Islam and Terrorism (12 page)
If you had visited Lebanon before their civil war, you would have seen the Hawaii of the Middle East. The capital, Beirut, was called the Paris of the Middle East. Lebanon was the most beautiful natural setting around.
The Muslim minority lived in harmony with the Christian majority. That was because the Muslims were a weak minority with no power. There were no talks about jihad, or holy war, those days in Lebanon.
Stage 2: Muslims get outside help to prepare for attack.
Slowly but surely in the 1970s the Islamic minority started the preparation stage by getting support from Libya on one side and Iran on the other. Not too long after that the Lebanese civil war began.
Stage 3: Muslims wage war against unbelievers.
The world watched as the beautiful country of Lebanon was divided into many pieces. Muslims denied any loyalty to their Christian brothers and sisters. They started militant groups that were after one goal—overturning the government and establishing an Islamic country.
One Islamic group was called Amal and was led by Nabih Bary; there was another Shiite group called Hizbollah, which was led by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.
Twenty years of war followed, but Muslims did not succeed in their mission.
Compromise (back to Stage 1)
Right now Lebanon has a secular government, but it has postponed presidential elections for two years now. The term of its Christian president, Michel Suleiman, ended in May 2014 and since then its Muslim prime minister, Tammam Salam, has been the acting president. There had been peace because Lebanon established a government that included all the warring parties. They even made the founder of Amal the president of the parliament and allowed Hizbollah to exist in South Lebanon because, they said, “We must have them there to defend against Israel.” But now the world is watching to see whether the government upholds democracy or continues to move toward oligarchy, where a handful of men make decisions for the nation
J
USTIFYING
D
ECEIT
The three stages of jihad show how circumstances are used to determine correct behavior. Another example of this in the Islamic mind-set is the use of deceit. Islam justifies lying under certain circumstances. In the next chapter you will learn what those circumstances are and how they apply to jihad.
WHEN LIES ARE JUSTIFIED
Deceit as a Part of War and to Avoid Trouble
M
USLIMS BELIEVE THAT
war means deception, so lying is an important element of war in Islam. In this chapter we will look at the particular circumstances in which Muslims are permitted to lie.
L
YING TO
N
ON
-M
USLIMS
W
HILE
L
IVING IN A
N
ON
-M
USLIM
C
OUNTRY
Philosopher Ibn Taymiyah (1263–1328) wrote a book titled
The Sword on the Neck of the Accuser of Muhammad
. In it he described how Muslims should live in the weakened stage.
Believers when in a weakened stage in a non-Muslim country should forgive and be patient with people of the book [i.e., Jews and Christians] when they insult Allah and his prophet by any means. Believers should lie to people of the book to protect their lives and religion.
1
In other words, it’s OK to lie to non-Muslims to protect yourself when you are a minority in their country.
There’s a simple Islamic proverb that says, “If you can’t cut your enemies’ hand, kiss it.”
2
This is clear in the prophet Muhammad’s life and his teaching in Mecca and after. The peaceful lamb of Mecca, after immigrating to
Medina, became a roaring lion that threatened the whole Arabian Desert.
I never experienced living in the weakened state because Muslims are a strong majority in Egypt where I grew up. We Muslims practiced our beliefs in any way we liked. The Christians were the weakened minority. I never had a reason to lie to Christians, but I witnessed every day how these Christians lived under strong persecution as a minority in an Islamic country.
On the other hand, those practicing Islam in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and South Africa are in the weakened stage. These Muslims are very good at presenting themselves as loving, caring, and forgiving people and claim to support democracy. They compromise any conflict between the image they want to present and what they truly believe.
They get along with Christians and Jews as if they were brothers. They present Islam to these countries as the answer to all humanity’s problems. These Westernized Muslims present their religion as if it stands for mercy, freedom, fairness, and reconciliation. They portray Islam as a religion that does not show prejudice to any race or culture.
L
YING
A
BOUT
P
EACE
A
GREEMENTS
Muslim groups will use peace talks or peace agreements to buy time so they can make new plans, prepare, and position themselves for victory. Muslim military leaders will tell the other side whatever it wants to hear in order to buy time, but when it comes time to deliver what is agreed on, you will see a different story.
Our modern history has witnessed many of these peace agreements that resulted in nothing happening. An
example that comes to my mind is all of the agreements that took place between the Muslim groups in South Lebanon, the Hizbollah and Amal organizations. Another great example is the nine years of peace talks between Iraq and Iran, which resulted only in a vicious war.
I clearly remember what happened in Egypt during the fight between the government and the Islamic Group (
al-Gama’a al Islamiyya
). The leaders of the Islamic Group announced that they had suspended hostilities and were willing to meet at the negotiating table. That was nothing but buying time to regroup and go after the government even more than before. The Islamic Group used lies and tricks based on their understanding of the Quran and the prophet Muhammad’s life teaching and history.
