Setting the Record Straight:
A Rejoinder
Research:
Fatima Kamal (class IX)
Arooj Yasin (class IX)
Amina Imran (class IX)
Saad Ejaz (class VII)
Edited By:
Memoona Sajjad
Patron:
Mrs. Humaira Irfan, Principal, EPIC
(Educational Partnership of Islamic and Contemporary Studies, EPIC)
Lahore, Pakistan.
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THE STORY OF ‘SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT’
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
It all began with the agonizing incidents of the republication of the offensive caricatures and the release of the anti-Islam propaganda movie. These issues triggered off heated discussion among students who, out of ‘righteous anger’, came up with refutations. The deep concern, disapproval and warm passion to confront, defend and uphold the belief that was dearly beloved to those yet unsullied 12 year olds was moving. The same elicited a still maturer response from the O level class who had a more intellectual approach to the subject. It was suggested that a response be written telling ‘our side of the story.’
And so it began, driven on by the sincerity and ardent conviction, and a genuine, heartfelt desire to say it out loud, make a difference and set it right. Within a few days, bits and pieces of what was to be a comprehensive research began to turn up. Saad was ready with a daily update on his finds ‘first thing in the morning.’ Fatima took up the task with a seriousness of mission and dealt with it maturely. Arooj surprised everyone with research conducted entirely on her own and Amina worked silently and steadily, coming up with scrupulously done work ‘on the dot.’ Finally, when the finished documents were received, it was a euphoric moment for the teachers to see an idea moulded into reality.
The following work, owing to the pertinence of issues at hand, focuses on human rights, tolerance and pluralism as values clearly enunciated by Islam, and takes an overview of history to support the claim. It deals with the concept of Jihad in Islam and explains its implications, provides a brief introduction to the personality of the Prophet (SAWW), mentions observations about the scientific wonders in the Quran and concludes with statements from reverts to Islam regarding their journey through the Noble Quran. The research, content and ‘raw material’ are substantively the students’ work. The stitching and pruning is mine, though I have kept it minimal to retain the originality of the children’s work. It must also be borne in mind that this is not a scholarly work. The sources used were mainly at par with the understanding and research abilities of 12-15 year olds. Naturally, therefore, it does not pretend to scholarship, but in fact reflects a raw nascent stage of passion and appreciation of Islam, which, it is hoped, may mature into the motivation to pursue an in-depth study of the sources of Islam in future inshallah.
With the prayer that Allah may accept this humble endeavour from the writers and bless them with wisdom, knowledge and conviction to carry on the mission they have begun, inshallah. May this be the beginning of the ‘epic’ strive to uncover the Truth and show it to the world to reinstate the lost pride for our glorious Muslim heritage.
Whatever of Truth Allah has enabled us to say comes from His blessing, and whatever is false and erroneous comes from ourselves. With the hope that Allah may forgive whatever mistakes in understanding or presentation of facts and ideas we may have made and guide us to what is true inshallah.
Feedback, comments and suggestions for improving this piece of work may be addressed to:
epic.studies@gmail.com
Memoona Sajjad
Academic Co ordinator,
Educational Partnership of Islamic and Contemporary Studies (EPIC),
Lahore, Pakistan.
July, 2008.
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Assistance by the following during the work is deeply acknowledged:
• Momina Khan, IX
• Talal Shakoh, VII
• Marwah Mahmood, VII
• Noor Imran, VII
Special thanks to Mr. Fayyaz Rehman of The Citizens Forum for his industriously compiled material in a personal capacity that has helped greatly in this work; to Mr. Muddassir of the Dawah Circle of London for the inspiration and advice he provided; and to Mr. Qasim Khwaja (EPIC), Hareem Fatima, Mr. Kamal Assaf and Mrs. Rubina Ejaz for their ‘behind the scenes’ motivation and assistance that was extremely instrumental in getting the work done. Ms. Atika Mahmood helped ‘set it in motion’ by ardently beginning a fundraising campaign to help with the publication and distribution of the material.
The ‘jaza’ for all of you is with Allah inshallah!
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CONTENTS
Prologue
Human Rights and Dignity in Islam
Social Justice of Islam
The Character and Personality of Islam’s Prophet (SAW)
Freedom of Belief in Islam
Religious Tolerance in Islam
The Concept of Jihad
The Miracle of the Quran
Conclusion
Bibliography
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“This is no less than a reminder to (all) the worlds. And you shall certainly know the truth of it (all) after a while.” (The Noble Quran, 38:87-88)
PROLOGUE:
The tirade and the offensive campaign of slander directed against the Noble Quran is self-defeating and self-ridiculing, reflecting a pitiable ignorance of the essence of the Divine Scripture. It deserves only to be consigned to the ashbin as an insubstantial clutter of blind prejudice and bigotry against the Muslims and their belief_ perhaps just another dimension to the propaganda onslaught that serves well those at the helm of the affairs in the post Nine Eleven world.
However, when the ludicrous claptrap seeks to claim notice and goes mainstream, it arouses concern and motivates the Muslim to set the record straight: simply because the truth-seekers among men deserve the right to be able to see the reality of Islam and its Sacred Book for what it is. Hearts seeking in all sincerity a truth that suffices need to be shown the way Home: simply because this is humanity’s fundamental birthright. As the Quran says, “Truth stands clear from Falsehood (The Noble Quran, Chapter 2)”. Any attempt, therefore, to dampen it down, to dull its splendour is only bound to fall flat on its face.
The following is a humble endeavour to set the record straight in the wake of this mounting wave of ill-conceived blind hatred to enable us to see the Truth for what it is, rising above narrow delineations of racial prejudice, nationalism and religion, and the morass of contemporary politics that deludes the weak-minded into taking the actions of a few misdirected Muslims as a de facto representation of Islam itself, as laid out by the Quran! It is a sin most vile against the Divine Word. The Quran says: “Say: When Truth arrives, falsehood perishes. For surely falsehood by its nature is bound to perish.” (The Noble Quran, 17:81)
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SECTION ONE
HUMAN DIGNITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN ISLAM
The Companion of the Prophet (SAW), Ja’far bin Abi Talib (RA), when asked to present his case in the court of Negus of Abyssinia where Muslim emigrants sought refuge said:
“We were a people steeped in ignorance, worshipping idols, eating carrion, committing abominations. The strong among us would devour the weak among us. Thus we were, until God sent us a messenger from among our midst, one whose lineage we knew, whose veracity, integrity and worthiness of trust we testified to. He called us unto God that we should testify to His Oneness and worship Him and renounce what we and our fathers had worshipped in the way of stones and idols; and he commanded us to speak truthfully, to fulfil our promises, to respect the ties of kinship and the rights of our neighbours and to refrain from crimes and from bloodshed. So we worship Allah alone, setting none other beside Him, counting as forbidden what He has forbidden and as permissible what He has allowed. For these reasons have our own people turned against us and have persecuted us to make us forsake our religion and revert from the worship of Allah to the worship of idols.” (Source: ‘Muhammad’ SAW by Martin Lings)
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Several non Muslim writers have commented on justice and egalitarianism as the central pillars of the Islamic edifice:
"Sense of justice is one of the most wonderful ideals of Islam, because as I read in the Qur'an I find those dynamic principles of life, not mystic but practical ethics for the daily conduct of life suited to the whole world." --Lectures on "The Ideals of Islam;" see SPEECHES AND WRITINGS OF SAROJINI NAIDU, Madras, 1918, p. 167.
"The universal brotherhood of Islam, regardless of race, politics, colour or country, has been brought home to me most keenly many times in my life -- and this is another feature which drew me towards the Faith." Col. Donald S. Rockwell, U.S.A. Poet, Critic and Author.
"The doctrine of brotherhood of Islam extends to all human beings, no matter what colour, race or creed. Islam is the only religion which has been able to realize this doctrine in practice. Muslims wherever on the world they are will recognize each other as brothers." Mr. R. L. Mellema, Holland, Anthropologist, Writer and Scholar.
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According to a hadith of the Prophet (SAW): “The creation is the family of Allah. So the dearest of you in the Sight of Allah is the one who is best to his family.”
The Prophet (SAW), addressing the Muslims on the farewell pilgrimage, his very last address before his passing away, said:
“Indeed, none has the right to be worshipped except Allah, the One and Only. No partner has He. He has fulfilled His Promise and has helped His slave (Muhammad SAW); He alone has destroyed the power of falsehood (this day). O my people! Listen to me attentively, for I am not sure if we will be together here again after this year. O people! Verily, Allah says, ‘O mankind! We have indeed created you from a single male and a female, and then We made you into nations and tribes so that you may recognize (or identify) each other. Indeed, the most honoured among you in the Sight of Allah is the one who is the most righteous.’
(In the light of this verse), no Arab has a superiority over a non Arab, nor does a non Arab have any superiority over an Arab; and a black does not have any superiority over a white, nor is a white superior to a black, except by one thing: righteousness. Remember, all human beings are the sons and daughters of Adam (A.S), and Adam (A.S) was made from dust. Be warned! All (false) claims of blood and of wealth are under my feet.
O people of the Quraish! Do not reach Allah carrying the burdens of the (sins of the) world in your necks when others come with the provision for the Hereafter. For if you do so, I will not avail you in aught before Allah. O people of the Quraish! Verily, Allah has brought an end to all your false pride of the days of Ignorance, your arrogance and vanity over the exploits of your forefathers. O people! Indeed, your blood, your wealth and your honour are sacred like the sanctity of this day and this month in this sacred city. And without doubt, you all will be assembled before your Lord, and He shall then question you on account of all your deeds.
Be warned! Do not fall into misguidance after I am gone, that you smite each other’s necks. And if anyone of you is entrusted with anything, he must return it to the owner. O people! All Muslims are brothers to one another. And all Muslims are a single brotherhood. So attend to the needs of the slaves, and take care of them. Feed them with what you would eat and clothe them what you would wear. Be warned! All remnants of the Days of Ignorance are trampled under my feet today. And the retributions for blood from the Days of Ignorance are declared nullified. And the first blood I forgive from among my family is the blood of Rabeea bin Harith… And the usurious transactions of the Age of Ignorance stand nullified. And the first usurious transaction I declare nullified from among my family is the usury of Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib (RA). Without doubt, it stands cancelled.
O people! Verily, Allah the Most High has given to every rightful heir his right… all debt must be duly paid and whatever is borrowed must be returned duly. Gifts must be reciprocated (in goodwill)… and it is not allowed for any of you to take from your brother except that which your brother gives of his own pleasure. And do not be unfair to one another…
O people! Certainly, you have rights over your women; but so do your women have rights over you. It is your right that they should not associate (in intimacy) with a person you do not approve of, and that they should not indulge in open indecency… And if they desist, then indeed feed them and clothe them in a way that is best and treat them with kindness because your women are dependent on you… so fear Allah with regard to your women, for you have made them rightful unto yourselves in the Name of Allah, so understand this!
O people! Verily I have fulfilled my duty to deliver the message, and I leave behind that after which you shall never go astray, if you hold fast to it_ and that is the Book of Allah. And beware not to go to extremes in matters of religion. For certainly, the nations before you were destroyed because of (innovating and) adding into matters of religion (of their own desires).
Indeed, Satan has little hope that he would be worshipped in this land again. However, it is likely that his orders might be obeyed by you in matters you consider minor. He is content with this hope. So guard your faith and your religion! Lo! Worship your Lord and establish prayer five times a day and fast for the month (of Ramadan) and pay the poor-due from your wealth with goodwill, and perform the pilgrimage of the House of your Lord, and obey those in authority among you. And (if you follow all this), you shall indeed enter the Paradise of your Lord.
