Posted on 08/23/2005 2:23:30 PM PDT by robowombat
Islam is not a threat
On the concept of Jihad in Islam
Shamsa Ishfaq
The New York Times dated 12 April 2005 has published an article ‘In picking a new pope, a key issue is Islam’ by Ian Fisher. In this article Islam has been discussed as an issue to be dealt by the Roman Catholic Church and whether the church’s relation with Muslims should be conciliatory or a notch more confrontational.
The writer seems advocating the strategy to ‘talk with Muslims at all costs’ of late pope John Paul-II. At the same time he has also expressed the views of some critics who see Islam as a threat and too much talk with Muslims unproductive. Some argues that Islam was essentially a warlike and evangelizing religion, which no amount of dialogue would change.
In recent decades, no term has perhaps been more misunderstood around the globe than the word ‘Jihad. It has come to be associated with military conflict, the use of force and compulsion and intolerance generally. All conceptions of jihad that place primary emphasis on violence are radically anti-Quranic and now constitute major impediments to any new beginning in Muslim-Western relations. In the West, far too many commentators expostulate about Islam who have no knowledge of Arabic. The Arabic root of the word jihad means variously to try, to endeavor, to strive, to exert effort and to put oneself out. Among these meanings only ‘to strive, to endeavor’ incorporates any notion whatsoever of military activity. Even here, warfare is only a tertiary meaning.
Jihad has been historically understood by Muslims as of two different sorts, one far more important than the other. The greater jihad is the eternal struggle of each individual human soul against temptation and the wiles of Satan. The lesser jihad, now much emphasized but downplayed in Islamic history, is the conduct of defensive war to protect the Islamic community. On the permissibility of defensive war only, the Quran is explicit: "And fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, and be not aggressive; for surely God loves not the aggressors”.
Fighting, the Quran explains, is permitted by Muslims only against people "who broke their oaths and aimed at the expulsion of the Prophet and attacked you first. Above all, the Quran emphasizes that peace is much to be preferred to military conflict: "If [one's enemies] incline to peace, incline thou also to it and trust in God.... And if they intend to deceive thee-then surely God is sufficient for thee". In fact, the Quranic understanding of jihad has much in common with the Christian notion of "just war.
Not just this but Christianity and Islam share a vast reservoir of faith. Muslims believe in the Christian Gospel, the Christian Prophet [Jesus Christ], his twelve Apostles, his mother's purity, and his miraculous birth and above all belief in one common God. Jesus, the Quran states, is "worthy of regard in this world and the hereafter, and is one of those drawn nigh to God". It is also believed that the Christ depicted in the Quran was the last and greatest in the long line of prophets who preceded Muhammad and whose work Muhammad completed as the final "seal" of all the prophets that God has sent to mankind.
Islam does not only mean confrontation but peace. Islam is a religion of peace and tranquility and emphasizes more on peaceful solutions rather than fighting. Today, if some thing has to be evaluated it should be the memories of the medieval Crusaders, the inquisition in Spain in the 14th century, and the yoke of colonial rule during the 19th and 20th centuries. And if some thing has to be discussed it should be Muslim’s feelings of insecurity, powerlessness and paranoia regarding the aggressive intentions of the West today. So is Islam a threat to west or it is being threatened by west?
In short, fear that Islam poses any threat to Christianity or any other religion is merely media hype. The demonization of stereotypes in the media, about Islam and in the Muslim world, upset Muslims and the west as well. This media hysteria and sensationalism fuels anti-Muslim feelings, manifesting attacks against Muslims globally.
Saudi Arabia - Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death. Bibles are illegal. Churches are illegal.
Yemen - Bans proselytizing by non-Muslims and forbids conversions. The Government does not allow the building of new non-Muslim places of worship.
Kuwait - Registration and licensing of religious groups. Members of religions not sanctioned in the Koran may not build places of worship. Prohibits organized religious education for religions other than Islam.