Many people may disagree with how I am portraying Islam; however, these facts are very clear in Islamic law. Let’s see how Muhammad used lying, since his actions are part of the basis of Islamic law.
D
ENYING
I
SLAMIC
F
AITH
The first time the prophet Muhammad permitted denying Islam or him as a prophet was with Amar Ben Yasser.
3
Yasser, who was one of Muhammad’s friends, was captured and held hostage by the tribe of Quraysh. The tribe tortured Yasser, so he denied Muhammad and Islam to gain freedom.
As soon as they set him free, he went back to Muhammad and confessed what had happened. Prophet Muhammad told Yasser that if that ever happened to him again he should do exactly what he did with no shame.
At a different time the prophet Muhammad heard that one of his enemies (Sha’ban Bin Khalid Al-Hindi) was
preparing his troops to fight the Muslims. Muhammad sent Abdullah bin Anis Aljohani to assassinate this enemy. Aljohani asked the prophet Muhammad to describe the man he was supposed to kill. Muhammad told him to go and join the enemies’ troops, curse Islam and Muhammad, and that he would find Al-Hindi that way.
Prophet Muhammad’s messenger went to the enemies’ camp. When he identified the leader, he struck up a conversation and cursed Muhammad and his people. To make a long story short, Aljohani was able to build a close enough relationship with his victim to cut off his head when he was sleeping. He brought the head to the prophet.
We see here that the prophet Muhammad’s messenger used lying—denying the faith and cursing prophet Muhammad—in order to accomplish his mission.
4
M
USLIMS
D
ECEIVING
O
THER
M
USLIMS
When it comes to war, Muslims will even lie to other Muslims if necessary. This explains an incident between President Saddam Hussein of Iraq and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. Mubarak visited Hussein in Baghdad on the day before Iraq invaded Kuwait. Hussein promised Mubarak that he would not invade Kuwait, yet no sooner had Mubarak arrived home in Cairo than he heard that the invasion took place.
Hussein lied to his fellow Muslim, and he didn’t even keep his word for twenty-four hours. That made the Egyptian president truly angry.
5
G
ENERAL
B
ELIEF
A
BOUT
L
YING
As you can see, Islam justifies and practices lying under war circumstances. The general attitude about lying can be
illustrated by a story about one of Muhammad’s favorite wives, Aiysha.
Lying is good if it is going to keep evil away.
Abi Hamid Al Gahazali (the founder of Sufism) states:
Know this that lying is not sin by itself, but if it brings harm to you it could be ugly. However, you can lie if that will keep you from evil or if it will result in prosperity.
6
We know from Islamic history and the prophet Muhammad’s autobiography that major jealousy took place between two of Muhammad’s wives, Aiysha and Zeneb. Zeneb’s sister started a rumor that Aiysha had an affair with another man.
7
Her motive was to help out her sister because the punishment for adultery in Islam is stoning.
8
Aiysha denied having the affair, even though people close to the situation, including Muhammad’s best friend, were sure she had done it. Lying was acceptable because it would keep the evil of stoning away.
S
UMMARY
As you can see, lying and deceit are a part of the Islamic mind-set. This fact can be difficult for the Western mind to accept. Another difficult concept for the Western mind is the fact that a mosque is not just for religious activity. Mosques are used to support jihad, which was even made evident during the US bombing of Afghanistan.
MUHAMMAD’S USE OF MOSQUES
House of Worship/House of War
D
URING THE
US bombing campaign in Afghanistan, the US military bombed a mosque on October 23, 2001. The Lebanese News Center complained, “People who were praying inside were killed and injured.”
1
On the other hand, the
Washington Post
said that, according to recent refugees, the Taliban had begun moving military equipment and personnel to mosques, schools, and other civilian sites to avoid attack.
2
This incident illustrates two things: the use of deceit during war and the use of a mosque for war efforts.
A M
OSQUE
I
SN
’
T A
C
HURCH
Most of the Muslims who are interviewed by Western media present Islam as a religion only. They emphasize the heart as the center of the Islamic teaching and the mosque as the worship place of the Muslims, just like a church or a synagogue.
However, the mosque during the prophet Muhammad’s time was not just the place of worship. It was also a place to store weapons and make military plans. When Muhammad was in Medina, he used the mosque as headquarters for all his wars. Even after his death his successors used the mosques for the same purposes.
A mosque in Islam is the center for worship, justice, war
strategy, and government. This is because Islam is both a religion and government. Islam is a pen and a sword.
Prophet Muhammad made it clear to Muslims that the mosque isn’t like a synagogue or a church. At his mosque in Medina (the second holiest site in Islam today), he planned his war strategy, held court, and received visiting tribal leaders. It was like the Pentagon, the White House, and the Supreme Court all in one place. The Islamic world was ruled from the mosque.