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SnowStar Axial Magazine

AXIAL is the SnowStar Institute's magazine. It is published three times a year: fall, winter, and spring, and features articles from leading scholars and thinkers, submissions from SnowStar members, and news about developments and goals of the SnowStar Institute of Religion.

AXIAL Fall, 2002
Raheel Raza
©SnowStar Institute of Religion.

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Jesus In Islam

Jihad: Misunderstood and Misused

 

Jesus in Islam.

(Raheel Raza)

Islam (the faith of 1.2. billion people around the globe today) is a continuation of the religious tradition of Abraham. Therefore, those who follow Islam (i.e. Muslims) have been told that unless they accept the two other major faiths that preceded Islam, Judaism and Christianity, the faith of Islam cannot be complete. In Islam, Jesus is looked upon and revered as a Prophet, whom Muslims believe was privileged by being created in a unique way by God - a way that was never precedented or repeated so that it could be proof of the existence of God and His great mercies to humankind.

Moses and Jesus preceeded Mohammad as Prophets and messengers, the message considered to be the word of God through Moses and the Torah, Jesus and the Bible, Mohammad and the Koran (the holy book of Muslims). Therefore, Muslims look upon Jews and Christians as "people of the book". It's interesting that Jesus is mentioned more times by name in the Koran, than Mohammad. The teachings of Jesus are also mentioned in the Koran and are no different from the teachings of Mohammad who is the messenger of the continuing message from God to all humanity. Muslims look upon Mohammad as the last messenger who reinforced the message of God to his people.

The references to Jesus in the Koran start with Mary. In the Koran, Mary and Jesus are mentioned in many chapters and there is one entire chapter devoted to the birth of Jesus. This chapter is titled Maryam (i.e. Mary). In Maryam God tells us about Jesus and his mother in order to inform us about Jesus' mortal and human nature. "Christ, son of Mary was a messenger like many of the messengers that passed before him. His mother was a woman of truth." (Koran) Jesus performed miracles by God's permission just as God empowered Moses and several other Prophets with miracles. God elevated their spirituality and humanity. The Koran says that Mary was a faithful believer in God and asked God to protect her from Satan. "And her Lord accepted her with full acceptance and vouchsafed to her a goodly growth - prepared the conditions for that upbringing - and made Zakaria her guardian." And it is believed that the angels said. "O Mary, Lo God gives thee glad tidings of a word - and God's word is His will - from him whose name is Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, illustrious in the world and the Hereafter, and one of those brought near to God."(Koran)

It was said that Jesus spoke to humankind in his cradle - a miracle to prove the falsehoods of all the accusations concerning Mary having had a child - and that he would be one of the righteous. Regarding Jesus, the Koran says, "And he will teach him the scripture (the theory) and the wisdom to learn how to put it into practice, and the Torah and the Gospel. And will make him a messenger unto the children of Israel." It is believed that Jesus explained he had a sign from God - a sign that had to do with healing in a way that was miraculous and had to do with his relationship to God directly and was not dependent upon human abilities. Jesus said, "I fashion for you out of clay the likeness of a bird, and I breathe into it and it be a bird, by God (i.e. it is God who gives it life). I heal him who was born blind, and the leper, and I raise the dead, by God's leave. And I announce unto you what ye store in your houses. Lo, herein verily is a portent for you, if ye are believers."(Koran) The Koran goes on to say, "Lo, the likeness of Jesus is as the likeness of Adam (i.e. both were created without a father). He created him of dust, then He said unto him, Be! And he is".

Muslims do not believe in the Trinity and have Jesus quoted as saying, "Lo I am a human being, not a God. Allah is my Lord and your Lord so worship Him. That is the straight path." When Jesus became conscious of the disbelief of people about his prophethood, he cried, "Who will be my helpers in the cause of God?" The disciples said, " We will be God's helpers. We believe in God and bare thou witness that we surrendered unto Him." And then God said, "O Jesus, Lo I am gathering thee and causing thee to ascend unto Me, and am cleansing thee of those who disbelieve and am setting those who follow thee above those who disbelieve until the day of Resurrection. Then unto Me ye will (all) return and) I shall judge between you as to that wherein ye used to differ."

