booke

political islam 413These verses ask us to spend sustenance ‘in God’s way’ ( fÊ sabÊl All§h).This can be done in many ways: one may nourish and feed thedependents of the family; one may give ßadaq§t and support charitableorganisations; one may finance a school, or a nursery, or aclinic—all these things cover ‘sustenance in God’s way’. In contrast,however, it is against ‘God’s way’ to establish security services thatterrorise the population; it is against ‘God’s way’ to supply paramilitaryorganisations with rocket-propelled grenades to shoot downcivilian airplanes; it is against ‘God’s way’ to provide militant groupswith explosives which they detonate as bombs in crowded marketplaces or on trains containing hundreds of commuters during therush hour, killing innocent people who have not killed anyone andwho have never been involved in any military operation.Let us also look at the term ·-r-b which has often been misused inthe debate about jih§d. What does ·araba ‘in God’s way’ really mean?If we take verses of the Book as evidence, it simply connotes ‘to travelthe world’ and ‘to travel fast’ for the purpose of trade, commerce,study, or research, as it is stated in the following verse:O you who believe! When [idh§] you go abroad in the cause of God[·arabtum fÊ sabÊl All§h], investigate carefully, and say not to any onewho offers you a salutation: “You are none of a believer!”, covetingthe perishable goods of this life… ( Al-Nis§" 4:94)Three things can be deduced from how the above verse uses ·araba‘in God’s way’:The particle1. idh§ in 4:94 (if, when) expresses a fulfillable condition‘when you go abroad in the cause of God’; there is no doubtabout the possibility of going abroad and travelling the world.The ‘when’ particle is like the idh§ in the verse ‘when (idh§) thesun (with its spacious light) is folded up…’ ( Al-TakwÊr 81:1),expressing a condition that is inevitably and naturally fulfilled.This is not the case if we assume the verse to mean ‘killing orgoing to war in God’s way’, simply because peace is the basecondition of life while war is an exception to it. Wars do nothappen because they are inevitable, natural, or essential tohuman life. They are rather accidental and anomalous, destroyingthe normal rhythm of social life. An interpretation of ·-r-b