DOES JIHAD MEAN "HOLY WAR" or DID WESTERN MEDIAS LIE ABOUT ISLAM?

DOES JIHAD MEAN "HOLY WAR" or DID WESTERN MEDIAS LIE ABOUT ISLAM?

The Truth About Jihad

by Muhammed Asadi

Misinformation and misconception concerning Jihad are fueled again and again by the media. As a result, a prejudiced attitude has been nurtured, with the result that whenever any terrorism takes place, it is assumed that the ones to blame are Muslims. The damage done by such cowardly acts of literary terrorism by the media and the "experts" they employ (Steven Emerson, for example) creates a culture of hate.

This article is divided into three sections: i) Jihad and Islamic warfare; ii) Islam in history; iii) Peace and Islam,

i) Jihad and Islamic Warfare

The word Jihad translated into English does not mean "Holy War" as many in the media ignorantly claim. The words "Holy War" do not appear in the Quran or Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) sayings. These are invented words, invented by people who want to deliberately convey a certain image of Islam. Usually the people who use the term "Holy War" are quite ignorant of Islam. The word Jihad in Arabic means "Struggle" or "Strive". Jihad as the Quran makes clear, is struggle in the way of God with oneself, and one's possessions.

Islam only allows a war of defense and not an offense. In the case of war, the attack is "only" to be directed against those who are attack you and only to the extent of the initial aggression, not to exceed it. If the enemy kills your civilians even then you are not supposed to kill their civilians. Only those who attack you are to be attacked.

"Fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Indeed God does not love transgressors (Quran 2:192-193)."

If the people you are fighting ask for peace, the Quran states that Muslims have an obligation to accept the peace and fight no more:

"..So if they hold aloof from you and wage not war against you and offer you peace. God allows you no way against them (QURAN 4:90)."

The Quran is very lenient even towards prisoners of war (i.e those who are fighting against you and get captured):

"And if any of the idolaters seeks of you protection, grant him (her) protection till he

hears the words of God, then convey him to his place of security. That is because they are a folk who know not..(QURAN 9:6-8)."

"How is it with you that you do not fight in God's way, when the feeble among the men,

women and children are saying, "Our lord, bring us forth from this place whose people are tyrants. O God give us from your presence some protector and helper.'(QURAN 4:75-76)."

If Hitler wasn't checked, we would have a much different and a more corrupt world. If Saddam Hussain wasn't checked, the Middle East would be in chaos similar to the current chaos in Iraq:

"..If God had not repelled some people by means of others, the earth would have been corrupted (QURAN 2:251)."

Sometimes, warfare is a necessity for the cause of justice and to remove oppression and as such it is very good and noble:

"Warfae is ordained for you though it is hateful for you. Yet it may happen that you will hate a thing even though it is good for you and love a thing that is bad for you. God knows, you don't know (QURAN 2:216)."

ii) Islam in History

The west has generally nurtured and propagated the idea that Islam spread at the point of the sword.

This reasoning led to the prejudice of Islam and Terrorism taking root in western society throughout Europe and America because of the random acts of a few misled, ill informed, Quranically uneducated people who called themselves Muslims.

What the self-proclaimed Christian Crusaders did with the sword to Muslim was surpassed only by the Mongols. However, history is deliberately perverted by those having vested interests, to portray a negative image of Islam.

The Quran is explicit on the freedom of conscience:

"There is no compulsion in religion. Truth is clear from falsehood (QURAN 2:256)

"Let him (her) who will believe, and let him (her) who will disbelieve."

(QURAN 18:29).

"You are in no way a compellor over them; but warn by the Quran him who fears my threat

(QURAN 50:45)."

History gives a lie to the "fairy tale" that Islam spread by the sword:

1)Muslims ruled over Spain for 736 years. If the Muslims had used any force during those 736 years to convert the Christians to Islam there wouldn't have been a single Christian left to kick out the Muslims after 736 years of rule.

2)Over 100 million Muslims live in Indonesia, yet no Muslim army ever invaded any of its over 2000 islands. Same is the case with Malaysia, and the east coast of Africa.

Odd instances of "Muslims" not guided by the Quran, forcing people to accept their "Islam" may be found. Similar cases can be found in Christianity or any other religions group.

Charlemagne's conversion of the saxons to Christianity was not by preaching (THOMAS CARLYLE, HEROES AND HERO WORSHIP, PAGE 80)."

Bad Muslims don't condemn Islam, just like bad Christians don't condemn Christianity. Hitler was a self proclaimed Christian. Do his acts condemn Christianity?

Hitler said:

"My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice... And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.

-Adolf Hitler, in a speech on 12 April 1922 (Norman H. Baynes, ed. The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939, Vol. 1 of 2, pp. 19-20, Oxford University Press, 1942)

HISTORIANS OF ISLAM

1. "History makes it clear however that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians everrepeated (DE LACY O` LEARY, ISLAM AT THE CROSS ROADS, LONDON 1923)."

