Islam's 'Purpose Driven' Jihad, Part 6 (Epilogue)

Continued from Part 5

VI. Epilogue

Although in this short article I have concentrated only on certain aspects of jihad, I think it is worth revisiting Rick Warren’s five purposes, briefly reworking them for Muslims. A full exposition of these would be a book-length project, but here are a few thoughts to consider.

 The Purpose Driven Muslim

1. We were planned for God's pleasure

so your first purpose is to offer real worship.

"Killing Jews is worship that draws us close to Allah" -- Hamas's Al Aqsa TV 

Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna hoped to change "the status of the Mosque, bringing it from a static place of worship to a center of Islamic revolution", while Youssef Qaradawi, unconditionally endorsed by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood operating in Canada, wrote: "It must be the role of the mosque to guide the public policy of a nation, raise awareness of critical issues, and reveal its enemies. From ancient times the mosque has had a role in urging jihad for the sake of Allah." 

2. We were formed for God's family (the Muslim umma)

so your second purpose is to enjoy real fellowship.

"Take not Jews and Christians as friends; they are friends of each other. Whoso of you makes them his friends is one of them" (Quran 5:51). 

"The unbelievers of the People of the Book (Christians and Jews)...are the worst of creatures" (Quran 98:6). 

“Let believers [Muslims] not take for friends and allies infidels [non-Muslims] instead of believers. Whoever does this shall have no relationship left with Allah — unless you but guard yourselves against them, taking precautions” (Quran 3:28).

3. We were created to become like Muhammad,

so your third purpose is to learn real discipleship.

“No religious leader has as much influence on his followers as does Muhammad (Peace be upon him) the last Prophet of Islam….And Muhammad as the final messenger of God enjoys preeminence when it comes to revelation – the Qur’an – and traditions. So much so that the words, deeds and silences (that which he saw and did not forbid) of Muhammad became an independent source of Islamic law. Muslims, as a part of religious observance, not only obey, but also seek to emulate and imitate their Prophet in every aspect of life. Thus Muhammad is the medium as well as a source of the divine law.” - Muqtedar Khan of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy

It is true that Muhammad started from the east and came to the west, as the sun travels from east to west. Nevertheless he came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the good God but instigated by the chief manslayer, the devil.~ St. Gregory Palamas

4. We were shaped for serving God

so your fourth purpose is to practice real ministry.

“Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth [i.e. Islam] among the people of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued” (Quran 9:29). 

“Kill the mushrikun [unbelievers] wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for them each and every ambush” (Quran 9:5). 

“I will cast terror into the hearts of those who have disbelieved, so strike them over the necks, and smite over all their fingers and toes” (Quran 8:12). 

“Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the enemies of Allah and your enemies” (Quran 8:60).

5. We were made for a mission

so your fifth purpose is to live out real evangelism.

Allah’s Messenger 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 the Messenger of Allah... so if they perform all that, then they save their lives and property from me.” (Sahih Bukhari, 1:2:25, also Sahih Muslim, 1:10:29-35.) 

The Islamist movement makes no secret of its intentions to convert the West. Its propaganda, published in booklets sold in all Euro- pean Islamic centers for the last thirty years, sets out its aim and the methods to achieve them. They include proselytism, conversion, marriage with local women, and, above all, immigration. Remembering that Muslims always began as a minority in the conquered countries (‘liberated,’ in Islamic terminology) before becoming a majority, the ideologists of this movement regard Islamic settlement in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere as a chance for Islam.- Bat Ye'or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam, p. 217 

“The earth belongs to Allah and his Apostle.” (Sahih Muslim, Book of Jihad, 3:17:4363; also Bukhari, Book of al-Jizya, 4:58:3167)

...

If you’re like me, after wading through such a distorted theological worldview, with its purpose the defeat and overthrow of the Christian Church, followed by global domination over all people, races and creeds, the big question is similar to Rick Warren’s question on the cover of his book: 

“So, what on earth do I do now?”

This is where Christianity, and especially Orthodox Christianity, I believe, has some big answers. God willing, in subsequent posts, I’ll try to explore some of these.

Islam's 'Purpose Driven' Jihad, Part 5

Continued from Part 4

V. Summary: the Purpose Driven Jihad

The grim continuity of Islam’s Purpose Driven Jihad against Christianity has shown itself:

• in the Arab Jihad Wave of the seventh and eighth centuries, with the subsequent subjugation and martyrdom of Christians and the destruction and desecration of churches, shrines and holy sites,
• in the Ottoman Jihad Wave beginning in the eleventh century, 
• in the steady parade of Neo-Martyrs under the Ottoman yoke (dating from the fifteenth through to the end of the nineteenth centuries), 
• in the Armenian/Orthodox genocide of the early 20th century, 
• in the destruction of Smyrna in 1922, 
• in the anti-Christian pogrom in Istanbul in 1955, 
• in the burgeoning catastrophe facing the Copts in Egypt, the Orthodox and Catholics in Syria and Lebanon, and Christians throughout the Islamic world.  
• through the consistent teachings of the Ulema, the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence, and through acknowledged Islamic authorities such as Al Azhar University in Cairo, and such texts as The Reliance of the Traveller, which all command jihad as warfare against unbelievers in order to spread Islam.

An extremist theology possessed of a relentless thread of belligerent teachings against the Christian Church, coupled with its self-perceived divine, unalterable directive to submit the whole world to its rule, has grave consequences. How to counter such a theology and teaching is one of the most profound and urgent crises facing the Orthodox Christian Church, and indeed all free people, in the 21st century.

To be concluded...

Islam's 'Purpose Driven' Jihad, Part 4

Continued from Parts 2 & 3

IV. Theological Jihad

Our brief historical sketch gives us a framework in which to consider what I call Islam’s theological jihad against the Christian Church. 

The first observation we should make is that Church writers of the seventh and eighth centuries, including St John Damascene (†749), may have had an incomplete understanding of Islamic doctrine as we know it today. This may be attributed to their living in the very formative period of early Islam.  St. John was writing his critique of Islam before all the primary Muslim sources had yet been fully compiled. Still, St. John’s identification of Islam precisely as a heresy is a reliable guide, for it points to the direct challenges Islam makes against Orthodox Christian dogma. 

The Quran speaks directly against the Holy Trinity (4:173), denies that Jesus is the Son of God (5:19, 5:75,  9:30), teaches that Jesus was a created being like Adam (3:59, 5:78), and claims the crucifixion never happened (4:157), but that “they only thought they crucified him.” Although Islam claims to venerate Jesus as a prophet named ‘Isa’, this Isa is unrecognizable to a Christian who knows the Jesus of the Scriptures and of Church Tradition. The Isa of Islam is a “different Jesus” warned against by the Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 11:3-4).

Islam’s aversion to images is thought to have been one of the influences behind the iconoclast movement, thus generating extreme internal strife within the life of the Church in the eighth century under Leo III Isaurian. Whether or not this is so, it is certainly the case that wherever Islam had conquered a Christian land, the iconography was covered over or destroyed, and of course the crosses are broken off the churches. Indeed, this “breaking of the crosses” is a cornerstone of Islamic eschatology. In its end-times texts and traditions, Islam condemns Christianity by name, teaching that Isa is expected to return, but as a good Muslim, who will “break the cross, kill the swine” and establish the rule of Allah throughout the world (Hadith from Sunan Abu Dawud, Book of Battles, 37:4310).

Essentially, Islam teaches that Isa will destroy Christianity when he returns. 

Thus by its own texts, Islam reveals one of its purposes to be the destruction of Christianity, or more precisely, of the Church, for it is the communion of the faithful, the worshipping body of Christian believers, who are the target of Islam’s teachings and jihad. 

