Imam Rauf: Exemplar of Arrogant Deception

At Atlas Shrugs, Pamela Geller quotes from a New York Times article: The Gift of Reconciliation. which  is off to a great start with its headline.  Exactly how can anyone establish cordial relations between predator and prey?  The lion will eat the lamb, not cuddle up  to it.

    Geller cites several relevant ayat & ahadith before bringing up other quotes which display the true nature of the Imam.  I will leave that to her. Lets get right to the money quote.

‘‘There is a perception that Jews and Muslims and Christians must be each other’s existential enemies,’’‘

‘To defeat that is an act of reconciliation.’’

    What is the basis for that perception? Is it accurate or erroneous? Perhaps Allah's word will have some clues for us. [Emphasis added, links to Noble Qur'an trans. Hilali & Khan for context. For alternative translations, search at http://www.quranbrowser.com/ ]

5:14. And from those who call themselves Christians, We took their covenant, but they have abandoned a good part of the Message that was sent to them. So We planted amongst them enmity and hatred till the Day of Resurrection (when they discarded Allâh's Book, disobeyed Allâh's Messengers and His Orders and transgressed beyond bounds in Allâh's disobedience), and Allâh will inform them of what they used to do.

 

5:82. Verily, you will find the strongest among men in enmity to the believers (Muslims) the Jews and those who are Al-Mushrikûn (see V.2:105), and you will find the nearest in love to the believers (Muslims) those who say: "We are Christians." That is because amongst them are priests and monks, and they are not proud.

 

60:4. Indeed there has been an excellent example for you in Ibrâhim (Abraham) and those with him, when they said to their people: "Verily, we are free from you and whatever you worship besides Allâh, we have rejected you, and there has started between us and you, hostility and hatred for ever, until you believe in Allâh Alone," except the saying of Ibrâhim (Abraham) to his father: "Verily, I will ask for forgiveness (from Allâh) for you, but I have no power to do anything for you before Allâh ." Our Lord! In You (Alone) we put our trust, and to You (Alone) we turn in repentance, and to You (Alone) is (our) final Return,

    The relationship between Muslims and disbelievers is established: enmity, hostility & hatred.  How intense is it?

2:161. Verily, those who disbelieve, and die while they are disbelievers, it is they on whom is the Curse of Allâh and of the angels and of mankind, combined.

    So, they curse us, big deal. Will they do anything more effectual?

9:29. Fight against those who (1) believe not in Allâh, (2) nor in the Last Day, (3) nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allâh and His Messenger (4) and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islâm) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

    Allah commands them to wage war against us. Is that a metaphor or parable, merely part of a social narrative or something more?  Perhaps the exegetes have some guidance for us.

[...]"This honorable Ayah was revealed with the order to fight the People of the Book, after the pagans were defeated, the people entered Allah's religion in large numbers, and the Arabian Peninsula was secured under the Muslims' control. Allah commanded His Messenger to fight the People of the Scriptures, Jews and Christians, on the ninth year of Hijrah, and he prepared his army to fight the Romans and called the people to Jihad announcing his intent and destination."[...] [The Order to fight People of the Scriptures until They give the Jizyah]

    Tafsir Ibn Kathir interprets it as an order to fight. Maybe we need to consult earlier tafsirs.

"Fight those who do not believe in God, nor in the Last Day, for, otherwise, they would have believed in the Prophet (s), and who do not forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden, such as wine, nor do they practise the religion of truth, the firm one, the one that abrogated other religions, namely, the religion of Islam — from among of those who (min, ‘from’, explains [the previous] alladhīna, ‘those who’) have been given the Scripture, namely, the Jews and the Christians, until they pay the jizya tribute, the annual tax imposed them, readily (‘an yadin is a circumstantial qualifier, meaning, ‘compliantly’, or ‘by their own hands’, not delegating it [to others to pay]), being subdued, [being made] submissive and compliant to the authority of Islam." [Tafsir al-Jalalayn]

 

"(Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture) the Jews and Christians (as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day) nor in the bliss of Paradise, (and forbid not) in the Torah (that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the religion of truth) do not submit themselves to Allah through confession of Allah's divine Oneness, (until they pay the tribute readily) standing: from hand to hand, (being brought low) abased."
[Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs]

    Jalalayn & Abbas give us details about everything except the point of interest. :Lets turn to a more modern scholar.

