INTRODUCTION �
There are many armed struggles that are going on around the world in
the name of Islam, they are doing indiscriminate killings, suicide
bombings, guerrilla attacks, kidnappings, hijackings etc. terming such
acts as strategy in war. The groups who are doing so have leaders
who Quote verses from Quran to make such violent acts seem fair in the
eyes of muslims, muslims swear by the Quran and count it to be the book
containing the words of God, the book which of a surety speaks of
justice.
On the other hand there are muslims who count such men as Satanists,
hate what they do, do not subscribe to their view/interpretation of
Quran at all.
The general masses as well as muslims are in a confusion that what does the Quran actually say on war?
I tell you nobody actually knows the stand of Quran, the stand of God,
no not even the scholars!!! That�s why there is no consensus on the
issue as they themselves don�t have clarity on the issue!!! Truly we
have treated the Quran as foolish nonsense/ignored it/discarded it
{25:30}, we don�t let the Quran go further down our throats into our
hearts.
May Allah the revealer of Quran forgive us muslims for what we have done in His name.
WHAT SCHOLARS OF TODAY THINK IT IS �
The scholars without exception form their perception of war in Islam
not by Quran, but by what seems to be obvious to their hearts with
historical events in the background. The conclusions they come to, they
do not care to cross check and then on top of it support those
conclusions with verses from Quran in which God is encouraging muslims
to fight and is promising His help.
They as almost all muslims think that - prophet didn�t fight in
Mecca, in Mecca the order of God was to be patient, but then there is a
limit to patience and God changed his stand in Medina and asked muslims
to fight.
Now this belief is more or less the same in different groups, eg.
Those who believe in principle of Abrogation {see topic �Abrogation
Abrogated�} they say that the verses on patience have got abrogated,
have been cancelled by verses of war and now we don�t need to be
patient but fight.
While other groups have gone ahead to define patience and define after
how much patience one can fight. All these things have caused havoc and
chaos all over the world and have left us muslims confused about our
own religion.
However all these people have not been taking the path that they should
i.e. first see Quran, then put it in historical perspective and then
give conclusions from their hearts. For in this way we will get to know
neeyat {intention} of God, I ask the reader to follow this way and not
the other way.
THE MERCIFUL SPEAKS OF WAR � FITNA, NOT QITAL.
What makes me angry/laugh at scholars who uphold war today is the fact
that these scholars of highest eminence do not even know the difference
between fitna and qital.
Now Quran speaks at many places about giving people their rights but
explains inheritance at only one place, so wherever we read about
giving people their right we go back to the verse which has details
about inheritance division. So also we do it in the case of zakat,
sawm etc.
Similarly Quran talks about going to war at many places, but at one
place has God talked about it in detail and has given the argument for
war.
Quran {2:216-217} �
�fighting is prescribed for you and YOU DISLIKE IT, but it is possible
that you dislike a thing good for you and you like a thing bad for you,
but Allah knows and you know not. They ask you concerning fighting in
the prohibited month, Say fighting therein is a grave thing, but graver
is it in the sight of Allah TO PREVENT ACCESS TO THE PATHS OF ALLAH, TO
DENY HIM, TO PREVENT ACCESS TO THE SACRED MOSQUE AND DRIVE OUT ITS
MEMBERS. PERSECUTION {FITNA} IS WORSE THAN KILLING {QITAL}. Nor will
they cease fighting you until THEY TURN YOU BACK FROM YOUR FAITH IF
THEY CAN, and IF ANYONE OF YOU TURN BACK FROM THEIR FAITH AND DIE IN
UNBELIEF their works will bear no fruit in this life and in the
hereafter, they will be the companions of the fire and abide therein
forever.�
I feel really sad that I will have to explain these verses and it wont
be self manifesting to people whereas they are most clear, alas we
muslims don�t do tawassum, tadabbur, tafakkur {reflect, understand,
ponder} as enjoined in Quran, our society as a whole is devoid of it.
1� {2:216} - �you dislike war� - we muslims including our scholars do
a lot of lip service that �follow sunnats, follow sunnats� here is one
sunnat O muslims, prophet and his companions hated war!!! And see for
yourself who is a witness, God himself is a witness to it. How many of
us muslims follow it?? How many of us muslims hate to fight??? How
many??
