

[sumaaan]

My limited knowledge tells me that makes sense and I agree with all Desert Sleet has said.