2. The greatest success of Muhammad's life was effected by sheer moral force without the stroke of a sword (EDWARD GIBBON, HISTORY OF THE SARACEAN EMPIRE, LONDON 1817).

iii)Peace and Islam

ROOTS OF ISLAM

The word Islam comes from the Arabic root word salaam,, which means peace. The universal greeting of Muslims is "As Salaam o Aleykum". It means:"peace be with you." The Quran, the only book of authority on Islam encourages peace making among humankind.

"There is no good in much of their secret conferences except, him who enjoins alms giving and kindness and PEACE MAKING among mankind. Whoever does that seeking the good pleasure of God. God will bestow on him (her) a vast reward (QURAN 4:114)."

The above verse has been in the Quran centuries before the United Nations was formed.

Islam gives a world view of a close relationship between all men & women based on a common essence of creation [Quran 4:1] and only one creator God.

" O Humankind! We have created you males and females, and have divided you into nations and tribes so that you may recognize each other. The best among you in the sight of God is the one most careful [of the truth] (QURAN 49:13)."

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THOUGHTS ON FORGIVENESS

By Ahmad Shawqi

One of the best gifts that we can offer ourselves is forgiveness: forgiving anyone who might have wronged us (according to our perception), and forgiving ourselves for our own shortcomings, and not continually beat up the drums of our "failures" in our mind and simply concentrating our efforts on doing the good.

Personally, I embrace true forgiveness, and I encourage others to embrace it. However, in my teaching, I found that many misconceptions about what true forgiveness is abound. Below are some of my thoughts about true forgiveness.

Does Not Mean Condoning

Forgiving someone for his transgressions against you does not mean you condone the transgressions.

For example, if I steal something from you and you later decide to forgive me, what that means is that you chose forgiveness. It does not mean that stealing is OK. It is still wrong.

Not an Invitation to Repeat

When you forgive someone, you are not giving them a carte-blanche to repeat the same mistake.

For example: if a husband beats his wife and later she decides to forgive him and resume their married life, that does not mean that he can repeat the same mistake and expect that she should forgive him again.

Is Not Forgetting

I found this to be the most common misconception. Forgiveness is not the same as forgetting. Simply advocating forgetting the mistakes of the past is pseudo-forgiveness at best.

People who practice that are typically repressing or avoidinglooking at the reality of the matter. I found such people to be really unforgiving: they get easily upset, and their bodies typically manifest some form of disease.

Similarly, you can know that you have forgiven someone from your past if you can remember the event without any stressful reaction. You remember it because it did happen. ‎

There is no power in denying that what happened did happen. The power is inlovingly remembering it, seeing what happened with different understanding(than the one that caused your hurt) and more compassion for yourself and for the people involved.

There are always many lessons to learn in whatever happens to us in our lives. So we can actually end up rejoicing all our past events. This may be tough for some of us, so if you can't be happy for what happened in your life,you can at least be free of any negative emotions associated with it.

In my experience, people who believe that forgiveness means forgetting are never free from the negative sting of their past.

You Can Still Move On

An example: You were in a business relationship and someone cheated you. The fact that you decide to forgive them does not mean you have to remain in business with them.

You can forgive them and never do business with themagain. That decision does not mean you are still angry with them or

that you have not forgiven them. You have forgiven them and decided not to have a relationship with them.

I deal with this theme over and over especially within the context of family relationships and it is a bit difficult for people. They feel guilty to think that the best way to deal with a family member is to love them from a distance. But sometimes it could be the best thing for you and for them.

A mother was confused about dealing with her brother whom she found mistreating her young girl. "Won't I be cutting the ties of kinship?", "What is my family going to say?", "How can I explain it to people?" were some of her questions.

Obviously, there are many ways to deal with this issue, but the point I want to make here that this mother can forgive her brother and still take measures to protect her daughter (even if one of the measures is to temporarily prevent the brother from visiting her).

Another example that could also explain what I mean by "forgive and still move on": a friend of mine has a father who lies a lot, and what bothered my friend more was that his father would swear by God that what he said was true. He would swear by God to do something and shortly after swear by God that he didn't say he would.

My friend was very frustrated narrating this. What I told my friend was:

‎

(1) The main source of your frustration is your expectation that he would not lie, when — according to you — you had a life-long evidence that him lying is more likely than him keeping his word.

‎

(2) You can forgive your father and choose never to believe or to depend on his words again. And that is not being disrespectful to your father. For me, it is actually a loving acceptance. ‎

In short, my message to my friend was "forgive and move on", which in this case,meant moving on in his mind and stop arguing with reality. He doesn't have to boycott his father or disown him. He just needs to heal himself so that he can keep his peace no matter what his father says or does.True forgiveness does that.

