Sunday,
December 19, 2010 am
A STUDY OF ISLAM (5)
Islam and Jihad
Having examined some of the history, beliefs
and teachings of Islam, we now focus on what is perhaps the most
controversial subject in examining this world religion – Jihad.
Jihad is a word that means struggle and it is not universally
interpreted the same among Muslims (and those who oppose them).
In our lesson today we want to examine whether or not Islam is a
religion of peace, note some of the arguments made to justify “holy war”
as well as some other observations about this important subject.
a.
How is it defined?
The term Jihad means struggle.
For MOST Muslims it is a reference first and foremost as a
personal inner struggle against evil within oneself.
However, it can also mean warfare against non-believers.
“Islam permits fighting in self-defense, in defense of religion,
or on the part of those who have been expelled forcibly from their
homes.” (http://islamicweb.com/begin/jihad_misconception.htm).
This is the prevailing belief of this religion.
The site proceeds to quote the Qur’an 2:190, 193, 8:61
The terrorism we see often associated with so-called Islamic extremists
(Muslims do not like that term because it does not portray the typical
Muslim) is strongly condemned by such language and the majority of
Muslims, though sometimes their language is short of condemning specific
terrorists who act out in the name of Islam.
b.
An
objective of Islam.
Along with understanding what Jihad means we also need to know that one
of the objectives of Islam is to make Islam a universal religion,
“The religion before Allah is Islam (Submission to His will)” (Surah
3:19) The meaning of this is
believed to be, only Islam is the true religion.
Surah 5:86 says, “But those who reject Faith and belie our Signs,- they
shall be companions of Hell-fire.”
a.
The doctrine of Jihad developed over the course of
Mohammed’s life and following his death. Over the course of about 100
years, Islam spread rapidly.
During his life, his revelations on this subject evolved in four stages.
In a lengthy article, by Richard
P. Bailey entitled, “Jihad, The Teaching of Islam from Its Primary
Sources – The QURAN and HADITH”, Bailey outlines in chronological order
some of the teachings of Mohammed.
They demonstrate the progression.
The article can be found at:
http://www.answering-islam.org/Bailey/jihad.html,
See also:
http://www.truthnet.org/islam/Watt/Chapter7.html
for a chronological list of Surahs
i.
Stage 1
- the longest stage was when he lived in Mecca (from 610-ca622) and
introduced his religion. It
was during this time, that the majority of his Surahs were developed (90
of the 114). The Surahs of
this period dealt primarily with moral and religious teachings and were
shorter, but more frequent.
But, as he taught monotheism (one god), he was rejected and even
mistreated by most in Mecca, but he still lived there.
During this time his messages were messages of peace.
Surahs of this period include: 73:10-11, “And
have patience with what they say, and leave them with noble (dignity).
And leave Me (alone to deal with) those in possession of the good things
of life, who (yet) deny the Truth; and bear with them for a little while.”
109:1-3,
6, “Say : O ye that reject Faith!
I worship not that which ye worship, Nor will ye worship that which I
worship…. To you be your Way, and to me mine.“
25:52, “Therefore
listen not to the Unbelievers, but strive against them with the utmost
strenuousness, with the (Qur'an).”
29:46,
“And dispute ye not with the
People of the Book, except with means better (than mere disputation),
unless it be with those of them who inflict wrong (and injury): but say,
"We believe in the revelation which has come down to us and in that
which came down to you; Our God and your God is one; and it is to Him we
bow (in Islam)."
ii.
Stage 2
– In Medina, typical of Arabic culture and tribes, they began attacking
caravans that came from Mecca.
PERMISSION was given for them to defend themselves with fighting.
Some of these raids were justified because whey they were forced
to leave Mecca, they left behind much of their possessions.
Therefore, they were just taking back what belonged to them.
22:39-41 granted permission to fight them.
Surah
22:39-41, “To those against whom
war is made, permission is given (to fight), because they are wronged;-
and verily, God is most powerful for their aid;- (They are) those who
have been expelled from their homes in defiance of right,- (for no
cause) except that they say, "our Lord is God". Did not God check one
set of people by means of another, there would surely have been pulled
down monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, in which the name
of God is commemorated in abundant measure. God will certainly aid those
who aid his (cause);- for verily God is full of Strength, Exalted in
Might, (able to enforce His Will). (They are) those who, if We establish
them in the land, establish regular prayer and give regular charity,
enjoin the right and forbid wrong: with God rests the end (and decision)
of (all) affairs.”