Beware! No one can be held accountable for a crime except the doer of the action. Listen! A father will not be punished for the crime of his son, nor will a son be punished for the crime of his father. Listen! Those who are present must pass on this message to those that are absent. It may be that the ones to whom the message is conveyed understand it and preserve it better than the ones who can hear (this).
And you all shall be questioned about me, so what will you answer? (The people said): ‘We testify that you have indeed fulfilled the trust (of religion) and fulfilled the duty of your prophethood, and you have been a sincere well-wisher for us.’ (Hearing this, the Prophet SAW raised his index finger to the heavens and said): ‘O Allah! Be my witness! O Allah! Be my witness! O Allah! Be my witness!’”
(Source: ‘The Sealed Nectar’ by Safi ur Rahman Mubarakpuri)
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Khalid M Ishaque writes:
The Quran bears witness to the high status of human beings in the hierarchy of creation:
‘Verily We have honoured the children of Adam.’ (The Noble Quran, Chapter Al Isra)
It further characterizes man as a carrier of great trust. Whereas in the earlier revealed religions, the individual is not sharply differentiated from the tribe, the Quran carries a direct message to the individual and a promise of personal fulfilment. His life in this world is to be applied solely to the discharge of his Covenant with Allah. His good deeds place no obligation on the one whom he helps, since as a Muslim his own salvation lies in performing his obligation under his Covenant with Allah. This is the way Allah has charted the course of his progress. The following hadith illustrates this:
‘On the Day of judgement Allah will say, ‘O son of Adam, I was ill and you did not succour Me.’ The man will say, ‘O my Lord, how could I succour You, when You are the Lord of all worlds?’ Allah will say, ‘Did you not know that My servant so-and-so was ill, and you did not visit him?’ Did you not know that if you had visited him you would have found Me with him?’
‘O son of Adam, I asked you for food, and you did not feed Me.’ The man will say, ‘o my Lord, how could I feed You, when You are the Lord of all the Worlds?’ Allah will say, ‘Did you not know that My servant so-and-so asked you for food, and you did not feed him? Did you not know that if you had fed him you would have found the reward for doing so with Me?’
‘O son of Adam, I asked you for a drink and you did not give Me anything to drink.’ The man will say, ‘O my Lord, how could I give you something to drink, when You are the Lord of the worlds?’ Allah will say, ‘My servant so-and-so asked you for something to drink, and you did not give it to him. If you had given him something to drink you would have found (the reward for doing so) with Me.’ (reported by Abu Huraira R.A, Sahih Muslim)
In Islam the strongly legalistic tradition of Judaism is reconciled with forgiveness so often emphasized by Christ, and a new synthesis brought about. The Quran clearly declares that there is virtue in the enforcement of the law but forgiveness carries a greater reward for the individual who forgives. We find that there was acute opposition to the Prophet (SAW)’s mission. Since he was mercy to mankind, why this? The reason is not far to seek. He sought to change the entire priorities within the community and to establish one based on egalitarianism incomprehensible to a mind brought up in tribal traditions. Power was henceforth to be harnessed for completely novel uses. Honours were to go not to the nobility of birth but to conduct and superiority of knowledge. Increase in the power of an individual was now to mean only an increase in his responsibilities. The weak and the needy within the community were given a right to be protected and provided for. The members of the community of Islam were henceforth required to act as vanguards of an abiding international revolution in the case of justice aimed at protection of the weak and the oppressed. Referring to this Allah says:
“And what reason do you have to fight not in the Cause of Allah, to rescue the helpless oppressed old men, women and children who cry: ‘Our Lord! Deliver us from this town whose people are oppressors; send us a helper from Your Presence.” (4:75).
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A.K Brohi, on the same subject, has explained:
Since within the totality of Islam man’s duty to God embraces both his duty to society and to every other individual, paradoxically the rights of each are protected by the obligations of all under Divine law. As the state itself is equally subject to this same law, it too is compelled to protect the rights of the individual. By stressing the equality of all men before God, by emphasizing his dignity and freedom from submission to all save God alone, by making the state answerable before God thus protecting the individual from oppression at its hands, Islam set a high standard in human rights.
The perspective of Islam is theocentric_ God-conscious. Here the Absolute is paramount and man exists only to serve his maker, the Supreme Power and Presence which alone sustains his moral, mental and spiritual make-up, secures the realization of his aspirations and makes possible his transcendence.
The emphasis in the Holy Quran is on securing the transformation of the quality of a man’s consciousness. Man is asked to live and work here below in full awareness that he must show obedience to the Will of God. Islam in its turn affirms the grand tradition of the development of the institutions of universal religions, which tradition, according to the Quran, was consummated in the mission of the last Prophet (SAW) by means of the divine revelation. In essence, the believer has only obligations or duties to God since he is called upon to obey the Divine Law. Yet paradoxically, in these duties lie all the rights and freedoms. Man acknowledges the rights of his fellow men because this is a duty imposed on him by the religious law to obey God and the Prophet (SAW) and those who are constituted in authority to conduct the affairs of the state. In everything that a believer does his primary nexus is with his Maker and it is through Him that he acknowledges his relationship with the rest of his fellowmen as even with the rest of the creation. In the words of the Quran, ‘man has been created only to serve God.’ The first Khalifa of Islam after the passing away of the Prophet (SAW), Abu Bakr (RA) said the following after his election as Khalifa: “I have been elected your Ameer although I am no better than you. Help me if I am in the right; set me right if I am in the wrong; obey me as long as I obey Allah and His Prophet (SAW); when I disobey Him and His Prophet (SAW) then obey me not.”(Al Tabari)
According to the theocentric perspective, a Muslim is accountable for only duties to his Maker, these duties in their turn give rise to all the rights, including those contained within the modern understanding of human rights. Similarly, security of life and property and freedom of conscience were guaranteed to non Muslim minorities who were styled ‘Dhimmis’. The Dhimmis were protected by the Prophet of God (SAW). The Prophet (SAW) had proclaimed, ‘I shall myself be the complainant against him who wrongs a non Muslim of a Muslim state or lays on them a responsibility greater than he can bear or deprive him of anything that belongs to him’(quoted by Al Mawardi). Indeed so mindful was he of their welfare that a few moments before he expired, the thought of the Dhimmi came to him. He is reported to have said, ‘Any Muslim who kills a dhimmi has not the slightest chance of catching even the faintest smell of heaven. Protect them, they are my dhimmi’(Musnad Ahmed.) In a moment of like remembrance, Caliph Umar, as he lay assassinated, exclaimed, ‘To him who will be Caliph after me, I commend my wish and testament_ Dhimmi are protected of Allah and the Prophet. Respect the covenants entered into with them, and when necessary, fight for their interests and do not place on them a burden or responsibility which they cannot bear.’ Indeed Islam went further in catering for the welfare of the human race by securing the consent of the believers to certain basic principles of justice and moderation laid down by Abu Bakr: ‘Be just; break not your plighted faith; mutilate none; slay neither children, old men nor women; injure not the date-palm nor burn it with fire, nor cut down any fruit-bearing tree; slay neither flocks nor herds nor camels, except for food; perchance you may come across men who have retired into monasteries, leave them and their works in peace.’
According to Syed Abdul Latif:
To the student of the Quran not one word in the preamble or in the universal objectives of the Charter, and not a single article in the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will seem unfamiliar. Islam is a religion which places man next to God, and brushes aside all distinctions of race, colour and birth, and calls upon all mankind to live together as a family of God, or as a ‘fold every member of which shall be a shepherd or keeper unto every other and be accountable for its welfare.’ (Agreed Upon)
According to Professor Philip K Hitti: “Unfortunately during the last decade or two, in particular, the impact of the West has not been entirely for good. There is a striking contrast between the humanitarian ideas professed by Western missionaries, teachers and preachers, and the disregard of human values by European and American politicians and warriors; a disparity between word and deed; an over-emphasis on economic and nationalistic values. The behaviour of the so-called advanced nations during the last two wars waged on a scale unknown in history; the ability of Western man to let loose these diabolic forces which are the product of his science and his machine and which now threaten the world with destruction; their intervention in the Near East, particularly in their handling of the Palestine problem by America, England, France and other nations, all these have worked together to disillusion this man of the Near East who has been trying to establish an intellectual rapprochement with the West. In these actions of the West which alienate him and shake his belief in the character of Western man and his morality on both the private and public levels.”
Professor D. De Santillana states: “We may agree with the Muslim jurists when they teach that the fundamental rule of law is liberty… God has set a bound to human activity in order to make legitimate liberty possible for all; without the ‘bounds of God,’ liberty would degenerate into licence, destroying the perpetrator himself alongwith the social fabric. This ‘bound’ is precisely what is called law, which restrains human action within certain limits, forbidding some acts and enjoining others, and thus restraining the primitive liberty of man so as to make it as beneficial as possible either to the individual or to society. Whatever their form, these rules tend to the same end and have the same purpose, that is, the public will. Accordingly, law, divine in origin, human in its subject-matter, has no other end but the welfare of man, even if this end may not at first sight be apparent: for God can do nothing which does not express the wisdom and mercy of which He is the supreme source.”
The Quran itself provides a justification for such a thesis:
“…We have verily created man in affliction: does he think that none sees him? Did We not assign unto him two eyes and a tongue and two lips, and guide him unto the parting of the mountain ways? But he has not attempted the Ascent_ ah, what will convey unto you what the Ascent is! It is to free a slave, and to feed in the day of hunger an orphan near of kin, or some poor wretch in misery, and to be of those who believe and exhort one another to perseverance and exhort one another to piety.”(Surah Al Balad)
The surah is in the nature of a ‘charter of freedom’ given to man after the prayer of Ibrahim for the foundation of a city by one of his descendants_ the Prophet of Islam (SAW)_ had been answered. It draws attention to the evolution of religion and man from Ibrahim to Muhammad (SAW)_ the entire period of Semitic civilization_ and Makkah as its place of birth and completion.
According to the Surah, of the two possible choices available to man the path of righteousness consists in siding with the truth and of doing good deeds. This is the uphill or higher way, and the highest deed available to the believer is to ‘free a slave.’ This constitutes not only physical freedom, but mental and spiritual freedom, as much from other human beings as from one’s own lower self. It is this freedom from necessity that ‘freeing a slave’ expresses. This amounts to securing the emancipation of man from virtually all manners of servitude. It imposes on man a whole range of social duties_ freeing the slave, feeding the orphan, caring for the ‘poor wretch in misery’_ and it is these duties which confer corresponding rights on all. Over and above these is the duty to believe, and exhort one another to patience and to mercy. Man must believe in the ‘Unseen’, he must believe in ‘all the Prophets’, in ‘the Angels’, in all the ‘revealed books’ including those that have preceded the Quran. Man’s ultimate return is to God who is his Creator, and is liability to render account is absolute.
Islam presents man with a Charter of Human Liberty within a religious framework which emphasizes the necessity of his being aware of his responsibility and accountability. The Quran is the ‘furqan’, that is to say, a book that makes the exercise of discretion and discrimination possible for man, in that it outlines for him the possible courses of conduct that are open to him as a free agent and invites him to choose the difficult uphill way; to choose the right, side with the truth and to stand steadfastly against all odds. Islam makes the believer his brother’s keeper, particularly if the brother is helpless, uncared for or unprotected. It extends the sphere of his responsibility by commissioning him to believe, because without proper belief there is no proper conduct. He is, therefore, asked to base his conduct on right belief taught through the revealed Word of God contained in the Quran. Islam formulates, defines and protects human rights by inducing in the believers the disposition to obey the law of God, the Practice of His last Prophet (SAW), and to show obedience to those constituted authorities within the realm who themselves are bound to obey the law of God and the practice of the Prophet (SAW) and conduct man’s affairs accordingly.
