But the families ought not be so bewildered. There is a consistent thread running through each and every example of such radicalization. The radicalized Muslims were explicitly introduced to violent traditions of early Islam, they became convinced of their authenticity, and they intentionally chose to follow them. Whether or not this is always the defining factor for radicalization should not cloud the fact that it is a universal factor. There is no need to remain bewildered when mujahideen themselves often tell us their reasons for becoming radicalized. If we would listen carefully to what they have to say, we would find this to be true without exception.
Of course, there is a reason why both Muslims and non-Muslims might want to avoid the elephant in the room. Acknowledging violence built into the foundations of Islam could lead people to see Islam as a necessarily violent religion, and by uncritical extension, it might lead people to see all Muslims as inherently or latently violent people. We must boldly assert that these are false and dangerous conclusions, but that does not mean we ought to close our eyes to a common impetus for radicalization. Until we diagnose and respond to the actual causes of radicalization, we will continue to lose the sons and daughters of peaceful Muslim parents to terrorism.
Eighteen Questions
At the same time, we must be careful not to slide down the slippery slope of assuming every Muslim is a threat. Of the thousands of Muslims I have known in my personal life, only one has become radicalized to the point of explicitly supporting violence, and none have actually undertaken violent jihad. It is wrong to paint all Muslims with the same brush; we need to see them as individuals, the vast majority of whom just wish to live life, take care of their families, and peacefully honor God.
I do not claim to have all the answers, especially answers regarding public policy, but there is certainly a first step in responding well to radical Islam, whether individually or collectively. We must understand it for what it is. To that end, I will respond in the pages ahead to eighteen questions people most commonly ask me about jihad. These questions explore the origins of jihad, the nature of jihad today, and the phenomenon of jihad in Judeo-Christian context. After answering these questions, I will conclude by proposing a response to jihad, in my view the best way forward.
For the Sake of Clarity
In my response to the questions that follow, I am not suggesting that my interpretation of Islam is the only correct one, nor that those who practice Islam as a religion of peace are doing so illegitimately. My goal is more modest. I simply aim to uncover the violence that suffuses the foundations of Islam, which are the Quran and the traditions of Muhammad’s life, and to demonstrate that a return to these foundations can yield violent results.
In other words, I am not arguing against the legitimacy of an Islam that moves away from its foundations, whether organically through centuries of tradition and jurisprudence or synthetically through an intentional re-envisioning of Islam by progressive Muslim thought leaders. But as long as Islam is practiced in a way that calls Muslims to return to its foundations, violence will follow.
There are certainly additional factors that can motivate Muslims towards radical Islam, whether personal factors such as a search for identity or political factors such as a response to governmental oppression. Whatever the additional factors might be, however, the foundations and history of the religion do more than simply enable the use of violence for Islamic dominance; they command it.
Nevertheless, most Muslims in the world are not violent people, despite their desire to intentionally and genuinely follow Islam. That is why I hope to also explain their perspectives, so we can understand our Muslim neighbors and show them the love and compassion that all people deserve, devoid of fear and mistrust.
Finally, it behooves me to mention that I am a Christian who left Islam after investigating the foundations of Islam and Christianity. This subject matter is deeply personal to me, and I do not pretend to be unbiased, especially since all people are biased to varying degrees. That said, in this book I am trying to be as objective as I can be in presenting the information about jihad without judgment. I try to keep explicit Christian views out of the discussion, although a few certainly come through in the eighteenth Question and in the conclusion. I ask your pardon, but I really do feel that the Christian teaching of loving one’s enemies, even in the face of death, might perhaps be the most powerful answer to jihad at our disposal today. Not only does it allow us to counter jihad, it also enables us to treat Muslims with the utmost dignity: as image bearers of God.
Part 1
Part 1, The Origins of Jihad
Question 1
Question 1, What is Islam?
THERE ARE PRESENTLY 1.6 billion Muslims globally, making Islam the world’s second largest religion, and there are probably as many answers to the question “What is Islam?” as there are adherents. The many individual expressions of the faith are valid experiences that give us insight into the lived reality of Islam. For that reason, it will be useful to start by sharing my personal experience of Islam while I was still a Muslim.
My Experience of Islam as an American Muslim
People often speak of religion in terms of beliefs and practices, and many introductions to Islam focus on the basic beliefs of Muslims, as represented by the Six Articles of Faith, and the mandatory practices of the Five Pillars of Islam. Yet that approach seems too distant and aloof to describe my experience as a Muslim. Islam was my identity, my culture, my worldview, my pride, even my raison d’être. For me, Islam was more than just a religion; it was my entire way of life.
This passionate, comprehensive embrace of Islam was not unusual in my childhood environment. My great-grandparents were Muslim missionaries to Uganda, my grandparents were Muslim missionaries to Indonesia, my great-uncle was one of the earliest Muslim missionaries to the United States, and my uncle built one of the first mosques in the United States. While these relatives are idiosyncratic to my story, the convictions of my parents are reflective of many devout American Muslims. They were wholly dedicated to raising me as a pious Muslim child in what they perceived to be a morally permissive Western context.
