jihad - Khadijah Mosque

Jihadcaused Muslims to be associated with acts ofdestruction and terror, and as a result, tobecome victims of hate violence and terrorthemselves. Sometimes the religion of Islam isheld responsible for the acts of a handful ofMuslims, and often for the acts of non-Muslims.Could it be possible that Islam, whose lightended the Dark Ages in Europe, now propoundthe advent of an age of terror? Could a faiththat has over 1.2 billion followers the world over,actually advocate the killing and maiming ofinnocent people? Could Islam, whose name itselfstands for “peace” and “submission to God”,encourage its adherents to work for death anddestruction?The Glorious Quran says: (…take not life,which God hath made sacred, except byway of justice and law: thus doth Hecommand you, that ye may learnwisdom.) (Al-An‘am 6: 151).Islam considers all life forms as sacred.However, the sanctity of human life is accordeda special place. The first and the foremost basicright of a human being is the right to live. Allahsays in the Quran says: (… … if any one slew aperson - unless it be for murder or forspreading mischief in the land - it wouldbe as if he slew the whole people: and ifany one saved a life, it would be as if hesaved the life of the whole people.) (Al-Maidah 5: 32)Such is the value of a single human life, thatthe Quran equates the taking of even onehuman life unjustly, with killing all of humanity.Thus, the Quran prohibits homicide in clearterms. The taking of a criminal’s life by thestate in order to administer justice is requiredto uphold the rule of law, and the peace andsecurity of the society. Only a proper andcompetent court can decide whether anindividual has forfeited his right to life by6 Masjid Khadijah