’just jihad?’

WAR IN ISLAM.

INTRODUCTION �
There are many armed struggles that are going on around the world in the name of Islam, they are doing indiscriminate killings, suicide bombings, guerrilla attacks, kidnappings, hijackings etc. terming such acts as strategy in    war. The groups who are doing so have leaders who Quote verses from Quran to make such violent acts seem fair in the eyes of muslims, muslims swear by the Quran and count it to be the book containing the words of God, the book which of a surety speaks of justice.
On the other hand there are muslims who count such men as Satanists, hate what they do, do not subscribe to their view/interpretation of Quran at all.
The general masses as well as muslims are in a confusion that what does the Quran actually say on war?
I tell you nobody actually knows the stand of Quran, the stand of God, no not even the scholars!!! That�s why there is no consensus on the issue as they themselves don�t have clarity on the issue!!! Truly we have treated the Quran as foolish nonsense/ignored it/discarded it {25:30}, we don�t let the Quran go further down our throats into our hearts.
May Allah the revealer of Quran forgive us muslims for what we have done in His name.

WHAT SCHOLARS OF TODAY THINK IT IS �
The scholars without exception form their perception of war in Islam not by Quran, but by what seems to be obvious to their hearts with historical events in the background. The conclusions they come to, they do not care to cross check and then on top of it support those conclusions with verses from Quran in which God is encouraging muslims to fight and is promising His help.
They as almost all muslims think that  - prophet didn�t fight in Mecca, in Mecca the order of God was to be patient, but then there is a limit to patience and God changed his stand in Medina and asked muslims to fight.
Now this belief is more or less the same in different groups, eg.  Those who believe in principle of Abrogation {see topic �Abrogation Abrogated� at www.rememberingallah.com} they say that the verses on patience have got abrogated, have been cancelled by verses of war and now we don�t need to be patient but fight.
While other groups have gone ahead to define patience and define after how much patience one can fight. All these things have caused havoc and chaos all over the world and have left us muslims confused about our own religion.
However all these people have not been taking the path that they should i.e. first see Quran, then put it in historical perspective and then give conclusions from their hearts. For in this way we will get to know neeyat {intention} of God, I ask the reader to follow this way and not the other way.

