Muslims and Islam

[1] Across the U.S. we struggle to talk with neighbors, family, and strangers about the things that matter most. Our modes of social engagement have narrowed, for many of us; disengagement or debate feel like the only options remaining. Amid increasingly contentious public discourse our personal relationships also bear the strain. For those of us […]

In his study on faith and culture, German-American theologian, Paul Tillich, claimed that religion is the substance of culture and that culture is the concrete form in which the religious dimension of the human spirit is expressed. But what happens when different religions and cultures coexist in the same society, in close proximity to each other? That is the case in many places across the world today. At an intellectual level, the challenge for people who take their faith seriously is how to balance the absolute claims of their faith tradition (they are after all claims about God or ultimacy, with universal scope) with the also absolute claims of the neighbors’ faith. The peaceful coexistence of our communities depends on the success of that balancing act.

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part VIII: Quietism rather than Pacifism in Islam [64] The readiness to give up one’s life for a goal beyond oneself presupposes a free human agent who could engage in risk- benefit analysis and decide to risk his life for a just cause. There is considerable agreement among Muslims […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part IX: Quietist Authoritarianism and Activist Radicalism [83] Historical development of Islam as a power-faith tradition with its ideology firmly based on creating the ethical order that embodied divine will on earth provided a detailed and thoroughly developed vision of peace with justice. The basis for such a commitment […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part VII: Martyrdom, the Peak of Activism in Islam [60] I have traversed a long way to demonstrate that Islam is not monolithic in its response to the central question about the relationship between Islamic ideals for an ethical world order and the obstacles that were encountered by those […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part VI: Pacifist Activism in Islamic Legal System [56] In the legal heritage of Islam, as discussed above, it emerges that majority of the Muslim community maintains pacifist activism, ‘striving’ (literal sense of jih_d) for peace by upholding the religious-moral law of Islam that promises lasting peace by redressing […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part V: The Law of Rebellion [43] Undoubtedly, Islam provides a complex relationship between the principles undergirding private acts of self-defense with principles supporting public legal systems to promulgate order. It is important to bear in mind that even when concerns such as proportionality and self-preservation are present in […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part IV: The Need for Legitimate Authority to Sanction Violence in the Nam​e of God [36] The Prophet’s injunction to avoid strife and wrongdoing has served as an important principle in the adoption of political quietism or pacifist activism in some sectors of the Muslim community. In general, the […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part III: Jih_d as a Defensive Strategy or a Means of “Calling”? [26] The Prophet through the revelation, then, was not only representing divine goals on earth; he was also engaged in interpreting them to make them relevant in the given cultural context. Any armed struggle like jih_d which, […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part II: The Interplay between Religion and Power in Islam [15] Long before the Muslim jurists undertook to provide religious rationale for the historical practice of jih_d by developing political-legal terminology like d_r al-isl_m (the sphere of “submission” [to God]) and d_r al-harb (the sphere of war), the Qur’an […]