[...]"This is the aim of Jihad with the Jews and the Christians and it is not to force them to become Muslims and adopt the `Islamic Way of Life.' They should be forced to pay Jizyah in order to put an end to their independence and supremacy so that they should not remain rulers and sovereigns in the land."[...] [Towards Understanding the Quran]

    Maududi seems to confirm the obvious: 9:29 is an order to wage war against Jews & Christians. What did Moe say on this subject?

Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 8, Number 387:
Narrated Anas bin Malik:
Allah's Apostle said, "I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.' And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them except legally and their reckoning will be with Allah." Narrated Maimun ibn Siyah that he asked Anas bin Malik, "O Abu Hamza! What makes the life and property of a person sacred?" He replied, "Whoever says, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah', faces our Qibla during the prayers, prays like us and eats our slaughtered animal, then he is a Muslim, and has got the same rights and obligations as other Muslims have."

 

Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 196:
Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah 's Apostle said, " I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,' and whoever says, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,' his life and property will be saved by me except for Islamic law, and his accounts will be with Allah, (either to punish him or to forgive him.)"

    Moe said that he was ordered or commanded to fight; what further confirmation is required?  The Ulema based Shari'ah on the words and works of Allah & Moe.  Our final recourse is to Shari'ah. We'll start with Shafi'ite Fiqh, Reliance of the Traveller.

o9.8: The Objectives of Jihad

The caliph (o25) makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians (N: provided he has first invited them to enter Islam in faith and practice, and if they will not, then invited them to enter the social order of Islam by paying the non-Muslim poll tax (jizya, def: o11.4) -which is the significance of their paying it, not the money itself-while remaining in their ancestral religions) (O: and the war continues) until they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax (O: in accordance with the word of Allah Most High,

"Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day and who forbid not what Allah and His messenger have forbidden-who do not practice the religion of truth, being of those who have been given the Book-until they pay the poll tax out of hand and are humbled" (Koran 9.29), [...]

    The caliph makes war on Jews, Christians & Zoroastrians, on the basis of Surah At-Taubah 29; can there be any clearer confirmation of the obvious?  But have we excluded the possibility that the war is defensive?  We turn next to Hanifi Fiqh  found in Al-Hedaya Vol. II, Book IX, Chapter II, page 141 for the answer.

"The destruction of the sword is incurred by infidels, although they be not the first aggressors, as appears from various passages in the sacred writings which are generally received to this effect."

    That confirms the fact that jihad is undertaken on Islamic initiative, it is offensive, not defensive.  Surah At-Taubah 29 is outcome oriented, it has neither geographic nor chronological limits.  Could it be an anachronism, an out dated historical artifact?  Moe made it clear for us in two hadith.

Sunan Abu Dawud Book 14, Number 2526

    Narrated Anas ibn Malik:

    The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Three things are the roots of faith: to refrain from (killing) a person who utters, "There is no god but Allah" and not to declare him unbeliever whatever sin he commits, and not to excommunicate him from Islam for his any action; and jihad will be performed continuously since the day Allah sent me as a prophet until the day the last member of my community will fight with the Dajjal (Antichrist). The tyranny of any tyrant and the justice of any just (ruler) will not invalidate it. One must have faith in Divine decree.

 

Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6985:
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

    Jihad will be performed continuously until the end of the world, which can't come until the Muslims kill the last Jew.  That takes care of the anachronism argument. Lets review.

    Imam Rauf implied that the perception of existential enmity between Muslims and people of the book is false.  Allah instituted hostility, hatred and enmity against Jews & Christians. Allah commanded Muslims to fight Jews & Christians. Moe said that he was commanded to fight Jews and Christians. Moe amassed an army and marched on Tabuk. Tafsir Ibn Kathir confirms the order to fight. Islamic law codifies the order and confirms that jihad is undertaken aggressively, on Islamic initiative.  Moe also said that jihad would be performed until the end of the world. 

    Reference to Islam's canon of scripture, exegesis, tradition & jurisprudence reveals Imam Rauf's deception. Islam has never been conciliated with Christianity & Judaism and is in a perpetual state of existential warfare against them.  Reconciliation is impossible. Defeating the perception of perpetual existential enmity is nothing less than blinding us to objective factual reality for the purpose of disarming us; rendering us defenseless. The Cordoba Initiative is malignant malarkey.   Q.E.D.