In a similar way, Islam teaches that Muhammad — not the Holy Spirit — is the one to come, prophesied by Jesus himself in John’s Gospel. The Islamic claim is that the Greek in Jn 14:16, 26 and Jn 16:7 should read Periklytos (“glorious,” or “praiseworthy,” in Arabic, “Ahmad,” a variant of “Muhammad”), not Parakletos (“Helper” or “Comforter”). Of course there is no manuscript evidence for such a claim; the teaching of the Church from the day of Pentecost forward, including references to the Holy Spirit in the Synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, and the context of Jesus’ promise makes it clear such a claim is wholly invalid. Furthermore, manuscript evidence dating back to the second century consistently shows that the relevant passages in John read “Parakletos.” Yet the Muslim theological claim concerning alleged prophecies of Muhammad in the New Testament reveals another purpose of Islam, namely the supplanting of traditional Christian theology with Muhammad and his new teaching.

Over time, the Christian response to Islam became more thorough and sophisticated than the earlier polemics. St. Gregory Palamas is perhaps our finest example of Byzantine theological challenge to Islamic theology. His dialogues with his Muslim captors (ca. 1354) show him defending the mystical dogma of the Holy Trinity against the extreme monotheism of Islam, speaking of God, His Logos, and His Spirit. Using touchstones even from the Quran, combined with the Old and New Testaments, Gregory tried to lead his listeners to understanding of the True God, who cannot be without Wisdom (Logos) or Spirit. [1]

Interestingly, Gregory's lofty theological dialogues did not prevent him — even though he was being held captive by the Muslims and was thus in a most vulnerable position — from bluntly equating Islam’s spread by violence, the sword and bloodshed to proof of its falsity and the corrupt character of Muhammad: [2]

It is true that Muhammad started from the east and came to the west, as the sun travels from east to west. Nevertheless he came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the good God but instigated by the chief manslayer, the devil.

What these few examples show us is that Islam’s purpose has been, from its very inception, to usurp and overthrow Christianity, in the temporal realm through war and conquest where possible, but also in the spiritual realm through proselytism and subversive and specious theological claims. 

In drawing attention to this theological assault dating from Muhammad himself, we must take exception with the reassurance of Fr. Alexander Schmemann in The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy, where he states that the Turkish yoke “was not a persecution of Christianity.” [3]  In the very next section, “Christians Under Turkish Rule,” Fr. Schmemann contradicts this assertion, describing the humiliating conditions in which the Church found herself. [4]

When we consider the strict limitations on exercise of the faith, and every facet of life as a Christian, we see that the Turkish domination was no less humiliating than the Arab yoke of eight centuries earlier in Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Spain. Bishop Kallistos Ware makes the same sort of puzzling, contradictory statements in The Orthodox Church, on the one hand stating that adapting to Turkish rule “was not an easy transition: but it was made less hard by the Turks themselves, who treated their Christian subjects with remarkable generosity,” [5] while lamenting just pages later of the Christians’ place of “guaranteed inferiority,” proceeding to enumerate the very principles of the humiliating dhimma contract dating back to Muhammad and Umar. [6]

    

Moving beyond the historical manifestations of Islamic treatment of Christians, we can cite mainstream Islamic teachings, which demonstrate that the schools of Islamic jurisprudence, institutes of Islamic learning such as Al Azhar University in Cairo, and classic manuals of Islamic practice, have codified Islam’s purpose driven jihad. 

For example, Islam’s opening prayer — offered seventeen times a day, thousands of times a year, by devout Muslims — specifically condemns Christians and Jews as under Allah’s wrath:

...Guide us in the straight path,the path of those whom Thou hast blessed,not of those against whom Thou art wrathfulnor of those who are astray.

Offered as a prayer to “the Master of the Day of Doom,” this first sura of the Koran, called al-Fatihah, ‘The Opening’, refers specifically in these its final two verses to the Christians and the Jews. In traditional Islamic teaching, Islam alone is “the straight path,” whereas:

“The two paths He described here are both misguided,” and that those “two paths are the paths of the Christians and Jews, a fact that the believer should beware of so that he avoids them. The path of the believers is knowledge of the truth and abiding by it. In comparison, the Jews abandoned practicing the religion, while the Christians lost the true knowledge. This is why ‘anger’ descended upon the Jews, while being described as ‘led astray’ is more appropriate of the Christians.” [7]

The doctrine of jihad commanded of Muslims is presented in this key passage from Reliance of the Traveller: [8]

Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada signifying warfare to establish the religion. 