On the birthday of Jesus, Muslims are asked to read the chapters of the Koran called Maryam and Al-Umran which relate to Jesus, his birth and his miracles.

 

Jihad: A Misunderstood and Misused Term

(Raheel Raza)

There are five pillars of faith in Islam, which include

(1) belief in one God;
(2) fasting;
(3) prayer;
(4) going for the pilgrimage to Mecca [the Haj]; and
(5) giving charity.

Some authorities have held that there is a sixth pillar: Jihad.

This word has become well known in English because of the contemporary political situation and the focus of the news media on violence. Hence, an in-depth look at the true meaning and history of this word is warranted.

The first thing one needs to understand about the term jihad, is that "holy war" is a highly misleading and usually inaccurate translation. In Islamic history, the label had been applied to any war waged by "our side". Until very recently in the West, the situation was similar; every war was considered holy, because God was "on our side". By employing the term jihad, Muslims condemned the other side as anti-God. In short, the word has played the role of patriotic slogans everywhere. To undertake a Jihad, in contemporary terms, "to fight for the preservation of democracy and freedom." is to do what the good people do.

The Koranic usage of the term jihad is much broader than its political use might imply. The basic meaning of the term is "struggle". Most commonly, the Koran uses the verb along with the expression "in the path of God". The "path of God" is the path for right conduct that God has set down in the Koran and the example of the Prophet.

From one point of view, jihad is simply the complement to Islam. The word Islam, means "submission" or "surrender". Westerners tend to think of this as a kind of passivity. But surrender takes place to God's will, and it is for God's will that people struggle in His path. Hence submission demands struggle. Receptivity towards God's commands requires people to be active toward all the negative tendencies in society and within themselves that pull them away from God. In this perspective, submission to God and struggle in God's path go together harmoniously, and neither is complete without the other.

Within the Islamic context, the fact that submission to God demands struggle in his path is self-evident. Fasting, prayer and pilgrimage are all struggle. It takes an enormous struggle to submit to an authority that breaks not only with one's own likes and dislikes, but also with the pressure of society to conform to a crowd. The place of jihad in the divine plan is typically illustrated by citing words that the Prophet uttered on one occasion when he had returned to Medina from a battle with the enemies of the new religion. He said, "We have returned from the lesser Jihad to the greater Jihad." The people said, "O Messenger of God, what jihad could be greater than struggling against the unbelievers?" He replied, "Struggling against the enemy in your own breast". In later texts this inward struggle is most often called mujahada rather than jihad. Grammatically, the mujahada - which is derived from the same root as jihad - means exactly the same thing. But the word jihad came to be employed to refer to outward wars as well as the inward struggle against one's own negative tendencies, ego and false pride while the word mujahada is used almost exclusively for the greater, inward jihad.

Those Muslim scholars who had said that jihad is a sixth pillar of Islam have usually had in mind the fact that struggle in the path of God is a necessity for all Muslims. At the same time, they recognize that this struggle will sometimes take the role of outward war against the enemies of Islam. The Koran also says that in some cases war becomes a contingency - especially as a means of self-defence. In chapter 2 verse 51 the Koran says: "war may become necessary only to stop evil from triumphing in a way that would corrupt the earth." It needs to be stressed that war is only acceptable as a means of self-defence and to protect the faith and even in times of such war, stringent rules are applicable. The Koran says: "and slay not the life which Allah has made sacred, save in the course of justice (7:151)." The Prophet of Islam told his companions and followers in the instance of the first war of Islam, when their lives were threatened and they had to revert to self-defence, that they could never harm innocent people, children, civilians, old people, people engaged in any worship, or destroy crops and animals. The Koran says clearly in chapter 2 verse 194 " only the combatants are to be fought and no more harm should be caused to them then they have caused". Thus wars and weapons of destruction that destroy civilians and their towns are totally ruled out by the Koran and by practice of the Prophet.

With particular reference to the current climate since the September 11, 2001 crisis, the term jihad has been misused by the terrorists to legitimize their criminality and does not appear in the true meaning of the term at all. In fact, terrorism in any form does not qualify as anything more than a cowardly act and an expression of rejecting God's blessings of life. To be sure, the term jihad in the lexicon of these murderers does not appear in more than a contrived meaning to cover up the horror of their satanic behavior.