Jihad as an Inherent Part of Islam
The concept of jihad, as explained in the Encyclopedia of Islam (1960-1986), stems from the fundamental principle of Islam’s universality: “this religion, along with the temporal power which it implies, ought to embrace the whole universe, if necessary by force.” The Muslim’s religious and universal mission, therefore, as explained by Ibn Khaldun, is the “the obligation [to convert] everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force.” According to the jurist Muhammad al-Ghazali (1058–1111), considered by some historians as the single most influential Muslim after the Prophet’s death,
“Everyone must go on jihad (i.e., warlike razzias or raids) at least once a year … one may use a catapult against them [non-Muslims] when they are in a fortress, even if among them are women and children. One may set fire to them and/or drown them.… If a person of the Ahl al-Kitab [People of the Book: Jews and Christians] is enslaved, his marriage is [automatically] revoked, and his wife becomes the rightful property of a Muslim. One may cut down their trees.… One must destroy their useless books. Jihadis may take as booty whatever they decide … the Jihadis may steal as much food as they need.”
The first legitimate jihad after the Prophet’s death, according to various Islamic scholars, occurred when Muhammad’s successor, Abu Bakr, suppressed the many Arab tribes who rejected his authority. Bakr’s intransigent and belligerent response towards those who refused his governance, historically known as the ridda (apostasy) wars (632-33), paved the way for the Arabs to attack and conquer most of the areas bordering the Arabian Peninsula: Iraq, Syria, Egypt, etc. These jihadist conquests (from 634 to ca. 740) transmuted the Middle East by causing a linguistic shift from Aramaic and Greek to Arabic and transforming Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism to Islam (over a period of centuries), thereby creating an Islamic empire that would last until the fall of the Ottoman dynasty in 1924.
Just as it was with both the early community of believers and the later caliphate-state, jihad (or holy war) is used today by Islamists in order to herald in a new society of nations. The goal is universal governance according to the norms of the sharia, where non-Muslims are given the choice to convert to Islam or submit to a poll tax (jizya) or die:
And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way.—Sura 9, 5
While the world is justly concerned about the acts of jihadist violence, it has been led by neoconservative and progressive politicians and the mainstream media, as well as by many of my own Catholic leaders to believe that, with the exception of the Iranian state-sponsored terrorism, the acts of terror carried out by Muslims are sparse and provincial. Consequential to this has been the denial of the jihadist doctrine as a juridical development of Islamic sacred texts. In an attempt to sustain this position, Islam has been compared to Christianity as a religion that promotes human dignity. This is a far cry for the truth. While the Christian faith sees every human being equal before God, regardless of race, gender, or status in society, Islam calls for religious, ethnic, and political cleansing, since not all are equal or pleasing to Allah. Under the pretense that the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad are indistinguishable from those of Jesus, many Westerners perceive the violence carried out by Islamists, such as ISIS, Boko Haram, or other jihadists, as an anomaly of Islamic observance.
When we claim that Christianity and Islam are similar to one another, what we essentially do is give analytical priority to the classification of “religion” as constituted by the historical experiences of both Western and Eastern Europe. We can then conclude that there is a categorical equality in value between them that makes it significantly important to speak of Islam in paradigmatic terms of Christianity. If this is the case, we forbear to give sufficient attention to whether there are inherent, fundamental, or categorical qualities with regard to Christianity that render it essentially different from Islam, different to the point that it so severely diminishes the utility of the analytical classification of religion as a meaningful analysis for Christianity or any other religious entity. As author William Kilpatrick explained, for decades, both Catholic and Protestant leaders have contented themselves to accept the “common ground thesis” — the comforting belief that the Christian faith and the Islamic faith share much in common. As a result, a lot of Christians have been lulled into complacency about the threat from Islam. If they want to avoid the fate of Christians in North Africa, the Middle East, and various other Muslim regions they need to get a better grasp on what Islam really teaches.
- This is an excerpt of my book Islam – Religion of Peace?: The Violation of Natural Rights and Western Cover-Up
Mario Alexis Portella is author of Islam: Religion of Peace? – The Violation of Natural Rights and Western Cover-Up
Book is available on Amazon:
Barnes & Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/islam-mario-alexis-portella/1129630361?ean=9781973635550
Keep in mind that jihad is to “struggle against whatever or whomever is not pure. Hence, participating in jihad is not limited to just violence but deceit in infiltration.
