jihad in the koran?

Society Religion & Philosophy
1

I’ve been curious over the last few years about the koran. Specificly on how much war and bombings have happened in the name of god. Im not trying to say that this has not happened in all other religions, unfortunatly it seems far too much blood has been shead over the decades and decades in the name of religion. But, Im confused over the fact that many of my friends and colleagues who know the koran and it’s teachings, tell me that Islam is a peaceful religion. How can the interpretations be so varied? What is going on in Afghanistan is a good example of why im so confused.

Sorry for the long post.

2

Regarding Jihad, I believe that the taliban are doing the right thing against the shia's because these are the people whom destroyed the country by allowing all kind of un-islamic and haram things to happen in their country. Jihad is allowed only in self defence and on most occasion you can see that the muslims are acting in self defence and not the one who start the war first. But ofcourse there are always people who take the advantage of Islam/Jihad to start fighthing for their own means but certainly the Hamas, Bin Laden, Taliban and the Kashmiri Mujahedeen are fighting for their land and religion and not personal gain.

Regards
M. Ali

3

Well, Im an outsider. But I dont think that forcing woman to quit their jobs and not be able to attend schools is right. In terms of what the talebin have done in other areas, you are right. Stability is needed there.

The thing that sometimes makes me angry about the Hamas' of the world and Ossaman Bin Laden is their feeling towards the US. This is a modern world, I cant remember the last time I could find a genually black or white answer to a question. Meaning, most Americans I feel dont agree with Isreal. I harbor no hatred and indeed call Isrealis my friends. But what their government does angers me. I know the US is not innocent of what is said about us, but we are also far from how we are protrayed. I get the feeling that even if the Isrelis did abide by the peace occords that there still would not be peace in the middle east. If I could change one thing, I would stop giving the Isrealis 5 billion US a year until they do what their fallen leader Yiztyak Rabin said they would. Again, Im not sure why the US in this case is not a target, when other countries like Jordan and Egypt are trying to do the same.

my 2 cents,
MrPink

4

Mr pink.
Peace be upon you!

finally i found someone who agrees with me.
koran does believe in jehaad, but if we see the language, the mass of jehaad is "j-h-d" which in arabic, means "to try". thats what jehaad is.

taliban is surely doing things which are in no way related to Islam. Nowhere in the koran duz it say that we should hit people and force them to go to mosque, or to kill women who go out of the house. taliban is, in my opinion, no way related to islam.

about usama ben laden, we discussed in the general section.. but we never got to a conclusion.

iran is also against usa, and it is really progressing by leaps and bounds, and are a big threat to the US government.. they never used any terrorists to do that.. they did that with hard work and strong faith. they stand in a better place to represent jehaad, than usama ben laden, or harkat-ul-ansaar.

i guess you are absolutely right when u say that we shouldnt have anything against the common people. its the governments who are to be blamed.

may allah keep blessing you with positive and progressive thoughts like that.

may allah be your protector.

5

Assalam alaikum

Mr Pink

On what basis do you think "forcing women to quit their jobs, and not be able to attend school" is wrong?

Someone else

I don't understand what you meant by "to try". Could you be a bit more clearer please.

kh.

[This message has been edited by Mudassar (edited 09-02-98).]

6

iran is also against usa, and it is really >progressing by leaps and bounds

I disagree somewhat. Considering how Iran and the USA have treated each other in the past, I think the last six months have been amazing. Actual dialog! I hope and pray they come to an understanding. My friends went to the World Cup game when Iran played the USA (well, they didnt get inside but you understand). They told me of how much fun they had dancing and partying in the streets with fans from Iran, and how much brotherhood there was. It made me wish I was there. I would be so happy to see our two countries forget the past and move on. For me, that was the best game of the series.

its the governments who are to be blamed.
All to true.

On what basis do you think "forcing women to quit their jobs, and not be able to attend school" is wrong?

Im a big believer in equality. Woman are not just put on this earth to tend the family. I think everyone has a right to live a happy and full life, regardless of race, color, or religion.

Peace,
MrPink

[This message has been edited by MrPink (edited 09-03-98).]

7

Assalam alaikum

Mr Pink,

You're assuming that Muslims believe that women are just put on this Earth to tend to the family.

What do you mean by equality?

and

What is your idea of a happy and full life?

kh.

[This message has been edited by Mudassar (edited 09-03-98).]

