July 28, 2004

Seeds of Jihad (1)

By James Arlandson
A two—part series. Part (2) will appear tomorrow. The deepest source of Islamic terrorism lies in theology. Formed in response to events in the Prophet's lifetime, there are problematic aspects to Islamic theology and practice not found in two other great world religions, Christianity and Buddhism.  Unless we squarely face those aspects, we outsiders will be unprepared to encourage reform or, short of that, to win our survival. Muhammad had difficult relations with the Meccans, and this generated theological and moral ambiguities or 'seeds' that were planted in the Qur'an and early traditions. Sadly, but not surprisingly, these ambiguities are exploited by terrorists, such as Osama bin Laden and the Palestinian terrorists, who take them to extremes. Three paths taken by Muhammad have created interpretation and application problems for his later followers. (1) Muhammad followed the Arab custom of retaliation for a perceived wrong. The two earliest passages in the...(Read Full Article)