The Revelations in regards to War;
"How can Islam claim to be a religion of Peace and yet talk about War?" (Part 1)
Have you never thought to put things in their proper context?
Fact 1: Islam was revealed to the Arab Nation, whilst the two superpowers of the day (Rome and Persia) allowed the Arabian peninsula autonomy.
Persia, a mighty civilization, stretching over today's Iran, and Iraq, was at continual loggerheads with Rome stretching over Turkey, Syria and Palestine. For either of them to have garrisoned Arabia would surely have been advantageous to them, since Arabia straddled both Iraq and greater Syria. It would have opened up another front for either of them in their long conflict with one another.
But neither did.
From the secondary fact that "it never did" it follows that there must have been even stronger reasons for it not happening.
The first possible reason relates to the inhospitable nature of the land.
But would that really explain the non-occurrence? Rome and Persia were both militarized societies that well understood the need for sacrifice in order to secure gain. They would have willing paid such a price if mere inconvenience were all that stood in their way.
The second possibility was that they had evaluated the option and both decided that only rudimentary gain could be had in it's annexation.
A second fact explains that loss- consider the fact that the Arab people were a warrior nation who above all else loved freedom from control. To garrison Arabia would have been both costly and of questionable benefit. That is fact.
Instead Rome and Persia both sought to placate the Arab conundrum by enlisting differing Arab tribes to their cause and then gave them autonomy. That is telling when you consider the Arab.
And so Islam was sent to work on that polytheist Nation and made it the ultimate monotheistic Nation.
From a Nation that buried their new born infant girls it changed it to a Nation that allowed women the right to possess and own.
From a nation that was tribalistic to the point of injustice bring ingrained and rife, Islam changed this to a Nation that made Law greater that all tribes and even greater than the best of their chiefs.
All of these things and more did the message of Islam achieve.
And yet when the Prophet (saw) died the Arabian peninsula was wracked with rebellion, as if attempting to revert to its original state.
For every Arab wanted freedom from a universal law, and freedom from a universal justice.
The three places.
Just three places remained true to the ideal of Islam; Taif, Mecca and Medina; from the whole of the Arabian peninsula.
A complete message?
Tell me now, in such a region and in such a place, to have left out instruction on how to carry out War, would it have been a complete message?
In fact it taught the rules of War, making them both comprehensive and limited, and even I might add honourable.
Unlike today's enacted concepts of limitless war, Islam teaches by way of a GODLY command and in reference to your enemies "If they incline to peace, then you too incline to peace." A rule of behaviour that even when it is known to be used to the Muslims' disadvantage, throughout history it is the Muslims that have honourable done so.
An unusual message.
What is unusual is not that it talked about War but that in such a place; in the dessert far from everything, to it's coming down to an insular Nation; it is the Islamic message that is truly international.
For the Prophet (saw) said on his farewell sermon that "No Arab is superior to a non-Arab!" And to whom was he speaking? To the hundred thousands of Arabs that were before him and in Arabic. And by this he implied that this message of God is for all Nations, and meant to be delivered to all Nations:
That all men are equal in the sight of God, and that what elevates them one above the other is nothing less than godliness, piety and doing good to one another.
A message of Peace and Hope, not a message of War and Despair.
Part 2- to follow, God willing.
Find it here: http://shafeesthoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-development-of-jihad_9.html
Sent from my iPhone
"How can Islam claim to be a religion of Peace and yet talk about War?" (Part 1)
Have you never thought to put things in their proper context?
Fact 1: Islam was revealed to the Arab Nation, whilst the two superpowers of the day (Rome and Persia) allowed the Arabian peninsula autonomy.
Persia, a mighty civilization, stretching over today's Iran, and Iraq, was at continual loggerheads with Rome stretching over Turkey, Syria and Palestine. For either of them to have garrisoned Arabia would surely have been advantageous to them, since Arabia straddled both Iraq and greater Syria. It would have opened up another front for either of them in their long conflict with one another.
But neither did.
From the secondary fact that "it never did" it follows that there must have been even stronger reasons for it not happening.
The first possible reason relates to the inhospitable nature of the land.
But would that really explain the non-occurrence? Rome and Persia were both militarized societies that well understood the need for sacrifice in order to secure gain. They would have willing paid such a price if mere inconvenience were all that stood in their way.
The second possibility was that they had evaluated the option and both decided that only rudimentary gain could be had in it's annexation.
A second fact explains that loss- consider the fact that the Arab people were a warrior nation who above all else loved freedom from control. To garrison Arabia would have been both costly and of questionable benefit. That is fact.
Instead Rome and Persia both sought to placate the Arab conundrum by enlisting differing Arab tribes to their cause and then gave them autonomy. That is telling when you consider the Arab.
And so Islam was sent to work on that polytheist Nation and made it the ultimate monotheistic Nation.
From a Nation that buried their new born infant girls it changed it to a Nation that allowed women the right to possess and own.
From a nation that was tribalistic to the point of injustice bring ingrained and rife, Islam changed this to a Nation that made Law greater that all tribes and even greater than the best of their chiefs.
All of these things and more did the message of Islam achieve.
And yet when the Prophet (saw) died the Arabian peninsula was wracked with rebellion, as if attempting to revert to its original state.
For every Arab wanted freedom from a universal law, and freedom from a universal justice.
The three places.
Just three places remained true to the ideal of Islam; Taif, Mecca and Medina; from the whole of the Arabian peninsula.
A complete message?
Tell me now, in such a region and in such a place, to have left out instruction on how to carry out War, would it have been a complete message?
In fact it taught the rules of War, making them both comprehensive and limited, and even I might add honourable.
Unlike today's enacted concepts of limitless war, Islam teaches by way of a GODLY command and in reference to your enemies "If they incline to peace, then you too incline to peace." A rule of behaviour that even when it is known to be used to the Muslims' disadvantage, throughout history it is the Muslims that have honourable done so.
An unusual message.
What is unusual is not that it talked about War but that in such a place; in the dessert far from everything, to it's coming down to an insular Nation; it is the Islamic message that is truly international.
For the Prophet (saw) said on his farewell sermon that "No Arab is superior to a non-Arab!" And to whom was he speaking? To the hundred thousands of Arabs that were before him and in Arabic. And by this he implied that this message of God is for all Nations, and meant to be delivered to all Nations:
That all men are equal in the sight of God, and that what elevates them one above the other is nothing less than godliness, piety and doing good to one another.
A message of Peace and Hope, not a message of War and Despair.
Part 2- to follow, God willing.
Find it here: http://shafeesthoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-development-of-jihad_9.html
Sent from my iPhone
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