JIHAD & MUJAHID

by Dr.Mohamed Amir Meera Hussain on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 4:47pm Jihad! Merciless; senseless; indiscriminate killings of innocent people! Mujahid! The brutal, heartless people who carry out such killings! This is what people are made to think of by forceful, aggressive propaganda by the Western media. These 2 words are mischievously & purposely given a totally different understanding by the opponents of Islam especially the Western Christians and Israelis to create intense hatred among the people at large against Muslims & Islam. They relate these 2 words to indicate merciless killing for no reason (jihad?); and, people who carry out these acts of merciless killings (mujahid?) Jihad simply means to defend or, to regain ones rights country; land; house; family; religion; honour by all possible means within him. Now, which man does not do these? If there is a threat to his country; or, if his country is attacked by foreign forces; or, if his country is occupied; if his family is threatened; or, if his honour & self-respect is jeopardised, is it not the duty of that person to defend? If one does not stand up to defend his country and his rights, he is the most disloyal coward & traitor! If the attacking foreign forces have the most sophisticated weapons; and if the invaded country has outdated weapons which are no match at all, is it not natural for the victimised person or country to use all available means to defend his country & honour? The Palestinians were and still are most mercilessly killed as sitting ducks, by the Israelis, who are armed to the teeth with all sorts of modern weapons. During President Arafats time, when the Intifada was at its peak, what were the Palestinians using to fight against the Israeli soldiers? Stones & bricks! The Palestinians were shot & killed indiscriminately! One 10 year old boy, who was shot & injured, wrote a note before he died. Do you all know what he wrote? That note had these words: Brother Arafat! Do not be disheartened! Do not give up! If you run out of pellets, dig up my grave; and use my bones to fight the Israelis! You see! They make use of anything they could get at, to defend their country & honour. These are the mujahids! Their valorous struggle is jihad! These have got nothing to do with extremism; terrorism; etc. It is the same everywhere. In Afghanistan, first, the Russians invaded! The brave Afghans, who had never been occupied before at any time in history, bravely opposed and fought with whatever outdated weapons, against that superpower. At that time,

the Afghans were not branded as fundamentalists; or, extremists; or, terrorists; because, they fought against the Russians the enemies of America. In fact, they were helped by the Western powers. The Russians were defeated. They left. Then, after a few years, the Americans came in; because, they couldnt subjugate the Afghans, the Afghans being a proud nation of valour would take no order from the superpower. Americans could not accept this! How can a country like Afghanistan, which has no proper government and no formal military; no weapons of any merit, defy the might of US (Americans)? No! That cannot be accepted! They cannot be simply let go! The Americans attacked giving all sorts of most unacceptable, senseless excuses. Now, the same Afghans, who were praised & supported when they fought against the Russians, are now branded as Extremists! Fundamentalists! Terrorists!, etc. because they are now fighting against the superpower (America & its allies) to defend their country; and their honour. Does this make any sense? No man in the right frame of mind would call them terrorists, or extremists. Yes! They are mujahids, only trying to defend their own country; and all their rights; and their honour. Is this wrong? One may ask: Is not suicide bombing & killing a merciless act? Many innocent people are killed! Before going into this, I would like to stress that, in Islam, suicide is condemned and categorically banned (haram); except only in one situation in war! A soldier goes to battlefield, knowing very well that he might be killed. That amounts to suicide; but Islam encourages this, as an act of valour & piety. The strategy of warfare has changed! In those days, the 2 opposing armies met at a battlefield far away from the populated area. There were only the soldiers, fighting each other. No women; no children; no aged persons; no civilians. The casualties were only the fighters. Now, everything has changed! The battle is no more fought in an isolated battlefield. It is now conducted at populated places cities; towns; etc. No direct confrontation between soldiers. Bombs are thrown from planes in the sky; rockets are launched from far away places. Not only the soldiers are killed. Civilians form the most casualties. 2 atomic bombs dropped by Americans at Hiroshima & Nagasaki in Japan killed about 140,000 civilians! In Iraq & Afghanistan, civilians are the most killed by indiscriminate bombings by American & NATO forces. The number of casualties runs into many thousands! When America does, everything is right! The defenders (Afghans now; Iraqis then) had no planes at all; no cannons, and no sophisticated weapons at their disposal, to answer the aggressors. What could they do? How then can they fight against the invaders? They use their own bodies as means of transport (substituting planes & rockets); or, load explosives in simple means of transport (cars, lorries, etc.); and detonate at the enemys post, which are always in the midst of civilians residences & offices. So, in these encounters, it would be unavoidable if few civilians are also killed. But, please take note: civilian casualties by these means are only a very minute fraction compared to the magnitude of civilians killed by the bombings by America & Israelis. Now, would anyone in his right senses say that suicide bombing is wrong?