Lecture delivered at the University of Western Australia, on March 8th 2003

Jihad

Jihad is a trigger word that is known more now it is more catchy and more recognized by non Muslims in certain Western countries than many Muslims.

The word Jihad when used in Egypt or Saudi Arabia or any of these countries, is a word that goes said without anyone paying any significant attention to it. But if the word Jihad is used on a bus in Western Australia loud enough for the neighbor sitting next to you to hear, everyone heartens and their ears prick up. It is a word that has become famous, usually written in blood red letters covering up most of the TV screen. At times the blood red letters will actually be dripping drops of blood symbolizing the tyranny that Muslims are causing in different rounds of the Earth.

Let us look at what this word means and hopefully this will be both educational for the Muslims as well as the non-Muslims in our audience.

The word Jihad derives from the root word: to exert ones self, to struggle to attain something. This word is only used in reference to things that are seen as difficult or undesirable.

A person only performs Jihad when the objective that one is doing is something that instinctively in human nature is undesirable and as such it became synonymous with the word “war”.

But in fact the word Jihad is far greater in meaning.

It’s important to point out something regarding the Arabic language which many analysts and many media moguls fail to see. The Arabic language in what is termed as Balagha or proper etiquette of elegance, uses certain rules and guidelines in that a single word in the Arabic language can have hundreds of meanings, not just one.

In the English language for example, the word lion only refers to a lion. But in the Arabic language there are more than 50 different words that refer to a lion and therefore this word Jihad also has numerous, numerous, numerous meanings.

So the first linguistic understanding is that the word Jihad is synonymous with doing something difficult or hard or that people do not want to do it. And therefore the Prophet (peace be upon him) said “The true person who performs Jihad, the true form of Jihad in one of it’s types is that a person who performs Jihad against himself, struggles against himself to be distinct from that which God has said are sins.”

That is the essential element of Jihad. To keep oneself away and pure and secure from sinful matters from things that are being impure and unholy. That is the essence of the word Jihad.

Another meaning of the word Jihad refers to military and armed struggle. And one of the great benefits of the Islamic faith is that in our legal system and in our law and in fact in our Quran and in the sunnah, there is a legal framework that discusses all the different issues of marshal law. When to engage an enemy, when not to engage an enemy, what enemy is allowed to be engaged, who is not an enemy, how to deal with captives, how not to deal with captives, ransoming. All of these different issues that come into play regarding warfare are discussed in the Quran. But they are not discussed in singular verses and this once again is where many have fallen into error. They extract a simple phrase in the Quran. They take part of a verse that says:

“And kill all the infidels”

They have taken a whole system of belief of 6.5 billion people a fifth of humanity and they extract four words and represent it for the rest of their faith. Of all those 6.5 billion people, this is what they believe this is what it says in their book on page such and such, chapter such and such, verses such and such it says “kill the infidels”. Without seeing context, without seeing the precursor without seeing how the verse ends, who it refers to, when the verse was revealed and under what circumstances and was it regarding a specific case or a general.

That is where the first misconception lies. That trigger terms like Jihad, infidel, war, the laws of Jihad, are absorbed and seen and analyzed from obscure perspectives seeking to find fault and therefore it becomes my responsibility and the responsibility of all the Muslims in our audience today to show you what our faith really is.

We are not apologetic. There are things in our faith that you may look at and say “this goes completely against what I believe as a Westerner, secularist, Christian, whatever it may be.” As a person of faith it is something I do not apologize for the things that I may not understand or the things that I lack the ability to explain to you. But to explain the main concept of Jihad is simple. It is to do anything that one is able to please God, things that are difficult for one to do, and therefore they require struggle.

From the things that the Prophet of Islam Muhammad (Sala Allahu ‘alihi was-Salaam) referred to by using the word Jihad include:

1. Hajj, the pilgrimage, which just ended a few weeks ago. 2.8 million people gathered into the plains of Mecca, into the valley of Mecca. The Prophet (Sala Allahu ‘alihi was-Salaam) said “The largest Jihad, (the greatest Jihad, the most complete Jihad) is Hajj.” That’s Jihad. Because it’s a difficult journey. You leave of work, you leave of some of you family members, you spend an exurbanite amount of money, you go and you are dressed in two garments that are cloth, unstitched together, you are walking on foot for many kilometers each and every day, little food, little drink, little sleep, you are with hundreds of different nationalities that do not speak your language, do not understand your words, but all of them have one common thing, they are all performing Jihad along with you, meaning Hajj.

