Jihad (Struggle, effort, endeavour) - Part 2

[Guest guest]

('Jihad' - Struggle, effort, endeavour. [Muhammad Prophet For Our Time Glossary

pg. 217].)

 

 

Jihad - Part 1

 

(p.128) In the steppes, the ghazu needed no theoretical justification; it was

seen as an unavoidable necessity in time of scarcity. But Muhammad had been

determined to transcend the old tribal norms. The Qur'an had instructed Muslims

to say " Peace be with you! " to the kafirun [unbelievers; those not acknowledging

their dependence on the Creator but ungratefully, aggressively rejecting Allah],

not attack them while they were going about their business. Shortly after

Muhammad arrived in Medina, he received a revelation that took a more militant

line.

 

Permission [to fight] is given to those against whom war is being wrongfully

waged--and, verily, God has indeed the power to succor them--those who have been

driven from their homelands against all right for no other reason than their

saying " Our Sustainer is God! "

 

For if God had not enabled people to defend themselves against one another,

[all] monasteries and churches and synagogues and mosques--in [all of] which

God's name is abundantly extolled--would surely have been destroyed [ere now].

[4]

 

 

The Qur'an had begun to develop a primitive just war theory. In the steppes,

aggressive warfare was praiseworthy; but in the Qur'an, self-defense was the

only possible justification for hostilities and the preemptive strike was

condemned. [5] War was always a terrible evil, but it was sometimes necessary in

order to preserve decent values, such as freedom of worship. (p.129) Even here,

the Qur'an did not abandon its pluralism: synagogues and churches as well as

mosques should be protected. The Muslims felt that they had suffered a fearful

assault; their expulsion from Mecca was an act that had no justification. Exile

from the tribe violated the deepest sanction of Arabia; it had attacked the core

of the Muslims' identity.

 

At first, Muhammad fought according to the traditional rules, but in January

624, just before the change of the qiblah [direction of prayer], he had his

first experience of the unpredictability of warfare. [6] The Emigrants were

becoming more confident. During the winter months, the Quraysh [Muhammad's

'born' tribe] sent their caravans south, so they no longer had to pass Medina.

But ever anxious to attract their attention, Muhammad sent a small raiding party

of nine men to attack one of these southbound caravans. It was the end of Rajab,

one of the " sacred months " when all fighting was forbidden. (p.130) On the last

day of Rajab, the Muslims came upon a small caravan encamped in Nakhlah [an

oasis south-east of Mecca]. What should they do? If they waited until the

following day, when the truce ended, the caravan would be able to return

unscathed to Mecca. They decided to attack. The first arrow killed one of the

merchants, most of the others fled, but the Muslims took two prisoners whom they

brought back to Medina with the captured merchandise.

 

But instead of greeting the raiders as conquering heroes, the Muslims were

horrified to hear that the raid had violated the sacred month. For a few days,

Muhammad did not know how to respond. He had, after all, abandoned much Meccan

religion and may have imagined that he could jettison the forbidden months too.

The raid had been a success. Not only were there rich pickings, but he had shown

the Quraysh that he could attack them almost on their own doorstep. He had also

impressed many of the Medinese. But there was something dubious about the whole

business. Muhammad had never condemned the practice of the forbidden months

before; the sources seem uneasy about the incident. Muhammad had discovered that

however idealistic your war might be at the outset, something distasteful is

likely to occur sooner rather than later.

 

Eventually Muhammad received a new revelation that reiterated the central

principle of his just war. Yes, it had been wrong to break the sacred truce, but

the policy of the Quraysh in driving the Muslims from their homes had been even

more heinous. " They will not cease to fight against you till they have turned

you away from your faith, " the Qur'an warned Muhammad. As to fighting during the

forbidden month, this was indeed an " awesome thing, "

 

But turning men away from the path of God and denying Him and [turning them away

from] the Inviolable House of Worship and expelling its people therefrom--[all

this] is far more awesome in the sight of God, since oppression is more awesome

than killing. [7]

 

 

Muhammad, therefore, accepted the booty and reassured the community; he divided

the spoils equally among the Emigrants and began negotiations with the Quraysh

for an exchange of prisoners: he would trade the Meccan captives for two Muslims

still living in Mecca who wanted to make the hijrah [pilgrimage]. But one of the

prisoners was so impressed by what he saw in Medina that he decided to remain

and convert to Islam. The incident is a good example of the way Muhammad was

beginning to work. In his novel position, he could not rely on customary

procedure. He was feeling his way forward step by step, responding to events as

they unfolded. He had no fixed master plan and, unlike some of his more

impetuous companions, he rarely responded to a crisis immediately but took time

to reflect until finally--sometimes pale and sweating with the effort--he would

bring forth what seemed an inspired solution.

 

Muhammad (Prophet For Our Time)

Chapter 4, 'Jihad', p. 128-131

Karen Armstrong

Harper Perennial - London, New York, Toronto and Sydney

ISBN-13 978-0-00-723248-2

ISBN-10 0-00-723248-9

 

Notes:

 

[4] Qur'an 22:36-40, in Muhammad Asad, trans., 'The Message of the Qur'an'

(Gibraltar, 1980).

 

[5] Qur'an 2:190.

 

[6] Watt, 'Muhammad at Medina', 6-8; Bamyeh, 'Social Origins of Islam', 198-99;

Marshall G.S. Hodgson, 'The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World

Civilization', 3 vols (Chicago and London, 1974), 1:175-76; Tor Andrae,

'Muhammad: The Man and His Faith', trans Theophil Menzel (London, 1936),

195-201.

 

[7] Qur'an 2:217, Asad translation.