Victoria Part Three: The Anti-Islam Guy

The above linked blog post from '05 contains a photo of Lorenzo Bouchard wearing a sandwich board which reads: " Awake Islam's a Religion of War".
There is a coffee cup in his left hand, fliers in his right. No weapons; no threats. The other side of his sign is a cross.  Here is what the blogger had to write on that occasion.

It seems this guy is downright sick of Muslim fundamentalists blowing stuff up, and offers another crusade as a viable solution. Hold you comments for just one second–there are excellent results from a successful crusade or genocide. You meet your objective of eliminating the thread at hand. However, the collateral damage is usually considered (i.e., should be) to be too significant a cost to pay in exchange for your goals. In this way, most civilized nations prefer to try and isolate and punish criminals as entities-of-themselves and not entities-in-a-state.

You can imagine why I thought this was weird, then. In the US, this kind of reaction is expected. In my peace-loving Canada? No way!

    Given a voice crying in the city, warning of Islam's evil nature & intention, the blogger conjures up the image of a Crusade and imputes genocidal intent. On the other hand, he displays his bias by characterizing the Mujahideen as domestic criminals to be arrested & prosecuted.

    The blogger makes the mistake of overlooking the fact that Islam conflates temporal & spiritual power. Moe was Allah's vice-regent, empowered to rule the world. The structure of Islam's Caliphate is feudalistic. As Moe conquered one kindom after another, he set up local rulers to maintain control and collect Zakat & Jizya, forwarding them to Mekkah.

• 8:73. And those who disbelieve are allies to one another, (and) if you (Muslims of the whole world collectively) do not do so (i.e. become allies, as one united block with one Khalifah - chief Muslim ruler for the whole Muslim world to make victorious Allâh's Religion of Islâmic Monotheism), there will be Fitnah (wars, battles, polytheism, etc.) and oppression on earth, and a great mischief and corruption (appearance of polytheism).

Moe's intent was to have one monolithic entity:  Ummah al-Islamiyya, the Nation of Islam.

    Jihad is war, not a common domestic criminal offense. Jihad is also a mandatory intrinsic sacrament of Islam, which, by Islamic law, must be carried out at least once in every year.

• 2:216. Jihâd (holy fighting in Allâh's Cause) is ordained for you (Muslims) though you dislike it, and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allâh knows but you do not know.

• 8:39. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and polytheism: i.e. worshipping others besides Allâh) and the religion (worship) will all be for Allâh Alone [in the whole of the world ]. But if they cease (worshipping others besides Allâh), then certainly, Allâh is All-Seer of what they do.

• 8:60. And make ready against them all you can of power, including steeds of war (tanks, planes, missiles, artillery, etc.) to threaten the enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others besides whom, you may not know but whom Allah does know. And whatever you shall spend in the Cause of Allah shall be repaid unto you, and you shall not be treated unjustly.

• 9:29.Fight against those who (1) believe not in Allâh, (2) nor in the Last Day, (3) nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allâh and His Messenger (4) and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islâm) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

• 9:123.O you who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are close to you, and let them find harshness in you, and know that Allâh is with those who are the Al-Muttaqûn (the pious - see V.2:2).

    What is Jihad?  The parenthetical in 2:216 says "holy fighting in Allah's cause". What is Allah's cause?

• Sahih Bukhari  Volume 4, Book 52, Number 65:

  
  Narrated Abu Musa:
  
  A man came to the Prophet and asked, "A man fights for war booty; another fights for fame and a third fights for showing off; which of them fights in Allah's Cause?" The Prophet said, "He who fights that Allah's Word (i.e. Islam) should be superior, fights in Allah's Cause." 

What is the legal definition? Umdat as-Salik has the answer.

Chapter O9.0: Jihad

(O: Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada signifying warfare to establish the religion. And it is the lesser jihad. As for the greater jihad, it is spiritual warfare against the lower self (nafs), which is why the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said as he was returning from jihad.

``We have returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad.''

The scriptural basis for jihad, prior to scholarly consensus (def: b7) is such Koranic verses as:

-1- ``Fighting is prescribed for you'' (Koran 2:216);

-2- ``Slay them wherever you find them'' (Koran 4:89);

-3- ``Fight the idolators utterly'' (Koran 9:36);

and such hadiths as the one related by Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said:

``I have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and perform the prayer, and pay zakat. If they say it, they have saved their blood and possessions from me, except for the rights of Islam over them. And their final reckoning is with Allah'';

and the hadith reported by Muslim,

``To go forth in the morning or evening to fight in the path of Allah is better than the whole world and everything in it.''Details concerning jihad are found in the accounts of the military expeditions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), including his own martial forays and those on which he dispatched others. The former consist of the ones he personally attended, some twenty-seven (others say twenty-nine) of them. He fought in eight of them, and killed only one person with his noble hand, Ubayy ibn Khalaf, at the battle of Uhud. On the latter expeditions he sent others to fight, himself remaining at Medina, and these were forty-seven in number.)

