Gee! (wish people) had (more sense)

This one happened in a very familiar manner. Noemaun brought his article on 'The Prophet who fought wars" to me for a proofread, then it turned into an editorial session, following which it metamorphosed into a rewrite, following which...... well, this is what ensued. Certain sentences and passages are his and so I think I may claim but co-authorship of this essay. The subject, as may be seen, is extremely close to my heart (ref. buying a stairway to heaven). Here you are

Militarism in Islam

In today’s new-found neo-Conservative morality, it is so very fashionable to berate Islam and its practices as being primitive, brutal and anachronistic. While it is impossible to irrevocably refute all such allegations in such a short essay, it is endeavored here to take issue with supporters of the Huntingtonian school of thought on one alleged aspect of Islamic culture – militarism and Islam’s concept of Jihad.

Right up to the late 90’s, the Russian stereotype of the “godless Communist aggressor” was so firmly entrenched in American mindsets that successive Conservative administrations and pulp fiction authors like Ludlum and Forsyth managed to keep making money out of flogging the Commie horse.

Interestingly, as a quick perusal of any best-seller list and current affairs paper will show, the interests of both have shifted to a new target, the older one having been rendered obsolete by the internal collapse and democratization of the Soviet Republic in 1991. The Conservative laser-sights sought a new target and found one. Thanks to the hypotheses of academician Samuel Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” theory, circa 1995, their gun-turrets are now trained on Islam.

To this effect, the story of the spread of Islam is embellished with improbable stories of cruelty and debauchery, the current separatist movements in Chechnya, Palestine, Serbia-Montenegro etc. are highlighted as being manifestations of Islamic militarism. Also, socio-political observers of the woolly-headed Right make incredibly presumptuous proclamations of stirrings of malcontent in the Middle East. A state of paranoia, with reference to the past, present and future of the role of Islam in geo-politics, is being consciously and unambiguously generated.

Our case in defense rests on the unanimously held Orthodox Sunni premise that the path of Islam lies in the emulation of the intentions and deeds of the Seal of the Prophets, Mohammed (pbuh), the founder of Islam as we know it. To know Islam one must know of the life of the Prophet – a figure incomparable in the history of the world save to that other Semitic miracle, Jesus.

Irrespective of your political, religious or societal persuasion, any attempt to understand the Islamic ideology with a modernistic perspective will fail. Your quest for knowledge of the modalities of Islamic geo-politics and social stratifications can not even begin without a comprehensive biographical review of the personality of this man. To place the purported militarism of the Islamic creed, let us view the Prophet’s (pbuh) views regarding warfare.

“The most senile thing ever thought about man is contained in the celebrated saying 'the ego is always hateful'; the most childish is the even more celebrated 'love thy neighbor as thyself'. -- In the former, knowledge of human nature has ceased, in the latter it has not yet even begun.”

- Friedrich Nietzsche, Assorted Opinions and Maxims

To any reasonably pragmatic reasoning individual, it is evident that war is a necessary evil, which must be carried through, in order to solve social and political problems which cannot be resolved peacefully. Human communities have plunged into fights not only for the mere accomplishment of material aims but also for achieving social justice. Case in point, one wonders if Luther King could have accomplished so much had he not stood on the broad shoulders of Lincoln and Ulysses Grant.

Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah (pbuh), the founder of Islam, led his community to battle on innumerable occasions. And yet, one can unearth no records of his having benefited materially from any of these military conquests. His bearing ever remained the same, for all the prosperity and dominance of the Muslims by the time of his passing. It was thus neither lust for gold nor glory that led the Prophet to take to the sword but a burning sense of responsibility towards his fellow Arabs wallowing in ignorance and misery. It is a fact that does not really require mentioning that it was the unifying power of Islam that allowed the Arabs to establish the strongest, most magnificent empire that the world has ever seen this side of the Dark Ages.

Also, 1300 years before the West thought of the Geneva Convention, and 1360 years before the Imperialist West breaks its regulations with impunity, the Prophet of Islam imbued martial codes in Arabia with a sense of humanity and compassion. The total number of casualties in all the wars that took place during his lifetime, when the whole Arabian Peninsula came under his banner, did not exceed a few hundreds.

Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors .

[Quran 2.190]

To the aggressive Arabs, who were used to fighting forty years on the slightest provocation, say of a camel belonging to the guest of one tribe having strayed into the grazing land belonging to other tribe, which ended up with both the sides fighting resulting in the loss of thousands of lives, the Prophet of Islam taught submissiveness and discipline; Discipline so rigorous that congregational prayer during wars was common. Even during the heat and fever of battle, whenever the time for prayer came, and it comes five times every day, the congregation prayer was never postponed.

In an age of barbarism, the battlefield itself was humanized and strict instructions were issued not to cheat, not to break trust, not to mutilate, not to kill a child or woman or an old man, not to hew down date palm nor burn it, not to cut a fruit tree, not to molest any person engaged in worship and those who sought quarter were escorted to a place of safety. One can but wonder at the emotions of the confinees at Guantanamo Bay who are informed through the American popular media that it is THEY who are barbaric!

On the conquest of Mecca, the Prophet (pbuh) stood at the zenith of his power. The city which had refused to listen to his mission, which had tortured him and his followers, which had driven him and his people into exile and which had unrelentingly persecuted him even when he had taken refuge in Medina, more than 200 miles away, now lay at his feet. By the universal law of retribution (“we’re gonna smoke them out!”), he could have ‘justly’ avenged all the cruelties inflicted on him and his people. But what treatment did he accord them? His heart flowed with affection and he declared, "This day, there is no reproof against you and you are all free." "This day" he proclaimed, "I trample under my feet all distinctions between man and man, all hatred between man and man."

¨Jihad¨ is a generic term for concerted effort or struggle against major obstacles, such as injustice, disease, or poverty. It’s meaning is much broader than ¨holy war¨, and can only be understood within the context of Islamic teachings. Jihad is a very powerful pillar of Islamic faith. Unfortunately, it is misused by terrorists to rationalize their actions, much as the Nazis hijacked the teachings of Nietzsche, Fichte and Hegel to propagandize their Aryan supremacist theories. Blaming the Prophet (pbuh), Islam and Muslim culture for terrorist activity around the globe is much the same as blaming the Lutheran Church for the Holocaust, or J D Salinger for John Lennon’s assassination.

In view of the aforegoing, it is to be hoped that the next time you hear the Prophet (pbuh) being referred to in acrimonious terms, you will accord it the same amount of gullible acceptance that we cunning Indians have cultivated for official government pronouncements – nil.