Maryam Jameelah writes:
“Modern man desperately needs a Supreme Authority for reference to distinguish between what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong, what is beautiful and what is ugly. This does not mean totalitarian dictatorship but the Rule of Law in the highest sense. Only the Divine Law of the Shariah is impartial and just; where ruler and ruled, rich and poor, young and old, celebrities and ordinary anonymous folk are equally subjected to its jurisdiction… the authority of the Shariah proceeds from Almighty Allah. Thus it is feared, esteemed, loved and obeyed simultaneously. It combines the internal sanctions of fear of Allah and His retribution in the Hereafter with severe but just punishments for violation of that law on which the health of the individual and society depend.
The call of Islam to modern man is the call to stability and inward peace. A society based on the precepts of fear and reverence for the Divine Law will not be troubled with crime, violence and lawlessness.
Individually, Islam would bring a direction, meaning and purpose to life which materialistic cultures cannot provide; an inward serenity and peace even in the midst of external frustrations and adversity… the ugliness of our environment would be supplanted by beauty. (Islam and Modern Man)
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SECTION TWO
THE SOCIAL JUSTICE
OF ISLAM
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
“Allah does not love the unjust people.” (The Noble Quran, 3: 137-141)
“… He also reminds you regarding the helpless children and stand firm for justice to orphans. Whatever good you do, Allah surely knows.” (The Noble Quran, 4: 126-127)
“O Believers! Stand firm for justice… let not your selfish desires swerve you from justice.” (The Noble Quran, 4:135)
“Show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant.” (The Noble Quran, 7:198)
According to a hadith of the Prophet (SAW):“He has not affirmed faith in me who eats to his satisfaction and sleeps comfortably at night while his neighbour goes hungry while he is aware of it.”(Baihaqi)
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Non Muslim writers have commented on the social system of Islam based on enduring human values:
"But Islam has a still further service to render to the cause of humanity. It stands after all nearer to the real East than Europe does, and it possesses a magnificent tradition of inter-racial understanding and cooperation. No other society has such a record of success uniting in an equality of status, of opportunity, and of endeavours so many and so various races of mankind . . . Islam has still the power to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the opposition of the great societies of East and West is to be replaced by cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition. In its hands lies very largely the solution of the problem with which Europe is faced in its relation with East. If they unite, the hope of a peaceful issue is immeasurably enhanced." --H.A.R. Gibb, WHITHER ISLAM, London, 1932, p. 379.
"It (Islam) replaced monkishness by manliness. It gives hope to the slave, brotherhood to mankind, and recognition of the fundamental facts of human nature." --Canon Taylor, Paper read before the Church Congress at Walverhamton, Oct. 7, 1887; Quoted by Arnoud in THE PREACHING OF ISLAM, pp. 71-72.
"The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding achievements of Islam and in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue..." (A.J. Toynbee, CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL, New York, p. 205)
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Kassim Nait-Belkacem comments:
In Islam the domain of social justice or social solidarity is extended to the protection of several categories of the weak_ ‘ajaza’_ or needy. The aged, the ‘dhimmis’ (Non Muslim citizens of the Islamic state) are amongst those allowed the advantages of social benefits. A celebrated instance from the time of caliph Omar illustrates this. Addressing an old Jew, he said: ‘We have not been fair in our treatment of you, since we have exhausted your youth and abandoned you when you aged.’ Omar immediately invited him to his home, and there gave him his own food and had the Treasury bestow a pension on him to the end of his days. The same measures were taken in favour of the poor, the needy, the sick, the blind, the crippled, displaced persons and prisoners as well as orphans, the weak and illegitimate children. On the equality of race and ethnic origin the Prophet (SAW) gently rebuked his Companion Abu Dharr who had evoked ‘the colour of his mother’ to Bilal the Abyssinian. The Prophet (SAW) said to him, ‘O Abu Dharr! You are still a man belonging to pagan times of ignorance. Lift your head and look. Then know that you are hardly superior to a man of colour, be it black or red, unless you surpass him in deeds’ (Sahih Muslim, hadith 3139)
In the mosque when the Prophet (SAW) was in the process of joining the ranks of the faithful for prayer, someone claimed that the Prophet (SAW) had hurt him by knocking him over. Muhammad (SAW) immediately offered him the right to avenge himself upon his person if he so wished. This form of justice is not limited to the conduct of Muslims only among themselves. Islam makes it an obligation for Muslims in their dealings with the faithful of other religions, and there are many instances of its practical implementation in the early history of Islam, as for example Omar’s resolution of the dispute between a Copt and the son of Amr bin Aas, governor of Egypt, in which he allowed the Copt to whip the governor’s son; moreover, the Caliph himself appeared before the judge with a Jew. It would scarcely be possible to find the example of a ruler more just than Omar whether democratic or revolutionary any time in history.
Maryam Sakeenah writes in ‘Good Fences, Good Neighbours and the Ideal Culture’:
Arabia, 6th century A.D, where tribalism was the way of life. Rising out of such a tribalized, fragmented social set-up, Islam achieved the Herculean task of erasing these tribal divisions forever, and making emerge out of this tribalist morass, a unified brotherhood, a fraternity, an ‘ummah’ that subverted tribal kinship to the human singularity, the ideological vision that fellow-Muslims share. It was certainly a miracle of Islam that tribalist foes were knit together as a single community. This miraculous social epoch, this revolutionary creation of a unifying culture was wholly to the credit of the Islamic belief of pure Tauhid that elevates man to absolute equity, all humble slaves of the One True God in the Presence of Whom all stand equal; Who has the creation for His ‘family’.
Islam used no imposition, no homogenization, no imperialist cultural threat; it did not rely on power to root out an arbitrarily defined ‘inferior’; The Islamic Revolution involved no such tactics. Islam simply presented itself in its pristine glory and completely overturned Jahiliyyah from its very foothold. In the radicalism of its revolution, there was no imperious imposition, no ‘colonial’ haughtiness. Islam respected ‘otherness’, valued variety and diversity, the colours Allah has spread on earth to make it warm and sunny, thriving and exuberant, in line with the Quranic verse: ‘We made you into nations and tribes so that you could identify one another.’(The Noble Quran, Chapter Al Hujurat, verse 13)
Bilal (R.A), being a negro slave, had no human rights in that society. After being set free, he was made the muezzin of Islam, with his characteristic Abyssinian ‘lisp’ so dear to the Prophet (SAWW). Umar (R.A) used to refer to Abu Bakr (R.A) as ‘Our master and the emancipator of our master (i.e, Bilal).’ This was something unthinkable to the Jahiliyyah mindset. After the Conquest of Makkah, it was Bilal (R.A), the negro slave of yore, who ascended the roof of the Kaabah and made the first Azan there. The tribal chiefs of Makkah were appalled at this ‘desecration’ of the Holy Place. This was the radicalism of the equality Islam brought about; the elevation it conferred upon man.
Salman the Persian (R.A) was welcomed to the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood with open arms. He was never ‘Arabised’, and never dispossessed as ‘the other.’ His distinctiveness was not only respected, but made the best of, when the Prophet (SAWW), taking his advice, ordered the digging of the trench (a Persian war strategy) to defend the city. The Islamic revolution never sought to unnaturally and forcibly harmonize, turning men into clones. It was this earliest Muslim community that had risen out of primitive tribalism that taught lessons in co-existence, in living with differences, in letting the other be, and seeking beauty in that otherness, as all come from Allah.
Nowhere does Islamic culture reek of fanatical patriotism and narrow nationalism. Most major confrontations in history have been fired by nationalism. Fanatical nationalism is a restrictive, confining, intolerant and dangerous sentiment. Islam rules it out with a bold stroke. The fact that Islam flourished and won a state for itself only after the Muslims had left their native city, renounced all tribal / filial links, creating a community knit together so wholly through the Belief they shared, is significant in this regard. The idea of Hijrah was new to the Arabs. It was inconceivable to be leaving home, family, tribe and kin for an Ideal. But that is just Islam: living and dying for an Ideal that cannot be confined within delineations.
This means that your loyalty is not to race or territory, but to a Code of Life that respects humanity in all its shades and colours, that upholds Justice and human values. It is religion alone that sanctifies these human values and makes them inviolable. And it is Islam alone that elevates them to a veritable Code of Life so that it can direct the creation of the Ideal Culture. And it is Islam alone that gives us a practical model of an ideal community, culture and civilization created through belief and fidelity to that Code of Life. An Islamic society holds high its moral code which teaches us to distinguish not on the basis of any worldly standard. Under this code of life, the only thing that makes one different is the faith within, which none but Allah can gauge. When morality becomes a nation-building force, distinctions are dimmed away, because it is God alone who is authorised to judge on the basis of morality, not man. Morality is an equalizing force, and Islam makes the best of its potential to harmonize and make equal. Islam creates fidelity not to tribe or kin, race or nation, but to the moral code that ennobles and respects your humanity. These are the roots of a humane culture.
It is only so that inequalities of inferiority and superiority, powerful and powerless, developed and underdeveloped, strong and weak, man and woman, rich and poor will become extraneous to social life. It is then that the legendary ‘Mahmud’ and ‘Ayaz’ can become the sharers in a common culture, standing shoulder to shoulder, each a valuable link making the society whole.
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SECTION THREE
THE CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY OF ISLAM’S PROPHET (SAW)
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
“(O Muhammad SAW)! We sent you not but as a mercy for all creatures.” (The Noble Quran, 21: 107)
“O Muhmmad (SAW)! Many Prophets before you were also ridiculed, but in the long run those who ridiculed were engulfed by the very thing they were ridiculing.” (The Noble Quran, 5:9-10)
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The integrity and beauty of spirit that shone through the person of Muhammad (SAW) has been acknowledged by non Muslim researchers:
"If a man like Muhamed were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness." George Bernard Shaw
"Muhammad, the inspired man who founded Islam, was born about A.D. 570 into an Arabian tribe that worshipped idols. Orphaned at birth, he was always particularly solicitous of the poor and needy, the widow and the orphan, the slave and the downtrodden. At twenty, he was already a successful businessman, and soon became director of camel caravans for a wealthy widow. When he reached twenty-five, his employer, recognizing his merit, proposed marriage. Even though she was fifteen years older, he married her, and as long as she lived, remained a devoted husband.
"Like almost every major prophet before him, Muhammad fought shy of serving as the transmitter of God's word, sensing his own inadequacy. But the angel commanded 'Read.' So far as we know, Muhammad was unable to read or write, but he began to dictate those inspired words which would soon revolutionize a large segment of the earth: 'There is one God.'
"In all things Muhammad was profoundly practical. When his beloved son Ibrahim died, an eclipse occurred, and rumours of God's personal condolence quickly arose. Whereupon Muhammad is said to have announced, 'An eclipse is a phenomenon of nature. It is foolish to attribute such things to the death or birth of a human being.
"At Muhammad's own death an attempt was made to deify him, but the man who was to become his administrative successor killed the hysteria with one of the noblest speeches in religious history: 'If there are any among you who worshipped Muhammad, he is dead. But if it is God you worshipped, He lives forever." --James A. Michener, "Islam: The Misunderstood Religion," in READER'S DIGEST (American edition), May 1955, pp. 68-70.
"It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knows how he taught and how he lived, to feel anything but reverence for that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the Supreme. And although in what I put to you I shall say many things which may be familiar to many, yet I myself feel whenever I re-read them, a new way of admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher." --Annie Besant, THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF MUHAMMAD, Madras, 1932, p. 4.
“Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, a cult without images, the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and one spiritual empire, that is Muhammad (SAW). As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask: is there any man greater than he is?” – LAMARTINE, French philosopher, scholar and orator.