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

“Fighting is prescribed for you” (Koran 2:216); 

“Slay them wherever you find them” (Koran 4:89); 

“Fight the idolators utterly” (Koran 9:36); 

and such hadiths as the one related by Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet 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.” 

Jihad is a communal obligation. (o9.1) 

The caliph makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians... until they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax. (o9.8) 

The caliph fights all other peoples until they become Muslim. (o9.9)

The call for Muslims to wage jihad is universal, though not all Muslims wage offensive jihad. Yet if they cannot do so, they are still enjoined to support jihad through other means, such as financial, material, or in their heart and through their prayers (the lesser jihad).

With the commandment to wage jihad, coupled with hatred and condemnation of Christians and Jews, being so deeply woven into Islam’s most sacred texts as to be essential components of the Muslim “spiritual DNA” if you will, one can see that the more pious and observant a Muslim becomes, and the more aware s/he is of what the commentators teach, the more likely s/he is to begin to embody the anti-Christian mindset and actions prescribed by Islam. This explains the historical survey offered above, and is in fact exactly what we are seeing all around the globe, as the jihadi spirit sweeps through the umma, the muslim community, awakening more and more to what their religion actually commands them to do.

To be continued . . .

[1] The Lives of the Pillars of Orthodoxy (Buena Vista Co: Holy Apostles Convent, 1990), 333-335.

[2] Patriarch Philotheos Kokkinos, The Life of Gregory Palamas, p. 371.

[3] Fr. Alexander Schmemann, The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy (SVS Press, 1963), online edition, Chapter 5, The Dark Ages: Turkish Conquest, 268.

[4] Ibid, 270ff.

[5] Bishop Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Church (New York: Penguin, 1997), Kindle Edition, 87.

[6] Ibid, 88.

[7] Classic Koranic commentator Ibn Kathir, Commentary on Koran 1:7, Vol 1, p 87.

[8] Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveller, A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law. This Islamic manual, the English version of which is certified by Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt as conforming “to the practice and faith of the orthodox Sunni Community,” o9.0, o9.1, o9.8, o9.9

Islam's 'Purpose Driven' Jihad, Parts 2 & 3

Continued from Part 1

II. The First Jihad: Islam’s Purpose Expands

Key to our consideration is how even in this early period, the Islamic treatment of Christians was already well established. By 640 A.D. the caliph Umar was already applying to the conquered areas the dhimma contract used by Muhammad when he subdued the Jews of the Khaybar oasis. Under the terms of the dhimma, Christians and Jews who do not convert to Islam but submit to Muslim rule, retain possession of their land, but actual ownership of the land passed to the Muslims, to whom the subdued peoples paid a heavy tribute (the jizya). Refusal to submit to Muslim rule and pay the jizya was grounds for resumption of hostilities (jihad). Contemporary historical accounts by both Christian and (significantly) Muslim writers describe the devastation of whole towns, desecration of churches, slaughter of civilians, and taking of slaves and booty. [1]

The initial Muslim takeover of Jerusalem in 637-638 was a catastrophe to the Christians. The Life of St Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, offers this synopsis:

Toward the end of his life, St Sophronius and his flock lived through a two year siege of Jerusalem by the Moslems. Worn down by hunger, the Christians finally agreed to open the city gates, on the condition that the enemy spare the holy places. But this condition was not fulfilled, and St Sophronius died in grief over the desecration of the Christian holy places.

Sophronius’ own writings reveal just how brutal was the early Islamic jihad: [2]

We, however, because of our innumerable sins and serious misdemeanours, are unable to see these things, and are prevented from entering Bethlehem by way of the road. Unwillingly, indeed, contrary to our wishes, we are required to stay at home, not bound closely by bodily bonds, but bound by fear of the Saracens. (Christmas Sermon, 634 A.D.) 