2- {2:216} � �you dislike a thing good for you and you like a thing bad
for you� � these lines can only be understood after seeing the argument
that God gives regarding war, thus will discuss them after the last
verse.
3 � {2:217} � now Allah gives a context that the muslims who had been
given a logic to fight and are ready to fight are unwilling to fight in
the sacred months, as they think the logic to fight is not bigger than
importance of sacred months. So Allah reiterates the logic adding that
the logic to fight is even greater than the sacred months, but in doing
so God makes it easy for us to understand the logic as Allah gives the
whole logic in one go.
The logic given by Allah in {2:217} goes �
a) �persecution is worse than slaughter� �fitna is worse than kital� � IN
ISLAM WAR IS ONLY ALLOWED ON FITNA NOT ON QITAL. MARK THE WORDS - WAR
IS ONLY ALLOWED ON PERSECUTION AND NOT ON KILLING/SLAUGHTER. If
there is killing then one can not fight but if there is persecution
only then one can fight. The egs. Of Qital in Quran are Abel the
muttaqee, magicians of pharaoh, killing of newborns of Israel and on it
God saying �go to pharaoh and talk to him gently�. You will never find
a change in the ways of God, there is no war on Qital/killing, war is
only allowed on persecution/Fitna.
b) What is fitna/persecution? Wait it is not us who can define what
fitna is when God himself has defined it. Allah tells what Fitna is
in the previous sentence {2:217} �stopping people from the paths of
God, to deny him, to prevent access to sacred mosque and drive out its
members�
This is Fitna/persecution. This criteria is not being met anywhere
today in the world, be it Chechnya, Kashmir, Palestine etc. yes there
is Qital/killing happening but there is no Fitna. One is free to do
salat, read Quran, go to mosques etc.
Yes there is killing and there are enemies but there is no Fitna. For
enemies Allah says if we muslims have any faith in promise of Allah {41:34-35} � �good and evil are not alike, repel evil with goodness and your enemy will become your friend and intimate�.
Truly today world is filled with people like Hazrat Umar who with sword
in his hand went to kill prophet but none of us accursed muslims is
like his sister and brother in law. I ask scholars difference between
fitna and Qital, and our ignorant scholars do not even know that, O
muslims see whom you are trusting are pushing you towards hell, they
don�t know while they pretend that they know. We have given our affairs
in the hands of those who do not even know basic concepts. If you think
it�s a lie test it for yourself, ask a scholar what is fitna & see
if he gives this definition of Allah or his own definition, his years
of study would become clear to you as he will give his own. Quran
{25:30} � �the prophet will say O my lord my people treated the Quran
as foolish nonsense/ignored it/discarded it�
c) Now why is fitna worse than kital? Wait even that has Allah
answered, Allah tells in the next sentence the reason based on what
�God�s cause� demands, �they will turn you back from your faith and if you do you will be put in hell�.
Remember what God�s cause is �paradise for all�, but because of
persecution that will not be possible and even those on path to
paradise will end up in hell, how will one go to paradise if one is
prevented from paths of God, how will one grow in faith if one is not
allowed access to Quran, and when one wont come to faith he will not go
to paradise, whereas the goal of Islam is to take people to paradise
and work of prophet is to save people from hell. Seeing this we
understand the verse �you dislike a thing good for you and you like a thing bad for you�
for indeed in such a situation one has to fight and end a system in
which God will have to put people in hell, whereas prophet knew God
wants people in paradise, the system which only & only increases
score of hell instead of score of paradise must be stopped, prophet
understood that this situation will never let his work be accomplished
until he picks the sword and fight to establish a system of God�s cause
in which a person desires paradise even for his murderer, like Abel the
muttaqee and doesn�t die hating someone � there is no place for hate in
Universe of Allah.
To sum it up the verses {2:216-217} say �
1 � prophet and companions didn�t like war.
2 - war is allowed on fitna and not on Qital ie on persecution and not killing.
3 � fitna/persecution is trying to finish Islam completely from its very root.
4 � because of fitna people will go in hell whereas God wants them in
paradise, so fight and end that system for that is indeed good,
overlook how much you hate war.
5 � tell me where is patience in Allah�s argument for war?? Where?? God
does not talk about patience, patience is a different branch and fitna
is a different branch, it is those who do not know difference between
Fitna and Qital, it�s they who think patience is the key behind war and
no war, no patience is not the key, God�s cause is the key, but then,
they also don�t know the God�s cause!!!
SUNNAH OF 2 PROPHETS AND WAY OF GOD �
Persecution in itself does not allow a muslim to go to war. War is a
very serious issue and the religion of Allah ensures that such a
situation does not arise that humans start killing each other.
The best examples in this support is from Quran itself �
On one hand was pharaoh doing persecution and on other it was Meccans
doing persecution, Allah says to Moses {pbuh} �go to pharaoh and talk
to him gently�{20:44}, Allah says to Muhammad {pbuh} �repel evil with
goodness {ehsan}� {41:34-35}, when persecution increases Allah asks
Moses {pbuh} to migrate by night, when persecution increases Allah asks
Muhammad{pbuh} to migrate by night, when pharaoh comes from behind to
finish off religion of God, God destroys him, when Meccans come from
behind to finish off religion of God, God destroys them as it was not
possible for muslim army to win any war but God sent angels to fight as
comes in Quran.
So we see there is absolutely no change in the ways of our God, they
are same throughout history, so the sunnah of 2 highest ranked prophets
and to top it, the way of Allah, the master of the 2 prophets lays it
down that if there is persecution then migrate and if the persecutor
comes from behind either Allah will destroy them or give you power to
destroy them.
But this situation does not arise today as nowhere in the world there
is persecution today, yes there is killing but there is no persecution.
Yes there are enemies but was not hazrat umar too an enemy, hazrat
Khalid bin waleed too an enemy, hazrat saad too was an enemy and tell
me how many more enemies shall I name??? truly we have left the path
and thus we have been humiliated in this world. Allah teaches in
{41:34-35} to look at enemy as a potential friend. Woe to us muslims,
woe to our scholars who teach �fight against pharaoh, curse him� while
Allah taught �go to pharaoh and talk to him gently� {20:44}. Surely the
worst hell awaits us all.
HE SAID THERE IS PERSECUTION TODAY �
I had a friend who was filled with hate and violence and used to quote
from Quran and emotionally supported the muslim violent struggles going
on in the world. He used to give the same arguments for war as
discussed in second part of this topic, under �what scholars of today
think it is�, he also didn�t know what is fitna, what is qital etc. he
had a lot of knowledge, indeed his knowledge was immense, but he had no
analyses, zero analyses, like a computer, and was only speaking what
was fed to him by false scholars above him.
We sat discussing this and when I showed him these verses it was clear
to him that these are the criteria in Islam for war and these criteria
are not being met anywhere today, as in every country Jamats go, Quran
is distributed and salat is offered.
But he was not willing to kill the hate boiling inside. He instantly
left his criteria, which he realized, were wrong and the criteria in
{2:216-217} is the real criterion. He instantly in order to still
support the hate and violence he was arguing for came up with cunning
solution. He asked �see {2:216-217} says that war is allowed on
stopping people from the paths of Allah right?� I said �right�, he said
�see setting an intrest free economy is a path of Allah, they don�t let
us set an intrest free economy so war is allowed�
His argument is absolutely valid, but valid till the time he is the one
who is defining what does �stopping people from the paths of Allah�
mean. When we see the prophets definition his argument stands broken.
I counter asked him keeping in mind the definition of prophet �tell me
what is a bigger path of Allah Haj/umrah of Kaaba or intrest?� he said
�ofcourse Kaaba is more important as Haj comes under 5 pillars of Islam
whereas intrest doesn�t.� I asked �will you go to war and shed blood if
somebody stops you from going to Kaaba?� Anger was allover his face and
my learned friend said �is that even a question!!!� I said �my brother
even hazrat Umar would have gone to war but prophet Muhammad {pbuh} the
beloved messenger of Allah didn�t, he did sulaih Hudaibiya!!!� He
closed his eyes got up and left in anger as Quran says �they run away
from admonition like a frightened donkey running from a lion.�
He was speechless as he knew what sulaih Hudaibiya was.
