April 1, 2003
-
Okay, enough of this bogus “holiday” levity. Doug’s little April Fool joke was cute, dig them kittens, but I’ve got serious matters on my mind and it is my blog after all.
Iraq War Sparks Calls for Jihad
The Associated Press headline above does not strike me as news. I’m sure it is true that there are now, in the Islamic world, more voices than ever calling for Jihad. The accuracy of the story is not at issue for me. I have two basic issues with this concept of Muslims calling and being called for Jihad.
One of my quibbles is that there has been a Jihad going on for centuries. When Mohammed spoke of it and was quoted by his scribes in the Q’ran, he wasn’t coining a new word. There were tribes and nations fighting and believing they were doing it for their gods long before then.
“Jihad doctrine divides the peoples of the world into two irreconcilable groups: the dar al-Islam (the land of Islam) and the dar al-harb, (land of war) the non-Muslim world, destined to come under Islamic jurisdiction either by the peaceful conversion of its inhabitants, or by armed conflict. Jihad is the permanent state of war of the dar al-Islam against infidels until they submit to Islamic domination. Peace is accepted only temporarily according to circumstances.”
“Dhimmitude: the Islamic system of governing populations conquered by jihad wars… a uniform civilization developed throughout the centuries by all non-Muslim indigenous people, who were vanquished by a jihad-war and governed by shari’a law. It is this civilization which is called dhimmitude. It is characterized by the different strategies developed by each dhimmi group to survive as non-Muslim entity in their Islamized countries.” Dhimmitude.org
Okay, so Jihad is old news to the dhimmi, those already conquered by Islam’s armies. This leads to my second quibble with the AP headline. Can anyone find it remarkable that Bush’s invasion of Iraq has increased and amplified the calls to Jihad?
Just as there are peace-loving Christians appalled by The Crusades, both the Mediaeval ones and this one of Dubya’s, there are Muslims who desire peace–just peace, without necessarily turning the whole planet into dar al-Islam to get it. Some of them have been turning their little corners of Islam into a quite different culture, one not based on conquest. And just as in other cultures, there have been many Muslims who were focused more on their own private lives and personal drives than on either peace or Jihad.
Our unelected leader’s actions and public statements must necessarily frighten some of the peace-lovers into a combative stance. The invasion of Iraq is going to raise the political consciousness of many of those formerly self-absorbed Muslims. Fence-sitters are going to come down on the side of Islamic solidarity.
I say that if the man and his keepers intended all along to touch off an all-out global Jihad, it would have been only proper and fair for them to tell us so at the start. Supposedly, he has experts in political matters to advise him. Someone must have known that the Arab world would be galvanized to action by throwing all those munitions into their portion of the planet. If not, then the situation in DC is even worse than I imagined.
DON’T PERVERT HISTORY: JIHAD IS JIHAD by Dr. Walid Phares
Comments (6)
I’ve been wondering for a long time just who was giving him “intelligence” on dealing with the Arab world. Whoever it is, isn’t doing him any favors.
I remember thinking about this initially also… that going to war in the Middle East would cause thousands of other Muslims to rally to Iraq’s cause – because this isn’t just a war, it’s a holy war.
There are two main schools of thought on this:
1) Bush is the emperor wearing no clothes, and anyone who disagrees is shuffled out of earshot. This is the ‘ignorant hubris’ argument.
2) Bush is happy playing the role of dar al-harb, for whatever reason. This is the ‘armageddon is fun and profitable’ argument. In this version, the US gets to support Israel and keep it out of muslim hands, and the US also gets some prime oil-producing real estate. Ideology and profit, together again, just like during the first crusades.
It was inevitable.
I was wondering why that was such big news, too. I was under the impression that jihad was already happening.
I am so disgusted with our news access here. Thank God for the internet and people that like you that can ‘explain’ what the heck is going on. Without both, I’d be completely clueless (as opposed to just slightly clueless).
If you hit a properly functioning knee with a rubber mallet, it’s going to kick you.
Any idiot Texan knows that.
He had to know that the Arab world would try to rise up if we invaded Iraq. Had to. If he didn’t and America doesn’t care… Eh, we’re already screwed. It’s just about the style with which we’re being screwed now.