(One day a friend decided to strike a debate on an article he came accross on Yahoo! News by Salman Rushdie called “Inside the Mind of Jihadists”. This was around the time of the London bombings. The following was my response which is a compiliation of excerpts from the article, the Quran, and my own literature.)
One extremely important point made in the article written by Rushdie “Inside the Mind of Jihadists” would be;
“Conservative Muslims say that only Islamic scholars, ulema, can interpret the Koran. The religious power elite thus maintains control because theirs is the only interpretation that is acceptable. And because they have a literalist reading of the Koran, they never question first principles. It is from this kind of interpretive process that so many atrocities are committed,” (Rushdie)
What was said about Rushdie and his theory of sporadic themes and human interpretation of Gabriel’s relay of the Quran to the Prophet, while very rational, does not apply to single verses but moreover speaks of general chapters. The Quran is not a story book with a flowing plot, but rather was meant to be a code of conduct with cross references. Within the Quran itself though is a challenge for those who want to supposedly challenge it’s authenticity (I myself am such a person but yes let’s just follow my trail of thought here).
According to Muslims the Quran was edited repeatedly during the lifetime of the Prophet - but only during the lifetime of the Prophet and even till now no contradicting copies of the Quran are openly distributed (with the exception of the diacritical mark additions by the Caliph Uthman and that’s a completely different topic and irrelevant here but will explain it later if you want). Supposedly I can pick out a random verse, compare it in two random Qurans, and it’ll be the same exact thing; letters, meaning, and all. During every Ramadan when he was alive supposedly the angel Gabriel would come down and both would rearrange the verses that were sent down throughout that year in the order God had willed it. Throughout the month the devout would pray uttering the entire Quran from beginning to end. That’s the spiritual part of Ramadan.
Ideally Muslims were meant to fight in defense, and in no way were the teachings of the Prophet or the Quran encouraging revenge or material gain. Unfortunately it’s obscure (or perhaps just deep and thoughtful?) verses that get either misinterpreted or overlooked because the people themselves are too hasty or are too caught up in the adrenaline of reflected hypocrisy.
Regarding a war fought to open Mecca & deliver the Muslims oppressed at the time of the Prophet God supposedly sent down this verse;
“The sedentary who stay behind will say when you set forth for the gaining of acquisitions: ‘Allow us (that) we may follow you.’ They desire to change the word of God. Say: ‘By no means shall you follow us; thus did God say before.’ They will then say, ‘You must be envious of us (for staying behind).’ Indeed, they rarely understood anything.” {48:15}
If you take a moment to rationalize this verse, (maybe you need to read the verses before and after it) you would come to understand that those who joined the war for the ‘acquisitions’ or refused it did so for the wrong reasons. The war was for liberation of their kin and not for terror or to gain any material wealth, land or power. The prophet did not let them join, or left them behind because it was believed they would taint a noble cause.
Another extremely important verse that I could not stress more is the following;
“And we decreed for them in it that: Life for life, and eye for eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, and tooth for tooth, and for other injuries equitable retaliation. And whoso waives the right thereto, it shall be an expiation for his own sins; and whoso judges not by what God has sent down, these it is who are wrongdoers."{5:45}
Also from the Quran: “Although the just requital for an injustice is an equivalent retribution, those who pardon and maintain righteousness are rewarded by God. He does not love the unjust.” {42:40}
..before you start bashing take a moment and re-read the two.
While it is only fair that a life lost is to be paid with a life lost (i.e. the death penalty all so love to contemplate) is also a favored topic in Islam.
However –
..what many Arabs and so called contemporary Muslims of today do is overlook or not bother to completing a sentence/verse thus becoming prone to extremist manipulation (e.g. that it is favored by God to waive this right to retaliate and that it is even bribed with cleansing of the victim’s own sins by doing so). Maybe it’s not a solution for everyone but it certainly comes half way more than what extremists on either side have to offer.
Many of the youth in the Middle East and Arab world in general really do feel frustrated and weak – making them vulnerable to the likes of sadistic organizations as Hizballah and Al-Qaidah, who are doing nothing but mutilating the name of 'peace and submission’ (the translation of Islam). This generation sees that the developed countries are raping them of their commodities, hailing a crusade against them, and let’s not forget their frustration with their own puppet leaders. They’re afraid their fate is going to be just like the Native Americans so to speak. They feel like they need to take action into their own hands when they see loved ones being blown up around them and no one is doing anything about it, no support from neighboring countries etc.
According to Rushdie; “One problem is that there is no truly representative institution for British Muslims. Most Muslims in England are not ghettoized, or particularly Muslim. They deal with their faith in a much lighter way. They are citizens first and Muslims second or maybe seventeenth. The conventional wisdom of Blair's government seems to be that everyone is a Muslim first and must be dealt with on that basis.” (Rushdie)
I agree whole heartedly with the excerpt above. I noticed a very big difference between the way I used to be treated (when I first came back here) when I wore the veil and when my uncle/family insisted I take it off. I’m not just referring to different people; I’m talking about many of the same people too.
Indeed there is a very big distinction between culture and religion. Before condemning Islam as a religion of terror I urge for one to do their homework. Both sides can keep poking eyes out till there aren’t any left, but if you ask me, both cultures are already blind.
On a final note, I am a jihadist too, for it takes jihad for me to get out of bed, and jihad to do my homework…it’s unfortunate how a simple word such as “effort” in one language can be construed as “terrorist” in another…
References
The original article cited for this rant/column has expired;
news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20051007/cm_huffpost/008486
However you can read the exact same text here;
www.digitalnpq.org/archive/2006_winter/rushdie.html
The Quran has also been cited.
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