Terrorism Or An Act Of Faith?
View Comments |
Print This Post | 
by G.N. Orisai | December 2nd, 2009 Too many people want to know Islam only as "the religion of peace."
The tragedy at Fort Hood has sparked much debate over whether to classify the incident as a terrorist act. Some fear that by using the label "terrorism," the Islamic faith will be implicated. Others jump at the chance to define it as terrorism in order to blame the current administration for the first terrorist attack on American soil since September 11, 2001. If we connect the dots of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's actions — the communication with Imam Anwar al-Awlaki, the comments he made publicly concerning Islam, his belief that Muslims should not fight other Muslims, as well as the fact that he shouted ""Allahu Akbar" (God is great) prior to "allegedly" opening fire — we can easily define the incident as an Islamic-motivated act of violence.
Before we can reply to the typical objection that there is nothing peculiarly violent about Islam, that it is "a religion of peace," we must first inquire into the meaning, or, rather, meanings, of "peace." In referring to Islam as a "religion of peace," is the objector suggesting that Muslims are pacifists, or that the punishments they dispense for the violators of their laws are essentially reasonable, humane, and just? Is Islam a "religion of peace" because it's assumed Muslims don't initiate wars?
To answer these and all other questions regarding Islam, we need first and foremost to consult, not the fanciful wishes of our imaginations, but the sacred texts of Islam itself, for only in so doing can we simultaneously achieve a genuinely informed understanding of the topic at hand as well as succeed — at long last — in treating Muslims, not as cartoonish caricatures that conform to our contemporary Western preconceptions, but real flesh and blood individuals with a faith that, in spite of its ancient history, is very much alive.
In a recent CNN article entitled "Murder Has No Religion" Arsalan Iftikhar states that, "Most of the world's 1.57 billion Muslims know that the Holy Quran states quite clearly that, 'Anyone who kills a human being . . . it shall be as though he has killed all of mankind . . . If anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he has saved the lives of all of mankind.'" However the entire verse actually reads:
On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our messengers with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land. (Surah 5:32)
There are a couple of critical details here of which we must not lose sight. First, the text refers to the Jewish people and is a modification of a teaching found in their Oral law known as the Mishnah which pre-dates Islam by several centuries. Second — and here in lies the Islamic modification — one is permitted to kill someone if they spread mischief in the land.
The following verse reads:
The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter; (Surah 5:33)
Those who "spread mischief," the Quran informs us, are those who reject Allah, and those who reject Allah are those — like Christians, Jews, and everyone else who refuses to recognize Muhammad as Allah's prophet — who reject Islam.
Those who reject Allah and hinder (men) from the Path of Allah – for them will We add Penalty to Penalty; for that they used to spread mischief. (Surah 16:88)
Elsewhere Jew and Christians — known as People of the Book — are identified as the worst of humanity:
Those who reject (Truth), among the People of the Book and among the Polytheists, will be in Hell-Fire, to dwell therein (for aye). They are the worst of creatures. (Surah 98:6)
Or how about the tradition of Muhammad — known as Hadith — which until recently was published in Saudi Arabian school books that states:
Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say, "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him." Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 177.
Many non-Muslims — and no doubt Muslims as well — are unfamiliar with the Islamic teaching known as the Doctrine of Abrogation. Simply put, it states that the most recent verse written abrogates an older and contradictory verse (The Quran is not laid out in the order that the chapters — known as "surahs" — were written). This comes from the Quran itself:
Whatever communications We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or like it. Do you not know that Allah has power over all things? (Surah 2:106)
Thus, the verse that speaks of forgiving non-Muslims for their unbelief,
Say to those who believe (that) they forgive those who do not fear the days of Allah that He may reward a people for what they earn. (Surah 45:14)
is abrogated by the following verses:
And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah; but if they desist, then surely Allah sees what they do. (Surah 8:39)
Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection. (Surah 9:29)
Does this holy book which instructs fighting until Islam is the only remaining religion, chopping off hands and feet of those who cause "mischief" and making non-Muslims pay a tax in their subjected state sound "peaceful?" The fact of the matter is that too many people want Islam to be peaceful, so they immediately grab hold of any sound bite they can in order to put their mind at ease and most importantly, not offend any Muslims. But is it so outlandish to think that a holy book commands its faithful to fight those who don't believe? Americans' inexcusable ignorance concerning what their holy books actually say, and their lack of conviction regarding their faith — whatever it might be — precludes them from accepting the fact that there are some Muslims — definitely not all Muslims — who take their religious texts literally and are so convicted that the words contained in those texts are from God that they are willing to die — and kill — for their faith.
In the final analysis it's irrelevant whether Americans can comprehend such convictions — fundamentalist Muslims do.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment