(11) The Meaning Of Jihad In Islam.

By Sodium

The Arabic word, " Jihad, "simply means "struggle". But, such a definition is too simplistic, since the word,"Jihad",has been used in the Qur'an and Hadiths and hence the question is often asked what kind of struggle one is dealing with. That means that further explorations are needed to achieve more meaningful meaning of the word," Jihad, " as it is expressed in the scriptures of Islam.

"Jihad" means any one of, or all of the following detailed meanings, related to its appearances in the scriptures of Islam:

(A) Since the solid-rock foundation of Islam is " Al-Tawheed, ",meaning ,"The ONE-NESS OF GOD",and since the vast majority of the people of Arabia in the 7th century(AD) were Pagans,it took a great deal of "Jihad" for the converts from Pagan to Islam, to adhere firmly to the belief that there was only one God who created life and the whole universe. Here,the meaning of "Jihad" is to struggle for the sustenance of such a belief.

(B) There are certain negative characteristichs embodied in the human nature that can be most damaging to the common good of any human society. It takes personal " Jihad "to overcome the tendency of such charachteristics before they implode from within of the human nature. In such a case,"Jihad" means struggle for self-discipline and self-control.

(C) As The Prophet Muhammad and his followers had settled in Medina, they had to build a new community for themselves so that they could practice their religion and the Islamic way of life, under the guidance of the Prophet Muhammad." Jihad "meant ,here,struggling within the community to build such a community through cooperation,compassion toward one another as members of a harmonious community, with a common goal: serving the common good.

(D) Islam abhors injustices and abhors starting an aggression, but if injustice is committed against Islam and Muslims and if aggression is committed against Islam and Muslims, it is the obligation or rather the duty of all Muslims to fight back in self-defense, until all injustices are eleminated and the aggression is defeated or at least stopped. There is no " turning the other cheek " in Islam. But,the instruction is very clear: never, never start an aggression which is just as telling about the essence of Islam, as " turning the other cheek " in Christianity.

These are the fundamental meanings of the Arabic word,"Jihad" in Islam.

Although there are other meanings of "Jihad" in Islam such as " Jihad " to aquire knowledge, Jihad to practice all the five pillars of Islam, as they were listed in Topic,(4) of this series, the above list from (A) through (D) makes a fine understanding of what the word ," Jihad "really means.

Just to show the priority of the various meanings of " Jihad, " as The Prophet Muhammad returned to the city of Medina,with his followers,after the Battle of Badr against the caravan of the Meccans who wanted to kill him, he was quoted saying the following statement:

" We are returning from the lesser Jihad and going on the Greater Jihad. "   For the authenticity of this Hadith, check Al-Bukhari, the exponent and authoritative scholar on all Hadiths.

It is clear that the meanings of "Jihad" in (A),(B) and (C) take precedent for understanding "Jihad" than (D). That does not mean that (D) should be ignored. It should not. It is just not as great as the other three meanings of "Jihad".

Next will be Topic (12) The Status Of Women In Islam.

(10) The Greatness Of Islam.

By Sodium

Some Islamic scholars define the greatness of Islam by its many characteristics, as described in the verses of the Qur'an and as recorded in the Hadiths, ( speeches and comments made by the Prophet Muhammad ) and the Sirah (the way The Prophet conducted his daily life). Such characteristics include following, but not all of the characteristics:

* The fundamental and solid foundation of Islam is," The Tawheed, ",meaning, the belief in the "The Oneness of God). Remember that the whole Arabia was mainly Pagan.

* Islam asks its adherents of the faith to follow moral path and pious deed in their daily lives.

* Knowledge, whether technical or abstract, is highly respected and encouraged in Islam.

* Ignorance is, at least, criticized, if not condemned in Islam.

* The element of flexibility does exist in Islam.

* Love, friendship, unity, justice, and tolerance are embodied in the teachings of Islam.

* Islam calls for moderation even in eating foods.

* Islam is kind to the poor and sides with the underdogs in any society.

* Islam is compatible with new invention and new discoveries.

* Islam stands firmly against slavery.

Although all the characteristics cited above about Islam are true,the writer of this essay believes that the greatness of Islam stems from its unique simplicity. Such a simplicity lies in the following characteristics:

~ Islam requires no middle human acter to be between a Muslim and his God,(Allah).

~ The Muslim can spread his little rug on the ground of any place in the world and face the direction toward the Holy ground of Ka'bah in Mecca and pray. He needs not to go to a mosque to pray,although Muslims go to the mosques to pray together,especially on Fridays.

~ Muslims can adhere firmly to the five pillars of Islam, listed and outlined in Topic (4) of this short course and be good practicing Muslims.

There are other characteristics of Islam, but all the foregoing characteristics are enough, for the time being, to remember by the novice readers who are interested in learning about Islam.

(9) Continuation Of Interpretation Of The Verses Of The Qur'an.

By Sodium

The writer of this essay was lucky enough to get the four volumes of "Tyseer El-Tafseer" (Making The Interpretation Easy) from Eyad, as a gift, just two years before Eyad died,at the young age of around forty, from cancer. His father, Chief Justice Ibrahim Qattan, had passed away three years earlier. In a sense, Chief Justice Qattan was lucky, due to the fact that he passed away before seeing his oldest son dying from cancer. The writer of these lines deeply mourned and terribly missed both of them. Learning from both of them like learning from a vast sea of profound knowledge and valuable wisdom. Their memory will remain with the writer of these words as long as he lives.

The four volumes of the " Tyseer El-Tafseer " ( Making Interpretation Easy ) have become the main reference the writer of this essay consults when he faces difficulties in understanding any verse or surah,(revelation),in the Qur'an. Chief Justice Qattan has even given the Arabic-Arabic definitions of difficult words in the Qur'an, in the four volumes, so vividly and easy to follow.

Although Oxford University in England usually translates what has been published in the Arab world, the writer, here, has no idea whether the monumental four volumes of "Tyseer El-Tafseer" have been translated into English or not. If they have, it is highly recommended, to those interested, to have them in homes libraries, as a reliable reference for the interpretation of the verses of the Qur'an, although the writer of this essay strongly believe that the Qur'anic Arabic is simply and purely untranslatable. However, some translation from reliable sources is better than translation from unreliable sources.

I Will not burden the novice readers of this essay with the complexity of the details involved in the interpretation of the verses of the Qur'an, but will suggest to remember the following points:

~ Scholars differ in the interpretation of some of the verses of the Qur'an.
~ Scholars differ in their Ijtihad, (relentless dedication in digging out knowledge about the possible correct interpretations of the verses of the Qur'an.)
~ The most reliable interpretations are those that are based upon the archives of the content of the Qur'an and the interpretations recorded by the Sahabah, (Companions),of the Prophet Muhammad such as Abu-Bakr El-Sidiq, The First Caliph after the death of the Prophet, Omar ibn El-Khattab, The Second Caliph, Othman ibn Affan, The Third Caliph and the first person who wrote the Qur'an, Ali ibn Abi Taleb, The Fourth Caliph and First Cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. In addition to those four companions, there were many others, but one name coms to mind is the name of Al-Bukhari who was a man of deity and who spent his life in recording and segregating the more than 600,00 Hadiths, speeches and statements so many people claimed that they heard the Prophet saying, and sirah, (the way the Prophet conducted his daily affairs).

Ijtihad:
======
~ As a result of Ijtihad, ( relentless dedication in digging out and searching for knowledge for the sole purpose of correctly interpreting the verses of the Qur'an ),the following Mathahib, (Schools of Thought), had developed:

* Hanafi School of Thought: founder and scholar, Imam, ibn Hanaf.
* Maliki School of Thought: founder and scholar, Imam, ibn Malik.
* Shafi'i School of Thought: founder and Scholar, Imam, ibn Shafi'.
* Hanbali School of Thought: founder and scholar, Imam, ibn Hanbal.

Each one of these four schools of thought has its followers in the Arab and Islamic world and the followers of each of the school of thought seem to concentrate in specific countries or regions of the Islamic world. For example, The Hanbali School of Thought is followed by most Muslims in Saudi Arabia while Maliki School of Thought is followed by majority of Muslims in Iran. So is the case in the rest of the Arab and Muslim world.