'I believe in One God and Mahomet the Apostle of God,' is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible idol; the honours of the prophet have never transgressed the measure of human virtue, and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion." --Edward Gibbon and Simon Ocklay, HISTORY OF THE SARACEN EMPIRE, London, 1870, p. 54.
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The reputation of the Prophet (SAW) as a young man before Islam gives ample evidence about his nobility of character. He earned the titles of ‘Sadiq’ (The Honest) and ‘Amin’ (The Trustworthy), refrained from idolatry and all obscenities and indecencies, was known for his good manners, gentility, kindness, simplicity and modesty. He lived a celibate life up till the ripe age of twenty five, when he received a marriage proposal from a much older widow who had been deeply impressed by his honesty, wisdom and beautiful manners.
The Prophet (SAW) was extremely humble, modest and simple and desired nothing of this world. He endured the worst forms of persecution and torture. When a delegation of the Quraish tribal leaders approached him and asked him to give up his mission in exchange for leadership of the city, great wealth and comfort and marriage to the fairest women of Arabia, he rejected it outright saying, “If they place the sun on my right hand and the moon on my left and ask me to renounce my mission, I would not do it unless Allah fulfils it for me or destroys me in the process.”(Ibn Hisham, Sirah of Muhammad SAW)
Even when Allah blessed him with power as the leader of Muslim Madina, he remained extremely simple and renounced all worldly comforts. His clothes were simple, he ate bread made of coarse wheat and sometimes spent days eating only dates.
Once a Bedouin met him and was overcome with awe to which he replied, “Have no fear, I am the son of a woman who use to eat dry scraps of bread of coarse wheat.”
He disapproved of extreme reverence shown to him and said, “Do not stand up for me as the foreigners do to show respect for others” (Abu Daud, book 41, hadith 5211). He slept on a coarse mat till it left marks on his body. Once a foreign delegation, observing the leader of Muslims sitting on the floor with ordinary people was surprised.
The Prophet (SAW) was very particular about fulfilling promises, keeping commitments and honouring trust. At the critical moment when he was to leave Makkah for Madina and the murderers were in hot pursuit to take his blessed life, he told Ali (R.A) to return the belongings of other people he had with him for safekeeping, even when this put his own life at great risk.
He was extremely generous and charitable and gave all he possessed to the needy, keeping only as much as was necessary for survival. “Nothing is more delightful to me than this that Uhud should be of gold for me, and I should have nothing with me of it before three nights except a single dinar with which to pay off my debt.” (Bukhari)
He had an extremely soft and kind heart. When he heard the story of a little girl who had been buried alive, he wept bitterly till his beard was wet. When he saw a hungry camel he said to its master, “Fear Allah with regard to these animals. Ride them in health and leave them in health”(Sunan Abu Daud). The Prophet (SAW) nursed and did chores for the disbelieving woman who used to throw garbage on him everyday.
The manner in which the Prophet (SAW) forgave the Quraishites who had oppressed him for 21 years of his life at the time of the Conquest of Makkah was exemplary. On the day of the Conquest the Prophet (SAW) found a huge crowd of the Quraish waiting for him, which consisted of his bitterest enemies and deadly foes. These people had persecuted and tortured him and his followers, insulted and abused him, plotted to kill him and fought several wars against him. The Prophet (SAW), with remarkable endurance only he could be capable of, asked his former enemies who were now as captives before him: “What treatment do you expect of me?” They replied, “You are a noble brother and a noble cousin”… the truth they had been hiding away and shying away from was uttered from their lips that day. The Prophet (SAW) said that he would say the same that Prophet Yousuf (Joseph) had said to his brothers centuries ago: “There shall be no reproach against you this day. Go, you are free!”
According to Stanley Lane Poole: “He freely forgave the Quraish all the years of sorrow and cruel scorn in which they had afflicted him and gave amnesty to the whole population of Makkah. His army followed his example and entered quietly and peacefully. No house was robbed, no woman insulted. It was thus Muhammad entered again his native city. Through all the annals of history there is no triumphant entry comparable to this one.”
Arthur Gilman comments: “It is greatly to Muhammad’s praise that on the occasion of the conquest of Makkah, when his resentment for ill usage in the past might naturally have incited him to revenge, he restrained his army from shedding of blood, and showed every sign of humanity and thanksgiving to Allah for His goodness.”
He forgave the murders of his cousins and his dear uncle whose corpse had been mutilated by the disbelievers. He forgave Habbar bin Aswad who had stabbed his daughter Zainab while she was pregnant and had died of the wound.
He had a strong sense of justice and rejected all unfair privileges. When a woman of a powerful tribe committed theft and he was asked to let her off due to her family connections, he said: “I swear by Allah even if Fatima the daughter of Muhammad (SAW) should steal I would have her hand cut off”(Sahih Al Bukhari, vol.4, bk.56 hadith no. 681). A Muslim went to the Jews to collect the jizya tax and was killed. However, the Prophet (SAW) did not take revenge from the Jews because a witness was not available. Instead he paid blood-money to the Muslim’s family from the State’s exchequer.
These very few points afford us a bare glimpse into the great and noble personality of the Prophet of Islam (SAW), peace be upon him.
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SECTION FOUR
FREEDOM OF BELIEF IN ISLAM
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
“Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth stands clear from falsehood.” (The Noble Quran, 2:256)
“If they turn away, We have not sent you as a guardian over them. Your duty is only to convey the message.” (The Noble Quran, 42:48)
“If it had been the will of your Lord that all people of the world should be believers, all the people of the world would have believed! Would you then compel mankind to believe against their will?” (The Noble Quran, 10:98-99)
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The myth of Islam being spread by the sword has been exposed as a baseless lie by an eminent non Muslim historian in the following words:
"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 have ever repeated." --De Lacy O'Leary, ISLAM AT THE CROSSROADS, London, 1923, p. 8.
According to A.K Brohi:
In Islam, God’s transcendence implies the equality of all men; His Divine mastery or lordship implies that all men be the object of the Muslim’s love, concern and action. ‘And call men unto the way of the Lord through wisdom and fair preaching’ (The Noble Quran, 16:25). If the single non-Muslim adamantly refuses to accept the position of the majority, the latter is bound by Islamic law to honour his judgement and to enable him to exercise his convictions, to practise his faith, in freedom and dignity. Much as the Muslim hopes to win mankind for Islam, he knows that many non-Muslims will continue to resist. As long as this resistance is ideational, the Muslim is bound to respect it. Once the resistance puts obstacles in the way of preaching, that is, once it interferes in the free and responsible interchange of ideas to obstruct, subvert and stop it, then Islam prescribes that the obstacle be removed by force. If religious resistance picks up the sword, then Islam prescribes that it be fought with the same. Armed resistance, it should be noted, is not merely resistance to religious proposing which should not be countered except by counter-proposing and, if possible, a better argument. Here, armed resistance means forceful opposition to the proposal that religious differences be solved by argument, through persuasion and dissuasion. It is the sword drawn in answer to a proposal of ‘let the best argument to win.’ Certainly it deserves to be stopped and broken by the sword. But the action should never have for its purpose the coercion into Islam. Its aim is no more and no less than stopping the hostile action taken by the non Muslims. It stops immediately upon the cessation of their violence. The recourse to violence is justified only to put an end to the violent obstruction, never to coerce the non Muslims into conversion to Islam. No power may convert him to Islam but himself.
The non Muslims who agree to live with the Muslims in peace constitute a nation alongside the Muslims. The term used by the Prophet (SAW) in the Covenant of Madina with regard to its Jewish minority population means a society governed by its own law, carrying its own political, economic, educational, judicial, cultural and religious institutions. Allah, the Prophet (SAW), the Islamic state and the whole world-ummah of Islam are their guarantors and protectors. Their defence against external attack as well as any internal encroachment whether by Muslims, non Muslims or by their own members, is a duty imposed by God upon the Muslims. They are supposed to render the jizya, a poll tax that is a far lesser economic and financial burden than the zakat imposed upon Muslims, and are to live in virtual independence from the Muslims except in matters of security and prosperity of Dar al Islam as a whole. Most important, however, is the recognition not only that the non-Muslim is not to be coerced or subversively influenced to conversion, but that he is fully entitled to pursue his non-Muslimness and pass it on to his descendents. From the view of any religion or ism whose stand is not of scepticism, this is indeed the supreme and ultimate demand that the foreigner can make. Islam fulfils it beautifully.
When Makkan persecution became unbearable for many of his followers, the Prophet ordered them to seek refuge in Ethiopia, the Christian kingdom, confident that the followers of Jesus Christ were moral, charitable and friendly. Their Christian emperor rejected Makkah’s demand for extradition of the Muslim refugees and acclaimed the Quranic recognition of the prophethood of Jesus, the innocence of his mother and the Oneness of God.
Upon arrival in Madina, where the Prophet (SAW) founded the first Islamic state, the Jews were recognized as an autonomous community within the Islamic state. Henceforth Jewish law, religion and institutions became a trust whose protection and safekeeping became a Muslim responsibility imposed by Islam itself. Likewise, the Christian Arabs of Najran came to Madina following the Prophet (SAW)’s launching of the new Islamic state, to negotiate their own place in the emerging society. The Prophet (SAW) himself called them to Islam. While some of them converted, the majority did not. The Prophet (SAW) nonetheless granted them the same autonomous status accorded to the Jews, and sent them home under protection of a Muslim guard and a Muslim statesman to organise their affairs, solve their problems and serve their interests.
According to Dr. Zakir Naik:
It is a common complaint among some non-Muslims that Islam would not have millions of adherents all over the world, if it had not been spread by the use of force. The following points will make it clear, that far from being spread by the sword, it was the inherent force of truth, reason and logic that was responsible for the rapid spread of Islam.
1. Islam means peace.
Islam comes from the root word ‘salaam’, which means peace. It also means submitting one’s will to Allah. Thus Islam is a religion of peace, which is acquired by submitting one’s will to the will of the Supreme Creator, Allah.
2. Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace.
Each and every human being in this world is not in favour of maintaining peace and harmony. There are many, who would disrupt it for their own vested interests. Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace. It is precisely for this reason that we have the police who use force against criminals and anti-social elements to maintain peace in the country. Islam promotes peace. At the same time, Islam exhorts it followers to fight where there is oppression. The fight against oppression may, at times, require the use of force. In Islam force can only be used to promote peace and justice.
3. Muslims ruled Spain for 800 years.
Muslims ruled Spain for about 800 years. The Muslims in Spain never used the sword to force the people to convert. Later the Christian Crusaders came to Spain and wiped out the Muslims. There was not a single Muslim in Spain who could openly give the adhan, which is the call for prayers.
4. 14 million Arabs are Coptic Christians.
Muslims were the lords of Arabia for 1400 years. For a few years the British ruled, and for a few years the French ruled. Overall, the Muslims ruled Arabia for 1400 years. Yet today, there are 14 million Arabs who are Coptic Christians i.e. Christians since generations. If the Muslims had used the sword there would not have been a single Arab who would have remained a Christian.
5. More than 80% non-Muslims in India.
The Muslims ruled India for about a thousand years. If they wanted, they had the power of converting each and every non-Muslim of India to Islam. Today more than 80% of the population of India are non-Muslims. All these non-Muslim Indians are bearing witness today that Islam was not spread by the sword.
6. Indonesia and Malaysia.
Indonesia is a country that has the maximum number of Muslims in the world. The majority of people in Malaysia are Muslims. May one ask, ‘Which Muslim army went to Indonesia and Malaysia?’
7. East Coast of Africa.
Similarly, Islam has spread rapidly on the East Coast of Africa. One may again ask, if Islam was spread by the sword, ’Which Muslim army went to the East Coast of Africa?’
