Is Jihad Un-Islamic?

gh22So-called “Islamophobes” such as Bat Ye’or and others have been warning for years against the possible rise of a new Islamic Caliphate. They have been largely ignored and partly ridiculed for doing so.

In the summer of 2014, a new Caliphate was actually declared in the Middle East. A militant organization that had gained control over sections of Iraq and Syria declared itself the Islamic State (IS). It is headed by the ruthless Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who on June 29 2014 declared himself Caliph. ISIS or IS was originally an offshoot of al-Qaida, but broke ties with the mother organization in early 2014.

It is too early to tell whether this self-professed Caliphate or Islamic State will survive. It has many enemies, and has already caused former enemies to unite to combat it. However, it is clearly not a joke. By August 2014, it was in effective control over a substantial territory and ruled over millions of people. It has gained control over several oil fields and refineries and thereby a steady stream of money through the sale of oil on the black market. It has also managed to get hold of relatively sophisticated weaponry. Western analysts warn that ISIS represents a credible fighting force, perhaps capable of striking targets in the West. They already control more money and weapons than al-Qaida ever did through its bases in Afghanistan prior to 2001.

The Islamic State has gained notoriety for its brutal methods, including mass executions and beheadings. This caused several Muslim and non-Muslim commentators to declare that the Islamic state is in fact un-Islamic. But is this true? Do mass executions or beheadings of non-Muslims make them un-Islamic?

According to Islamic historical sources, Muhammed and his companions mass-executed by beheading all adult males of the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza from Medina in the year 627 AD. Their women and children were taken as slaves. This forms a part of the Sunna, the personal example of Muhammed and his companions, which is the most important source of Islamic religious law next to the Koran. It is very difficult to argue that mass executions and beheadings of non-Muslims are “un-Islamic” when they were supported by Islam’s founder and alleged prophet Muhammed.

Is Jihad un-Islamic?

In Denmark in 2005, Tina Magaard – a Sorbonne-trained linguist specializing in textual analysis – published detailed research findings comparing the foundational texts of ten major religions. Magaard concluded from her data-driven analyses that

“The texts in Islam distinguish themselves from the texts of other religions by encouraging violence and aggression against people with other religious beliefs to a larger degree. There are also straightforward calls for terror. This has long been a taboo in the research into Islam, but it is a fact that we need to deal with.”

Magaard further observed that “There are 36 references in the Koran to expressions derived from the root qa-ta-la, which indicates fighting, killing or being killed. The expressions derived from the root ja-ha-da, which the word Jihad stems from, are more ambiguous since they mean ‘to struggle’ or ‘to make an effort’ rather than killing. Yet almost all of the references derived from this root are found in stories that leave no room for doubt regarding the violent nature of this struggle. Only a single ja-ha-da reference (29:6) explicitly presents the struggle as an inner, spiritual phenomenon, not as an outwardly (usually military) phenomenon. But this sole reference does not carry much weight against the more than 50 references to actual armed struggle in the Koran, and even more in the Hadith.

Andrew G. Bostom’s copiously documented book The Legacy of Jihad describes the doctrinal rationale for Islam’s sacralized Jihad violence, and its historical manifestations, from the seventh-century advent of the Muslim creed through the present. Consistent with Magaard’s textual analysis, Bostom cites the independent study of the renowned Arabic-to-English translator Paul Stenhouse, who maintained that the root of the word Jihad appears forty times in the Koran. With just four exceptions, all the other thirty-six usages in the Koran and in subsequent Islamic understanding to both Muslim luminaries – the greatest jurists and scholars of classical Islam – and to ordinary people meant and mean, as described by the seminal Arabic lexicographer E. W. Lane: “He fought, warred or waged war against unbelievers and the like.” Muhammad himself according to traditional Islamic sources waged a series of bloody Jihad campaigns to subdue the Jews, Christians and pagans of Arabia.

The concept of Jihad is unique to Islam. It is a key component that makes Islam uniquely aggressive and dangerous among all of the world’s major religions.