What this meant in essence was a constant remembrance of Allah and the teachings of Muhammad throughout my day, from waking to sleeping. Literally. Upon waking I was taught to recite an Arabic prayer thanking Allah for giving me life; when lying down to sleep I prayed another prayer, affirming that my living and dying were in the name of Allah. Ceremonial washings and memorized prayers filled my daily routine. My parents even taught me a standard prayer to pray on every occasion for which there was no other scripted prayer.
In addition to acts of ceremonial devotion, there were dozens of legal commandments intended to protect the community and glorify Allah. Men were forbidden to wear silk or gold, women were required to maintain modesty and veil themselves accordingly, and all Muslims were prohibited from usury and interest in their monetary transactions. Some commands functioned as identity markers for our Muslim community, such as the proscription of pork and alcohol and the mandate to fast during Ramadan.
Community was, of course, incredibly important for us as minorities. The majority of Americans did not understand us and we felt it all the time, whether it be in the innocuous mispronouncing of our names or the suspicious sideward glances at my mother’s and sister’s burqas. The mosque served as a haven where we could gather with others who experienced life in the same way we did. Grievances from foreign lands were often laid to rest within our American Muslim community, as our local mosque was open to Sunni and Shia, Sufi and Ahmadi, Indian and Pakistani, rich and poor, black and white. Of course, my parents maintained stronger ties with those of our particular sect and heritage, but as a member of the American Muslim community we were focused on affirming Muslim unity and identity. The mosque was our outpost where we could gather as one and pursue God together.
More importantly to me than all of this, Islam taught me to lower my gaze before women, to refrain from lus
t and other desires of the flesh, to respond to temptation by fasting, to consider the less fortunate and oppressed, to restrain myself from anger, to always tell the truth, to honor my parents and elders, and to follow countless other virtuous morals that we often saw lacking in the amoral world around us.
Through it all, what drove us ideologically were Allah and the prophet of Islam. God, in his mercy, had sent guidance to mankind time and again, though man in his ignorance had rejected the messengers of Allah. Ultimately, Allah sent his chief messenger, Muhammad, to guide people as the perfect exemplar. Unparalleled in wisdom, character, and spiritual devotion, Muhammad led the new Muslim community from ignorance, through oppression, and into glorious victory for the sake of Allah. Since Muhammad was the perfect exemplar, we followed his practices as best we could.
That was why we lived how we lived. We were following Muhammad, our paragon and perfect prophet. Whatever Muhammad did or said, we were to aspire to the same for the sake of following and glorifying Allah. That was my experience of Islam, and it taught me to live a moral life and to pursue the pleasure of God. By and large, this is the experience of the average devout American Muslim today.
So what Is Islam?
But is Islam simply what Muslims experience, or is it something more? The sociologically inclined might say that Islam is simply the sum experience of all Muslims, but I would disagree, as would most Muslims. Islam is an entity beyond its people. Even if there were no one to experience it, we could still talk about Islam. Islam exists beyond experience.
In my opinion, religions ought to be defined by the identifying characteristics that distinguished the earliest community from all others. For Islam, this boils down to exclusive worship of Allah and obedience to Muhammad. This understanding is verified by the shahada, the proclamation that every Muslim must recite in order to become Muslim: “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his Messenger.” Even the prophet of Islam taught that this was sufficient to make one a Muslim.
There is much more to the religion of Islam, but at its core are the teachings of Muhammad and the worship of no other god than the one he proclaimed, Allah. These teachings are contained within Muslim scripture, the Quran, and in isolated traditions of Muhammad, often referred to collectively as hadith.
Demographics and Denominations
Yet Muslims interpret Muhammad’s teachings very differently, often along partisan lines of authoritative interpreters and cultural boundaries. That is why, in very broad strokes, Shia Islam looks different from Sunni Islam, why Bosnian Islam looks different from Saudi Islam, why folk Islam in the outlands of Yemen looks different from scholarly Islam in the halls of Al-Azhar University in Cairo.
Although the core of Islam is centered on the person of Muhammad in seventh century Arabia, the expression of Islam reflects local customs. That is one reason why it is important to remember that Islam is not primarily a religion of Arabs. The country with the most Muslims in the world is Indonesia, followed by Pakistan, India, and then Bangladesh. None of those nations are Arab, and local customs manage to find their way into Islamic expression.
In addition, no two Muslims are exactly alike, and that is another reason why the expression of Islam is so varied. My sister and I were raised in the same sect (see appendix D) by the same parents, but her practice and interpretation of Islam looks very different from how mine looked. Her leanings were far more Western and pluralist than were mine. I was more interested in learning about Muhammad and his teachings than she was, while she was more interested in American pop culture than I was.
Muslims Are Not Islam
Especially because of the great diversity of Islamic expression, it bears repeating that Islam is not Muslims, and Muslims are not Islam. Though Muslims are adherents of Islam, and Islam is the worldview of Muslims, the two are not the same, as many uncritically believe.