At once that of the Philistines, so now the army of the godless Saracens has captured the divine Bethlehem and bars our passage there, threatening slaughter and destruction if we leave this holy city and dare to approach our beloved and sacred Bethlehem. (Christmas Sermon 634 A.D.) 

[This dates to the 6th of December in 636 or 637.]: 

But the present circumstances are forcing me to think differently about our way of life, for why are [so many] wars being fought among us? Why do barbarian raids abound? Why are the troops of the Saracens [Muslims] attacking us? Why has there been so much destruction and plunder? Why are there incessant outpourings of human blood? Why are the birds of the sky devouring human bodies? Why have churches been pulled down? Why is the cross mocked? Why is Christ, who is the dispenser of all good things and the provider of this joyousness of ours, blasphemed by pagan mouths (ethnikois tois stomasi) so that he justly cries out to us: "Because of you my name is blasphemed among the pagans," and this is the worst of all the terrible things that are happening to us. That is why the vengeful and God-hating Saracens, the abomination of desolation clearly foretold to us by the prophets, overrun the places which are not allowed to them, plunder cities, devastate fields, burn down villages, set on fire the holy churches, overturn the sacred monasteries, oppose the Byzantine armies arrayed against them, and in fighting raise up the trophies [of war] and add victory to victory. Moreover, they are raised up more and more against us and increase their blasphemy of Christ and the church, and utter wicked blasphemies against God. Those God-fighters boast of prevailing over all, assiduously and unrestrainably imitating their leader, who is the devil, and emulating his vanity because of which he has been expelled from heaven and been assigned to the gloomy shades. Yet these vile ones would not have accomplished this nor seized such a degree of power as to do and utter lawlessly all these things, unless we had first insulted the gift [of baptism] and first defiled the purification, and in this way grieved Christ, the giver of gifts, and prompted him to be angry with us, good though he is and though he takes no pleasure in evil, being the fount of kindness and not wishing to behold the ruin and destruction of men. We are ourselves, in truth, responsible for all these things and no word will be found for our defence. What word or place will be given us for our defence when we have taken all these gifts from him, befouled them and defiled everything with our vile actions? (Holy Baptism, 166-167) 

[In a work originally composed by John Moschus (d. 619), but expanded by Sophronius (d. ca. 639), actually found only in an addition of the Georgian translation, the following entry appears, concerning a construction dated by tradition at 638, i.e., soon after the capture of Jerusalem ca. 637. It appears in a portion concerning Sophronius as recounted on the authority of his contemporary, the archdeacon Theodore, and may have been written down ca. 670.]: 

The godless Saracens entered the holy city of Christ our Lord, Jerusalem, with the permission of God and in punishment for our negligence, which is considerable, and immediately proceeded in haste to the place which is called the Capitol. They took with them men, some by force, others by their own will, in order to clean that place and to build that cursed thing, intended for their prayer and which they call a mosque (midzgitha). (Pratum spirituale, 100-102)

The pattern of violent jihad continued as the Muslim invaders extended their dominion over north Africa, eventually crossing to the Iberian peninsula (modern day Spain), and heading north into Gaul (modern day France), being stopped just south of Paris in 732 A.D. at the Battle of Poitiers. Cilicia, Armenia, the island of Cyprus, and Cappodocia (southern Turkey) were conquered by 650 A.D., and Constantinople itself was attacked and under siege from 674 to 678 A.D., the Byzantines finally winning by land and sea to turn back the Arab Muslims under caliph Muawiyah I. A second siege of Constantinople in 717-718 was also decisively defeated, securing the Byzantine Empire for a time, and taken together with the Frank’s victory over the Muslims at the Battle of Tours (732 A.D.) stopped Islam’s two-front push into Europe.   By 750 A.D. the Arab wave of jihad had passed its apogee.

Islam’s early assault against the Christian world, and especially its two sieges of Constantinople, the eastern capitol of Christendom, are a direct result of the Islamic purpose.

