The lack of consensus on Jihad is confusing. OBL issues a Fatwa, declaring Jihad on Jews and Americans wherever they may be found. Now he is not a cleric, nor a state, but all over the world you have hate filled people pulling hoods over their heads and making videos of themselves waving AK-47's about. If I see one more moron standing in front of some hokey homemade banner holding his AK-47 and reading some statement, I may puke.
Middle of the road clerics hide, or are assassinated, or pay lip service to this mass hysteria, but no one realizes that "jihad" is now synonamous with terrorism. I did not make it that way, the Jihadi's did. We can all ignore this elephant in the room, but it is pretty obvious. This is not a failure to understand, or a misperception, it is pretty much reality.
The fabric of Islam is torn by those who use religion as a rational for hate. This needs to be repaired by Muslims.
The US can do all it wants but the fact of the matter is there will always be more "incidents" as long as injustice continues to prevail. I am not saying that's the right way to go about it, but when you push people to the wall this is the only reaction that will happen.
I hate to tell you, but the US was not "pushing anybody to the wall" during the '90's. President after President has sponsored peace talks between the Israeli's and the Palestinians. Forget about that? We intervened when no Muslim country would to save a slaughter of Muslims in the Balkans, and frankly without us, Saddam would have been sipping drinks as the caretaker of Mecca and Medina. Clinton certainly was not using the military, he cut nearly 40% of the US military budget.
The "pushing people to the wall" is largely a self igniting frenzy that takes facts and twists them until every evil in the world has an American face. We are neither that smart, that evil, nor that powerful. But every revolution needs a point of focus, so here we are. Jihad away....
Even though I agree on the point that Muslims & Muslims alone can change the word terror being synonymous to Jihad, I disagree that Muslims are solely responsible for making the two words synonymous.
Muslims have this urge to define & justify each of their actions through religion, just like Americans have this urge to define everything they do in the public arena through the constitution – endless debates if such a ruling/legislation is against the constitution or not. For Muslims as far as wars is concerned, they can’t consider themselves fighting an unjust war and thus to make it justified they label each & every scrimmage for any reason as Jihad. When Iran fought Iraq it was Jihad on both sides, when NA fought Taliban it was jihad, when the Chachan fight the Russians it is Jihad, when Al-Qaida fights Saudi government it is Jihad etc. That’s our (Muslim) part of the problem.
The western (or in particular American) part of the problem is that they take everyone’s word for it. The news media sensationalize such claims & the ‘analysts’ consider any & every ‘fatwa’ to be earth shattering. I can totally understand that it’s captivating and money making (no wonder Al-Jazeera following the same foot steps) but it promotes a negative publicity & total misconceptions. And Muslims who have never heard anything about such issues nor have the capacity to devour such fatwas never get to hear the more ‘middle of the road’ opinions. A prime example; while nearly all Americans know who Muqtada Al – Sadar is, hardly any can name the moderate Muslim clerics on the Iraqi Parliament.
I belong to a sect who for long are advocating abolishing all such Jihad that do not follow the strict definition of Jihad as explained in Quran & by some of the guppies here. Especially those calls to arms that create disorder (a gorilla-war kind) in the name of religion. We have conventions every year in different countries, with attendance rising up to 30,000 in Canada & more than 50,000 in countries like Ghana but we would hardly make the news. Though a radical Mullah calling on Jihad with a few dozen followers will not only get the publicity but as a result of the free air time a lot more recruits.
Nixon first coined the term, "the silent majority". While I don't particularly like Nixon, I do believe that the vast majority of the Muslim world is perfectly reasonable, rational, and loving. And you are absolutely right that the spotlight shines on the ones shouting the loudest. Essentially people have been saying that a small fraction of the worlds Muslims have highjacked the faith.
I believe in some ways this is probably true. The Muslim faith is loosely organized and diverse compared to say the Catholic Church. So essentially there is no way to reign in a maverick cleric, or to call someone to account for violence. There is doubtful consistancy among interpretations of the Quran, and almost anyone is able to whip out a parable to prove his point. The ability to take a phrase or story out of context is remarkable for any religion.
I think the one thing that still shocks me is the inability of Muslims to swim against the flow. When Mushy entertains the possibility of sending troops to Iraq, I view that as enormous leap in thinking. He is saying that a Muslims primary concern has to be with helping the suffering people of Iraq. That is the Islam that I believe will prevail. Political Islam however would prefer to see the US embroiled in a quagmire at the cost of Iraqi lives. Not that this really helps the Muslim cause world wide, but there is a sense of pride in seeing the powerful squirm.
But the cult of Jihad is a powerful and dizzying effect. It invokes heroic images, just as the Kamakazis were told to believe that dying for Imperial Japan was the route to heaven. Not really much different.
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The US can do all it wants but the fact of the matter is there will always be more "incidents" as long as injustice continues to prevail. I am not saying that's the right way to go about it, but when you push people to the wall this is the only reaction that will happen.
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The al qaeda attacks on 9-11 and those beforehand were unprovoked. I'm telling you that if those further "incidents" you crave include attacks on US civilians on US soil, they will lead to actions/reactions that will disrupt your happy little life more than you could imagine. Widespread fear puts a lot of things are into the realm of possibility.
You think muslims living in the west are getting the short end of the stick right now? just wait. Things will get ugly and fast - exactly what OBL & company want. You western jihadis are crazy if you think we will blink first.
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*Originally posted by Stu: *
The al qaeda attacks on 9-11 and those beforehand were unprovoked.
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It is exactly because of this mentality that there will always be another 911. Don't worry about me I don't plan on sticking around to watch the fireworks.
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*Originally posted by inuit: *
Try to understand: There are two kinds of jihad, the major jihad and the minor jihad.
The major Jihad (Jihad al-Akbar) is the struggle against one's inner self (nafs) to subjugate and control one's passions and carnal desires.
The minor jihad (Jihad al Asghar) means to struggle for Islam. Not for extension of boundaries, not for personal glory, not for the glory of any tribe, community or nation, but for the defence of Islam and the protection of its values. Often referred to in the
Qur'aan as qitaal (warfare).
On return from one of the battles the Holy Prophet addressed the Muslims as follows:
"You have now returned from jihad al-asghar. The jihad al-akbar continues to remain a duty with you."
“Jihad bil qitaal” is not a single term; “Jihad” and “Qitaal” are two terms which can be used inter-changeably (same meanings). “Jihad” in conjunction with “bil qitaal” never been used; because both have the same meanings (apart from the two meanings given above). I have never read it before. The Islamic books I have studied so far. If you have read it please provide a reference. Jihad bil Saif is the correct term.
Sumaj nahin aati ka loog ghulti kar kay uss per qaaim kyoun rahatay hain. Aapni ghulti ko accept karnay ki bajaay dusaroun ko tunz ka nashana banatay hain.
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Salam azzezum.....
1-Can u give me the comentry of muhaditheen on this hadith.....
2-You say that term jihad bis saif is used and jihad bil qitaal is never used.....try reading famous books on jihad....like Shaheed abdullah azzams book....or hadrat shah wali ullahs books....jihad bis saif and jihad bil qital both terms are used.....
3-Jihad bis saif....----- aur kia kartay hain saif say ? qitaal
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It is exactly because of this mentality that there will always be another 911. Don't worry about me I don't plan on sticking around to watch the fireworks.
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And, if I may so, the "US ultimately is responsible for all the woes of muslims worldwide" mentality will continue to lead to muslims getting their a$$es kicked when they cause problems, no matter where they are.