22:58, “Those
who leave their homes in the cause of God, and are then slain or die,-
On them will God bestow verily a goodly Provision: Truly God is He Who
bestows the best provision.”
iii.
Stage 3
– Revised instructions in Medina - COMMANDED to defend themselves in
war. It became a religious
obligation. –
Surah
2:190-191, “Fight in the cause of
God those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for God loveth
not transgressors. And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them
out from where they have turned you out; for tumult and oppression are
worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless
they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is
the reward of those who suppress faith.”
2:216,
217 “Fighting is prescribed for
you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which
is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But God
knoweth, and ye know not. They ask thee concerning fighting in the
Prohibited Month. Say: "Fighting therein is a grave (offence); but
graver is it in the sight of God to prevent access to the path of God,
to deny Him, to prevent access to the Sacred Mosque, and drive out its
members." Tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter. Nor will they
cease fighting you until they turn you back from your faith if they can.
And if any of you turn back from their faith and die in unbelief, their
works will bear no fruit in this life and in the Hereafter; they will be
Companions of the Fire and will abide therein.”
8:70-71,
“O Prophet! Say to those who are
captives in your hands: "If Allah findeth any good in your hearts, He
will give you something better than what has been taken from you, and He
will forgive you: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful."
But if they have treacherous
designs against thee, (O Messenger!), they have already been in treason
against Allah, and so hath He given (thee) power over them. And Allah so
He Who hath (full) knowledge and wisdom.”
During this period, we find great
promises of reward if one dies for the cause of Allah including
forgiveness of sins and admission to paradise (cf. Surah 3:157-195,
61:4, 11-13)
iv.
Stage 4
– in 630 AD, when Mohammed and his forces finally conquered Mecca, he
received further revelations in which offensive war was commanded to
kill the pagans and humble Christians and Jews.
v.
Surahs 9:1-2, 5 - “A
(declaration) of immunity from God and His Apostle, to those of the
Pagans with whom ye have contracted mutual alliances:- Go ye, then, for
four months, backwards and forwards, (as ye will), throughout the land,
but know ye that ye cannot frustrate God (by your falsehood) but that
God will cover with shame those who reject Him. …But when the forbidden
months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them,
an seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every
stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers
and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for God is
Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.”
9:29-30,
“ Fight those who believe not in
God nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden
by God and His Apostle, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if
they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with
willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. The Jews call 'Uzair a
son of God, and the Christians call Christ the son of God. That is a
saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers
of old used to say. God's curse be on them: how they are deluded away
from the Truth!”
vi.
Islam justifies these changes with a doctrine called
abrogation. That
is the law that states God sometimes substitutes something better (a
verse or passage) which supersedes an earlier one.
This is even justified in the Qur’an,
2:106, “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?”; 13:39
“Allah makes to pass away and establishes what He pleases, and with Him
is the basis of the Book.” &
16:101, “And when We
change (one) communication for (another) communication, and Allah knows
best what He reveals, they say: You are only a forger. Nay, most of them
do not know.”
b.
What
bout Jihad today -
This brings us to an important question: Is Islam a religion of peace?
i.
This cannot be answered with a simple yes/no, because
there is great divergence of beliefs among Muslims as to the place of
Jihad in their lives.
In one sense (and you might say in its primary sense) Islam is intended
to be a religion of peace.
It is believed that about 2/3 of Muslims are opposed to the terroristic
violence we have seen over the past several decades.
Many Islamic organizations openly condemn such acts including CAIR,
(Council of American-Islamic Relations,
www.cair.com).
An examination of their statements show NO endorsement of
terrorist activities including 9/11, bombings in England or suicide
bombers throughout the world.
You find multitudes of documents from organizations decrying
violence. Short of naming
the terrorists involved as being lost in hell, they use the strongest of
terms to condemn this violence as being contrary to Islamic law.
ii.
But we have shown clearly that the Qur’an DOES justify war
and a detailed study of many of the Surahs demonstrates not just an
inner struggle, but outright conflict against “unbelievers” including
“the People of the Book”.
AND, throughout the history of Islam, violence has been justified in the
name of faith.
iii.