The difference between one school of thought and the other three school of thought is simply in details of the interpretation of the verses of the Qur'an, since all Muslims everywhere adhere to the Five Pillars of Islam, outlined/listed in Topic (4) earlier.

There are other ways through which the verses of the Qur'an were interpreted, ranging from historical records to philosophical thoughts to social and scientific thoughts to Shi'a thoughts to Mu'atazalah (the secluded and isolated ones by choice) thoughts, Sufis philosophy(will dedicate a special topic on it, at a later time separate from the course currently at hand). There are also the Fiqh approach for interpretations and it has to do of the derivation of Shari' a laws. Perhaps one of the most reliable ways of interpreting the verses of the Qur'an is the one that is based on KNOWING THE REASON FOR A PARTICULAR VERSE TO APPEAR IN THE QUR'AN IN THE FIRST PLACE.

The writer of this essay has been convinced that knowing, or at least understanding of the reason/reasons behind the appearance of a verse in the Qur'an, in the first place, makes a lot of sense, because of the strength of The Principle of Cause an Effect which applies in the interpretations of countless phenomena in different fields of human endeavors. In other words, each verse(EFFECT) in the Qur'an must have a (CAUSE),a story or event that compelled its appearance in the Qur'an, in the first place.

Final words: If the novice reader, about Islam, can remember just 50 percent of the foregoing, for the time being, he or she has achieved some learning and some value ,he or she can build on,if interested.

(9) Interpretations Of The Verses Of The Qur'an.

By Sodium

It is imperative to keep in mind that the interpretation of the verses of the Qur'an has never been easy. Islamic scholars spend a life time in their attempt to find the correct interpretations and some of them die before they reach their objectives. One of those Islamic scholars who had reached his objective before he passed away in the 1980's was Justice Ibrahim Qattan who was the Judge of Judges of The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan where the writer of this essay was stationed in its capital, Amman, for more than 20 yeas, managing technical business operations for the whole Middle Eastern and North African countries, on behalf of an American multi-national corporation. During that period of time, the writer of this essay met Eyad Ibrahim Qattan in a conference on the Arabic literatures for which the writer had/has a great deal of appreciation, if not total and complete fondness. Fast friendship developed with Eyad who happened to be the oldest son of Justice Ibrahim Qattan. Through Eyad,the writer had the utmost honor and pleasure in meeting with his father whose face gave the impressive impression of radiating a mixture of dignity, honesty, morality and sheer human humility. His manners command instant admiration and so it has been ever since the first meeting. In short,he was a man with beautiful demeanors,beautiful soul and beautiful mind.

Achievement of Chief Justice Ibrahim Qattan:
======================================
Justice Ibrahim Qattan was a graduate of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, the oldest and most prestigious university in the Arab world, if not in the whole world. To make a long story short, Chief Justice Qattan held the position of Minister of Justice or Minister of Education of the government of Jordan, several times, before he was promoted to the highest judicial position and title in the land: Judge of  The Judges. While holding that office, Prince Hassan ibn Talal, the Crown Prince of Jordan, then, had commissioned him to try to find reasonable interpretations for the verses of the Qur'an. After years of researches, in the Arabic language and Islamic archives wherever he could find them, world wide, Justice Qattan wrote and published four monumental volumes, interpreting every verse in the Qur'an. None was left out. He was a true master in the scholarly interpretation of the verses of the Qur'an one has to see and review the four huge volumes Justice Qattan authored to truly appreciate what the writer, here, has been trying to convey to the readers of this essay.

Justice Qattan has crowned his monumental four volumes by the following fitting title:

"Tyseer El-Tafseer" (the spelling of this title can also be: Tysir El-Tafsir ).

"Tyseer" in the Arabic language means " Making Easy".
"El-Tafseer" in the Arabic language means "The Interpretation".
The net result of the translation is:

"Making Easy The Interpretation"

[Warning from the writer of this essay: Interpretation of the verses of the qur'an has never been easy. Justice Qattan chose the above title for his four volumes to encourage other scholars to do their share of contributions without fear of failure.

I am facing technical difficulty. Must stop.

TO BE CONTINUED.
================

(8) The Language Of The Qur'an.

By Sodium

As it is well known, that the language of the Qur'an is the Arabic language. What is unknown to a large number of people, world wide, that the written Arabic language of the Qur'an is so beautifully mesmerizing as it is chanted by a beautiful voice. Because of this fact, one may encounter a problem in deciding whether or not to consider the language of the Qur'an as classical Arabic, or may be just some form of rhythmic poetry or may be just a beautiful Arabic prose.

Although lengthy discussions can be initiated and facilitated by various and different opinions by those who, as the writer of this article, are fascinated by the beauty of the language in which the Holy Qur'an is written, there is no need to burden those who wish to learn the fundamentals about Islam, for the sole purpose of enhancing their common and broad knowledge. But to give the possible conclusions that one may reach after reviewing the lengthy discussions about the written language of the Qur'an, it is prudent and wise to simply remember the following conclusions reached by the writer of this essay:

~ The written Language of the Holy Qur'an is NOT classical Arabic.

~ The written language of the Holy Qur'an is NOT Arabic poetry.

~ The written language of the Holy Qur'an is NOT Arabic prose.

~ The written language of the Holy Qur'an IS QUR'ANIC ARABIC, meaning: no other forms of the Arabic language and its various and great literatures fit to frame the written language of the Holy Qur'an in any one of them.

Please note that the writer of this essay used the world "Holy" repeatedly in the foregoing. That has been done deliberately for support in making the following comments:

* Moses had changed part of the Red Sea into land to save his people from slaughter. That was a miracle made by Moses.

* Jesus Christ had made the blind see, had healed people with leprosy and even revived Lazarus from his death. These are miracles made by Jesus Christ..

* The Prophet Muhammad had not done miracles similar to what Jesus and Moses did. But Muhammad's miracle is, indeed, the fascinating Qur'an whose language is mesmerizing when it is chanted collectively by a group of prayers, or singularly by an Imam or Mua'zen like Bilal, first Mua'zen in Islam. Because of that and all of the above outline, the use of the word " Holy " in describing the Qur'an has become fully and fairly justified, since the written language of the Qur'an sounds so divine.

If the reader who reads this article remembers the foregoing outline about the written language of the Qur'an, he or she would achieve a degree of enlightenment that others lacked.

One more point to remember is the following important point:

In the opinion of the writer of this essay, the written QUR'ANIC ARABIC IS UN-TRANSLATABLE, in spite of the fact it has already been translated into so many languages. In order to understand the essence of Islam CORRECTLY, profound knowledge of the Arabic language is an empirical pre-requisite. There is no other way out of this pre-requisite. Period.

(7) Muhammad's Triumphant Return To Mecca.

By Sodium

Islam instructs all Muslims to be kind to fellow human beings. However, if attacked,self-defense becomes imperative and the Muslims should fight back with all force they might be able to muster.

Although the Muslims fled Mecca and left all their possessions behind and were confiscated by the Pagans of Mecca, the intent of the Qurayishi Pagans remain the same: they still wanted to kill the Prophet Muhammad and slaughter his followers. Muhammad had to reciprocate by planning " ghazos ",meaning " raids " against the Qurayshi caravans that travelled to Syria and other surrounding regions of Arabia, where commerce was an integral part of their way of life. The following three " ghazos ",meaning, " raids "  were mentioned frequently in Arab history books:

* The Battle of Badr.
* The Battle of Auhud.
* The Battle of Mu'atah.

The first two battles took place in Arabia, against the caravans of the Qurayshis who wanted to kill him. Mu'atah was fought by some of Muhammad's followers in southern Jordan against the Byzantiun Romans. The Muslims won the first battle, Badr, but lost the other two.

What was going on was a tet for tat kind of military warfare that was ended when both parties, the Meccan power elites and Muhammad agreed to a truce called Hudaybiyyah. The Romans were taken care of later on, after Muhammad's death by the First and Second Caliphs Abu Bakr Alsidiq and Omar ibn Al-Khattab, respectively.

The points of the Truce of Hudaybiyyah were three:

~ No more hostilities between the Pagans of Mecca and the Muslims of Medina.
~ Muslims who wish to make the pilgrimage to Ka'aba, the holy site built by the Prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael, in Mecca,they might do so, beginning in the next year.
~ Muslims in Medina will extradite back to Mecca any Meccan who leaves Mecca without the consent of his or her protector.

The Muslim followers of Muhammad initially thought that their Prophet had made a mistake in agreeing to the terms of the truce of Hudaybiyyah, but later on realized he had done the right things. Reasons:

#  For the first time he was considered by the power elites of Mecca their equal, not someone whom they wanted to slay and slaughter his Muslim followers as well.
#  Free from military activities would help all Muslims to prepare better for the future.
#  The Prophet Muhammad had gained a great deal of admiration amongst the people of Mecca since he recognized the importance of the pilgrimage to Ka'aba, in a sense similar to theirs, and at the same time told them: " I have my religion and you have yours ", which implied that he did not believe in the conversion to his religion by a forceful manner.

All of the foregoing were merely a prelude to Muhammad's Triumphant Return To Mecca. Add to that that during his preaching activities in the 10 years he spent living in Medina, the number of Muslims increased exponentially.

The Truce of Hudaybiyyah lasted for two years. Now, the Prophet Muhammad could assemble more than 10,000 Muslims strong ready to back him up and defend Islam, if necessary. Unfortunately, the Truce of Hudaybiyyah broke down after two years, because of the following bloodshed that took place between the following Jewish Arab tribes:

- The Jewish tribe of Banu Khuza'a which had good relation with the Prophet Muhammad.
- The Jewish tribe of Banu Bakr which had an alliance with the Meccans.

Banu Bakr had made a night raid against Banu Khuza'a, slaughtering a few of them. The Meccans helped Banu Bakr in weapons and took part in the fighting. As the details of this bloody event unfolded, the Prophet Muhammad sent a message to the Meccans, asking them to choose one of the following conditions:

+ Pay blood money for those who were slain of the Banu Khuza'a.
+ Declare no responsibility of what the Banu Bakr had done.
+ Declare the Truce of Hudaybiyyah null.

The Meccans replied that they would accept only the last condition: Declaring The Truce of Hudaybiyyah null. Later on, the Meccans realized that their reply was a mistake. They sent Abu Sufian, one of their powerful men, to Muhammad to renew the Truce of Hudaybiyyah, but now Muhammad declined to accept Abu Sufian's request.

So it was in 629 the Prophet Muhammad organized more than 10,000 Muslims strong and marched on to Mecca. With hardly any resistance, he entered Mecca with his Muslims followers triumphantly and peacefully. Mecca whose Pagans inhabitants attempted for years to kill him and destroy his new religion had become now under his full control.

The first order of business done by Muhammad was declaring amnesty for past offenses. The second order of business was destroying all the Pagans' idols in Ka'aba and making it a holy place to the Muslims who were considered decedents of Ishmael, the oldest son of the Prophet Abraham whom the Muslims considered one of them.

Finally, most Meccans became Muslims. The influence of Mecca was extremely great in Arabia. It was a commercial hub for all tribes in Arabia. It was a gem for those who ran it. Now it is under Islamic control. As a result, all Arabia became Islamic in characteristic and no more Pagans worshipping so many idols as gods or goddesses could be found in Arabia.

Shortly after the Prophet Muhammad had made his last welfare pilgrimage to Ka'aba, (perhaps in 632 ), and retrurn to Medina, he became ill,and died shortly later in the lap of his wife Ai'asha, after asking her to distribute the few possessions he had to the poor. He was 63 year old when he died.

His achievement has been great, indeed. He changed Arabia from a tribal society, living in a tribal warfare system, tribes fighting one another over a well of water or grazing rights for their domestic animal and their harsh deserts provided them with little to sustain their lives. Hence, the first two Caliphs who ruled Arabia after the death of the Prophet wanted Arabia to remain united. One way, they thought, could accomplish that was to see what the Arabs could do outside Arabia, so that they would not go back to their tribal warfare, as they practiced it before the appearance of Islam. It is a myth to think of the Arab conquests of the old world was to spread Islam. It was not. The conquests were manifestations of some sort of imperialism. That was the case with the human nature since the time of Alexander the Great, Roman empire, Persian empire, Arab empire, Ottoman empire, British empire, French empire, Soviet empire, and now the Great American empire consisting of 737 military bases across the globe. Nothing has changed in the fundamentals of the human nature. Nothing has changed, indeed.