Not for the Other's Sake

"Why do I have to forgive him/her?"

"Because you need to and you would love it when you do! You are forgiving ‎him/her for your own sake."

The main beneficiary of your forgiving another is you, and the one suffering the most from your non-forgiving others is you. You are not forgiving them for their sake; you are doing it for your own sake.

Sometimes you find someone who is angry at people who passed a long time ago. Who is the one suffering from that anger?

One time I met a woman who was angry at her husband because he divorced her.When I asked when the divorce happened, she replied "A little bit over three years ago."

I was shocked. I initially assumed the divorce was very recent (may be 3 days ago!) by the way she was talking. It turned out that her ex-husband had re-married(obviously moving on with his life) and that really triggered her past-anger that she hadn't dealt with.

The main reason for you to forgive should be your own well-being, and then the well-being of those around you (especially children if you have any) if you care about them.

Bearing the Consequences of Transgression

This is a bit tough for some, especially Muslims, so let me explain by an example of the Quran: the story of Prophet Yusuf (or Joseph, peace be upon him), and his brothers.

I find that the most quoted part of the story is verse 92 when he said,

[ (There shallbe) no reproof against you this day; May Allah forgive you, and He is the Most ‎Merciful of those who show mercy.] (Yusuf 12:92)

I also found that many Muslims overlook the following:

- He wasn't (personally) angry at them

- He recognized them the moment he saw them although they didn't recognize him as mentioned in verse 58 of the same chapter:

[And Joseph's brethren came and presented themselves before him, and he knew them but they knew him not.] (Yusuf 12:58).

-It wasn't forgiveness at first sight. Assuming he was angry (which I don't believe he was) and that forgiveness was called for, why he didn't declare his forgiveness when he first saw them?

Another important question is; why did he let his brothers suffer? We learn from the story how he made them return to Palestine and bring his brother Ben-Yemin to Egypt with them, then how he made the plan to keep his brother in Egypt with him, then how he let them return and face their father: Prophet Jacob (peace be upon him).

You can forgive people and still let them bear the consequences of their transgression. Forgiving the transgressor does not automatically mean absolving the transgressor of his responsibilities. Forgiveness is mostly an inside-job.‎ If you can't be happy for what happened in your life, ‎you can at least be free of any negative emotions associated with it.

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NUH's ARK (Noah's Ark)

The Quranic verse detailing about the resting place of the Prophet Nuh's Ark (or in english Noah's Ark) is found in Chapter Hood, verse 44 (Qur.aan 11:44). The verse says:

" When the word went forth: "O earth! swallow up thy water and O sky! withhold (thy rain)!" and the water abated and the matter was ended. The Ark rested on Mount Judi and the word went forth: "Away with those who do wrong! "

The 49th verse of the same Chapter says:

" Such are some of the stories of the Unseen which We have revealed unto you: before this neither you nor your people knew them. So persevere patiently: for the end is for those who are righteous "

Martin Wroe, LONDON - Noah's Ark has been found on the Turkish-Iranian border, 32 kilometres from Mount Ararat, according to the leader of a team of scientists that has been investigating the site for six years.

The Turkish government is so convinced by the findings that, after years of intransigence, it has designated the site one of special archaeological interest and agreed to its excavation next summer.

On surrounding terrain, the American and Middle Eastern scientists have identified huge stones with holes carved at one end, which they believe are "drogue-stones," dragged behind ships in the ancient world to stabilise them. Radar soundings indicate unusual levels of iron-oxide distribution.

Salih Bayraktutan, head of geology at Turkey's Ataturk University, estimates the age of the 'vessel' at more than 100,000 years. "It is a man-made structure and for sure it is Noah's Ark." The site is directly below the mountain of Al Judi, named in the Koran as the Ark's resting place.

David Fasold, an American shipwreck specialist with no religious affiliation, has led the investigation. He says subsurface radar surveys of the site have produced "very good pictures." "The radar imagery at about 25 metres down from the stern is so clear that you can count the floorboards between the walls."

He believes the team has found the fossilised remains of the upper deck and that the original reed substructure has disappeared. But the findings have infuriated the scores of Christian Ark-hunters who travel to Turkey, convinced the Ark will only be found on Mount Ararat.

Fasold, who calls himself an "Arkologist," also argues that it was not a great flood that pushed the Ark into the mountains. He says it was "an astronomical event causing a tectonic upheaval, a tidal bore causing gravitational pull in the ocean waters that forced the boat into the mountains."

Some of Fasold's team of geophysicists and geologists are reserving final judgement until the excavation and carbon-dating. But in a British TV series on the environment next month, team member Vendyl Jones, a Middle East archaeologist and inspiration for film character Indiana Jones, says it is "between maybe and probably" that they have found Noah's Ark.

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