What Islam taught me.

I came across this while researching if Islam is a religion of peace.

“The Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah” (Sahih Muslim 1:33). The word translated “fight” in many of the verses above is the infamous word jihad, which loosely means “struggle.” And while it’s true that “jihad” can sometimes refer to the “inner struggle” of a faithful Muslim against sin, it’s plain that an “inner struggle” is not the meaning of passages that call for the removing of heads and fingers from every infidel. Indeed, virtually every major Muslim jurist (specialists of Islamic law) have for centuries understood that jihad was an inherently militaristic term.

So I googled Jihad to find out what that word ment and google quoted Wikipedia as: "Jihad is classified into inner ("greater") jihad, which involves a struggle against one's own base impulses, and external ("lesser") jihad, which is further subdivided into jihad of the pen/tongue (debate or persuasion) and jihad of the sword."

This tells me that the inner struggle against one's own base impulses and debate or persuasion and the sword are all different sides of the same coin, an unusual 3 sided coin but "The Universe(god) is under no obligation to make sense to you."

That it transitions smoothly from inner struggle to the use of reason with other and from the use of reason. That they are not ether or options but when you do one properly you have to be doing the other two as well.

"Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing more difficult than understanding him," Dostoyevsky.

Now you students of Islam noticed that not only did they not quote the previous an following line to give it context but they didn't even quote the entire line.

It is narrated on the authority of Jabir that the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded that I should fight against people till they declare that there is no god but Allah, and when they profess it that there is no god but Allah, their blood and riches are guaranteed protection on my behalf except where it is justified by law, and their affairs rest with Allah, and then he (the Holy Prophet) recited (this verse of the Holy Qur'an):" Thou art not over them a warden" (lxxxviii, 22). It has been narrated on the authority of Abdullah b. 'Umar that the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and they establish prayer, and pay Zakat and if they do it, their blood and property are guaranteed protection on my behalf except when justified by law, and their affairs rest with Allah. It Is narrated on the authority of Abu Malik: I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: He who professed that there is no god but Allah and made a denial of everything which the people worship beside Allah, his property and blood became inviolable, an their affairs rest with Allah.

This tells me that we should be fighting not that people do acts expressing approval or admiration for god, or following Islamic customs, but that we actually do god's work.

This interpretation mirrors the Khalsa of Sikhi;"Khalsa" is derived from the Arabic or Persian word "Khalisa" which means "to be pure, to be clear, to be free from".

Sikhism emerged in the northwestern part of Indian subcontinent. During the Mughal Empire rule, Khalsa originally meant the land that was possessed directly by the emperor, which was different from jagir land granted to lords in exchange for a promise of loyalty and annual tribute to the emperor.

Prior to Guru Gobind Singh, the religious organization was organized through the masands or agents. The masands would collect revenue from rural regions for the Sikh cause, much like jagirs would for the Islamic emperor. The Khalsa, in Sikhism, came to mean pure loyalty to the Guru, and not to the intermediary masands who were increasingly becoming corrupt.