More on Jihad

It seems absolutely shallow; it seems the height of vanity and selfishness to preach about Islam as being about peace and love from the comfort of an air-conditioned home if we DO NOTHING to help the oppressed ourselves! Such is not loving, but is selfishness.

It is arrogance to the point of stupidity to condemn violent Jihad if we are not ourselves constructively taking part in ending the causes behind violent Jihad. The oppressed in Afghanistan, Palestine and other parts of the world have been so beaten down by suffering, tragic loss, violence and torture over the years that violence is the only Jihad many of them know, it is the only form of Jihad that is possible too know for some.

It is vein to speak of peace, forgiveness and love when we are not the ones whose children are being slain, when we are not the ones with nothing to live for except the hunger for a dignified death which drives the force of life. Perpetual grief, physical and emotional torment, loss of an unimaginable magnitude, love is gone, only hate can be there for some.

I am condemning my own Munnafiq (hypocritcal) self as I write, as I have many times done the same. I am making a resolve to act and not just write, but this writing is the first action.

For some of the oppressed in the parts of the world that had been torn apart by conflict of such magnitude, human dignity is more important than life or death itself. Death with dignity (as defined by Islamic struggle) is but entrance into paradise for those who are deeply prayerful. Life for so many is but a painful yearning for the bliss of Jannah, perpetual hunger for eternal paradise. Sadly, for the deeply oppressed, life in this Dunya (this world) is but a bitter weeping for what lies beyond the grave, being that hope for happiness in this world is continually shattered by the barbaric cruelty of the tyrants.

For many, only anger remains. The demand to die with dignity and self respect is the all consuming passion of so many. This implies a stand against injustice no matter what suffering, violence or destruction such a stand may involve.

Instead of condemning the sentiment toward violent Jihad and then doing nothing to help end it, we must seek to help end the sentiment for violent Jihad somehow. We must think of ways to help. After all, we speak of the Ummah as being one body, where every part feels the pain of another, do we not?

So, yes, I agree, we would be selfish not to help, not to intervene, but please, do you really think that adding to the violence by going there to fight with guns, which perpetuates a self re-enforcing cycle, is helping? I feel that under the circumstances, civil and non-violent resistance in these parts would be more effective in bringing about real change. Such would be less destructive for the oppressed and would do more to turn public opinion of all Iraqi's against the US tyranny.

Non-violent resistance is NOT passivity. It must be confrontational and public. It works in that it reveals the moral strength of the victim; it exposes the cruelty, the inhumanity of the tyrant and declares the evil of the oppressor loud and clear.

When an oppressed individual who is perceived as peaceful and loving is bullied publically by a tyrant, it makes the tyrant look like an evil, cowardly bully. This causes the public to lose any respect or fear of the cowardly tyrant. The tyrant would no longer be obeyed, and would lose the will to rule as it would not be empowering to do so.

Especially in these parts of the world where public opinion of most Americans sees the Jihadi’s as the tyrants, the pressure to crush the Jihadi’s is applied by the US public. What is these Jihadi’s, who are more than willing to sacrifice themselves, were perceived as peace loving, non-threatening victims who simply want their land back? What is the US saw them as that? More and more, the US public would turn against any Government which refused to withdraw from Iraq or other places.
Most Americans see Palestinians as being terrorists, and therefore, support the Jews to crush Palestine financially, morally, through weapon supply and ideologically. This is a tragic injustice.

What many do not realize is that there are huge groups of Palestinian freedom fighters who wish to take on the struggle, to sacrifice themselves through non-violent resistance. Such are labeled as traitors and cowards by the Mujahidin, by the suicide bombers who then go forth, blow themselves up and cause suffering for their people by provoking retaliatory Israeli strikes.

I feel that the non-violent resisters in Palestine have greater potential to end the Israeli and US support for tyranny and to ease the amount of oppression than what the violent resisters have.

To participate in non-violent struggle, with and for the oppressed, that to me would be a Jihad worth doing, a sacrifice and an offering of suffering which has value...It is better than arrogantly denouncing Jihad from our ivory towers and doing nothing, and it is better than bringing about more suffering through violence.