III.  Byzantine Resurgence, the Crusades, and the Ottoman Jihad

Though the Arab Jihad had effectively ceased by 750 A.D., Muslim raids into Christian lands did not. Nor did persecution of Christians in Muslim occupied lands, especially in the Holy Land. In the Christian mind, both Eastern and Western, the Muslim occupation was just that. The Byzantine Emperors Nicephorus II and John I reconquered significant areas of Palestine and Syria in the tenth century, including Aleppo and Antioch, as well as retaking Crete and Cyprus, and even drew near Jerusalem, but these victories were short lived.  

In 1009 A.D. the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and other Christian holy sites were destroyed by the Muslims, ushering in a wave of persecution, and the Seljuk Turks began their forays into Byzantine territory (Armenia) in 1065 and 1067 A.D.  The surprise defeat of the Byzantines at Manzikert in 1071 left Anatolia open to Turkish incursions; within ten years the Turks had taken the entire Anatolian plain, setting up their capitol, Nicaea, less than sixty miles from Constantinople. The Crusades delayed the Turkish jihad against Constantinople for nearly three hundred years (although the tragic Fourth Crusade sack of Constantinople in 1204 further weakened the Byzantine structures), until the fourteenth century. Finally, the Ottomans under Mehmet II captured Constantinople in May 1453, bringing the Byzantine Empire to an end, and ushering in a new era for the Church, in captivity and subjugation to an alien, anti-Christian power and religion.

To be continued . . .

[1] Bat Ye’or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam (Madison: Faireigh Dickinson University Press, 1996), 44, 46-47. 

[2] External References to Islam, Peter Kirby, http://web.archive.org/web/20060429163403/http://www.christianorigins.com/islamrefs.html#sophronius; accessed May 20, 2013.

Islam's 'Purpose Driven' Jihad, Intro & Part 1

by Ralph H. Sidway

Introduction

The concept behind Pastor Rick Warren’s bestselling book, The Purpose Driven Life (now celebrating its tenth anniversary), is appealing in its simplicity, as it tackles one of the most foundational questions we all wrestle with: “What on earth am I here for?”  This is a very profound question, and we can certainly accept the premise that, whether we know it or acknowledge it, or not, we all live according to how we would answer that question. From the website for the book:

The most basic question everyone faces in life is Why am I here? What is my purpose? Self-help books suggest that people should look within, at their own desires and dreams, but Rick Warren says the starting place must be with God and his eternal purposes for each life. Real meaning and significance comes from understanding and fulfilling God's purposes for putting us on earth.

The website goes on to define five distinct purposes:

We were planned for God's pleasure, so your first purpose is to offer real worship.

We were formed for God's family, so your second purpose is to enjoy real fellowship.

We were created to become like Christ, so your third purpose is to learn real discipleship.

We were shaped for serving God, so your fourth purpose is to practice real ministry. 

We were made for a mission, so your fifth purpose is to live out real evangelism.

Christians of different confessions will vary in their theological understanding of what this means, and our practical applications as we probe these questions will vary as well, but the basic point is clear. For instance, as an Orthodox Christian, I would suggest that the first purpose is far more profound than Warren’s distillation might at first glance indicate. Because humans are created in the image and likeness of God Who is Love, and that Love is shown to us precisely through the voluntary Incarnation, Suffering, Crucifixion, Death, Resurrection and Glorification of the co-eternal Son and Word of God Jesus Christ, and in light of the very clear example and teachings He gave us, therefore we are called to become like Him. “Real Worship” for us would be to become (in the “fancy theological language” Fr Thomas Hopko attributes to Fr Alexander Schmemann) “doxological, eucharistic beings.” That is, with every breath and at every moment of our lives, we are called to be offering true worship (from the Greek, doxa) with thanksgiving (evcharistia) to the true God. Because God shows His love for us on the Cross, that is where we find our calling, and show our love, too. 

I’ll resist (for now) the temptation to further develop an Orthodox Christian articulation of the Purpose Driven Life, as my concern here is to examine how these principles may be applied to Islam, as I think the question of “purpose” itself is a most revealing one. If we can define a person’s or group’s most deep-seated purpose, we may see from where all their motivations and actions spring. Conversely, once we look at actions in the context of ultimate purpose, much that is murky becomes clear.

