A RELIGION MISUNDERSTOOD

According to a study of the Quran, two distinct entities emerge: the Creator and the created. God is the Creator and all of us are His creation. All of us are human beings. There is no third position. On the one hand, there is God, and on the other hand, there is God’s creation. This is a matter of fact. God is one and mankind also is one. Thus we have the Unity of God—monotheism—and the Unity of mankind. This is the fundamental teaching of Islam. Now let us take the much-misunderstood concept of Jihad. To clarify this, let us recall the verse in the Quran: “God calls us to the home of peace.” Our target is peace. All our struggles are directed towards peace. We have to proceed towards peace. So that is the true criterion by which to judge whether our activities are Islamic or un-Islamic. If our activities lead in the direction of peace, then they are Islamic; otherwise they are un-Islamic. There is a very relevant Hadith (the sayings of the Prophet of Islam) to this effect: God grants to non-violence what he does not grant to violence. Jihad literally means ‘struggle’, i.e. peaceful struggle for a noble cause. No ‘war’ is involved in jihad. The equivalent Arabic word for war is ‘qital.’ Jihad has nothing to do with war or violence. Jihad is a peaceful struggle. In Islam, war is permitted only in exceptional situations. In Islam, peace is the rule; and war is a rare exception and can only be defensive. If there is no attack, then there is no war. Quranic teachings are very clear in this regard. It must be emphasized that the common perception of jihad as fasad—spreading evil—has nothing to do with Islam. According to Islamic teachings, guerrilla warfare is unlawful. Even proxy war is unlawful in Islam. To understand this better, let us recall a very important teaching in the Hadith to the effect that the waging of war is the prerogative of an established state. No group, no individual, has the right to go to war. There is a verse in the Quran, which says that there is no such thing as secret war in Islam. Proxy war is a secret war. Proxy war is therefore also unlawful in Islam. So proxy war, guerrilla war, aggressive war and undeclared war are all unlawful in Islam. The only lawful war is that which is waged in defence, in response to an attack. The Quran and the Hadith define war with the utmost clarity. The fundamental teaching of Islam is the unity of God— monotheism—and the unity of mankind.