It is, technically speaking, true that there may be non-violent aspects to Jihad as well, for instance propaganda. However, this is true of all wars. The primary meaning of Jihad is violent, and has been so consistently for fourteen centuries. The ultimate goal of Islam and of Jihad is the global supremacy of Islam and of Islamic law, or sharia — in other words, world supremacy. It is very hard to get much more aggressive than that. Until that goal has been reached, every non-Muslim man, woman and child on this planet is a potential target for Jihad violence. Sometimes, Jihadists will even target Muslims who are not Islamic enough for their taste.

One Jewish survivor of the Second World War was asked what he learned from the Holocaust. His reply was that when somebody tells you they want to kill you, you should believe them. That is wise advice, and not just for Jews. The fighters of the Islamic State have public declared to the Western world that “we will drown all of you in blood.” I tend to take them at their word, and so should you.

I am a man of books and letters myself. I rely on rational arguments, as far as that goes. However, I am also not a pacifist. Genghis Khan would not have been impressed by the force of your arguments, only by the force of your arms. The same thing applies to Islamic Jihadists. They are not interested in “dialogue,” unless this means submission to Islam and Islamic rule. Until you accept that, they will respect only the strength of your arms. They cannot be reasoned with, and it is suicidal to try.

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  • mollysdad

    This is the best case for establishing it as a punishable crime to profess the Islamic religion.

  • http://paulweston101.blogspot.com Paul Weston

    Spot on a usual Fjordman. I was only thinking the other day that if Mohammed were alive in 2014 he would be leading ISIS as it tried to spread it’s empire at the point of a sword. Britain would like to stop him from returning to these windswept Isles if he really were here today, but we welcome his followers with open arms as a “multicultural” country. Insanity and delusion have gripped the West.

  • http://libertyandculture.blogspot.com/ Jason P

    Comprehensive and well reasoned. FPM, bring more Fjordman to us. I do miss his articles.

  • Dallas25305

    Jihad is in the Koran. Lefties like to pretend it’s all about peace but that is BS. All the hate and depravity that the Islamo Fascist create is all called for in the Koran. Mohammad the Prophet is suppose to be the perfect man. Mohammad was a thief, a rapist, a murderer, a terrorist and a pedophile. He was famous as a pedophile, one of his wives was 5 years old. He visited Egypt before he took it over and to make him happy the leaders of Egypt gave him twin 8 year old sisters as a present in hopes he would not attack them. Islamic terror is following his path.

  • mmama

    A Rational Study of Radical Islam

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9XKxC-6asY

  • Christopher T. Farrell

    Amazing! I just minutes ago published a paper on this very subject. http://www.scribd.com/doc/238468383/Civilization-Jihad-the-Muslim-s-Great-Commission-By-Christopher-T-Farrell

    Bay Ye’Or’s book ‘Eurabia’ should be required reading by every person who would represent the American people in any position of governmental authority as well as by all persons in authoritative positions within America’s armed forces and her military-industrial complex.

  • stanleyyelnatsDotCom

    Religion.

    Christians in America used to burn heretics at the stake. Burned Women for being Witches. Christians in Europe did much worse. All in the name of Religion.

    In 1692, Mary Eastey was hanged in Salem for being a Witch by the pious folk.

    Hangings, burning at the stake and use your imagination, in the service of Religion. In America.

    In America we have harnessed that terrible force called Religion. We have the genie in the bottle and tightly corked.

    And Americans should remain vigilant so we never give that ugliness a foothold again.

  • James Foard

    Moderate muslim: “Beheading? Oh no, we don’t to that. That’s so ’80′s”

  • MattBracken

    Radical Islam is real Islam. Islam is unreformable, because the unchangeable Koran is its basis, and it will always serve as a blueprint and handbook for psychopaths intent on leading a psychopathic army of killers and rapists. Any “moderate Muslim” who attempts to reform Islam is immediately declared an apostate and risks being beheaded by the real Muslims, who we mistakenly call radical Muslims.