THE MERCIFUL SPEAKS OF WAR � FITNA, NOT QITAL.
What makes me angry/laugh at scholars who uphold war today is the fact that these scholars of highest eminence do not even know the difference between fitna and qital.
Now Quran speaks at many places about giving people their rights but explains inheritance at only one place, so wherever we read about giving people their right we go back to the verse which has details about inheritance division.  So also we do it in the case of zakat, sawm etc.
Similarly Quran talks about going to war at many places, but at one place has God talked about it in detail and has given the argument for war.
Quran {2:216-217} �
�fighting is prescribed for you and YOU DISLIKE IT,  but it is possible that you dislike a thing good for you and you like a thing bad for you, but Allah knows and you know not. They ask you concerning fighting in the prohibited month, Say fighting therein is a grave thing, but graver is it in the sight of Allah TO PREVENT ACCESS TO THE PATHS OF ALLAH, TO DENY HIM, TO PREVENT ACCESS TO THE SACRED MOSQUE AND DRIVE OUT ITS MEMBERS. PERSECUTION {FITNA} IS WORSE THAN KILLING {QITAL}. Nor will they cease fighting you until THEY TURN YOU BACK FROM YOUR FAITH IF THEY CAN, and IF ANYONE 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 the companions of the fire and abide therein forever.�
I feel really sad that I will have to explain these verses and it wont be self manifesting to people whereas they are most clear, alas we muslims don�t do tawassum, tadabbur, tafakkur {reflect, understand, ponder} as enjoined in Quran, our society as a whole is devoid of it.
1� {2:216} - �you dislike war�  - we muslims including our scholars do a lot of lip service that �follow sunnats, follow sunnats� here is one sunnat O muslims, prophet and his companions hated war!!! And see for yourself who is a witness, God himself is a witness to it. How many of us muslims follow it?? How many of us muslims hate to fight??? How many??
2- {2:216} � �you dislike a thing good for you and you like a thing bad for you� � these lines can only be understood after seeing the argument that God gives regarding war, thus will discuss them after the last verse.
3 � {2:217} � now Allah gives a context that the muslims who had been given a logic to fight and are ready to fight are unwilling to fight in the sacred months, as they think the logic to fight is not bigger than importance of sacred months. So Allah reiterates the logic adding that the logic to fight is even greater than the sacred months, but in doing so God makes it easy for us to understand the logic as Allah gives the whole logic in one go.
The logic given by Allah in {2:217} goes �
a)    ï¿½persecution is worse than slaughter� �fitna is worse than kital� � IN ISLAM WAR IS ONLY ALLOWED ON FITNA NOT ON QITAL. MARK THE WORDS  - WAR IS ONLY ALLOWED ON PERSECUTION AND NOT ON KILLING/SLAUGHTER. If there is killing then one can not fight but if there is persecution only then one can fight. The egs. Of Qital in Quran are Abel the muttaqee, magicians of pharaoh, killing of newborns of Israel and on it God saying �go to pharaoh and talk to him gently�. You will never find a change in the ways of God, there is no war on Qital/killing, war is only allowed on persecution/Fitna.
b)    What is fitna/persecution?  Wait it is not us who can define what fitna is when God himself has defined it. Allah tells what Fitna is in the previous sentence {2:217} �stopping people from the paths of God, to deny him, to prevent access to sacred mosque and drive out its members�
This is Fitna/persecution. This criteria is not being met anywhere today in the world, be it Chechnya, Kashmir, Palestine etc. yes there is Qital/killing happening but there is no Fitna. One is free to do salat, read Quran, go to mosques etc.
Yes there is killing and there are enemies but there is no Fitna.   For enemies Allah says if we muslims have any faith in promise of Allah {41:34-35} � �good and evil are not alike, repel evil with goodness and your enemy will become your friend and intimate�. Truly today world is filled with people like Hazrat Umar who with sword in his hand went to kill prophet but none of us accursed muslims is like his sister and brother in law. I ask scholars difference between fitna and Qital, and our ignorant scholars do not even know that, O muslims see whom you are trusting are pushing you towards hell, they don�t know while they pretend that they know. We have given our affairs in the hands of those who do not even know basic concepts. If you think it�s a lie test it for yourself, ask a scholar what is fitna & see if he gives this definition of Allah or his own definition, his years of study would become clear to you as he will give his own. Quran {25:30} � �the prophet will say O my lord my people treated the Quran as foolish nonsense/ignored it/discarded it�
c)    Now why is fitna worse than kital? Wait even                                                                            that has Allah answered, Allah tells in the next sentence the reason based on what �God�s cause� demands, �they will turn you back from your faith and if you do you will be put in hell�. Remember what God�s cause is �paradise for all�, but because of persecution that will not be possible and even those on path to paradise will end up in hell, how will one go to paradise if one is prevented from paths of God, how will one grow in faith if one is not allowed access to Quran, and when one wont come to faith he will not go to paradise, whereas the goal of Islam is to take people to paradise and work of prophet is to save people from hell. Seeing this we understand the verse �you dislike a thing good for you and you like a thing bad for you� for indeed in such a situation one has to fight and end a system in which God will have to put people in hell, whereas prophet knew God wants people in paradise, the system which only & only increases score of hell instead of score of paradise must be stopped, prophet understood that this situation will never let his work be accomplished until he picks the sword and fight to establish a system of God�s cause in which a person desires paradise even for his murderer, like Abel the muttaqee and doesn�t die hating someone � there is no place for hate in Universe of Allah.
To sum it up the verses {2:216-217} say �
1 � prophet and companions didn�t like war.
2 - war is allowed on fitna and not on Qital ie on persecution and not killing.
3 � fitna/persecution is trying to finish Islam completely from its very root.
4 � because of fitna people will go in hell whereas God wants them in paradise, so fight and end that system for that is indeed good, overlook how much you hate war.
5 � tell me where is patience in Allah�s argument for war?? Where?? God does not talk about patience, patience is a different branch and fitna is a different branch, it is those who do not know difference between Fitna and Qital, it�s they who think patience is the key behind war and no war, no patience is not the key, God�s cause is the key, but then, they also don�t know the God�s cause!!!

