27 December 2001, 12:57am IST
Asghar Ali Engineer.
The recent events like attacks on the world trade center in new york and now on the indian parliament have created serious misunderstanding about the concept of jehad or holy war. terrorists misuse the name of islam for their own political goals and fanatical acts. many muslims and non-muslims begin to think that what these terrorists are doing is part of an islamic jehad against non-believers. the qur’an does not use the word jehad for war and neither does it urge muslims to fight against all kafirs or non-believers. the qur’anic injunction is to live in peace with all those non-believers who extend the hand of friendship to muslims and let them live with honour and dignity with their religious beliefs. it was on this basis that the jamiat-ul-ulama-i-hind, an organisation of islamic theologians of india, opposed jinnah’s two-nation theory and accepted composite nationalism. the qur’an not only does not require forcing others to believe but also preaches doctrine of ‘‘for you is your religion and for me is my religion’’. the qur’an repeatedly urges muslims to ‘‘enforce what is good and fight what is evil’’. thus, real jehad is to make utmost efforts in this direction. jehad, in fact, is a multi-layered concept in the qur’an and not one-dimensional as is often made out to be. it is the duty of the faithfuls to transform this world and rid it of all forms of exploitation. and, real jehad is a constant struggle to promote justice and goodness. for this, first of all it is necessary to control one’s own desires and curb the acquisitive instinct which is the root cause of all evil. this is easier said than done. this is why the prophet of islam is reported to have said that jehad-i-akbar or the greatest jehad is to curb one’s own desires and to fight with sword is jehad-i-asghar or little jehad. also, the qur’an emphasises that a faithful should never transcend the limits set out by allah and should never commit an act of aggression. since purification of self is quite central to transformation of the world, self-restraint becomes very essential at every step of life. the project of transformation of the world would be marred if one transcends the limits set by allah and resorts to violence or aggression. thus, terrorist attacks have absolutely no place in islam. the prophet of islam, it is important to note, has been described by the qur’an as rahmatun lil alamin or mercy of the worlds. the prophet is for all muslims an ideal example to follow. thus, if he shows mercy on the world, how can his followers be violent, much less fanatic? if they are, then they flagrantly violate the prophet’s practices. all muslims consider it a privilege to follow the sunnah or practices of the prophet. allah’s name is compassionate and merciful, besides just. thus, those who use aggression and violence, defy allah’s attributes and the prophet’s sunnah and can hardly qualify to be true muslims. the prophet had practically demonstrated on a number of occasions that one should achieve one’s objective peacefully as far as possible. the best example is that of sulh-e-hudaibiyah or peace of hudaibi-yah. the muslims had gone along with the prophet to perform haj pilgrim but the meccan unbelievers resisted and muslims stopped at a place called hudaibiyah. the kafirs of mecca made it clear that they will strongly resist if muslims tried to enter into mecca for haj. the prophet’s followers urged upon him to proceed and fight against the non-believers to gain entry into mecca for haj. he, however, refused and instead negotiated and agreed to go back without performing haj and accepted certain conditions, which were thought to be quiteunfavourable by his close companions. however, the prophet accepted the terms to avoid bloodshed and returned to medina without performing haj. that proved to be of great advantage ultimately to muslims as the prophet entered mecca next year peacefully without shedding blood. this is, but one example from among many from prophet’s life for his preference for peace in the society. the prophet, following the qur’anic teachings showed the world that subjective anxiety cannot easily transform the world. such anxiety often leads to violence and aggression. a real jehad should have many layers of struggle to bring about transformation. some of these layers have deeper understanding of objective conditions, proper insights into human psychology, patience and steadfastness. all this put together constitutes the multi-layered concept of jehad in the qur’an.
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