Concerns about Pipes' observations

Submitted by Dr. Irfan Alladin (United States), Nov 5, 2002 at 20:14

It is interesting to see how the perception of Jihad appears to have changed since September 11th, and Mr. Pipes has gone to great lengths to document this alteration. If he went still further, he would realize that this concept of Jihad being a "struggle against evil and the evil that incites oneself" is mentioned clearly in the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). On one occasion, at the end of a battle, the prophet stated that the "Asghar" or lesser Jihad had been completed and now it was time to attend to the "Akbar" or greatest Jihad, prayer and struggle against sin. This tradition portrays the true meaning of Jihad, though we have not seen such discourse until recently. There has been a lone voice beckoning to the call of the true Jihad and that is by the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India. He and his succesors have purported the true concept of Jihad for the last century while other Muslims only now mimic this response.

The actions of Prophet Muhammad exemplify the peaceful concept of Jihad. His every wakeful moment was spent in prayer and the peaceful struggle. It was only when his very life was threatened that he engaged in battle, and that, too, to defend his belief in One God. In all of the battles of Holy Prophet, about one thousand people were killed. In a single battle of the Crusades, about 100,000 people lost their life. If Pipes believes Islamic Jihad is fighting, he should look into Christian Jihad which would amount to genocide. The fact is that Muslims continued to defend themselves and for the most part attacked those who wanted them exterminated only because the Muslims were monotheists. Pipes recalls that Muslims went into Iran and beyond yet conveniently forgets that the Persian Emperor, Chosroes Parvez, ordered the arrest of the Prophet Muhammad. He remembers that Muslims went into Spain but forgets that the King of Spain wa! s yearning for support and it was the Moors who put street lights in Cordoba and Grenada when all of Europe was in darkness. He also forgets that the Jews of Spain were given the highest positions in legislature and jurisprudence at the hands of the Muslims...


-Dr. Irfan Alladin

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