jihad - Khadijah Mosque

JihadIn those days the Prophet (PBUH) used to receiveguidance from Allah in the form of revelation (wahi)as to what to do in certain situation. He guided Muslimsaccordingly. Thus he did not take decisions asMohammad as a man but as a messenger of Allah.In those days the Prophet (PBUH) used toreceive guidance from Allah in the form ofrevelation (wahi) as to what to do in certainsituation. He guided Muslims accordingly. Thushe did not take decisions as Mohammad as aman but as a messenger of Allah. We have thisguidance today in the form of Quran and Quranis very clear on such issues which it callsmuhkamat i.e. clear and firm in meaning (3:7).We have to obtain guidance strictly on Quranicgrounds and not interpret them in arbitrarymanner to fulfil our worldly desires. This is howthe Quran is unfortunately being interpretedby those who invoke it for waging ‘jihad andcourting martyrdom.Thus we should not only bear the context inwhich the Quranic ahkamat (injunctions) wererevealed but also apply them with great senseof responsibility so that arbitrary interpretationshould not bring harm to anyone. Todayscontext should be borne in mind while applyingthese injunctions. Since the key Quranic valuesare justice (‘adl), benevolence (ihsan),compassion (rahmah) and wisdom (hikmah)any interpretation should not injure thesevalues. Any arbitrary use of violence will greatlyharm these values and needless to say killinginnocent people through suicide bombing doesinjure these values. Such killings are againstjustice, benevolence, compassion and wisdom.We should not mechanically invoke the verseson use of violence in the Quran or on concept ofmartyrdom to justify what results in grossviolation of these values. If one carefullyconsiders Quranic injunctions it is permissibleto use violence for defence but never for revengeand all terrorist killings are either for revengeor for terrorising others. A violence, whichterrorises cannot be jihad fi sabilillah (war inthe way of Allah). All terrorist killings are totallyin violation of the Quranic spirit. The youngpeople who are induced to become humanbombs are often lured through the concept ofmartyrdom - i.e. if they die for the ‘cause of Allah,they will go to paradise as mentioned in theQuran. This appears to be a very attractiveproposition for them and they easily acceptedthe self-destructive assignment. As pointed outabove such death is destruction (halakah)rather than martyrdom. What is martyrdom andhow to define it? A martyr is one who dies in ajust war, a war which is fought in defence ofhuman lives and in defence of deen of Allah. AllMasjid Khadijah 87