What Do Muslims Really Believe About Jihad?
Posted: Thursday, November 12, 2009
by Jim Anderson
Weddings That Last
I, like most Christians, know very little about the Islamic religion and what it really teaches. With the recent events at Ft. Hood and Major Hasan I have heard a lot of caution about drawing conclusions about what happened. Yet, my spirit was sounding alarms. Something isn't right about how we are responding to this and no one is going back to the Islamic beliefs of Hasan and asking the questions about what his religion really teaches about Jihad. They are saying Major Hasad was mentally ill. Even if he was, what is true about his beliefs? So I have embarked on this journey myself to understand the significance of this event. Proverbs 2:11 says, " Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you." NIV I am sharing with you what I found in my pursuit of wisdom and understanding of this tragedy, courtesy of Emir Fethi Caner, a former Muslim, now a follower of Christ and author of a number of books on the Islamic faith.
The Hadith also defines jihad in the same way. In hadith 3.46.724, narrated by Abu Huraira Muhammad, says, " A pious slave gets a double reward. By Him in Whose Hands my soul is but for Jihad, Hajj, and my duty to serve my mother, I would have loved to die as a slave." Death is the possible end to jihad. In the Book 52 of Bukhari's Hadith, it is clear that the Muslim is mandated combat. " There is no Hijra (migration from Mecca to Medina) after the Conquest (of Mecca), but Jihad and good intention remain; and if you are called (by a Muslim ruler) for fighting, go forth immediately." Sahl bin Sad As-Sa'idi continues on, agreeing with Ibn Abbas in the previous quote and quotes the Qur'an to underscore the idea of holy combat, " I saw Marwan bin Al-Hakam sitting in the Mosque. So I came forward and sat by his side. He told us that Zaid bin Thabit had told him that Allah's Apostle had dictated to him the Divine Verse: Not equal are those believers who sit [at home] and those who strive hard and fight in the Cause of Allah with their wealth and lives." (surah 4:95).
Some say that there is plenty of violence in the Old Testament, which both Jews and Christians consider scripture. That is true, there are stories with violence. However, we can't equate these with Islamic jihad. Critics will cite Joshua 6:15-21; and 1 Samuel 15:2-3 where God commands that entire groups of people are to be killed. Someone who doesn't understand the larger context of these stories can easily misunderstand that God passed judgment on nations in sin, and His purpose was to bless the nation of Israel and through them, the world. The sin of these nations was a threat to God's ultimate purpose of salvation of His creation. The difference between this and jihad is that the Old Testament is describing the slaughter of people in the past as a judgment of God, which is an unusual event. It doesn't prescribe the violence. The Qur'an is teaching that jihad is a present day reality (surah 4:101). God judged the people in the Old Testament because of their sin, not because of their religion. The Qur'an defines enemies in terms of religion. (surah 5:51; 9:29). Christians are taught to defend religious liberty (Matt. 13:24-30) and God is the only one to judge someone spiritually. However, the Qur'an and the Hadith teach Muslims to kill unbelievers. The Hadith (9.57) says " If a Muslim changes his Islamic religion, kill him". Critics of Christianity point to the Crusades as evidence that Christianity teaches holy war. This ignores that the popes of the time were adopting the promises of Islamic Jihad to Christian soldiers, making promises that they would receive rewards in heaven for their killing. There is not scriptural basis for this.
So, was Major Hasad crazy for what he did given what the Qur'an, his holy scripture, was teaching him? Would he have done this violence if he hadn't been a Muslim? What does this inner conflict he faced suggest about the internal struggle other American soldiers are facing that follow the Islamic faith? Shouldn't we be asking more questions?