2. Prayer. To wake up before dawn, before the sun rises. We as Muslims, each and every one of us inshallah, we will speak to the Muslims at a latter date about the importance of prayer! But each of us rises before the sun rises to offer prayer and then we go back to sleep, and then we rise and carry on with our days work. And when high noon comes, the sun is at its full zenith we stop whatever we are doing and we pray. And then we get back to work, get on with our lives. And then when the sun is half noon in the afternoon, we pray, leave everything we are doing. And then we get on with our lives, we have our dinner and so forth. And then when the sun sets, as you saw some of our brothers right outside the theater, they recognized that the next prayer was going to come in before I ended my lecture so they prayed right outside here. I and other brothers and sisters prayed in the designated prayer hall in one of the buildings on campus here at the University of Western Australia. We leave everything, the lecture is late, fine we will delay it. Prayer is more important. And we pray and then when the sky is completely dark, we pray. That is a form of Jihad. That is a form of struggle.

3. Taking care of ones elderly parents. A man came to the Prophet seeking to set out on a military expedition accompanying Rasoolallah. The Prophet turned to him and said “Do you have any parents?” the man said “Yes” The Prophet told him “Are they old in age?” he said “Yes.” The Prophet told him “Go to your parents and make your Jihad in (taking care of) them”. Jihad, struggle, taking care of ones elderly folks is a form of Jihad.

Therefore the word Jihad has been taken and stolen and misappropriated by those who seek to paint to the general masses and the general public a picture that is distorted from the truth and therefore it is a great misconception that the word Jihad in Islam refers to military struggle.

I correct myself, there is an instance where the word Jihad refers to military struggle, but it is one of the numerous examples. When does the word Jihad refer to military struggle? In one of two cases.

1. Defense. When you are sitting in your home or sitting in your country and someone boots in the door or crosses your borders and begins to pillage your land, take your property, unjustly and there is nothing else for you to do except to repel that force with an equal measure of force, it’s called self defense. That is referred to in Islamic law as Jihad.

2. When a Muslim is secured and they turn to spread the word of truth. Or when his neighboring country or his neighboring home is in disarray and is being torn up, is being robbed and pillaged. It becomes an obligation on that Muslim who is in that home to protect his nearest neighbor. And that is the offensive Jihad. That is how the word Jihad is used in Islamic law. And that is the context of that verse:

“And wage war against the infidels”.

The next sentence says:

“If they attack you repel their attack”
But that is rarely seen in the blood red letters that are dripping. Rather what you will also not hear is the next statement where Allah says:

“And if they submit to a peace treaty, then sign it and be with them”
That is also not mentioned. So therefore Jihad has been misappropriated and it is a term that has been used in an improper, illogical, historically unsound manner. We move onto the next topic.

Islam equals violence, poverty and backwardness.

Many of us, Muslims included, will look and turn on the CNN or BBC or Sky News and you will see that whenever there is reference to turmoil, political unrest, poverty you all immediately say to yourselves, “Man, that’s a country where Muslims live”, “It’s gotta be one of those Muslim countries, It’s gotta be either an Arab country, Pakistan, India, something like that, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya.

This causes people to equate Islam or the locality where Muslims live as being a place of poverty or backwardness. They need medicine, ship to us food. Droughts, Somalia, Ethiopia all countries where Muslims are in a majority.

Is that because Islam is found in these lands? Well, let us take once again an objective look at the place and the problem.

When we look into the Islamic political environment where these problems are found, you will see that these nations have in them three main characteristics. The first, they do not have Islamic law. The are following either secular law, Napoleonic law, Democracy or Communism, or a mixture of them. So they are a country where Muslims live but they are not a Muslim country, and that is important to be pointed out. The laws of the land, the laws in the books are not Islamic law. The people living in the land are Muslim.

For example, there are 65 million Muslims living in Communist China, that figure is rarely mentioned. There are 20 million Muslims living in what was previously referred to as the USSR or the Soviet Union, 20 million, and that, these two numbers, it’s important for me to point out, are numbers that those communist regimes admit to, meaning that the numbers are probably double that number.

China officially says that yes we have 65 million Muslims. But we know from the Chinese track record that they rarely admit to the correct figures and the correct numbers,

Take in point the AIDS epidemic that is wrecking China in our day today living at the moment, there is a raging AIDS epidemic due to their lack of screenings of blood and transfusions. But that was not admitted to until it was blown open in an expose. 65 million Muslims in Communist China, 20 million in what used to be referred to as Russia, in these areas there is turmoil but is it because the people are practicing Islam, we just established that these countries do not follow Islam, they follow porn of seculars law in some countries or a form of Communist, Marxist, Maoist law.

