islamic-jihad-legacy-of-forced-conversion-imperialism-slavery

Jihad: The Controversies2-young Muslims are religiously more radical than their parents’ generation. Although Muslims currentlyconstitute only about 3.5 percent of the British population, many aspects of Sharia law are unofficiallypractised widely in the Muslim community.Under these circumstances, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said in February 2008that the introduction of Sharia law in the U.K. was "unavoidable" and urged the government to consider itslegal introduction. 2 The British government has obliged to the popular demand of Muslims by making theruling of a Sharia court legally binding in Britain in matters of divorce, financial disputes and even domesticviolence. The Court, wrote the Daily Mail, claimed ‘to have dealt with more than 100 cases since lastsummer, including six involving domestic violence, which is a criminal rather than civil offence, and said theyhoped to take over growing numbers of ‘smaller’ criminal cases in future.’ 3 This is a step toward establishingSharia laws in the U.K.The Islamic "Jihad" or "holy war" stands for Fighting in the Cause of Allah, which Allah hasintroduced into the Islamic doctrine through a long list of verses in the Quran, such as verse 2:190. 4 There aremore than 200 divine verses of Jihad in the Quran. Osama bin Laden, the famous protagonist of violent Jihadin our times, defines his Jihadi campaigns against the infidels in religious terms as follows: 5As to the relationship between Muslims and infidels, this is summarized by the Most High’s(God’s) Word: ‘We renounce you. Enmity and hate shall forever reign between us—till youbelieve in Allah alone.’ So there is an enmity, evidenced by fierce hostility from the heart.And this fierce hostility—that is, battle—ceases only if the infidel submits to the authorityof Islam, or if his blood is forbidden from being shed, or if Muslims are at that point in timeweak and incapable. But if the hate at any time extinguishes from the heart, this is greatapostasy! Allah Almighty’s Word to his Prophet recounts in summation the truerelationship: ‘O Prophet! Wage war against the infidels and hypocrites and be ruthless.Their abode is hell—an evil fate!’ Such, then, is the basis and foundation of the relationshipbetween the infidel and the Muslim. Battle, animosity, and hatred—directed from theMuslim to the infidel—are the foundation of our religion. And we consider this a justice andkindness to them.Others have disputed this Muslim-to-infidel unidirectional and unrestrained hostility as the theologicalfoundation of Jihad. Many moderate Muslims and scholars of Islam argue that the acts of indiscriminateviolence as perpetrated by al-Qaeda and like-minded Islamist groups must not be called Jihad. Jihad, theyclaim, stands for a peaceful spiritual struggle, totally disconnected from violence. Like President Bush, theyargue that Islam is a religion of peace and that violence has no place in it. It is also widely claimed, includingby many non-Muslim scholars of Islam, that the hallmarks of Islamic history were those of tolerance, peaceand equality, which Christianity failed to offer to its Muslim (e.g., in Spain) and other non-Christian subjects(e.g., the Pagans and Jews in Europe and Americas).Speakers at a Counter Terrorism Conference (February 19–21, 2008), organized by the East WestInstitute at Brussels, repeatedly argued that the term "Jihad" must be dissociated from violence of al-Qaedabecause, for most Muslims, Jihad ‘originally means a spiritual struggle and they don’t want it hijackedanymore.’ Iraqi scholar Sheikh Mohammed Ali told the conference that ‘‘Jihad is the struggle against all evilthings in your soul... There is no jihadi terrorism in Islam.’’ Emphasizing that Jihad can be a struggle forelimination of poverty, for education or for something very, very positive in life, General Ehsan Ul Haq, the2. Sharia law in UK is ‘unavoidable’, BBC News, 7 February 20083. Matthew Hickley, Islamic sharia courts in Britain are now ‘legally binding’, 15 September 20084. Quran 2.190: Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth nottransgressors (trs. Yusuf Ali).5. Raymond Ibrahim, The Two Faces of Al Qaeda, Chronicle Review, 21 September 20072