8. Thomas Carlyle.
The famous historian, Thomas Carlyle, in his book ’Heroes and Hero worship’, refers to this misconception about the spread of Islam: ‘The sword indeed, but where will you get your sword? Every new opinion, at its starting is precisely in a minority of one. In one man’s head alone. There it dwells as yet. One man alone of the whole world believes it, there is one man against all men. That he takes a sword and try to propagate with that, will do little for him. You must get your sword! On the whole, a thing will propagate itself as it can.’
9. Increase in the world religions from 1934 to 1984.
An article in Reader’s Digest ‘Almanac’, year book 1986, gave the statistics of the increase of percentage of the major religions of the world in half a century from 1934 to 1984. This article also appeared in ‘The Plain Truth’ magazine. At the top was Islam, which increased by 235%, and Christianity had increased only by 47%. May one ask, which war took place in this century which converted millions of people to Islam?
10. Islam is the fastest growing religion in America and Europe.
Today the fastest growing religion in America is Islam. The fastest growing religion in Europe in Islam. Which sword is forcing people in the West to accept Islam in such large numbers?
11. Dr. Joseph Adam Pearson.
Dr. Joseph Adam Pearson rightly says, ‘People who worry that nuclear weaponry will one day fall in the hands of the Arabs, fail to realize that the Islamic bomb has been dropped already, it fell the day Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was born.’
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Muslims are told to talk to non believers in the most courteous manner. “Invite mankind to the way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching. And argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious.” (The Noble Quran, 16:125)
“Say: We believe in that which is revealed to us and that which is revealed to you. Our God and your God is One. To Him we surrender ourselves.”
Islam does not accept coercion in religion but calls for accepting religious difference. The Islamic society and state has always accommodated non Muslim subjects and given them full rights of belief without discrimination. The Prophet (SAW) accepted and interacted justly with Jews and Christians from within and without Madina. In the 7th year of the migration, the Prophet (SAW) wrote to world leaders and rulers, inviting them to the message of Islam. While some accepted, several rejected it, and the Prophet (SAW) never responded to this in a hostile, violent or threatening manner unless if they were overtly offensive. This principle of accepting religious distinctions and co-existence of different beliefs has been given in the following surah:
“Say, O Disbelievers! I worship not that which you worship. Nor do you worship that which I worship. And I shall not worship that which you worship. Now will you worship hat which I worship. Unto you your religion and unto me mine.” (The Noble Quran, Surah 109)
Infact, Islam does not leave it at that. Islam addresses the issue of inviting mankind to the one Truth to create a unity of faith and belief by helping bring about a recognition of the Truth. This, according to Islam, can be brought about by making the testimony to Pure Monotheism_ the core belief of Islam and the original message brought by ALL Prophets of Judaism and Christianity_ the rallying point for a new unity of faith:
“O People of the Scriptures! Come to that which is similar between us and you: that we shall worship none but Allah and associate no partners with Him, and that we worship none other besides Allah. And if they turn away then say, ‘Verily we are of those who have surrendered (to Him). (The Noble Quran, 3: 63)”
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SECTION FIVE
RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE AS THE HALLMARK OF ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
The Prophet (SAW) said: “If anyone wrongs a man whom a treaty has granted protection or burdens him above his strength, I will advocate against him on the Day of Judgement.”(Reported by Safwan bin Salim, Abu Daud)
A companion once came to the Prophet (SAW) and said, “O messenger of Allah! Supplicate against the polytheist.” He replied, “I have been sent not to curse but I have been sent as a mercy.” (Muslim)
In 628 C.E. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) granted a Charter of Privileges to the monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt. Sinai. It consisted of several clauses covering all aspects of human rights including such topics as the protection of Christians, freedom of worship and movement, freedom to appoint their own judges and to own and maintain their property, exemption from military service, and the right to protection in war.
An English translation of that document is presented here:
This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.
Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because
Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them.
No compulsion is to be on them.
Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries.
No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses.
Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.
No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight.
The Muslims are to fight for them.
If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray.
Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.
No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world). (Rendered into English in ‘Muslim History 570-1950’, Dr. A. Zahur and A.Z Haq.)
Ismail R Faruqi observes:
According to Christianity ‘outside the Roman Catholic Church no salvation is possible.’ Judaism and Hinduism are ethnocentric religions by nature. In modern times, they have resurged more ethnocentric than ever. Their religious exclusivism is incompatible with dialogue with the other world religions. Zionism is the archetype of ethnocentric exclusivism.
On the other hand, Islam presents the concept of the ‘Din al fitrah,’ that is, the religious tradition is a human outgrowth from primal human nature. The Islamic belief system is an Abrahamic unity of Judaism, Christianity and Islam based on the hanifi (straight, uni-focal) religion of Ibrahim. Islam is not only tolerant, but assumes the Holy of the other religions to be Holy, their prophets to be prophets of Allah and their revelations to have originally come from Allah. The Islamic stand towards the other faiths constitutes a new humanism through the Divine because it is founded on a new faith in Man.
Scepticism, ethnocentric particularism and materialism divide the field of the theory of man. While materialism defines man as little more than teeth, hands and stomach, nationalist madness declares him a Jew, or a German to the exclusion of all other men. In the mean time, scepticism stands by and mocks at man and his crucifiers. It is no wonder that the serious among Westerners are all sceptics. For scepticism is the most rational of the three strands prevalent in the West.
A.K Brohi continues:
As the Muslims fanned out of Arabia into Byzantium, Persia and India, large numbers of Jews Christians and Zoroastrians, Hindus and Buddhists came under their dominion. The same recognition granted to the Jews and Christians by the Prophet (SAW) personally was granted to every non Muslim religious community on the one condition of their keeping the peace. The case of Jerusalem was the typos of this Muslim tolerance and goodwill on the religious level as well as on the social and cultural.
Thomas Arnold writes: “Of any organised attempt to force the acceptance of Islam on the non Muslim population, or of any systematic persecution intended to stamp out the Christian religion, we hear nothing. Had the caliphs chosen to adopt either course of action, they might have swept away Christianity as easily as Ferdinand and Isabella drove Islam out of Spain, or Louis XIV made Protestantism penal in France, or the Jews were kept out of England for 350 years. The Eastern Churches in Asia were entirely cut off from communion with the rest of Christendom throughout which no one would have been found to lift a finger on their behalf, as heretical communions. So that the very survival of these Churches to the present day is a strong proof of the generally tolerant attitude of the Muhammadan government towards them”.
Compared with the histories of other religions, the history of Islam is categorically white as far as toleration of other religions is concerned. Fortunately, we have on record many witnesses from those days of Muslim conquest to whom we should be grateful for clearing this matter once and for all. Michael the Elder, Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch, wrote in the second half of the twelfth century: “This is why the God of vengeance… beholding the wickedness of the Romans who, throughout their dominions, cruelly plundered our churches and our monastries and condemned us without pity_ brought from the region of the south the sons of Ishmael, to deliver us through them from the hands of the Romans.”
Barhebreus is the author of an equally powerful witness in the favour of Islam. Ricoldus de Mone Crucis, a Dominian monk from Florence who visited the Muslim East about 1300 AD, gave an equally eloquent witness of tolerance with the Christians. And yet, if the Muslims were so tolerant, the Christian persistently asks, why did their co-religionists flock to Islam by the millions? Of these co-religionists the Arabs were the smallest minority. The rest were Hellenes, Persians, Egyptians, Cyrenaicans, Berbers, Cypriots and Caucasians. Canon Taylor explained it beautifully at a Church Congress held at Wolverhampton. He said: “It is easy to understand why this reformed Judaism swept so swiftly over Asia and Africa. The African and Syrian doctors had substituted abstruse metaphysical dogmas for the religion of Christ: they tried to combat the licentiousness of the age by setting forth the celestial merit of celibacy and the angelic excellence of virginity_ seclusion from the world was the road of holiness, dirt was the characteristic of monkish sanctity_ the people were practically polytheists, worshipping a crowd of martyrs, saints and angels; the upper classes were effeminate and corrupt, the middle classes oppressed by taxation, the slaves without hope for the present or the future. As with the besom of God, Islam swept away this mass of corruption and superstition. It was a revolt against empty theological polemics; it was a masculine protest against the exaltation of celibacy as a crown of piety. It brought out the fundamental dogmas of religion_ the unity and greatness of God, that He is merciful and righteous, that He claims obedience to His will, resignation and faith. It proclaimed the responsibility of man, a future life, a day of judgement, and stern retribution to fall upon the wicked; and enforced the duties of prayer, almsgiving, fasting and benevolence. It thrust aside the artificial virtues, the religious frauds and follies, the perverted moral sentiments, ad the verbal subtleties of theological disputants. It replaced monkishness by manliness. It gave hope to the slave, brotherhood to mankind, and recognition to the fundamental facts of human nature.”
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It was this spirit at the heart of the Muslim ideology that made the struggles Muslim armies waged throughout their history so outstandingly shorn of the practices of war. In the second Khalifah’s time (Umar R.A), when Christian areas fell to the Muslims, Umar (R.A) wrote a public declaration:
The Covenant of Omar
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate
This is an assurance of peace and protection given by the servant of Allah Omar, Commander of the Believers to the people of Ilia' [Jerusalem]. He gave them an assurance of protection for their lives, property, church and crosses as well as the sick and healthy and all its religious community.
Their churches shall not be occupied, demolished nor taken away wholly or in part. None of their crosses nor property shall be seized. They shall not be coerced in their religion nor shall any of them be injured. None of the Jews shall reside with them in Ilia'.
The people of Ilia shall pay Jizia tax as inhabitants of cities do. They shall evict all robbers and thieves.
He whoever gets out shall be guaranteed safety for his life and property until he reach his safe haven. He whoever stays shall be also safe, in which case he shall pay as much tax as the people of Ilia' do. Should any of the people of Ilia wish to move together with his property along with the Romans and to clear out of their churches and crosses, they shall be safe for their lives, churches and crosses, until they have reached their safe haven. He whoever chooses to stay he may do so and he shall pay as much tax as the people of Ilia' do. He whoever wishes to move along with the Roman, may do so, and whoever wishes to return back home to his kinsfolk, may do so. Nothing shall be taken from them, their crops have been harvested. To the contents of this convent here are given the Covenant of Allah, the guarantees of His Messenger, the Caliphs and the Believers, provided they pay their due Jizia tax.
Witnesses hereto are:
Khalid Ibn al-Waleed Amr Ibn al-Aas Abdul-Rahman Ibn'Auf Mu'awiya Ibn abi-Sifian Made and executed in the year 15 AH. (Source: Tabri, ‘Tarikh Al umam wal Malouk’)
When, in Umar (R.A)’s tenure, Muslims in Syria had to leave under pressure of the Romans, the Christian citizens came out into the streets in mourning, shedding tears of sorrow. The Bishop swore on the Bible saying, “I swear by this Sacred Book, if we are ever given a chance to choose our own leaders, we will choose these Arabs.”