The second important point is that all of these countries have been invaded by what are now today advanced Western countries. Somalia was invaded by the Italians who resided for a numerous period of time in Somalia. Before the Italians arrived the Somalian people used to write in the Arabic font when the Italians arrived they scrapped all of that, they said you no longer write in that font, you write in Latin script. Libya, was invaded by the Italians. Algeria, the French. Egypt, the French, the British. Palestine, was invaded by the British and remained until 1948 and decided in the Belford declaration this is our country and our land and although we have a population of Palestinians who live here we now decide to give this land to a Zionist organization to build the land of Israel. Just decided by the British government with a stroke of a pen.

You could see the British influence in India and Pakistan and that once the British left, India and Pakistan split. Each and every country had an imperialist colonization where its lands where taken so that the ores within them could be extracted. If you look at Rostow’s theory of economic development this becomes clear. Rostow says that every country begins as a subsidence, the people, the country is only concerned with feeding its people. And the second step of economic development is that another country comes and says “hey, let us build roads, airports, build stuff in your country we will invest in your country.” This poor nation says “sure come on in, we need roads, we need hospitals, we need everything you are giving us”. The third step of economic development is that these super power countries extract the minerals which they build the roads to transport to the port which they build to ship out the raw minerals and oil. Only after diversification of the economy can a third world country ever expect to stand on its feet.

This rarely happens and rarely in our time has it happened. Simply because too much is taken out in too quick a time to diversify the economy and therefore they remain a third world.

An example is Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. They have diversified their economy but without oil and the investment that they derived from it, their economy collapses. Look at Venezuela, one of the largest oil producing countries in the world, vivid example of this in our day today.

The third characteristic that you will find in these Muslim countries where there is civil strife is the oppression of the rulers who are there. You have a person who has been ruling a country for thirty years. He passes away and the rule goes to his son, who by the constitutional law, by there constitution, written by his father, he is too young to retain power, he is not yet forty years old, at the moment his father dies, chambers is called, they change the law “Oh no, no, no, forget about what you guys said, lets make an amendment, lets make the law your age, 33 years old, you are know our president”.

Take the examples of Jordan and Syria. The father passes, the son takes over, even those who were rightful to take over place, the father’s brother, he was pushed to aside so that the son can take place. The rulers have a level of corruption that causes people beneath them to remain in the condition that they are in. So is it Islam, the answer is “no”. It is the political factors, who their neighbors are, who they trade with, who they do not trade with, who they are excluded from being apart.

Point and fact, Turkey, a Muslim country by population not by law or governess, a Muslim women in Turkey is barred from attending post high school education if she wears her head scarf, she’s not allowed to go to university. But it is a country where 99.9% of the population in their census will tick of “Muslim” as their faith. That is one of the countries excluded from the European trade union. Simply because they have a large population who are Muslim.. You see many of the situations and many of these places breathe in them hatred for Western cultures and Western values, and this brings us to our third point.

Islam, does it seek to separate from Western society?

Islam does not ever seek to separate from any society. Rather, the basis, the essential philosophical building of Islam, is that it is a fluent religion that is found everywhere.

In this country there is a vast population of Muslims. In Toronto Canada you will find that there are 300 000 Muslims living there where there are only 4.5 million people. From the Northern hemisphere to the Southern hemisphere. This is one of the furthest extremities south - you don’t go much further and you hit the Antarctic.

It is from the grace of God, the grace of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’aala), that he has given us a faith, as Muslims we pride ourselves in a faith that is fluent, a faith that is practiced anywhere, that isn’t attached to symbols.

I can be outside here as you saw the brothers standing on the lawn, and I pray, carpet, grass, makes no difference. What is important is that I turn myself towards God in grace and devotion.

I fast when the month of Ramadan comes, 30 days, throughout all of the daylight hours I turn to Allah in obedience, leaving of the mere essentials of life, water. And I only do it to show God here I leave of that which is normally valid for me to consume, water, it is not alcohol it is not an intoxicant I drink it each and every day, my life and existence is based on it as you told us in the Quran, without it I die, I leave it of to show you that when you tell me to leave of what is prohibited I will also follow in obedience. If I can leave off water, I can leave of anything. Proving my worth to God, proving myself to God.