On one end of the spectrum, many assume that if the Quran teaches something then all Muslims believe it. That is false. Many Muslims have not heard of a given teaching, some might interpret it differently, and others may frankly do their best to ignore it. For example, even if we were to demonstrate through careful hermeneutics that the Quranic injunction to beat disobedient wives (4:34) is meant to apply to all Muslims today, it would still have zero bearing in my family. My father would never beat my mother.
On the other end of the spectrum, criticism of Islam is often taken to be criticism of Muslims. That is equally false. One can criticize the Quranic command to beat disobedient wives without criticizing Muslims. The accusation of Islamophobia, discussed in Question 12, often fails at this point. Islam is not Muslims, and one can criticize Islam while affirming and loving Muslims.
Conclusion
Thus Islam is defined by obedience to Muhammad’s teachings and worship of no other god but the one he proclaimed, Allah. Although there are as many as 1.6 billion expressions of Islam in the world, Muslims are not themselves Islam. In my experience as an American Muslim, there was absolutely no emphasis placed on violence, but a great deal of emphasis placed on morality, legality, community, and spirituality. For me and all the American Muslims I knew, Islam was a religion of peace with God and peace with man.
But my experience of Islam is not the only one, and it cannot define Islam. For other Muslims, violence is a part of their expression of Islam, but their experience is no more definitive than mine was.
To answer whether Islam truly is a religion of peace, we must consider what Islam teaches, not just what Muslims practice.
Question 2
Question 2, Is Islam “A Religion of Peace”?
SINCE I WAS BORN, I was taught by imams and my family that Islam is “a religion of peace.” What is surprising, in retrospect, is that this popular slogan may not have been around much earlier than that.
The Meaning of the Word Islam
Mark Durie, a research scholar of linguistics and Islam at Melbourne School of Theology, informs us in an article for the Independent Journal, “Islam was first called ‘the religion of peace’ as late as 1930, in the title of a book published in India…. The phrase was slow to take off, but by the 1970s it was appearing more and more frequently in the writings of Muslims for western audiences.”
Whether or not one agrees that the slogan first appeared in the twentieth century, it is beyond dispute that the Quran never says, “Islam is the religion of peace,” nor do the traditions of Muhammad.
This common misconception may stem from another, the oft-repeated assertion that Islam means “peace.” It does not. The Arabic word Islam means “surrender,” though it is related to the word for peace, salaam. Durie sheds light on the nature of the relationship and the origin of the word Islam: “The word Islam is based upon a military metaphor. Derived from aslama, ‘surrender,’ its primary meaning is to make oneself safe (salama) through surrender. In its original meaning, a Muslim was someone who surrendered in warfare.”
In our Islamic community, we were taught that the “surrender” of Islam was a submission of one’s will and life to God, which I would argue is noble and does not connote violence. But to contend that the word Islam signifies peace in the absence of violence is incorrect. Islam signifies a peace after violence, or under the threat of it.
According to Islamic tradition, that is how Muhammad himself used the word. His warning to neighboring tribes is famous: Aslim taslam, “If you surrender, you will have peace.” It was a play on words, as aslim also connotes becoming Muslim: “If you convert, you will have safety through surrender.”
So the word Islam refers to the peace that comes from surrender. Peaceful Muslim communities today present that imagery as a spiritual peace with Allah, but records of Muhammad’s life indicate that the notion of submission was also used in military contexts.
From Etymology to History
A more appropriate avenue for answering whether Islam is “a religion of peace” is the life and teachings of its prophet. The Quran and the traditions of Islam’s prophet
are far more definitive than the etymology of the word Islam.
I will discuss this further in Question 4, but suffice it to say for now that no one can honestly deny the presence of violence in both the Quran and the life of the prophet of Islam. From the time Muhammad first obtained a following that could successfully fight, he launched raids and battles every year until he died. According to David Cook in Understanding Jihad, he commissioned or personally participated in eighty-six battles during that time, which is more than nine battles a year. The Quran refers often to these campaigns, many times in approbation. For example, chapter 8 of the Quran is about the Muslims’ first major battle, the battle of Badr, and it teaches that Allah is the one who led the Muslims, that he compelled the Muslims to attack the Meccans, that he supplied them with angelic assistance, and that he was the one who slew the Meccans through the hands of the Muslims. There is no avoiding the presence and even glorification of violence in this chapter or elsewhere throughout Islam’s origins.
The battles of the early Muslim community seem to have escalated in a crescendo toward the end of Muhammad’s life, not halting with his death but rather catapulting into global proportions. As soon as the prophet of Islam died, there came the apostate wars, then the overthrow of Persia, and then the campaigns of Egypt and beyond. Within two centuries of the advent of Islam, Muslim conquests expanded Islamic territory from the shores of the Atlantic well into the valleys of India. At the end of that era, the most influential hadith collectors gathered whole books documenting Muhammad’s conduct and commands during times of warfare. Shortly after them, the great Islamic jurists systematically codified sharia, Islamic law, devoting whole branches of jurisprudence to the proper practice of warfare.
Answering Jihad Page 2