Yes, much of the very essence of Islam is brutal ,cruel and deadly Quran based violence of the jihad. As found in the Quran ,for example in 2:191. 9,5, 111. 47:4. .The many Muslim apologists and propagandists for Islam engage in the practice of the Islamic doctrine of Taqiayya which is lying speaking falsehoods and deception and good thing to do as long and the lying falsehood and deception is done for the advancement of Islam. So to hide and cover up the harsh and ugly truth and the violent jihad of Islam to deceive naive and unformed Westerns about Islam’s intrinsic violent and murderous jihad.
Therefore, don’t let them fool you, the many apologists for Islam is will endeavor to set up a smokescreen to hide the reality of the truth about the violence and deadly essence of Islam by making the bogus claim that the al Qaeda operatives mass murderer on 9/11 were not real Muslims and that they were breaking the laws of the Qu ‘ran by their violence and deadly actions.” The apologists for Islam will further make the totally false claim that “Those terrorists on 9/11 were only criminals who hijacked the peaceful religion of Islam for Politics.” Those outrageously false claims are weak attempt of damage control for the image of Islam to the West. For the “holy book” of Islam the Qu ‘ran. For the Qu ‘ran instruct in Sura 9:111. Muslims who are engaging the jihad that “The believer’s fight in Allah’s Cause, they slay and are slain ,they kill and are killed “ That’s just what happened on September 11, 2001 the jihadists of al Qaeda “killed and were killed” in those 9/11 jihad attacks against both humankind and America. The Quran also teaches in Sura 9:123 to that jihad –minded Muslims behavior towards non-Muslims “let them find harshness in you…” Those Islamic attacks on 9/11 were indeed very “harsh.” As Sura 2:191 instructs “kill the disbeliever wherever you find them.” That’s a very strange kind of “peaceful religion” if there ever was one. Just to site one more out on many from the Qu ‘ran about the instruction of deadly violence is Sura 47:4. Which instructs “Whenever you encounter unbelievers strike off their heads until you make a great slaughter among them …” Let’s face it, using jet planes a missiles as those jihadist/ Muslims did of September 11, sure made a greater “slaughter among them” then sword can. Wake up West to the actual nature of Islam before it’s too late.
Those cruel ,vicious and murderous jihad –minded Muslims who compose ISIS are so very brutal and cruel engaging in the deadly violence in the an intrinsic part of Islam . As those malicious jihadists of that jihad entity, ISIS, are actually putting in to the practice ,with all their ruthless actions, the violence and killing that is part of the teaching of the “holy book” of Islam ,the Koran. Which contain the doctrine of extreme violent force for the advancement of Islam. As seen in the Koran, for example, 2:191,4:89. 5:33. 9:5,111,123. 47:4. So in spite of the strong denials by many, ISIS is an actual Islamic organization. Likewise the malicious, bloodthirsty violence jihadists who make up ISIS are real Muslims. Nevertheless, there are some who might , understandably, wonder and then ask “Just how can those jihadists of ISIS ,being so very religious , also at the time also be so very malice-filled ,unfeeling and deadly ? “ The answer to that question is found in the Bible. For the Bible teaches that there are some people who are extremely heartless, cold, callous and dangerous because they have had “their conscience seared with a hot iron.” First Timothy 4:2. [ K.J.V.] In this case of the members of ISIS this “hot iron” is Islam.
Many times the jihadist members of different Islamic terror entities, as those of ISIS, have gathered together and chanted the words “We love death, they love life.” Likewise those jihadist/Muslims don’t stop with those awful words; they carry through with jihad suicide/homicide attacks. Any sane person would ask “Why do those jihad –minded Muslims have such a mindset of murderous madness?” The answer is that they obtain the way of thinking and believing from the “holy book” of Islam, the Koran. As some people call it the Qu ‘ran. For example the Koran in Sura 9:111 instructs “The believers fight in Allah’s Cause, they slay and are slain, they kill and are killed.” Therefore it may be conclude that Islam is actually a death cult. In great and wonderful contrast to the death cult which is Islam there is Christianity which is centered on Jesus and His teachings. For Jesus did not teach killing and death but taught and gave life, a good peaceful well lived life and more. For example Jesus declared “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10. [K.J.V.]