For those who don�t know about it I will tell in brief, prophet
gathered his companions and set off from Medina to visit Kaaba, the
holiest of holy place in Islam, but the Meccans sent an army under
Khalid bin Waleed to stop them, muslims took a different route and
encamped in the valley of Hudaibiya close to Mecca. The Meccans were
hell bent on not letting muslims visit the Kaaba, they came to do a
treaty in which muslims were not to visit Kaaba and return, while doing
the treaty Prophet was humiliated and even his beard was caught by a
Meccan!!! All the companions were there including hzrt Abu Bakr Hzrt
Umar etc. and none said decapitate his head like our false scholars who
have more knowledge then the highest companions do!!! The man who did
so was not even slapped, let alone decapitate his head!!! He was left
to roam around the muslim camp at will.
All commentators comment the treaty as a humiliating treaty as all the
conditions in it favored the Meccans and it appeared as if muslims are
scared that�s why they are doing so. Muslims felt so humiliated that
almost all the companions were in a bad mood and hazrat Umar went and
questioned the prophet �are we not on truth?� ie why this humiliating
treaty, we have fought and defeated them many times, Hazrat Umar was
not a rebel, he knew Quran, his concern was that war is allowed on
barring people from path of God and we are being barred from visiting
Kaaba. But the eye of the great prophet saw something else, prophet saw
that the Meccans are saying return to Medina and do what you want
there, offer salat, preach Quran etc. but just don�t visit Kaaba.
The prophet saw that they are stopping me from the path of God is
true, but they are not stopping me from the path of God is also true!!!
This is wisdom O muslims this is wisdom which we lack. Prophet knew the
situation is not like that of Badr where the Meccans wanted to finish
off Islam from the very root, here they were not doing so, they were
saying go do what you want in Medina. Lo the persecutor was not coming from behind to finish off the one who has migrated, the criteria was not being met. So stopping people from the path of Allah means stopping people from all the paths of Allah,
what prophet did and we muslims should follow his sunnah if such a
thing happens is that, he molded the public opinion of whole of Arabia
and in some time entered victorious to visit the Kaaba!!! He didn�t
shed blood at Hudaibiya nor at victory of Kaaba.
My friend knew this and that�s why got up and left speechless. Truly
�when truth is hurled against falsehood, falsehood perishes for
falsehood by its very nature is bound to perish.�
TODAY MY COMPLAINT TOMORROW GOD�S -
Certainly �the false pen of the false scribe certainly works
falsehood�. We have indeed become like people of the book, we along
with our scholars have become like donkeys with books laden on our
backs but we understand nothing.
O scholars teach the ummah to be like prophet Yusuf {pbuh} that when
children of Adam try to murder them and snatch everything from them and
jail them in false cases, they become like children of Jacob and
forgive the children of Adam, their brothers. O scholars if you want to
teach us teach us how to be gentle to a person like Pharaoh if he comes
in front of us as Allah taught Moses {pbuh} in {20:44}. O scholars
teach us how to be like Abel and increase score of Allah even if it be
on our loss, O scholars teach us how to be like Magicians of Pharaoh
who died but didn�t let a word of curse come on their lips for pharaoh
and called it submission to Allah. Teach us how to be like Abraham
{pbuh} that when Allah himself was punishing people of Lot he fell in
prostration seeking forgiveness for them, O scholars teach us how to be
like prophet Muhammad {pbuh} who will fall in prostration seeking
forgiveness for those in hell, whom God will be punishing. O scholars
don�t be scholars of satan, follow that which is clear in Quran, don�t
try to follow that of the unclear part of which only the wise have
knowledge {3:7}. Don�t seek authority, political power and glory for
yourselves, Allah will never forgive you for taking the whole ummah
astray.
O ummah do tawassum, tadabbur, tafakkur {reflect, understand, ponder}
today so that you don�t cry tomorrow and if these scholars of Satan
don�t repent and mend their ways, they need to be deposed, they must be
deposed so that the world comes on God�s cause.
May Allah guide us all, Aameen, summa-aameen.
Tawassum, Tadabbur, Tafakkur.
Pray for wisdom.
------------- The whole world is like Hazrat Umar but no one is like his sister and brother in law.
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