The Baha'i Studies Listserv On Wed, Dec 29, 2010 at 8:31 PM, Iskandar Hai, M.D. <[email protected]> wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv
> Raiding a trading caravan is an offensive war. > Are you saying that caravans were raided in the time of Muhammad under his command? > What `Abdu'i-Baha is saying applies to Muhammad's defensive wars. But there > were offensive wars as well. http://www.lamppostproductions.com/files/articles/JIHAD_MOD_WLD.pdf A paper from Sherman Jackson makes the point that the early Muslim community was basically surrounded by hostile empires, so that if you understand the historical context "offensive" jihad was actually defensive. > You don't understand the issue of collective security and just war. Jihad is > religious warfare. A different animal. All the conquests of Islam until 732 > were offenses by nature. They were conducted to foist Islam by force and > compulsion on other peoples and nations. You think Egyptians and Syrians and > Persians came to Arabia begging to become Muslims? > I think you are confusing the issue. One issue is whether there is an Islamic state. (which is a question of security) A second issue is whether or not people have to convert. (is a matter of individual conscience). Also, I have no interest in defending the position that Islam was perfectly implemented by saintly Middle Easterners throughout Muslim history. The Muslims are human and subject to the same mistakes and vices as any other human being. I'm sure that a certain degree of the warfare which occured was more rooted in greed and avarice, but to the extent that it was, it certainly doesn't reflect Islam. __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-549213-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