However, that still doesn’t mean all Muslims, especially
in western culture, believe in physical conflict as we are seeing in
terrorism in the world today in the name of Islam.
iv.
We ought to be careful before we accuse someone of
something we cannot prove they are guilty of!
Ephesians 4:25 says, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of
one another.”
In such
cases, we can kindly show them that their book of faith, the Qur’an,
DOES advocate violence and IS being used by “extremists” to terrorize
the world, but be careful not to accuse them individually of what they
have not been proven to be involved in.
It is the same as saying that because some so-called Christians bomb
abortion clinics, all Christians support that (note: They use that
argument sometime to justify Jihad).
As one author noted about these matters, “The QUESTION is not about
Muslims, but rather their religion.” (http://www.faithbible.org/sites/faithbible.org/files/20070913FBCpm%20Dispelling%20the%20Myths%20of%20Islam.pdf).
v.
When we keep this in mind, we can focus on the errors of
their religion that we will need to know if we are to convert them.
vi.
MY POINT IN THIS: I do not deny the teachings of the
Qur’an justify physical violence.
But just because someone you know is a Muslim, doesn’t mean he is
a terrorist or a supporter of terrorism, religious or not.
Just as we know of far too many
so-called Christians who set aside the hard sayings of the Bible because
they don’t agree with them (and they firmly believe they are right),
there are Muslims that do not take everything the Qur’an says as
literal.
You can be friends with them like anyone else (remembering 2 Cor. 6:14).
It is in this, that you have the best opportunity to teach them.
(More on this next week).
a.
To complete this lesson we need to briefly mention what
the scriptures teach about our warfare.
i.
We ARE in a spiritual war against evil.
You could call is striving (cf. Luke 13:24, Heb. 12:3-4)
ii.
Our warfare is to be spiritual – Eph. 6:12 describes the
nature of this battle. 2
Cor. 10:4 describes our “weapons” as “not
carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down
arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”
iii.
The message of Jesus was one of peace.
He taught “Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Matt. 5:9); He taught
us to turn the other cheek (Matt. 5:38-39);
He taught us to endure persecutions even to death (Rev. 2:10,
Matt. 10:21-23, Rev. 12:11).
He started by teaching peace and did so until He died ON THE CROSS!
When He arose, His message did NOT change.
NOTE also Matt. 10:34-39, when Jesus spoke of bringing a sword, He spoke
of how the gospel would divide families. But even in this He was not
advocating violence.
iv.
He taught that His kingdom was NOT of this world – John
18:36 before Pilate He said, “My
kingdom is not of this world.
If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so
that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is NOT
from here.”
v.
The establishment of the church was done without a
physical sword. In the
matter of about 3 decades the gospel was said to have been preached to
“every creature under heaven” (Col. 1:23.
All who submitted did so willingly and with their own hearts.
vi.
Unlike Jesus, the message of Mohammed, while it may have
begun with peace, changed! It
became a message of violence and forced submission (at the threat of
death) and intensified after his death.
b.
Why is
Islam different than Christianity in these matters?
i.
Because the Christian life is NOT about establishing
dominance in this world. It
is NOT about creating “Christian states.”
It is based upon a spiritual kingdom in heaven that governs our
PERSONAL conduct upon this earth.
We live, not trying to overthrow governments, but to simply shine
as lights “in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.” (Phil.
2:14-15). We do this by
being godly examples (Matt. 5:16).
ii.
Islam, like other theocracies, was NOT simply a system of
faith but a religion designed to regulate both person and state.
It is this fundamental difference that prompts Muslims to seek to
establish Islamic nations and establish shariah law (States governed
primarily by the Qur’an).
WHENEVER you have theocracies that attempt to hold and expand lands, you
are going to have violence!
And to motivate believers, leaders will have to justify such with their
sacred writings. Bottom
line: This is WHY there is violence advocated by some Muslims based upon
the Qur’an.
Their concerns are at least two fold:
1.
They see
the Christian faith (and Judaism, etc.) as a threat to what they
perceive to be the truth.
One of the greater offenses within the Muslim predominant world (i.e.
Muslim states – there are more than 45 of them, and countries with large
percentages of Muslims -33+% ) is the attempt to bring western ways into
their region. They resist
America because we are at the forefront and we are considered a
“Christian nation”.