8

Re : Mr Pink

I was there at the Iran USA match, and yes it was soooooooooooooo much fun . :)
keeping in mind though that most of the Irani supporters that showed up, have been in exile since the revolution and are not too fond of the current Irani regime. There was a lot of anti-khatami Demo and loads of Irani's got beat up by the French Police. But thats besides the point it was fun.

Re: Mudassar

dude, don't just ask questions , participate in the discussion, give us yer opinion. I wanted to jump in, but i have no idea where u are coming from or what yer objections etc are to Mr. Pinks views.

9

re: Uncle Sargam

Your right about the anti regime sentiment. I just think it's about time Iran and the USA kiss and makeup ;-)

It's nice to see that things are moving that way.

10

Mudassar,

i repeat, "jehaad" comes from "j-h-d" which means, "to try" or in urdu, "koshish"

i dont know what was so difficult with that, but i'm sorry for being unclear.

first they had a "jehaad" against russia , on america's money, how come they didnt do a jehaad against america then? why is it only now that they have realized that america is against muslims? where was there so called jehaad then??

the most likely thing to happen now is a war between iran and taliban, then america will support taliban, and they will call it a "jehaad"... haha!!

ISI gets all its money by smuggling drugs, then they use it for so-called "jehaads" in many countries. then they talk about islam!

11

Assalam alaikum

Uncle Sargam,

chachaji, as yet I am trying to learn and understand where some people are getting their ideas from i.e. on what basis.

Some people have wishy washy ideas of peace and freedom and equality and when you ask them what they are they cannot give a real answer.

People are 'allowed' to be killed in Somalia, Bosnia, Kosova, Kashmir, Algeria, by non-Muslims and when the Muslims retaliate in order to protect themselves they are labelled extremists, fundamentalists etc.

If Iran and U.S. want peace then it means that Iran are willing to accept U.S. terms and the U.S. are willing to accept Iranian terms. What we have to see now are what these terms are.

Someone else,

Thankyou for giving the meaning of the word but you haven't told me how Jihad or "koshish" affects me as a Muslim.

Mr Pink,

You haven't answered my questions.

Which religion caused Hiroshima, Nagasaki, WWI, WWII, Gulf War, Falklands? It is typical of any person to say that religion causes wars even after knowing this.

Muslims fight to protect themselves. To us peace means that the people who are trying to attack us are no more and that we cannot be compelled to follow laws other than the laws of Allah (S.W.T.)

Muslims have never been the first to attack and we do not cause oppression.

Assalam alaikum.

12

Mudassar,
Yes I have answered your question regarding woman. If it didnt suit you maybe you should tell me your point of view instead of standing on the side.

Im not going to fight you over your line about Muslims never starting a war. I never brought up war and your probably right.

Which religion caused Hiroshima, Nagasaki, >WWI, WWII, Gulf War, Falklands

Your going to lose on this one, if your so bold to say that religion was the key factor in these conflicts and not government, you better back it up with something. Because you are very wrong. I'll be glad to point out each case in detail if you would like.

we do not cause oppression.

Well, again Im an outsider so I wont comment too much. But you may want to take a look at the Sudan and Algeria.

13

Assalam alaikum

Mr Pink,

The questions that you didn't answer were:

What do you mean by equality?

What is your idea of a happy and full life?

I think I've misunderstood you, I was making the point that religion didn't cause the wars that I mentioned.

I don't know much about Sudan except that it is a British agent. You're wrong about Algeria. Why would the Muslims kill their own supporters and the bodies found of the people who were doing the killing were uncircumcised meaning non-Muslim.

There isn't a single Muslim govt. anywhere in the world. Although I don't know much about the Taleban.

Assalam alaikum

14

Assalam O Alaikum !!

Aray bhai kis baat per behas ho rahee hay, hmmm, well well, i would like to say something :

Is there any muslim government in the World ?? (No, i don't think so)

Do we qualify as a Muslim or just we are born in a Muslim family and have a muslim name ??

If there was even one real islamic government in the World i bet no kaffar could touch a Muslim n e where in the World.

Neways, i think before saying n e thing here we should know wat islam is. As many people here even don't know what is the status of Women in Islam and what are the restrictions on her and also on men there are some restrictions in an islamic society. Just try to remember the Jihad which Hazrat abu baker raziallahtallahunha made against those who rejected to pay zakat. Neways, there is no use of talking about n e thing, just try to understand what are the features of an islamic society. Try to read about the periods of Khulafa Rashdeen, and u will know wat an islamic society is, and how muslims use to do jihad, and how were there relations with yahud and nasara. Just by seeing the present situation u will never come to know the true Jihad and the circumstances in which it is allowed.