When there is a need to give in charity, I give, whether to Muslim or non-Muslim, we give and we are charitable. I will give you an example, At the school where I am currently teaching at the Australian Islamic College, the student council is involved in a project of building a well. The girls at the school are baking goods, they come every Thursday and they sell to the students and we buy a piece of cake. It’s highly over priced, I’m the first to admit it, but we give because that money is being used to build a well. So that people who are less fortunate we will give them $600 to an organization, Human Relief International. They will take that money and they promise, build a well, take a picture and send it to us. We are charitable people.

When the month of Ramadan comes we fast, when the month of Hajj, the pilgrimage comes, the one who is able financially and time wise, he goes and gives himself to the way of God he says:

“Here I come to you o God, answering your call”

Those are the five elements of Islam. First and most important is to bear witness, testify that there is no God or deity that is worthy of worship of the one true God, and to believe that Muhammad (Sala Allahu ‘alihi was-Salaam) was given a message just like Jesus was given it and Moses was given it and Noah was given it and Abraham was given a message that leads to the right path, to the way of righteousness to the way of truth.

Does Islam seek to separate from Western society or any society? The answer is no. Islam throughout it’s history has been found in Communism, has been found in secularism, has been found amongst the capitalist, Muslims are found throughout the world. Does that mean I will compromise my faith to integrate? No. Muslims believe in the concept which the Australian government has taken as a point to implement and to establish the concept of multiculturalism, where I can be an Egyptian Canadian, now an Australian and I have my own identity my own culture. The government will fund me to have a cultural center that will protect my language, protect my way, protect everything about my identity so that I can be a person that is secure about myself so that I can benefit society.

One of the Theories of urban development is that the first question people who want to migrate to a city ask is: “where is a person who is exactly like me?” where is the Egyptian Canadian living in Australia. You don’t find it so you look for someone close, something that can fit that description, you want to find someone you can identify yourself with, and at the lack of that, you look for the closest thing, therefore you will have China town, little Italy, little Vietnam in some places, little Bombay. You will have these places where people of the same culture, same language come together.

As Muslims our place is the Mosque. We don’t have one nationality, we have a mosque we have a place where we all come together regardless of nationality, race color creed or language. We come together as Muslims. And when that is taken away from us, it causes us to enter into a cycle where our work output is not what it should be. A person becomes depressed, unable to perform the task that was seemingly before easy to fulfill. Simply because he does not have a point of reference, someone to associate with.

The governments of Australia, Canada, the United States and many of the Western countries now recognize that multiculturalism is a valid policy. Let the people have their faith, let the people have their culture, let the people have their sense of identity, do not let them cross the boundaries where they can infringe upon others.

We follow the law of the land. Occasionally I will speed, but that’s a different issue, but in general we follow the laws of the country we live in. That is a part of my faith, a part of my Islamic identity. I do not put forward that which infringe upon the rights of others. So therefore Islam does not seek to separate itself from society or that we live in a community behind barriers and walls and screens where you are a distant person from us.

And therefore I call out to you in conclusion to try to befriend a Muslim. Say hi or howdy or as you here say G’day. Say something where the person can associate with you and see that you are person who will not infringe upon their rights, allow people to feel comfortable.

I normally do not dress in this Islamic garment or in this Arabic garment. Usually a pair of slacks and an Oxford shirt or something of that nature. 45 minutes ago I was asked by a person “If your living here, dress like us” and his friend said “when in Rome do as the Romans”. But that in fact contradicts the essence of multiculturalism. That contradicts the law of the land. And that infringes upon my rights to dress in the way that I want as long as it is appropriate as long as it is within the laws of your country of the country I reside in and therefore we need to take off the blinkers to look what is around us.

Australians travel a great deal. In fact when you look at the statistics, most Australians travel more outside their country than in their country. You will have a person who was raised in Western Australia, has never gone anywhere in Western Australia or to the Eastern side but has gone to Bali, to Thailand to Vietnam he’s backpacked Europe. And therefore Western Australians have this ability to see what the real world is like. So don’t let what you see be something that you do not follow up in your deeds. Know that there is a great world out there with many cultures and many types of people that you can appreciate and come to respect and enjoy.

It is important for us to take of the blinkers, to think globally not just in the microcosm that we find our selves in today.

Compiled By: Sr. Shaheedah Wilathgamuwa

Edited By: Br. Yahya Ibrahim