They also resent efforts to evangelize there (which is against the Law
or at least greatly resisted in these nations)
Much of their terrorism is directed against this concern (including
suicide bombs in Israel, etc.)
2.
Their
desire is to dominate the world with their religion.
That is why they are aggressively trying to expand.
iii.
It is sometimes
argued that Jews and Christians also have advocated jihad.
They cite:
1) The instructions of God to Israel to utterly destroy nations
2) In the name of Christianity - the Crusades (10-12th
centuries), the inquisitions,
3) Acts of violence carried out by extremist groups such as abortion
clinic bombers and the Ku Klux Klan (which did much of its vile violence
supposedly in the name of Jesus).
Let’s briefly examine EACH of these:
1.
Concerning Israel utterly destroying nations in Canaan.
a.
They were commanded by God to do this – Deut 7:2, 12:2, 1
Sam. 15:3, …
b.
The
reason was the wickedness of these nations.
They had committed atrocities against humanity and God.
They were highly immoral.
c.
NOTE that the command was to destroy and NOT to convert!
They had been judged by God and condemned.
d.
God
proved Himself and did much of the work (e.g. Jericho – Josh 6)
e.
When
they inherited their land they were DONE!
God did NOT MODIFY His instruction.
They did not have a world vision to convert by force the rest of
the world.
f.
We know that the purpose of Israel was simply to prepare
the world for Jesus – cf. Gal. 3:24-25, Gen. 12:1-3, etc.
2.
Christians in the Crusades and inquisitions engaged in violence against
non-believers.
a.
What were the
crusades? A series of
religiously sanctioned campaigns by the Catholic Church which lasted
about 200 years between 1095 and 1291.
The wars began as a result of the spread of Islam.
When Muslims conquered Palestine and Jerusalem fell into their
hands (realize the iconic importance of this city to Christians as the
place where Jesus was crucified) the Catholic church with its influence
made efforts to reclaim the city and fight back Islam from further
expansion into Europe. This
was the 1st of the crusades.
They were violent wars some won by Catholic armies and others won
by their opponents – including Muslims eventually taking Jerusalem for
good.
b.
The
inquisitions were efforts by the Catholic Church against heretics to
coerce them into repentance with various forms of torture and actions.
They were usually waged against regions and there were at least 4
major inquisitions – medieval (1184-1230s), Spanish (1478-1834),
Portuguese (1536-1821), & Roman (1542-c, 1860 AD).
c.
Most “Christians” CONDEMN the conduct because it is
CONTRARY to the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament!
We do not pretend to justify any acts of violence to coerce one
into belief. Such is
contrary to scripture!
d.
Consider
also how such actions were the result of the organization of the church
apostatizing into Catholicism (Universal church on earth).
NOTE how it was only after the church became influential in
governments that it had ANY power to wage war on large scale, generate
armies, charge taxes and create national laws.
e.
So in
essence, I view the conduct of the Catholic Church in these events as no
better than Islam’s violent expansion or the terrorism carried out today
against innocent citizens (e.g. vs. the inquisitions).
3.
What about abortion clinic bombers and organizations like the KKK?
a.
Such have NEVER been endorsed by true Christians.
b.
Their
conduct violates everything about the New Testament.
4.
Concerning ALL such conduct!
The bottom line is 2 wrongs do NOT make a right.
When Muslims use examples of violence among so-called Christians
to justify their conduct, they still cannot prove to TRUE Christians
that such are acceptable.
Their writings justify violence while the New Testament does NOT!
And thus we can see some of Islam’s teachings concerning Jihad.
Is Islam a religion of peace?
We have shown that answering that question is not an easy one.
However considering its teachings in the Qur’an and the Hadiths
advocating Jihad, how the conduct of violence is supported by many (but
not all) within the Islamic community and the objectives of Islam to
spread their faith throughout the world we can see that at its core, it
is NOT about peace. BUT, the
concept of Jihad is a struggle within itself with many Muslims and thus
we need to be careful how we deal with our Muslim friends (Matt. 10:16,
Col. 4:6).
If this world continues, what will happen in the future remains
to be seen. But no matter
what happens, we KNOW that our trust must be in “the Prince of Peace”
and we need to seek to live in peace looking forward to a home in heaven
when this life is over. Such
is only found IN JESUS! Are
you in Him?