Re: Islam Reading List
May 09, 2011
Jihad in Islamic History - Michael Bonner
Understanding Jihad - David Cook
Both books are introductory primers to the Muslim texts and teachings of Islam in regards to the Muslim concept of Jihad, or holy war. We learn from both these authors that Jihad is an early teaching dating to the time of the prophet Muhammad and confirmed in the pages of the Koran. Western Muslims have frequently spun the primary meaning of Jihad as an interior struggle. However, both authors show that Jihad's default meaning - in the Muslim world, today and throughout history - has been holy war. The holy war in Islam, as interpreted by Ismailis, all schools of Sunni jurisprudence and Kharijites, is to conquer non-Muslim lands and install an Islamic state where the people submit to the laws of Islam. Non-Muslims residing outside of Dar-al-harb (House of war) are given three choices; convert to Islam, retain their religion and live as second class citizens to foreign rulers, or take one's chances on the field of battle, where the ultimate stakes are death (execution) for all post-pubescent males and enslavement for the women and children. The holy warriors fighting non-Muslims throughout the world are the heirs of an unbroken chain of violent fanatics dating to the first Jihad in Islam under Muhammad.
Allah's Apostle said: "I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle, and offer the prayers perfectly and give the obligatory charity, so if they perform a that, then they save their lives and property from me except for Islamic laws and then their reckoning (accounts) will be done by Allah.
- Prophet Muhammad