When in Umar (R.A)’s time Jerusalem was conquered, the tolerance, maturity, and kindness he showed to the area's inhabitants, regardless of their religion, marked the beginning of a beautiful new age. A leading British commentator on religion Karen Armstrong describes the capture of Jerusalem by Umar in these terms in her book Holy War:
“The Caliph Omar entered Jerusalem mounted on a white camel, escorted by the magistrate of the city, the Greek Patriarch Sophronius. The Caliph asked to be taken immediately to the Temple Mount and there he knelt in prayer on the spot where his friend Mohammed had made his Night Journey. The Patriarch watched in horror: this, he thought, must be the Abomination of Desolation that the Prophet Daniel had foretold would enter the Temple; this must be Antichrist who would herald the Last Days. Next Omar asked to see the Christian shrines and, while he was in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the time for Muslim prayer came round. Courteously the Patriarch invited him to pray where he was, but Omar as courteously refused. If he knelt to pray in the church, he explained, the Muslims would want to commemorate the event by erecting a mosque there, and that would mean that they would have to demolish the Holy Sepulchre. Instead Omar went to pray at a little distance from the church, and, sure enough, directly opposite the Holy Sepulchre there is still a small mosque dedicated to the Caliph Omar. The other great mosque of Omar was erected on the Temple Mount to mark the Muslim conquest, together with the mosque al-Aqsa which commemorates Mohammed's Night Journey. For years, the Christians had used the site of the ruined Jewish Temple as the city rubbish dump. The Caliph helped his Muslims to clear the garbage with his own hands and there Muslims raised their two shrines to establish Islam in the third most holy city in the Islamic world.”
While Palestine's Jews, Christians, and Muslims were living together in peace, the Pope decided to organize a crusade. Following Pope Urban II's call in 1095 at the Council of Clermont, more than 100,000 Europeans set out for Palestine to "free" the Holy Land from the Muslims and find the fabled wealth of the East. After a long and wearying journey, and much plundering and slaughter along the way, they reached Jerusalem in 1099. The city fell after a siege of nearly 5 weeks. When the Crusaders moved in, they carried out a savage slaughter. All of Jerusalem's Muslims and Jews were put to the sword.
In the words of one historian: "They killed all the Saracens and the Turks they found ... whether male of female." One of the Crusaders, Raymond of Aguiles, boasted of this violence: “Wonderful sights were to be seen. Some of our men (and this was more merciful) cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into the flames. Piles of heads, hands and feet were to be seen in the streets of the city. It was necessary to pick one's way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared to what happened at the Temple of Solomon, a place where religious services are normally chanted ... in the Temple and porch of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins.”
In two days, the Crusader army killed some 40,000 Muslims in the barbaric manner just described. The peace and harmony in Palestine, which had lasted since Umar, ended in a terrible slaughter. The Crusaders made Jerusalem their capital and established a Latin Kingdom stretching from Palestine to Antioch. But their rule was short-lived, for Saladin gathered all of the Muslim kingdoms under his banner in a holy war and defeated the Crusaders at the battle of Hattin in 1187. Three months after Hattin, and on the very same day that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had been taken from Mecca to Jerusalem for his night journey through the heavens, Saladin entered Jerusalem and freed it from 88 years of Crusader occupation. In contrast to the Crusaders' "liberation" of Jerusalem, Saladin did not touch one Christian in the city, thereby turning aside their fear that they would all be massacred. He merely ordered all Latin (Catholic) Christians to leave Jerusalem. The Orthodox Christians, who were not Crusaders, were allowed to stay and worship as they chose. Saladin signed a charter with the Christians which included the following:
1 Complete religious freedom
2 Priests and Churches were to be protected
3 no Church will be pulled down to make Muslims’ residences or mosques
4 Christian women marrying Muslim men will not be forced to convert
5 Christians will not be treated with contempt
Karen Armstrong describes the second capture of Jerusalem in these words:
“On 2 October 1187 Saladin and his army entered Jerusalem as conquerors and for the next 800 years Jerusalem would remain a Muslim city. Saladin kept his word, and conquered the city according to the highest Islamic ideals. He did not take revenge for the 1099 massacre, as the Qur'an advised (16:127), and now that hostilities had ceased he ended the killing (2:193-194). Not a single Christian was killed and there was no plunder. The ransoms were deliberately very low ... Saladin was moved to tears by the plight of families who were rent asunder and he released many of them freely, as the Qur'an urged, though to the despair of his long-suffering treasurers. His brother al-Adil was so distressed by the plight of the prisoners that he asked Saladin for a thousand of them for his own use and then released them on the spot... All the Muslim leaders were scandalised to see the rich Christians escaping with their wealth, which could have been used to ransom all the prisoners [The Patriarch] Heraclius paid his ten-dinar ransom like everybody else and was even provided with a special escort to keep his treasure safe during the journey to Tyre.”
In short, Saladin and his army treated the Christians with great mercy and justice, and showed them more compassion than their own leaders had. After Jerusalem, the Crusaders continued their barbarity and the Muslims their justice in other Palestinian cities. In 1194, Richard the Lionheart, who is portrayed as a great hero in British history, had 3,000 Muslims, among them many women and children, treacherously executed in the Castle of Acre. Although the Muslims witnessed this savagery, they never resorted to similar methods. Rather, they abided by Allah's command: "Let not the hatred of a people (who once) obstructed you from the Sacred Mosque lead you to transgress..." (Qur'an, 5:2) and never used violence against innocent civilians. In addition, they never used violence unnecessarily, not even against the defeated Crusader armies. Crusader savagery and Muslim justice once more revealed a historic truth: An administration built upon the principles of Islam allowed people of different faiths to live together. This fact continued to be demonstrated for 800 years after Saladin, particularly during the Ottoman period. In contrast to these brutalities, the Ottoman Empire and other Muslim states established their rule upon the Quranic commands of tolerant, just and humane administration. The reason for the justice and civilization displayed by Umar, Saladin, the Ottoman sultans, and many Muslim rulers, which is accepted by the West today, was due to their faithfulness to the Quranic commands, some of which are as follows:
“Allah commands you to return to their owners the things you hold on trust and, when you judge between people, to judge with justice. How excellent is what Allah exhorts you to do. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.” (The Noble Quran, 4:58)
“O you who believe, be upholders of justice, bearing witness for Allah alone, even against yourselves or your parents and relatives. Whether they are rich or poor, Allah is well able to look after them. Do not follow your own desires and deviate from the truth. If you twist or turn away, Allah is aware of what you do.” (The Noble Quran, 4:135)
“Allah does not forbid you from being good to those who have not fought you in the religion or driven you from your homes, or from being just toward them. Allah loves those who are just.” ( The Noble Quran, 60:8)
“If two parties of the believers fight, make peace between them. But if one of them attacks the other unjustly, fight the attackers until they revert to God's command. If they revert, make peace between them with justice and be even-handed. God loves those who are even-handed.” (The Noble Quran, 49:9)
Jerusalem, the center of three religions, experienced the longest period of stability in its history under the Ottomans, when peace, abundance, and prosperity reigned there and throughout the empire. Christians, Jews, and Muslims, and their various denominations, worshipped as they pleased, honored their own beliefs, and followed their own customs and traditions. This was possible because the Ottomans ruled with the belief that bringing order, justice, peace, prosperity, and tolerance to their lands was a sacred obligation. Many historians and political scientists have drawn attention to this fact. One of them is Columbia University's world-famous Middle East expert Professor Edward Said. Originally from a Christian family of Jerusalem, he continues his research at American universities, far from his homeland. In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, he recommended resurrecting the "Ottoman nation system" if a permanent peace is to be built in the Middle East. In his own words, “A Jewish minority can survive the way other minorities in the Arab world survived it worked rather well under the Ottoman Empire, with its millet system. What they had then seems a lot more humane than what we have now.”
(Source: www.palestiniantragedy.com)
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SECTION SIX
THE CONCEPT OF JIHAD
Jihad means ‘to struggle’ or ‘strive’, and in the religious context, it implies striving in the cause of Allah which the Shariah explains can be striving for spiritual purification, striving to spread the message of Islam through word or deed, or enduring any kinds of hardship and trial in order to uphold the truth for the sake of Allah_ through physical/military struggle if need be. It includes resistance to falsehood, oppression and injustice and the struggle to establish the Truth, which, at the final stage, may also involve military struggle against forces of oppression seeking to resist it. Such a struggle, however, must necessarily be solely for the sake of Allah, regardless of selfish interest, nationalist motivations, material concerns etc. It must adopt just and humane ways and avoid all excesses, as the Quran and hadith make it amply clear. Performed in this way, Jihad becomes one of the most meritorious acts in Islam.
"And what is wrong with you that you fight not in the Cause of Allâh, and for those weak, ill-treated and oppressed among men, women, and children, whose cry is: "Our Lord! Rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from You one who will protect, and raise for us from You the one who will help.” (The Noble Quran, 4: 75.)
“To those against whom war is made, permission is given to fight, because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah is Able to give them victory. Those who have been driven from their homes unjustly, only because they said: ‘our Lord is Allah.’ For had it not been Allah’s repelling some men by means of others, cloisters and churches and oratories and mosques, wherein the name of Allah is oft-mentioned, would have been pulled down. Verily, Allah helps those who help Him. Lo! Allah is Strong, the All-Mighty.” (The Noble Quran, 22:40)
The rationale and methodology of jihad becomes amply clear when the verses pertaining to Jihad are read and understood in the sequence and context of revelation.
“And fight against those who fight with you, but do not transgress the limits. Indeed Allah does not love the transgressors.”(The Noble Quran, 2:190)
This verse and the one preceding it (22:40) makes it clear that Jihad is to be undertaken to resist aggression, oppression and injustice and that it must abide by the limits set by Allah against the commission of excesses in order to qualify as ‘Jihad.’
“But if the enemy inclines towards peace, then incline towards peace, and trust in Allah.” (The Noble Quran, 8:61)
Fighting is to be put down as soon as oppression an injustice ends. Peace is the worthy end which must be sought and hostility ended when the enemy shows inclination towards ending the offensive.
“Let there be no hostility except against those who practise oppression.” (The Noble Quran, 2:193)
After the hostility ends, there ought to be no vengeance except from the oppressors. Islam strictly calls for adherence to justice and law.
“O Believers! Be patient and excel in patience during confrontations, hold yourselves ready for battle and have fear of Allah so that you may be successful.”(The Noble Quran, 3:200)
“Do not let ill-will towards any folk incite you so that you swerve from dealing justly.” (The Noble Quran, 5:8)
At Badr the Prophet (SAW) said: “You shall not be the first to attack. You shall not let personal hate or revenge sway your hearts while fighting. You shall not raise your arms against anyone who is not a party to the fight. You will spare the old and the sick. You shall protect women and children from injury.” (Sahih Muslim, no. 1731)
At Uhad he said: “You are fighting neither for land nor wealth nor bloodshed but merely to defend the word of Allah and to keep high the banner of the Truth.”
At Khyber when some of his followers forcibly took the animals and fruit trees of the Jews he became angry and said: “Allah has not permitted you to enter into the houses of the People of the Book, except with their permission, or to torture their women, or to eat their fruits, when they have fulfilled their terms with you.” (Abu Daud, hadith no. 1329)
At Muta he laid down the following principles for the conduct of Muslim armies:
1) They were not to attack those engaged in worship
2) No woman, child or old man was to be injured or killed.
3) No green trees were to be cut or destroyed
(Source: Islamiat for Students by F. Nur Muhammad)
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In an interview with Andrea Bistrich, Karen Armstrong was asked: “9/11 has become the symbol of major insurmountable hostilities between Islam and the West. After the attacks many Americans asked: ‘Why do they hate us?’ And experts in numerous round-table talks debated if Islam is an inherently violent religion. Is this so?
She replied: “Certainly not. There is a lot more violence in the Torah and in the Bible than in the Quran; the idea that Islam imposed itself by the sword is a Western fiction, fabricated during the time of the Crusades when, in fact, it was Western Christians who were fighting brutal holy wars against Islam. The Quran forbids aggressive warfare and permits war in self-defence. The moment the enemy sues for peace, the Quran insists the Muslims must lay down their arms and accept the terms offered. Later, Muslim law forbade Muslims to attack a country where Muslims were permitted to practice their faith freely; the killing of civilians was prohibited, as was the destruction of property and the use of fire in warfare according to several sayings of the Prophet.”
