Islam is a religion of peace and jihad is not only by the sword

As the world experiences a technology revolution and globalization that together link peoples, societies, cultures and economies near and far, much effort and care are needed to minimize and control resulting conflicts.

We are part and parcel of a larger humanity, not islands unto ourselves. What happens somewhere may affect us sooner or later, directly or indirectly.

The words of German pastor Martin Niemoeller should be recalled. A former World War I German U-boat captain, Niemoeller became a political prisoner of the Nazis in 1937. He survived a Berlin prison, the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and the Dachau death camp, and was sent to northern Italy to be executed. He was saved by American forces in 1945.

Niemoellar wrote: "First [the Nazis] came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist." He said when the Nazis later came for the Jews, and then for the Trade Unionists, he didn't speak out either, because he was neither a Jew nor a Trade Unionist. And when the Nazis came for the Catholics, Niemoeller said, he still didn't speak out because he wasn't a Catholic."Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me," he wrote.

When a part of humanity is hurt somewhere, we ought to care. Buddhists see life like a wheel. It goes around. Our turn will come.

The 9/11 radical Islamist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center buildings and killed nearly 3,000 civilians from many nations, and the killings that followed, led me to question what the post-9/11 America and post-9/11 world would be like in the face of radical Islamists.

Osama bin Laden affirmed that 9/11 has split the world into "the camp of the faithful and the camp of the infidels." "I swear by God ... neither America nor those who live in it will ever taste security and safety," declared bin Laden.

Islamists who use Islam for political purposes, cite -- and non-Muslims who have played into their hands have legitimized them by repeating -- Koranic verses on "jihad" for self-defense when Muslims are wronged: "And slay them wherever you may come upon them and drive them away from wherever they drove you away -- for oppression is even worse than killing" (2:191); "Fight in the cause of Allah against those who fight against you, but do not transgress limits. Lo! Allah loves not aggressors" (2:190).

In my March 7 column, "Radical ideologues can be won over through America's good will," I referenced Kenneth Ballen's "The myth of Muslim support for terror" in the Feb. 23 Christian Science Monitor. Ballen asserted that data show "Muslims reject terrorism as much if not more than Americans."

Ballen cautioned against stereotyping Muslims and warned that to attribute "radical views to all of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims ... perpetuates a myth that has the very real effect of marginalizing critical allies in the war on terror."

Traditional Muslims, including myself, practice Islam as a religion of peace.
Whereas the Koran allows jihad of the sword to defend Islam when it is under attack -- Islamists call anyone who does not believe as they do as infidels, non-Muslims and Muslims alike -- the Koran preaches, "do not transgress limits" and prescribes rules in war comparable to the Geneva Convention.

"Anyone who murders any person who has not committed murder or horrendous crimes, it shall be as if he murdered all the people. And anyone who spares a life, it shall be as if he spared the lives of all the people" (5:32).

Prophet Muhammad himself said these are "best morals" in the world: "To forgive he who oppresses you, to make bond with he who severs from you, to be kind to he who insults you, and to give to he who deprives you."
"O you who believe! Stand out firmly for Allah's witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to Piety and fear Allah. And Allah is well acquainted with all that you do" (5:8).

Islam's jihad of the hand teaches Muslims: "You shall resort to pardon, advocate tolerance, and disregard the ignorant" (7:199); in jihad of the heart Muslims practice Islam's five pillars that include prayers and fasting; jihad of the tongue preaches to Muslims to strive to speak about faith with others: "(O Muhammad) remind, for you are one to remind, you are not their overlord" (80:21-22); "you are not to overawe them by force" (50:45); "to you your religion and to me mine" (109:6); "Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and fine preaching and argue with them in the ways that are best" (16:12).

The tenets traditional Muslims learned and live by are far from what Islamist insurgents do -- indiscriminate killings in markets, schools, hospitals, mosques, streets.

Abdurrahman Wahid, former president of the world's largest Muslim nation, Indonesia, has called on all peoples to unite to oppose *******sm embraced by Islamists.

"All of humanity, whether Muslims or non-Muslims, is threatened by the forces of Islamist extremism," he wrote.
American forces will come home from Iraq. We need to look beyond Iraq -- what world will we be living in?

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at [email protected].

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