(6) Al-Muhagireen(The Immigrants) and Al-Ansar(The Supporters).

By Sodium

The residents of the city of Yathrib, (the name Yathrib has been changed to Medina),welcomed the Muslims, who escaped from certain death in Mecca,with festive activities, generosity and joy.

As the Muslim immigrants settled in Yathrib, (Medina now), they were called "Al-Muhagireen" which simply meant in Arabic,"The Immigrants". The residents of the city of Yathrip, (Medina now), who gave the immigrant Muslims the festive, generous and joyous welcome, were called "Al-Ansar". The word of Al-Ansar in Arabic means "The Supporters" and supporters they were, indeed, since they provided the immigrating Meccan Muslims with support, at the time when the Muslims needed it most. In fact, it was a break for the Muslims who fled the city of Mecca.

Because of the Muslims' devotion to the new religion in Arabia, they wanted to have a place in which they could pray together, a hub for all Muslims to pray in and listen to the preaching and wisdom of the Messenger of God, the Prophet Muhammad. A decision was, somehow, made to build a Mosque for that purpose. There was a slight problem that confronted Al-Muhagireen, (The Immigrant Muslims): They could not agree on the spot locatoin of the Mosque, yet to be built. There is a fascinating story behind picking-up the spot-location for the first Islamic Mosque, yet to be built,in the city of Yathrib, (Medina now). The fascinating story:

In order to overcome the disagreements among the Al-Muhagireen, (The Immigrants), the Prophet suggested to let his camel decide as to where the Mosque should be built. Initially, it was a shocking suggestion to the immigrants who had no idea what the good Prophet had in mind. How could a camel decide a location for building a Mosque. Their shock disappeared as the Prophet gave his wise suggestion which was to let the camel roam in the city as it pleases until it became exhausted from roaming and where the camel parked for resting would be the spot-location on the which the Mosque be built. All agreed with fascination, as the story tellers told it. So it was as the first Islamic Mosque was built in the city of Yathrib, (Medina now), based upon a fascinating suggestion and with the help of the Prophet's camel.

Indeed, the fascinating suggestion behind picking-up a spot-location for building a Mosque in the city of Yathrib, (Medina now), attests once more to the profound intelligence of Prophet Muhammad and equally profound his ability in solving disagreements amongst people in a peaceful manner. It was not the first time he had done so. He had done so before he became Prophet, when he was still a lad in Mecca's Ka'aba as it was described in an earlier topic of this series.

Because of the fact that Prophet Muhammad had to spend most of his time praying and preaching the new religion of Islam, he had to spend a great deal of time in the newly built Mosque. His followers realized that. As a result, they built for him and his family a residence attached to the Mosque. And because of the multitude of people who paid visits to the Mosque, for either to pray or to listen to the preaching and wisdom of the Prophet, it had become necessary for the female members of his household to wear modest attires to fit the circumstances that were developing in the vicinity of the newly built Mosque and the residence attached to the Mosque. Islam does not require Muslim women to cover their-selves completely, as some ignorant souls seem to think so. All it requires is to wear modest cloths. Nothing more and nothing less. Question: what sort of attires Christian women wear on Sunday, as they attend Christian churches across the globe? Modest attires. So do Muslim women, as they leave their homes.

As some Christian churches use bells to call their members for prayers, Islam came up with the idea to call for prayers by a beautiful human voice. And so it was the idea of "Muazen" started in Yathrib, Arabia. "Muazen" simply means a "Caller" in the Arabic Language. The first Muazen in Islam was Billal, the former Ethopian slave who was freed from slavery after he was converted to Islam through Abu Bakr Al-Sidiq who was the closest friend to the Prophet Muhammad, and after the death of the Prophet, he became the First Caleph in Islamic and Arabic history. The reason Billal was appointed the first Muazen in Islam was due to his beautiful voice.

The next topic will be "The Prophet Muhammad's Triumphant Return to Mecca.