1. The Purpose of Islam

One of the most telling aspects of Islam concerns its calendar, which begins from a pivotal event in the life of its founder, Muhammad. Born circa 570 A.D., Muhammad, according to classical Muslim sources, began having revelations at about the age of forty, in a cave near Mecca, where he used to retreat in prayer to Allah. These powerful experiences, during which he was told by a spirit being (later to be identified as the angel Gabriel) to “Read and Recite” were frightening, yet compelling: “He pressed upon me so tightly I thought it was death!” [1]

Yet neither Muhammad’s birth nor the beginning of his self-proclaimed prophethood mark the start date of the Islamic calendar. It is not merely the message, nor the messenger, which defines Islam’s purpose.

Muhammad’s initial message of Allah as the only true God, and submission (“islam”) to him the only true way, did not attract many followers in Mecca, and he fled north to Medina (Yathrib) in 622 A.D. to escape persecution. This migration is called the Hijra, and it is the pivotal event in Islamic history, and in its self-understanding.

Following the Hijra, Muhammad won a series of battles against various Jewish and Arab tribes, consolidating his power and expanding his forces until returning to take Mecca in 632 A.D. These victories were taken by Muslims as divine validation of the truth of Islam and of its very purpose; Muhammad’s life became The Example for all Muslims, and the story of his victory over southern Arabia as the prototype for Islam’s goal of eventual victory over the whole world.

This new purpose may be seen in the Quran itself, as during the ten year Medinan period, Muhammad’s revelations took on a distinctly warlike, supremacist tone, with strident anti-Christian and anti-Jewish messages, and commands to wage jihad against the unbelievers until the whole world had submitted to Allah’s rule, as can be seen from these Medinan verses:

9:5. Then when the Sacred Months have passed, then kill the Mushrikun [unbelievers] 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 [the Islamic ritual prayers], and give Zakat [alms], then leave their way free. Verily, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. 

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

9:29. Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth [Islam] among the people of the Scripture [Jews and Christians], until they pay the Jizya [the poll tax for non-Muslims] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

Islamic tradition combines the revelations of the Quran (literally, the “recitations”), together with the Hadiths (traditions about Muhammad) and the Sira (the Life of Muhammad, the most significant written by Ibn Ishaq in the mid-eight century). The Quran cannot be understood properly without the Hadiths and Sira, which form the Sunnah (or ‘Way’) of the Prophet for Muslims. The two most revered collections of Hadiths (Bukhari and Muslim) recount Muhammad as saying:

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. (Sahih Bukhari 8:387, Sahih Muslim 1:33)

Thus the full weight of Islamic tradition set up an ultimate purpose for Muslims to fight, to wage jihad to spread Islam. Also according to Muhammad’s example, the Muslims were permitted to take spoils of war (“booty”) from their victories, thus adding a temporal incentive to the call to jihad. Though very little of Islamic tradition was codified in the first decades after Muhammad’s death in 632 A.D., the purpose to wage jihad and conquer in the name of Islam were clearly embraced by his followers, as the Muslim armies swept forth from southern Arabia, in less than a century conquering a vast area stretching from the Iberian peninsula in the west, to central Asia in the east. Raymond Ibrahim has concisely written about the historical reality of these early Muslim conquests elsewhere.

Thus it is Muhammad’s flight to Medina (the Hijra) and the events surrounding it which herald the transformation of Islam from a marginal religious movement into a religious-political-military community (the ‘Umma’), which soon established itself as the dominant force in the Arabian Peninsula and the world of its time. And it is from this date of the Hijra that the Muslim Calendar begins. 

The calendar emphasis, which rests not on Muhammad’s birth, nor on the beginning of his so-called revelations, but on Islam’s reinvention with force, victory, wealth and dominion defines Islam’s self-awareness and its purpose. Writ large, Islam sees its purpose as bringing the whole world under submission to Allah and Islam through the practice of jihad.

To be continued . . .

[1] Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, trans. by A. Guillaume (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), 106.