The fight over meaning

Submitted by Jamal Khan (United States), Jun 7, 2002 at 18:30

I am a 6o year educated Pakistani and have gone thru most of the available sources of early islamic history.... The concept of Jihad was a master stroke in the human history ; you win and live and share 4/5 th of the booty ,or die and you get to heaven and enjoy gorgeous houris without waiting for the judgement day( for which all other qualifying pious muslims have to wait). A very large and highly motivated army , could be raised without any salary , overnight. No wonder that half the world was captured in less than 100 years. . If the prophet had preached Dr. Hathout's philosophical meaning of jihad to the poor desert arabs,it would have never worked; islam would have been limited to few hundred people after 23 years of preaching, with some luck( as evident with his peaceful philosophical and tolerant approach in the initial period of preaching in Mecca when only 70 people converted in 10 years , even his caring and loving guardian uncle Talib did not convert). Only after adding the concept of violence , booty , sex with captured women, and sex after death with houris to the religion success came; and as violence increased and booty and captured women started arriving, religion started thriving . Within few years Mecca was conquered by a Muslim army of over 10, 000 men in arms.

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