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)How about people putting away all this religion crap for good. I'm tired of everyone's perceptions on God(s). Beliefs do nothing but cause trouble. What about the rest of us who know there isn't a God? Why must we turn on our television sets and view this insanity every day?"Imagine there's NO HEAVEN. It's easy if you try. NO HELL below us. Above us ONLY SKY. Imagine all the people. Living life in peace." ........John Lennon's IMAGINE.Please log in to respond to this comment.Thanks for your comment and welcome to Searchwarp. You say you "know" there is no God. How do you know?Please log in to respond to this comment.Read my essay, "Proof that God Does Not Exist."Please log in to respond to this comment.I have. Let me make an illustration, which will involve some of your senses.Lets say you and a friend are hiking in the Black Hills of South Dakota. You come upon a sight that stops you in your tracks. You see four giant faces carved in stone. Each head is as tall as a six-story building. These are the faces of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lincoln. After you have taken photos, what conclusions would you come to in terms of the origin of these faces in stone? They could have happened through chance. Over the years wind and rock slides combined created them, but how likely is that? Mount Rushmore exhibits the three signs of design: forethought, planning, and intention.Mount Rushmore was the creation of John Gutzon Borglum, who wanted to create a memorial of the most revered presidents (intention). He and his four hundred workers found a way to do it (planning). Before the blasting could start, they had to figure out the dimensions of everything (forethought). Then after 14 years of work, the work was completed and open for the public in 1941.Just as it took forethought, planning, and intention to create this memorial, our complex world of such delicate balances of nature and our incredibly amazing and complex bodies could not have been created by chance.Please log in to respond to this comment.This is a super illustration! Thanks for writing it here (maybe could be an article too?!) MarijoPlease log in to respond to this comment."Just as it took forethought, planning, and intention to create this memorial, our complex world of such delicate balances of nature and our incredibly amazing and complex bodies could not have been created by chance."*** Why not by chance? "Chance" is the best way to place blame on atrocities! The example you make involves human intervention. Nature exist with or without humans, and doesn't rely on forethought. It can create without prior knowledge. For a thought to exist it must first be preceded by a physical brain, no? How then can "forethought, planning, and intention" precede a brain when it takes a brain to plan and intend?When a child sucks on a nipple for the first time it doesn't "think" about it. It is a "natural" reaction. Nature reacts to it's immediate environment and from there things happen that don't require forethought. That's why we call it "natural."When two people make love, are they always doing it with the intention of having a baby? No. AND when/if the woman does get impregnated does it mean there was a hidden force that decided it? No. AND if you insist there is "a decision maker," then who's terrible decision is it when the baby is born with defects? Who's forethought, planning, and intention was it then? To your thinking it would have to be a psychotic God? How can God be all-knowing and perfect, yet create such atrocities? It would be like attributing a scribbled drawing we are accustomed to seeing a 4-year old make to the likes of Michelangelo. It appears you're suggesting God is responsible for the screw-ups also? If so, then why are you in such awe of him and his "forethought, planning, and intention?"You certainly can't blame humans for such things unless they carelessly abused drugs or released some other hideousness behavior upon their siblings.You make the mistake of comparing a human invention by someone with a vision (Mt. Rushmore), with the natural creations that are too often times hideous. Again, are you saying that all natural creations are of a higher planning and intention? If so, why was my sister-in-law's daughter born with 3 curled fingers on each hand, and 3 toes on each foot, while sporting a concave "cabbage-patch doll face?"That child (Molly) saw more operating tables in her first 6 years of life, than most of us would see in 9 life times! Who's "bright" forethought, planning, and intention was that?Only "CHANCE" or a very "ILL-thinking planner" can be responsible.Please log in to respond to this comment."How then can "forethought, planning, and intention" precede a brain when it takes a brain to plan and intend?"You make a great point here. The "brain" represents intelligence. This makes the argument that it took an intelligence to create us and all of nature.As for how God can allow pain and suffering to exist, that is another discussion. Before you can have that discussion, you have to recognize that He exists. It isn't an issue unless He does exist.William Paley in the 1800s wrote several influential books on Christianity and philosophy that were required reading at Cambridge. He came up with an idea: why not list for his friends the similarities between something a craftsman makes and something God makes? He chose a telescope and the human eye. After Paley finished the study on the eye, he presented a list to his friends that compared the eye to a high-powered telescope.* the eye was made for vision; the telescope was made for assisting it.* each uses a sophisticated lens that gives it the ability to accomplish its purpose.* both reflect and manipulate light.* both are able to bring an object into focus. The muscles around the soft lens move to focus on objects, while the telescope uses dials to accomplish this.Is it reasonable to believe that the telescope was created by a craftsman but the eye wasn't?Please log in to respond to this comment."You make a great point here. The "brain" represents intelligence. This makes the argument that it took an intelligence to create us and all of nature."*** Intelligence, or lack thereof, is represented by the brain's ENERGY, for good or bad as far as WE HUMANS KNOW, and not the other way around...What I say is provable, but your case is not. Energy has the capabilities of figuring things out as it goes along, but it also makes many mistakes along the way. To suggest there is a premeditated intelligence would mean there would be no room for mistakes unless said intelligence was of no intelligence at all....Don't you get upset at your politicians, wife, or children when they make mistakes that should not be made? If so, why aren't you mad at God for making mistakes? Those around you are only human and will err, but if God is perfect then there is NO EXCUSE for his errors! PERFECT means PERFECT!!!! There is no imperfection in perfect, therefore God is only a manifestation to explain that which you are in awe of."As for how God can allow pain and suffering to exist, that is another discussion."*** NO! It is not for another discussion!.... I never asked, " How can God allow pain and suffering to exist?" I queried, "How can God be all-knowing and perfect, yet create such atrocities?" ... You avoided the question! "Allowing" something to happen and "making" it happen are two entirely different things."Before you can have that discussion, you have to recognize that He exists. It isn't an issue unless He does exist."