Egypt - Islam is the official state religion and primary source of legislation. Accordingly, religious practices that conflict with Islamic law are prohibited. Muslims may face legal problems if they convert to another faith. Requires non-Muslims to obtain what is now a presidential decree to build a place of worship.
Algeria - The law prohibits public assembly for purposes of practicing a faith other than Islam. Non-Islamic proselytizing is illegal, and the Government restricts the importation of non-Islamic literature for distribution.
Jordan - Has the death penalty for any Muslim selling land to a Jew.
Sudan - Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death.
Pakistan - Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death. Bans proselytizing by non-Muslims. Christians regularly put in prison for charges of blasphemy.
I find it very hard to reconcile this statement with the fact that their one and only prophet, as soon as he found "Allah", went on a rampage and spent the rest of his life killing, looting, raping, and otherwise terrorizing everyone who wasn't part of his cult.
Yeah, and Elton John is not a flaming drag queen...
National Socialism is your friend, people just don't understand us. A. Hitler
And they defended so vigorously that they went from a couple of cities on the Arabian peninsula to controlling everything from Spain to the Philippines. I would hate to see what would happen if they had gone on the offensive.
When they shun the radicals, and banish them, I will start to belive some of this. Until then, their actions define their intent.
Bridge and Beachfront Property (in AZ) specialist.
I often think Crusade when I attempt to root sins from my life.
I think I'll use the word Crusade often from now on.
Interesting article and thread
So does Christianity and Satanism.
Muslims believe in the Christian Gospel,
Except for that silly "Son of God giving His life as an atonement for the sins of man" part. In other words, they believe in the Gospel, except for the parts about the Gospel.
the Christian Prophet [Jesus Christ], his twelve Apostles, his mother's purity, and his miraculous birth and above all belief in one common God
Their "Isa" bares only surface resemblance to the Bible's Jesus. Their Isa is the son of Mary/Miriam, but it is a Mary who was the sister of their Moses. Sure, they "believe" in the virgin birth, but it is the birth from a "virgin" who would have to be about 1500 years old to match the historical timeline of the Christian Jesus.
It is funny that this article says that muslims believe in Jesus, but it fails to mention that they believe that saying that Jesus is the Son of God is blasphemy.
This writer uses two of the basic tools of Islam (and Allah, the Prince of Darkness)...
obfuscation and obscurantism.
What a pantload but good for laffs :)
bump for later
Shamsa - or your lyin' eyes?
Yup, about as funny as those who swear to uphold the constitution, and then deliberately subvert it. Obfuscation has long been a tool of all who follow their father...
Sorry, Shamsa, but in the dimension where the rest of us live, reality, the potential victims define the threat.
Not the demonstrable mass murderers.
In the real world, people are judged by what they do.
What they say is worth a bucketful of rat turds.
Most of us have read all of the jihad debates between clerics and the Muslim Brotherhood and they can't even decide which to teach Muslim school children. So they continue to teach them both. The violent jihad negates the personal meaning of jihad. Even those who wish to believe in Islam are confused. Imams use the same manipulative techniques their prophet used. He asked his followers to believe allah handed him laws they should follow and when he himself did something contrary to those laws and was asked to explain, he simply made more stuff up. Whatever suited his purpose du jour - and that is precisely what so-called Islamic "scholars" do. They pull the noose that is Islam tighter around the necks of their students, keeping them ignorant of historical facts, spinning those they cannot hide to mean whatever they want them to mean.
Muslims keep trying to compare Islam with Christianity. They cannot, because there is no comparison between the prophet who deceives and Christ who demanded presented and only truth. And as Muslims typically do, they obscure the fact that the Crusades were modeled upon and in answer to their jihad. We didn't start the fire.
To Islam, peace is understood not as a pluralistic peace. It is peace created by Islamist subjugation of Christians, Jews, and other faiths.
As a Christian, I am not afraid, nor do I fear Islam. I am disgusted by it. Yes, it is a threat to Christianity and to Judaism, but more importantly, it is a threat to civilized society.
Thank you for speaking out. You speak the truth.
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