Jazakumullah khair / Assalam O Alaikum.

15

What do you mean by equality?
Men or woman should be able to do what they chose.

What is your idea of a happy and full life?
Being able to chose your own path, not dictated by anyone. Meaning, if you want to go to school, you can. If you want to work, you can. Yada yada yada. Im still waiting to hear what your opinion is on the subject....

16

Assalam alaikum

Mr Pink,

Thankyou for answering my questions but I still needed you to express your ideas even more.

I had to ask you those questions because many people use the term equality very loosely. Is a blind person equal to the one who is gifted with sight? Is water equal to fire?

The idea that men and women are equal is false. This doesn't mean that either of the two should be treated like dirt. The reason being that although both are Human they are not physiologically the same. Laws affect people's actions and since actions are physical there is a difference in the way law affects both men and women. Islam recommends that men do all the hard labour which doesn't mean that women are incapable of doing that job. Islam doesn't stop women or anyone from seeking knowledge or education or getting jobs but education is different from knowledge. Education is all about learning a trade i.e. engineer, doctor, any job. Knowledge is insight into how or why something happens.

I don't know exactly what the Taleban are doing and many of the reports from Afghanistan are coming from a biased angle.

If you take a step back and look at the world you won't find the idea that men and women are allowed to do anything they want existing anywhere.

Happiness is something that is eternal. It is the effect of an action whose effects do not hurt anyone or anything and it never ends.

Also Happiness depends upon our own personal criteria for happiness which can also be adopted from ideas that are not personal i.e. religion. For example it makes me happy when it rains because it means women don't go out wearing next to nothing and also there is a hadith which says that supplication during battle and supplication during rain are more likely to be accepted than in any other situation.

If we think that something will make us happy then it will but the happiness is not everlasting. True happiness lies only in Jannah.

As I've said before Peace to Muslims means nobody oppresses us and we are left alone to rule by Islam. The killings that are happening are because of the fact that Muslims are being oppressed, we are only trying to protect ourselves.

The kuffar hurt us and the Muslim reaction is highlighted by the media. You won't find the truth coming from the media.

Every system holds ideas which it will do anything to protect which means protecting their own existence. America bombed Sudan and Afghanistan because it thought its existence was being challenged.

There isn't a country fighting for Islam because there isn't a single muslim country so we have groups of people who fight for Islam who are likely to be called fundamentalists.

Assalam alaikum

[This message has been edited by Mudassar (edited 09-10-98).]

17

you know what mudassar....I agree with you on the unequality of men and women. They can never be equal.

but then another question comes to my mind..... what about equal rights? why is the women of this society the weaker sex? and why is God refered to as HIM?

well I was just wondering... maybe somebody can throw some light on it.

18

Assalam alaikum

Goose,

The reason why God is referred to as Him is because we are speaking in English i.e. in urdu we have 'aap' the english don't have this word. God is neither male or female.

Assalam alaikum

19

Mudassar

What happend in East-Pakistan? Didn't muslim army killed muslim civilians. The myth of muslim brotherhood was shattered a long time ago when descendants of the prophet were denied water.

we all know what is happening in Afghanistan, who talibans are and who is supporting them. They are bunch of hoodlums with arms not better then any gang member in L.A or Harlem. Pakistani Army runs the Afghan policy and profits out of the aid given to Afghans. This all thanks to Zia-ul-Haq's use of Islam to prolong his rule.

You can not afford to be so gullible and trust anyone who justify their action using Islam. End does not justify the means. Let me share somthing with you, these same talibals will turn against Pakistan and soon we'll have to fight them from interfering with the internal affairs of Pakistan. Talibans will create lots of trouble in the border areas of Pakistan. Just wait and see. Which side will you be on? Think.

God knows best

20

Very right hidayat!

They call it jehaad, pakistan army runs it, and do you know where the money comes from? the money comes from " smuggling drugs" . With all the black money, how come they can do good to Islam?

And you know how this ISI got strong? they got strong by taking money from america (manifest jehaad against russia) why didnt they realize that america is anti-muslim when they took all the money?

The scenario can get funny, if theres a war between iran and taliban! (getting to be quite possible) if iran will kill a taliban, they wil shout, " allah-o-akbar" and when taliban will kill an irani , they will shout "allah-o-akbar" . they will make fun of islam, like iraq did when they fought with iran.

now if iran and taliban fight america will support pakistan (isi + talibaan) again, and make them fight with the iranis, and taliban will forget that there was to be a jehaad against america!