*** Prove he/it existence. If you say, "He does exist" then prove it. Also, since you said HE, then I guess you have seen him and are positive God is not a SHE. Can you prove that too?"William Paley in the 1800s wrote several influential books on Christianity and philosophy that were required reading at Cambridge.*** Required reading? Philosophy and religion? That sounds like mind-control and dictatorial principles to me..... I would have stopped reading immediately!"He came up with an idea: why not list for his friends the similarities between something a craftsman makes and something God makes? He chose a telescope and the human eye. After Paley finished the study on the eye, he presented a list to his friends that compared the eye to a high-powered telescope.* the eye was made for vision; the telescope was made for assisting it.* each uses a sophisticated lens that gives it the ability to accomplish its purpose.* both reflect and manipulate light.* both are able to bring an object into focus. The muscles around the soft lens move to focus on objects, while the telescope uses dials to accomplish this."*** But how does this prove God? Energy (Physical) is real and it is energy that creates and also mutates! ....What does energy have to do with God or Christianity? Energy is FREE of those applied tags."Is it reasonable to believe that the telescope was created by a craftsman but the eye wasn't?"*** Did you just say craftsMAN? Are you again suggesting that God is a man? Can a man create another man? My essay covers all this. If God is a "physical" entity and creator then where is he? ....Why does he hide, and why does he also create such atrocities if he is a "CRAFTSMAN?" I don't know of an craftsman that makes such terrible blunders, but if they did I am sure they would rectify it because they take pride in their work....Apparently God doesn't!!Please log in to respond to this comment.I'm sorry. How can you make so many claims about something that doesn't exist? That is what we are talking about, isn't it? Whether God exists? Discussing God's attributes is irrelevant if God doesn't exist. Are you trying to tell me you acknowledge God's existence?The illustration simply shows the logic that we are complex beings and begs the question, how could there not be an intelligent designer of something so complex? Are you able to answer that? That is all I'm asking.Please log in to respond to this comment.Dreadful things that happen are caused by Karma from past lives or those of our ancestors, which can reach back at least 7 generations. They are not caused by God. Suffering is entirely our own work. Please do not be angry with my comment as this will create more karma for you.Please log in to respond to this comment."After you have taken photos, what conclusions would you come to in terms of the origin of these faces in stone?"*** That they were created by humans! Those images would NEVER EVER happen by "chance!" By your own intelligence and experiences how could the powers of nature carve those faces? Have you ever had the experience of seeing 4 familiar faces shaped in rock by nature in a location where only those inhabitants would recognize them? If so, point them out to me. If not, and I KNOW you haven't, then why make such a foolish example? Do you always make it a habit to lower yourself to such ridiculous examples because you fear being wrong?
Ask yourself, Is your FEAR of finding out that what you have believed for so long may be wrong, that IT is what truly motivates your unsubstantiated examples ?"Mount Rushmore exhibits the three signs of design: forethought, planning, and intention."*** Yes, and all 3 subjective designs come from the physical human brain!"Mount Rushmore was the creation of John Gutzon Borglum, who wanted to create a memorial of the most revered presidents (intention)."*** Borglum was a physical human entity and once again his "intentions" came from the physical brain."He and his four hundred workers found a way to do it (planning)."*** He and his workers were all physical entities, and it was their "physical brains" that "planned" the sculpture.Before the blasting could start, they had to figure out the dimensions of everything (forethought).*** Where did the forethought come from? The "physical brain" maybe?Please log in to respond to this comment.See my previous comment.Please log in to respond to this comment.
Jim,Thanks for the heads up.Your article is clear, understandable and so well-written. I found it fascinatig. I love your remarks about the Crusades as I'm so tired of listening to others continually point to that time period in Christian history.This should be required reading by all! (Now I'm off to your next article about what the Qur'an says about other religions.)Please log in to respond to this comment.Thanks for your kind comments. I agree, we all need to stop and take a closer look at this stuff.Please log in to respond to this comment."This should be required reading by all!"*** Do I sense dictatorship in those words?Please log in to respond to this comment.
You are posing some very good questions here. If Abraham and Sarah only dreamed what would happen with Haggar, eh? Good head's up! MarijoPlease log in to respond to this comment.Thanks for your comments, as always. I appreciate your encouragement!Please log in to respond to this comment.
As regards what they believe about Jehad, they believe that at the first drop of blood spilt they will receive complete pardon/blessing from Allah, 70 of their relatives will receive his blessings and they will have 72 black eyed virgins; he was very precise about this number. Now I discovered this by accident when I was trying to research Muhammad, as there are some things I am worried about. I stumbled across a flash video of a Muslim cleric who was uttering those words. There were other benefits described but I have forgotten them, as I was quite nonplussed at the time; I was considering whether to contact the police but then I realised it was from CNN media Leaks. Of course, the cleric may not be representative of Isam or of most Muslims. I will try and retrieve the site details.Sorry, I forgot to mention, great article in every respect. Well done.Please log in to respond to this comment.Thanks for the comment. Just like their are pastors of churches that teach different things in the Christian church based on their interpretation of the Bible, there are Imams that teach various interpretations of what these passages in my article are really saying. I'd venture to say that most Muslims in the U.S. interpret these passages as only applicable on a spiritual level, and have their own doctrine about that, but the more fundamental Muslims have more strict interpretations. It is these Muslims I believe that we must be concerned with. In your research, I'd recommend picking up a copy of "More Than A Prophet: An Insider's Response to Muslim Beliefs About Jesus & Christianity" by Emir Fethi Caner and Ergun Mehmet Caner as well as their book titled "Unveiling Islam: An Insider's Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs".Please log in to respond to this comment.
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