O9.1: The Obligatory Character of Jihad

Jihad is a communal obligation (def: c3.2).  When enough people perform it to successfully accomplish it, it is no longer obligatory upon others (O: the evidence for which is the Prophet's saying (Allah bless him and give him peace),

"He who provides the equipment for a soldier in jihad has himself performed jihad,"

and Allah Most High having said:

"Those of the believers who are unhurt but sit behind are not equal to those who fight in Allah's path with their property and lives. Allah has preferred those who fight with their property and lives a whole degree above those who sit behind. And to each, Allah has promised great good" (Koran 4:95).

If none of those concerned perform jihad, and it does not happen at all, then everyone who is aware that it is obligatory is guilty of sin, if there was a possibility of having performed it. In the time of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) jihad was a communal obligation after his emigration (hijra) to Medina. As for subsequent times, there are two possible states in respect to non-Muslims.

The first is when they are in their own countries, in which case jihad (def: o9.8) is a communal obligation, and this is what our author is speaking of when he says, "Jihad is a communal obligation," meaning upon the Muslims each year.

The second state is when non-Muslims invade a Muslim country or near to one, in which case jihad is personally obligatory (def: c3.2) upon the inhabitants of that country, who must repel the non-Muslims with whatever they can).

    Jihad akbar is an-nafs; how the Hell do you get killed that way? Get a clue, for Chrissake! 

• 4:74. Let those (believers) who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter fight in the Cause of Allâh, and whoso fights in the Cause of Allâh, and is killed or gets victory, We shall bestow on him a great reward. 

• 9:111. Verily, Allâh has purchased of the believers their lives and their properties; for the price that theirs shall be the Paradise. They fight in Allâh's Cause, so they kill (others) and are killed. It is a promise in truth which is binding on Him in the Taurât (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel) and the Qur'ân. And who is truer to his covenant than Allâh? Then rejoice in the bargain which you have concluded. That is the supreme success.

    Do you think it couldn't possibly mean that; it must be mis-translated or mis-interpreted? Pull your head out of your anus long enough to re-read the last paragraph of O9.0

``To go forth in the morning or evening to fight in the path of Allah is better than the whole world and everything in it.''Details concerning jihad are found in the accounts of the military expeditions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), including his own martial forays and those on which he dispatched others. The former consist of the ones he personally attended, some twenty-seven (others say twenty-nine) of them. He fought in eight of them, and killed only one person with his noble hand, Ubayy ibn Khalaf, at the battle of Uhud. On the latter expeditions he sent others to fight, himself remaining at Medina, and these were forty-seven in number.)

Got a clue yet?  If not then read Riyad us-Salaheen, Book 11, Chapter 234: Obligation of Jihad.  But surely it must be an anachronism, not applicable after the passage of 1386 years. Wrong again!

• Abu Dawud Book 14, Number 2526

  
  
      Narrated Anas ibn Malik:
  
      The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Three things are the roots of faith: to refrain from (killing) a person who utters, "There is no god but Allah" and not to declare him unbeliever whatever sin he commits, and not to excommunicate him from Islam for his any action; and jihad will be performed continuously since the day Allah sent me as a prophet until the day the last member of my community will fight with the Dajjal (Antichrist). The tyranny of any tyrant and the justice of any just (ruler) will not invalidate it. One must have faith in Divine decree.

But surely those passages are subjet to ijtihad and can be re-interpreted for modern times and conditions. Wrong again!

• Abu Dawud Book 23, Number 3455:

  Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar:

  I heard the Apostle of Allah, (peace_be_upon_him) say: When you enter into the inah transaction, hold the tails of oxen, are pleased with agriculture, and give up conducting jihad (struggle in the way of Allah). Allah will make disgrace prevail over you, and will not withdraw it until you return to your original religion.

    It is clear from this hadith that Jihad, offensive wars of conquest for the purpose of accruing spoils and expanding Dar al-Islam is the core sacrament of Islam; the essence of the 'religion'.

Genocide

    In the egregious matter of genocide: it is another intrinsic sacrament of Islam!

• 8:67. It is not for a Prophet that he should have prisoners of war (and free them with ransom) until he had made a great slaughter (among his enemies) in the land. You desire the good of this world (i.e. the money of ransom for freeing the captives), but Allâh desires (for you) the Hereafter. And Allâh is All-Mighty, All-Wise.

• Abu Dawud Book 38, Number 4390:

  Narrated Atiyyah al-Qurazi:
  I was among the captives of Banu Qurayzah. They (the Companions) examined us, and those who had begun to grow hair (pubes) were killed, and those who had not were not killed. I was among those who had not grown hair.