Maryam Sakeenah states:
Jihad is the implementation of a just, exploitation-free social and political order. It is meant to safeguard and protect the sanctity of human life, not to violate it. It aims at protecting the weak, the suffering and the sinned-against. The aim of Jihad, it must be understood, is not to annex territory or acquire military greatness, or even to assert strategic hegemony. This striking difference in objectives is where Jihad falls apart with any other kind of warfare at the very outset. Moreover, Jihad does not involve insidious and wily underground tactics, dirty tricks or needless cruelty. Jihad is justice implemented in letter and spirit. It is confrontation in the open, not venom festering beneath the surface. With the advent of Islam, the entire concept of warfare was revolutionised. Jihad purged the concept of war from all kinds of cruelties and injustices. Allah first declared Jihad obligatory in His Book in the following words: ‘Fight against those who fight with you but be not aggressive’(The Noble Quran, 2:190). Jihad is justice for all: ‘O you who believe, be you staunch in justice’(The Noble Quran, 4:135). And again: ‘Let not your enmity against a community deter you from following the path of justice. Be just, for that is next to piety.’ (The Noble Quran, 5:8)
The ethos of Islam sees virtue in strength, and strength in that virtue. That is one big reason why Islam stands out of the whole array of spiritual doctrines. It is the only religion whose founder was a ruler, jurist, and soldier and lived all these roles to the fullest. It is the only religion that makes social activism and the willingness to physically struggle for it a part of its very fundamentals. It is the only religion that can see the role of religion not in the hermit’s humble hut and the cave-dwelling of a sage or a Church altar, but in such secular arenas as the battlefield as well.
This, I believe, is Islam’s Realism. Historical perspective asserts it. Students of history know that the most dynamic force that has shaped events and ideologies, and written the very fate of men, is strength. It is the defining force, its is the last word. It is strength or the absence of it that writes History, determines the Rise and Fall of empires and ideologies. For better or for worse, strength counts. That is why no ideology that aims to matter to the world in a meaningful, definitive sense, can afford not to have it.
Yet strength in itself is not virtuous. It is morally neutral. It translates into activism or makes dominant whatever it accompanies. If it accompanies the good, morality blossoms and evil is pushed into its little dark corner. For a morally ordered world where a spade is called a spade, strength must fall in line to back the powers of good. That is why moral ideologies need to fortify themselves with strength. Goodness cannot passively sit and watch evil rule the roost and become irrelevant. The believers in values and moral ideologies simply cannot ‘let it be’, for it undermines the good they believe in, and reduces it to a romantic, Utopian notion, as they say ‘evil must not be resisted with (the) evil (of warfare). Such a logic is clearly ludicrous, as it cannot withstand in a world where strength rules.
Realizing this, perhaps, the Christian world shunned the pacifism it professed. For purposes of physical self-defence and to expand and exert its power, it threw off the pretence and jumped so wholeheartedly into the melee, as the ability to demonstrate and exercise strength is a necessity in a world where power talks. It was the Roman Catholic Church which, long believing that ‘He who takes up the sword must perish with the sword’, sponsored relentless warfare in the Crusades. In 1099 when Palestine fell to the Crusaders, the victorious holy armies brutally attacked non-combatants who had taken refuge in the holy places, not leaving even a single hostage alive. We all know how the Spanish clergy, monitoring planned genocide, ‘purged’ remnants of Muslim civilization from Spain.
It is kind of indigestible. The saintly Christian cleric harping on peace, piling corpses in his backyard. The root of this inherent contradiction runs deep. The pacifist understands the need for strength and the readiness to exercise it in the kind of world ours is. However, the ‘secularization’ of physical strength and its ouster from religious doctrines leaves him at a loss. He is stuck between loyalty to his faith, the desire to make it prevail (which necessitates activism), and his inability to do so following the dictates of pacifism that declare physical strength ‘unholy.’ On the other hand, the call of the real world and its exigencies is irresistible, and he succumbs to the necessity of displaying strength in order to prevail. Yet in so doing, he diverges or parts from his religious edicts, and knows it. Therefore, in this Christian’s psyche, a sharp disconnection between religion and the world is created. War, which is a wholly secular concept to him, has to be taken to out of necessity. But it has to be dealt with irreligiously, as it is not within the precincts of sanctity. It is an unholy weapon, used for no nobler reason than that he cannot help it. Religion becomes only the triggering factor that fuels the hatred, his methods have nothing to do with it. War becomes a tool of necessity. As he fights these unholy wars, with the ethical orientation and the elevation of aim and objective religion provides gone, his methods and motives turn ‘unholy’ as well. Thus with the bulwark gone, the excesses and brutalities, the mean, low and lustfully selfish trivia fuelling confrontations become wholly justifiable. War is Caesar’s domain, it has to be fought Caesar Borgias’ way.
Perhaps that is why we see the Western civilization, with all the thrust on peace and pacifism that Christianity has, at the head of all major confrontations and man-made devastation the world has witnessed. The Crusades, the World Wars, the ruthless colonization of ‘lesser people’, the wiping out of an entire race of American aborigines, and now the Holy War on Terror. The parting from the pacifist Christian spirit these confrontations necessitate demeans the concept, motive, ideology and ethic of warfare. Religion is reduced to the vile force that fires the hatred that is at the heart of such warfare, and no more. War comes to be used merely as a means to subjugate, to possess and acquire, and to impose. Therefore, force becomes ‘unholy’ and is seen by the generality of men as an unholy weapon of tyranny and illegitimate hegemony.
This is very unfortunate. For, in thinking this, we stop seeing the effective use of strength as a means to a greater end_ to stay the hand of the oppressor, to make a better world, to liberate, to uphold the good and fortify it, to resist the evil. We tend to see the whole concept of warfare as invariably unjustifiable, as yet another dimension of Terror. Certainly, the ‘unholy’ war disconnected from a high moral aim and fired by greed and base desire is just that. But this misuse of strength ought not to undermine the whole utility of strength altogether.
For, strength serves importantly. If used for a higher moral purpose, strength can decisively give it the edge and effectively quell evil. It is what translates theory and sterile moral doctrine into active, meaningful implementation. It makes morality happen_ and stay. Strength counts.
It is this vision that Islam incorporates in its realistic outlook. That if goodness, no matter how ethereally angelic, is passive, it will be rooted out. That if the good don’t win power for themselves, it will fall to the lot of the evil, and evil will dominate, rule, pervade. The good then will be cornered and enfeebled, unable to make its presence felt. Humanity will dwindle into bestiality, goodness being too weak to stop the descent into blackness. When the saint lets the dogs have their day, the world goes to the dogs. This is the humungous crime that the goodness that doesn’t seek strength commits to the world. The sage and priest, with all his sermons on peace, his rosaries and meditation, who has never killed even so much as a fly, is a cruel man.
The essence of the Islamic Jihadic philosophy is that it sees force and strength as a weapon to resist and diminish the influence of evil, and to uphold and stand up for the good and true. When you have something valuable and worthwhile, when you have the Elixir and the panacea for the world with you, you are morally bound to share it, to spread its cult in order to beckon mankind towards the progression ‘out of darkness towards the light.’ You cannot sit and watch vicious, malevolent attempts to snuff it out and dampen it down, because you see its beauty, believe in it, love it, value it. Therefore, the readiness to defend it and expound it is a natural part of being ‘Muslim.’ Therefore, Jihad.
By making this concept of physical struggle for the most worthy cause a part of its religious fundamentals, Islam recognizes the relationship between ideology / morality and strength, and sanctifies it. Infact, it elevates this struggle to the highest virtue, thus instilling the desire and the readiness for absolute sacrifice for the worthiest cause. This is what creates the values of selflessness and sacrifice, courage and conviction that engender true, meaningful and enduring greatness and heroism_ the impregnable spirit of the selfless believer. This creation of the ‘mujahid’ character is the formula for change for the better. It is this creation of heroism and the readiness to prove it through acts of sacrifice that makes human effort change the Old Order and makes the peace of the Moral Order prevail.
And it is this realistic, active moral vision of Islam that creates the idea of the ‘Holy War’_ a far cry from secular warfare that destroys and oppresses, subjugates and terribly exacts. Islam makes strength a means to a greater end, ennobling it, elevating it. Strength thus becomes virtue, as it aims at creating moral order, stemming chaos, anarchy and suppression, recovering human values out of the quagmire of amoral chaos, reinstating respect for human life that comes with a belief in One God (tauhid). This is the ‘Holy War’ that does not sit and watch human blood being lost in vain to vile, mean primordial instincts; that waters the flowering of a new era with its own life and blood.
It is this higher objective Islam gives to the use of strength that makes the ‘Holy War’_ the ‘holy war’ that does not make its end justify all means; that respects its liberating ideology by purging away the unholy from its methods; that has its own set of ethics and laws for the legitimate use of force, de-legitimizing all excesses. For, what aims to free, respect and elevate humanity cannot trample human rights. That is Holy War.
A comparison is eye-opening. Hold in the balance the Crusader-mentality that cannot even draw a line between combatant and non-combatant as opposed to the Prophet (SAWW)’s army who fought war as an act of faith, careful not to blemish their cause with unfair excesses. The Prophet (SAWW) specifically commanded Muslim armies not to be unfair, excessive or cruel, and to distinguish between the combatant and non-combatant at a time when the Roman, Persian and the Byzantine armies were committing atrocious acts of barbarism to make their presence felt.
On the contrary, ideologies and systems that outlaw the use of force show the gaping loophole of such an approach in the arena of implementation. It doesn’t work, leaving people scot-free to use whatever means can guarantee an easy victory. It is this silence about the right use of force that leads to all becoming ‘fair in love and war’, as religion has not defined the motives and parameters for you. A Western War officer writes on effective war strategies: “When bombing, the victims must necessarily include women and children and other non-combatants, for, the strategy of warfare dictates that only then can the enemy be intimidated, pressurized and forced to surrender as soon as possible.”
The distinction is clearer than can ever be explained. The concept of ‘Holy War’, when seen unbiased in its purity is sacred. It is a moral vision translated effectively into practical terms. When the prefix ‘holy’ is removed, war is reduced to the brute-force, naked barbarism, hegemony per force, imposition of injustice, subjugation, tyranny, oppression, greed, lust, devouring fanaticism for ‘lebensraum’ and an unholy mission for the extinction of the lesser and the unwanted. It is this degeneration of the concept of strength as a moral imperative into uncouth display of muscle that has made the world what it is. It is when those entrusted with the task of safeguarding and fortifying the good and true give up the mission that strength degenerates into an unholy mission of dominating and subjugating. To stop this from happening, the sanctity of strength and the necessity to use it for a higher purpose must be recognized.
“Those who are believers fight in the cause of Allah and those who are unbelievers fight in the cause of the false deities: so fight against the helpers of Shaitan (Satan), surely Shaitan’s crafty schemes are weak.” (The Noble Quran, 4:75-76)
Jihad must not be disowned simply because we, with our narrowness of vision can no more see it for what it is. Disassociating oneself from it is dangerous, cruel, blind, foolish, careless, criminal. For the nature of life is such that power will be won by the one willing to be strong, and leadership will fall to his lot. It will be exercised over the weaker in any case. If we wish the world to make sense, power has to fall where it ought to be, it has to back goodness and give it authority. If the good do not win it, it is grabbed by the unworthy, and misused. Because, if the saint won’t have it, the devil must_ and God save the world then! If you are not ready to win it, you let it be abused, you let the world go to the dogs, you connive in the greatest sin_ the sin of letting it be. Comfortably numb.