SUNNAH OF 2 PROPHETS AND WAY OF GOD �
Persecution in itself does not allow a muslim to go to war. War is a very serious issue and the religion of Allah ensures that such a situation does not arise that humans start killing each other.
The best examples in this support is from Quran itself �
On one hand was pharaoh doing persecution and on other it was Meccans doing persecution,  Allah says to Moses {pbuh} �go to pharaoh and talk to him gently�{20:44}, Allah says to Muhammad {pbuh} �repel evil with goodness {ehsan}� {41:34-35}, when persecution increases Allah asks Moses {pbuh} to migrate by night, when persecution increases Allah asks Muhammad{pbuh} to migrate by night, when pharaoh comes from behind to finish off religion of God, God destroys him, when Meccans come from behind to finish off religion of God, God destroys them as it was not possible for muslim army to win any war but God sent angels to fight as comes in Quran.
So we see there is absolutely no change in the ways of our God, they are same throughout history, so the sunnah of 2 highest ranked prophets and to top it, the way of Allah, the master of the 2 prophets lays it down that if there is persecution then migrate and if the persecutor comes from behind either Allah will destroy them or give you power to destroy them.
But this situation does not arise today as nowhere in the world there is persecution today, yes there is killing but there is no persecution. Yes there are enemies but was not hazrat umar too an enemy, hazrat Khalid bin waleed too an enemy, hazrat saad too was an enemy and tell me how many more enemies shall I name??? truly we have left the path and thus we have been humiliated in this world. Allah teaches in {41:34-35} to look at enemy as a potential friend. Woe to us muslims, woe to our scholars who teach �fight against pharaoh, curse him� while Allah taught �go to pharaoh and talk to him gently� {20:44}. Surely the worst hell awaits us all.

HE SAID THERE IS PERSECUTION TODAY �
I had a friend who was filled with hate and violence and used to quote from Quran and emotionally supported the muslim violent struggles going on in the world.  He used to give the same arguments for war as discussed in second part of this topic, under �what scholars of today think it is�, he also didn�t know what is fitna, what is qital etc. he had a lot of knowledge, indeed his knowledge was immense, but he had no analyses, zero analyses, like a computer, and was only speaking what was fed to him by false scholars above him.
We sat discussing this and when I showed him these verses it was clear to him that these are the criteria in Islam for war and these criteria are not being met anywhere today, as in every country Jamats go, Quran is distributed and salat is offered.
But he was not willing to kill the hate boiling inside. He instantly left his criteria, which he realized, were wrong and the criteria in {2:216-217} is the real criterion. He instantly in order to still support the hate and violence he was arguing for came up with cunning solution. He asked �see {2:216-217} says that war is allowed on stopping people from the paths of Allah right?� I said �right�, he said �see setting an intrest free economy is a path of Allah, they don�t let us set an intrest free economy so war is allowed�
His argument is absolutely valid, but valid till the time he is the one who is defining what does �stopping people from the paths of Allah� mean. When we see the prophets definition his argument stands broken.
I counter asked him keeping in mind the definition of prophet �tell me what is a bigger path of Allah Haj/umrah of Kaaba or intrest?� he said �ofcourse Kaaba is more important as Haj comes under 5 pillars of Islam whereas intrest doesn�t.� I asked �will you go to war and shed blood if somebody stops you from going to Kaaba?� Anger was allover his face and my learned friend said �is that even a question!!!� I said �my brother even hazrat Umar would have gone to war but prophet Muhammad {pbuh} the beloved messenger of Allah didn�t, he did sulaih Hudaibiya!!!� He closed his eyes got up and left in anger as Quran says �they run away from admonition like a frightened donkey running from a lion.�
He was speechless as he knew what sulaih Hudaibiya was.
For those who don�t know about it I will tell in brief, prophet gathered his companions and set off from Medina to visit Kaaba, the holiest of holy place in Islam, but the Meccans sent an army under Khalid bin Waleed to stop them, muslims took a different route and encamped in the valley of Hudaibiya close to Mecca. The Meccans were hell bent on not letting muslims visit the Kaaba, they came to do a treaty in which muslims were not to visit Kaaba and return, while doing the treaty Prophet was humiliated and even his beard was caught by a Meccan!!! All the companions were there including hzrt Abu Bakr Hzrt Umar etc. and none said decapitate his head like our false scholars who have more knowledge then the highest companions do!!! The man who did so was not even slapped, let alone decapitate his head!!! He was left to roam around the muslim camp at will.
All commentators comment the treaty as a humiliating treaty as all the conditions in it favored the Meccans and it appeared as if muslims are scared that�s why they are doing so. Muslims felt so humiliated that almost all the companions were in a bad mood and hazrat Umar went and questioned the prophet �are we not on truth?� ie why this humiliating treaty, we have fought and defeated them many times, Hazrat Umar was not a rebel, he knew Quran, his concern was that war is allowed on barring people from path of God and we are being barred from visiting Kaaba. But the eye of the great prophet saw something else, prophet saw that the Meccans are saying return to Medina and do what you want there, offer salat, preach Quran etc. but just don�t visit Kaaba.
The prophet saw that they are stopping me from the path of God is true, but they are not stopping me from the path of God is also true!!! This is wisdom O muslims this is wisdom which we lack. Prophet knew the situation is not like that of Badr where the Meccans wanted to finish off Islam from the very root, here they were not doing so, they were saying go do what you want in Medina. Lo the persecutor was not coming from behind to finish off the one who has migrated, the criteria was not being met. So stopping people from the path of Allah means stopping people from all the paths of Allah, what prophet did and we muslims should follow his sunnah if such a thing happens is that, he molded the public opinion of whole of Arabia and in some time entered victorious to visit the Kaaba!!! He didn�t shed blood at Hudaibiya nor at victory of Kaaba.
My friend knew this and that�s why got up and left speechless. Truly �when truth is hurled against falsehood, falsehood perishes for falsehood by its very nature is bound to perish.�


TODAY MY COMPLAINT TOMORROW GOD�S -
Certainly �the false pen of the false scribe certainly works falsehood�. We have indeed become like people of the book, we along with our scholars have become like donkeys with books laden on our backs but we understand nothing.
O scholars teach the ummah to be like prophet Yusuf {pbuh} that when children of Adam try to murder them and snatch everything from them and jail them in false cases, they become like children of Jacob and forgive the children of Adam, their brothers. O scholars if you want to teach us teach us how to be gentle to a person like Pharaoh if he comes in front of us as Allah taught Moses {pbuh} in {20:44}. O scholars teach us how to be like Abel and increase score of Allah even if it be on our loss, O scholars teach us how to be like Magicians of Pharaoh who died but didn�t let a word of curse come on their lips for pharaoh and called it submission to Allah. Teach us how to be like Abraham {pbuh} that when Allah himself was punishing people of Lot he fell in prostration seeking forgiveness for them, O scholars teach us how to be like prophet Muhammad {pbuh} who will fall in prostration seeking forgiveness for those in hell, whom God will be punishing. O scholars don�t be scholars of satan, follow that which is clear in Quran, don�t try to follow that of the unclear part of which only the wise have knowledge {3:7}. Don�t seek authority, political power and glory for yourselves, Allah will never forgive you for taking the whole ummah astray.
O ummah do tawassum, tadabbur, tafakkur {reflect, understand, ponder} today so that you don�t cry tomorrow and if these scholars of Satan don�t repent and mend their ways, they need to be deposed, they must be deposed so that the world comes on God�s cause.
May Allah guide us all, Aameen, summa-aameen.
Tawassum, Tadabbur, Tafakkur.
Pray for wisdom.

@abuayisha - salamvalaikum brother
see for yourself what the Quran says in my post.....what have i said from outside the Quran?? i have quoted the verses you can cross check them, they are very clear, i even gave examples from prophets life....no brother it is not a new fiqh, it is return to the orignal one,,,,,,dont take my word....pick my sentences and prove....it shouldnt be hard to do so??
and i say most gently brother i have been true to Quran, do cross check everything.
peace be on you.

Last Friday while on site seeing tour of ground zero and it's environs found ourselves looking at the much maligned ground zero mosque...it didn't look anywhere like a mosque but just a prayer place in a dilapidated and abandoned old building!  Juma salaat at that place was happen chance totally unplanned!

 The regular imam was a no show so a substitute delivered the Khutba on similar lines as the bro's thesis!

The experience was unbelievably surrealistic...the construction of the new trade center was going full bore a block away and we were gathered in that place  without running water line had busted few days back! Imagine a Jamia Mosque without water!

 A New York cop sat outside in a cruiser keeping an eye for any trouble maker while we did our thing!

At the end of salaat the management made a plea for donations to have the plumbing fixed! And I wondered what was all that uproar few months back against a project with $100 millions budget?
It wasn't a good feeling at all!


Edited by Sign*Reader - 16 May 2011 at 7:36pm

Nu001 you may want to read rememberallah's post "WAR IN ISLAM" as my response was specifically addressed to his comments.  You seem to have taken a specific response and made it general - out of context, because your post has absolutely nothing to do with the issue at hand in my estimation.