• 47:4. So, when you meet (in fight Jihâd in Allâh's Cause), those who disbelieve smite at their necks till when you have killed and wounded many of them, then bind a bond firmly (on them, i.e. take them as captives). Thereafter (is the time) either for generosity (i.e. free them without ransom), or ransom (according to what benefits Islâm), until the war lays down its burden. Thus [you are ordered by Allâh to continue in carrying out Jihâd against the disbelievers till they embrace Islâm (i.e. are saved from the punishment in the Hell-fire) or at least come under your protection], but if it had been Allâh's Will, He Himself could certainly have punished them (without you). But (He lets you fight), in order to test you, some with others. But those who are killed in the Way of Allâh, He will never let their deeds be lost,

• Muslim Book 041, Number 6985:

  Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

    When you kill a murderer in self-defense, you are not guilty of murder.  Neither is America guilty of genocide for nuking Hiroshima & Nagasaki.

This is the third in a series of posts quoting fiqh from a censored forum. The text of the Jihad Violence thread has been preserved in a .chm (163.4KB) file which you can download here. It is among the resources in the expanded library at Crusader's Armory.  

al-Shafi'i, d. 820, founder of shafi'i school. al-Imam Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shaf'i's al-Risala fi us ul al-fiqh, transl. Majid Khadduri, al-Imam Muhammad ibn Idris al-shaf'i's al-risala fi us ul al-fiqh: Treatises on the Foundations of Islamic jurisprudence (Cambridge 1997), p. 82-7.

These communications (9:112, 9:36, 9:5, 9:29, 9:38-9, 9:41) mean that the jihad, and rising up in arms in particular, is obligatory for all able-bodied [believers], exempting no one, just as prayer, pilgrimage and [payment of] alms are performed […] They may also mean that the duty of [jihad] is a collective (kifaya) duty different from that of prayer: Those who perform it in the war against the polytheists will fulfil the duty and receive the supererogatory merit, thereby preventing those who stayed behind from falling into error. […] If all men failed to perform the duty so that no able-bodied man went forth to battle, all I am afraid, would fall into error.

    "Rising up in arms" is not consistent with defensive fighting; it implies aggressive Jihad.  Defensive fighting, when Dar ul-Islam is invaded, is fard ayn: an obligation binding upon all able bodied Muslims individually. Aggressive Jihad is fard kifaya. Refer to Reliance of the Traveller, O9.1 & O9.3.

"If all men failed to perform the duty so that no able-bodied man went forth to battle, all I am afraid, would fall into error."
Jihad is an obligation; it must be done according to Allah's commands. What commands? Those cited in the Shari'ah.

• 9:5. Then when the Sacred Months (the Ist, 7th, 11th, and 12th months of the Islamic calendar) have passed, then kill the Mushrikun (see V.2:105) wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for them each and every ambush. But if they repent and perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat), and give Zakat, then leave their way free. Verily, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.  
• 9:29. Fight against those who (1) believe not in Allah, (2) nor in the Last Day, (3) nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger (4) and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.
• 9:36. Verily, the number of months with Allah is twelve months (in a year), so was it ordained by Allah on the Day when He created the heavens and the earth; of them four are Sacred, (i.e. the 1st, the 7th, the 11th and the 12th months of the Islamic calendar). That is the right religion, so wrong not yourselves therein, and fight against the Mushrikun (polytheists, pagans, idolaters, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) collectively , as they fight against you collectively. But know that Allah is with those who are Al-Muttaqun (the pious - see V.2:2).
• 9:38. O you who believe! What is the matter with you, that when you are asked to march forth in the Cause of Allah (i.e. Jihad) you cling heavily to the earth? Are you pleased with the life of this world rather than the Hereafter? But little is the enjoyment of the life of this world as compared with the Hereafter. 
• 9:39. If you march not forth, He will punish you with a painful torment and will replace you by another people, and you cannot harm Him at all, and Allah is Able to do all things.
• 9:41.March forth, whether you are light (being healthy, young and wealthy) or heavy (being ill, old and poor), strive hard with your wealth and your lives in the Cause of Allah. This is better for you, if you but knew.
• 9:112. (The believers whose lives Allah has purchased are) those who repent to Allah (from polytheism and hypocrisy, etc.), who worship Him, who praise Him, who fast (or go out in Allah's Cause), who bow down (in prayer), who prostrate themselves (in prayer), who enjoin (people) for Al-Ma'ruf (i.e. Islamic Monotheism and all what Islam has ordained) and forbid (people) from Al-Munkar (i.e. disbelief, polytheism of all kinds and all that Islam has forbidden), and who observe the limits set by Allah (do all that Allah has ordained and abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds which Allah has forbidden). And give glad tidings to the believers. 

The last listed, 112, must be understood in the context of its immediate predecessor.

• 9:111. Verily, Allah has purchased of the believers their lives and their properties; for the price that theirs shall be the Paradise. They fight in Allah's Cause, so they kill (others) and are killed. It is a promise in truth which is binding on Him in the Taurat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel) and the Qur'an. And who is truer to his covenant than Allah? Then rejoice in the bargain which you have concluded. That is the supreme success .

What do believers do and why?

• Fight
• kill
• are killed
• in Allah's cause
• to make Islam dominant.

What will Allah do to them if they do not join the Jihad?

• Inflict painful punishment {Cast them into Hell.}
• replace them with someone else.