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SECTION SEVEN
THE MIRACLE OF THE QURAN
“O Mankind! There has come unto you a direction from your Lord, and a healing for the heart, and for those who believe, a guidance and a mercy.”(The Noble Quran, 10:57)
The Quran is replete with scientific wonders and miracles that have come to light and proven to be true with the advancement of science in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The Quran’s astoundingly accurate references to human embryonic development, formation of mountains, origins of the universe, the human cerebrum, rivers and seas, oceans, internal waves, planetary system, formation of clouds and the water cycle, among other things were not known to mankind as far back as when the Quran was revealed among a community of desert Arabs. While an exposition of the scientific wonders of the Quran in detail can be sought on the web-link www.islam-guide.com and in several other treatises, articles and books (Maurice Bucaille: ‘The Bible, the Quran and Modern Science.’), a few statements of leading contemporary scientists on this fact are reproduced below:
Professor Tagata Tagasone, formerly Head of the Department of Anatomy and Embryology at the University of Shiang Mai in Thailand is now the Dean of the College of the Medicine at the University. He says: “From my studies and from what I have learned throughout this conference, I believe that everything that has been recorded in the Qur’aan 1400 years ago must be the truth, that can be proved by the scientific means. Since the Prophet Muhammad could neither read nor write, Muhammad must be a messenger who relayed this truth which was revealed to him as an enlightenment by the One Who is an eligible Creator. This Creator must be God, or Allah. Therefore, I think this is the time to say ‘Laa ilaaha illallah’, that there is no God to worship except Allah, ‘Muhammad Rasool Allah’, Muhammad is messenger of Allah...”
Professor Armstrong, Scientist works at NASA said: “I am impressed that how remarkably some of the ancient writings seem to correspond to modern and recent Astronomy. There may well have to be something beyond what we understand as ordinary human experience to account for the writings that we have seen.”
Professor Keith Moore, one of the world’s prominent scientists of anatomy and embryology, University of Toronto, Canada said: “It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in the Qur’aan about human development. It is clear to me that these statements must have come to Muhammad from God, or Allah, because almost all of this knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later. This proves to me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of Allah.”
Dr. T.V.N Persaud, Professor of Anatomy, Pediatrics and Gynaecology at the University of Manitoba, Canada said: “Muhammad was a very ordinary man who did not know how to read or write, and we are talking about 1,400 years ago. You have someone who can neither read nor write making profound pronouncements and statements that are amazingly accurate about scientific nature. And personally I cannot see how this could be mere chance. There are too many accuracies and, like Dr. Moore, I have no difficulty in my mind that this is a divine inspiration or revelation which led him into these statements.”
Dr. Yoshihide Kozai is Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at Tokyo University. He said: “I am very much impressed by finding true astronomical facts in the Quran, and for us the modern astronomers have been studying very small pieces of the universe. Because by using telescopes, we can see only very few parts of the sky without thinking about the whole universe, so by reading the Quran and answering the questions, I think I can find my future way for investigation of the universe.”
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The Quran contains a set of moral and judicial injunctions which are the basis of Islamic law concerning the life of human beings in every detail_ both individual and collective. It deals with beliefs and morality, laws and principles to create an organized society based on justice as embodied in the following single epigrammatic statement of the Quran: “And give full measure and weight with a balance that is straight.” (The Noble Quran, 17:35)
The Quran is guidance to both man’s physical and spiritual being, geared towards the refinement of the individual in order to create peaceful and congenial relations among human beings. It is addressed to all humanity regardless of any barriers at all. It reaffirms the previous revelations now part of other religions and corrects the fabrications that have corrupted the original message. In this way the Quran perfects and completes the Divine revelation: “This Day have I completed My favour to you and chosen for you Islam as a religion.” (The Noble Quran, 5:3)
According to F. Nur Muhammad: “The Quran contains directives for the Head of State as well as the common person, for the rich as well as for the poor, for peace as well as for war, for spiritual as well as material prosperity. Its laws guide human beings to perfection. It appeals to the reason of man and invites him to exercise his purpose in life.”
The Quran is the miracle of the last Prophet (SAW) in a great many ways. Its revelation marks the end of the Age of Ignorance (Jahiliyyah) and the dawn of enlightenment. Before Islam Arabia had descended into the worst period of its history. Polytheism was rife, the society was a tribal morass with fierce wars on trivial issues raging for years, violence and cruelty. There was no protection for the weak, no respect for women and no law of the land. The very first revelation of the Quran read thus: “Read! In the Name of your Lord Who creates. Creates man from a clot of congealed blood. Read! And your Lord is Most Gracious, Who teaches by the pen. He teaches man that which he knew not” (The Noble Quran, Surah 196). It makes the fact evident that the purpose of the Quran was to direct, enlighten and remind man of the reality and his true purpose in life. The Quran is a healing for the heart and a guidance ‘from darkness towards light.’
It was the power of the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW) that created in Arabia a community of the faithful who lived by the spirit of ‘We hear and we obey’, who implemented Islam every moment they lived and were willing to give their lives for it. The examples of these Heroes of Islam, these living gems, is there to tell us what miracles the Quran can do when its essence is imbibed. Therefore this was also the Prophet (SAW)’s last message to the world: “Verily, I have left amongst you the Book of Allah and the Way of His Messenger (SAW), which, if you hold fast to, you shall never go astray” (From the Last Sermon of the Prophet SAW). Indeed, today when the Muslim Ummah is beset with challenges both from within and without and is in search of the way out to attain the promised Victory, we need to remember these words. It is the Quran that can resurrect us, reunite us and raise us up to become the ‘best of all nations’, inviting others to goodness and the ways of Peace.
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CONCLUSION
"I hope I am a ‘Muslim’ as ‘one surrendered to God.’ I believe that embedded in the Quran and other expressions of the Islamic vision are vast stores of divine truth from which I and other occidentals have still much to learn, and 'Islam is certainly a strong contender for the supplying of the basic framework of the one religion of the future.'" --W. Montgomery Watt, ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY TODAY, London, 1983, p. ix.
"The essential and definite element of my conversion to Islam was the Qur'an. I began to study it before my conversion with the critical spirit of a Western intellectual .... There are certain verses of this book, the Qur'an, revealed more than thirteen centuries ago, which teach exactly the same notions as the most modern scientific researches do. This definitely converted me." Ali Selman Benoist, France, Doctor of Medicine.
"I have read the Sacred Scriptures of every religion; nowhere have I found what I encountered in Islam: perfection. The Holy Qur'an, compared to any other scripture I have read, is like the Sun compared to that of a match. I firmly believe that anybody who reads the Word of Allah with a mind that is not completely closed to Truth, will become a Muslim." Saifuddin Dirk Walter Mosig, U. S.A.
"Everything made so much sense. This is the beauty of the Qur'an; it asks you to reflect and reason....When I read the Qur'an further, it talked about prayer, kindness and charity. I was not a Muslim yet, but I felt the only answer for me was the Qur'an and God had sent it to me." Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), former British pop star.
“The Christian Bible, being the textbook of Christianity, is a book which I have read many times. I doubt if there is a person who does not shudder while reading its pages, filled as they are with bloodcurdling slaughter, rapine destruction alongwith its tales of incest, rape and other vile obscenity. Indeed, after reading the Bible one cannot help but wonder as to the nature of this God of the Christians. The Christian Bible may be ‘the book nobody knows’ in America, but the Quran is the book everybody reads in Islam. Yes, indeed, and it is an advantage to Christianity that the Bible is ‘the book nobody knows.’ The Bible was the first cause in leading me away from Christianity. I found that Islam appeals to one’s reason. It does not contain pessimism or is void of Divinity or is a materialistic religion.” (Harry E. Heinkell, 1932)
“The Holy Quran, some passages of which I read, simply struck me with wonder, for I had the idea that there was nothing to rival the Bible. I found, however, that I was hopelessly mistaken in this. Indeed, the Holy Quran is so full of truths, and its teachings so practical and free from dogmatic tenets and mysteries that I was daily being drifted into the religion of ‘Peace and Love’ which Islam certainly is.” (Mumin Abdur Razzaq, 1934)
“My opinion of Islam was not a favourable one before I read the Holy Quran. I took the Holy Quran with curiosity, and opened it with scorn, expecting to find in it horrible errors, blasphemies, superstitions and contradictions. I was biased against Islam, but since I was young my heart had not hardened as yet. I went through the chapters reluctantly in the beginning, then eagerly and finally with a desperate thirst for the Truth. Then, in the greatest moment of life, Allah gave me His guidance and led me from superstitions to the truth, from darkness towards the light and from Christianity to Islam. In the blessed pages of the Holy Quran I found the solution to all my problems, satisfaction to all my needs, explication for all my doubts. Allah attracted me to His Light with irresistible strength, and I gladly yielded to Him. Everything seemed clear now, everything made sense to me and I began to understand myself, the universe and Allah.” (Saifuddin Dirk Walter, USA)
“I learnt of this worldwide brotherhood, possessing no racial or class distinctions; of the Oneness of God; of the respect and reverence ascribed to all the former prophets of God; and of the true meaning of Islam_ Peace. It sounded wonderful, and I yearned to know more of this faith, which is so practicable and broad-minded. To me the Holy Quran is a mine of infinite wealth; with such guidance_ for every day of one’s life_ no one need fear or go astray. I am a much happier person than before, though many trials have come to me because of my changed views.” (Ms. Rahima Griffiths, 1933)
“It was like coming home, and the more I read the Quran and the books on Islam by Muslim writers, the more lucid and convincing, the more I became convinced that it is the only true religion, a religion for peoples who think and do not want to shut their eyes to the realities of life and discoveries of science.” (Mrs. C. Saeeda Namier, 1935)
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Allah says in the Quran:
“There has come to you a Light and a Clear Book with which Allah will guide to the ways of peace all those who seek His good pleasure and bring them out of the depths of darkness into the light of His Grace and guide them to the Right Way.” (The Noble Quran, 5:15-16)
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
• English Translations of the Meaning of The Noble Quran:
- Azam, Malik Muhammad Farooq, The Institute of Islamic Knowledge, Houston, Texas, USA, 1997
- Khan, Muhammad Muhsin, Darussalam, Riyadh, KSA, 2000.
- Pickthall, Marmaduke, Islamasoft Solutions, 2003.
• Nawawi, Al Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya, ‘Riyadh us Saaliheen’, (English Translation by Dr. Muhammad Amin) Darussalam, Riyadh, KSA, 2002.
• Lings, Martin, “Muhammad (SAW): His Life Based on the Earliest Sources”, Inner Traditions, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 2006.
• Ibrahim, I.A, ‘A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam’, Darussalam, Houston, 1997.
• Shahid, M. Hanif, ‘Why Islam is Our Only Choice,’ Darussalam, Riyadh, KSA, 1996.
• Naik, Dr. Zakir, ‘Islam and Terrorism,’ www.irf.net
• Gauhar, Altaf, ‘The Challenge of Islam’, Islamic Council of Europe, United Kingdom, 1978
• Jameelah, Maryam, ‘Islam and Modern Man’, Muhammad Yusuf Khan and Sons, Lahore, 1989
• Armstrong, Karen, ‘The Battle for God’, Harper Collins, London, 2001.
• Kailani, M.Iqbal, ‘Jihad Kay Masa’il’, Hadith Publications, Lahore, 2000.
• ‘Why Did They Become Muslims’, www.thetruereligion.org
• Muhammad, F. Noor, ‘Islamiat for Students’, Ferozsons, Karachi, 2007.
• www.irf.net
• www.islamforever.com
• www.islamway.com
• www.lightuponlight.com
• www.soundvision.com
• www.harunyahya.org
• www.thetruereligion.com
• www.maryamsakeenah.blogspot.com
• www.oneummah.net
• www.palestiniantragedy.com
• www.islam-guide.com
. www.answering-christianity.com
posted by Maverick @ 12:14 AM
