He adds that such a sacred mandate creates a trigger that is liable to be invoked by Muslims when they believe the need arises.
I expect he is taking it too far in describing the Quran as justifying terrorism. Muhammed Muhd and other Muslims on Nigerian centred egroups have been struggling for some time to demonstrate a style of Islamic hermeneutics that interprets references to the use of force in the Quran in benign rather than aggressive terms. These hermeneutic presentations need to be carefully examined, but they suggest that to blandly conjoin Islam and terrorism is problematic.
Cornelius makes no comparison with Christianity, but my knowledge of Christianity and Buddhism, for example, does not show their sacred texts as developing what one might call a philosophy of just war.
Hinduism, on the other hand, has something like that in the Bhagavad Gita, a discourse from Krishna encouraging Arjuna to go into battle.
Judaism also has that in the justification for the concept of a Promised Land, an imperialist doctrine implemented by stealing land from other other peoples in the name of God.
There is a world of difference between the metaphysically lofty, and possibly cold blooded concept of combat in the Gita and its relationship to caste in Hindu society and the culture of a nomadic people seeking a settled home seemingly evident in the Old Testament and the consolidation of Islam in the crucible of combat, but these examples indicate that some religious texts are more prone to be pacifist than others.
Harrow's point may be descried as the need to situate use of force within a social and historical nexus in dialogue with textual imperatives.
Which comes first, the use of force or its scriptural or theological justification?
Jesus, for example,was largely pacifist but the church founded in his name was at the centre of an ideologically imperialist empire sustained in Europe by massive murder-the Inquisition-as well as an ally of Western imperialism.
How did this come about? What is the relationship between various Christian justifications of use of force and actual use of such force? Which came first, theological justification or action that was then justified theologically?
In this context, Harrow's theory is particularly pertinent because the theological justification for force emerges as late as Augustine of Hippo who died in AD 430 in his Do What Thou Wilt doctrine describing the need to act using whatever means are considered relevant as long as it is done in love, in his recommendation of dealing with a group he and his like-minded Christians understood as heretics.
But may we not push this theory back father?
Rather than reify sacred texts as imprimaturs that shape otherwise passive adherents, may these texts not be understood as shaped by the exigencies of the historical contexts of their composition, by the agendas of their creators, at the nexus of inspiration and calculation?
The descendants of Abraham seeking to transform themselves from a nomadic to a settled people and inventing a myth of a Promised Land given by God to his 'Chosen People' but a land which must pass to these Chosen People through slaughter of its current holders, at times through what the priests described as divinely sanctioned genocide of every living thing in those lands, failure to complete one such genocidal command leading to the deposition of Saul as king, if I remember well, although the immense power of the Abrahamic vision may suggests that this interpretation is useful but simplistic and that at the heart of the Abrahamic vision is a genuine numinous experience, an overwhelming encounter with the sacred, however this encounter was understood by the human agent in the experience, to Muhammed struggling to establish his religion in the Mecca/Medina conflicts, inspiring a combat ethos evident in the Quran according to interpretations of its references to combat.
Harrow's theory is very useful but the way he puts it seems to abstract it from actual historical experience. Correlating it with Cornelius observation, as I have tried to do might enhance its value as a guide to understanding better the relationship between individual and group psychology and religious texts.
thanks
toyin
On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 12:50 AM, kenneth harrow <harrow@msu.edu> wrote: beluve
dear cornelius
no doubt i expressed myself poorly. here is what i said:
there is nothing in christian doctrine that ultimately has anything whatsoever to do with what people who call themselves christians will finally resort to in the use of violence to achieve their political and economic ends. and guess what, that is true of all people on earth. despite what malcolm says, it isn't doctrine that will authorize force for muslims, but the opposite: doctrine will be mobilized to rationalize a use of force.i don't think that the use of force follows from doctrine but that doctrine follows from the decision to use force. i know there are doctrinal statements that authorize the use of force, but they are ex post facto, not causal. people decide to go to war to conquer others, to repress others, to win the goods of others, to impose an order; then, to justify it, they cite religious doctrine authorizing the war as jihad or crusade, but the religious rationalizations are not necessary for war to happen, and if they all disappeared, war would still take place and new rationalizations to justify it would come about what i am saying is that no religion is any better than any other in this regard, and that it isn't the real reason for conflict. it is the surface reason, the ideological reason, which dissembles and covers over the actual reasons ken
On 7/19/12 10:39 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:
Ken It's basically back to basics. Without equivocation I don't think that I'm getting you quite right. In fact you're confusing the likes of me or perhaps just being deliberately provocative, for the heck or for fun of it. There you are, on the podium, grabbing the USA- Africa dialogue series microphone since it's you turn and saying ( albeit not so piously) that "it isn't doctrine that will authorize force for Muslims," What else? The 72 virgins? C'mon Ken they can fool some of the people most of the time but must they also be able to deceive those of us who come under the term "we" instead of "us"( USA) ? "It isn't doctrine that will authorize force for Muslims," indeed , that holy baloney plus the superfluous rationalisations that follow thereafter, as if Jihad is not a part of Islam's cardinal creed and in the Islamic world of dar al Harb and dar al-Islam, JIHAD is not an Islamically sanctified means of holding on to conquered territory and even militarily expanding such territories whenever such once Islamic territories are under threat of re-conquest by the kuffar ( the infidels) The Quran says fight in the name of Allah and you think that your mere mortal opinion can obliterate that? You must be dreaming about American Islam , not real Islam... http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&gs_nf=1&cp=28&gs_id=7&xhr=t&q=Muslim%27s+authority+for+Jihad&pf=p&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&oq=Muslim%27s+authority+for+Jihad&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=90fe06c707c49d57&biw=1024&bih=636 Verily Lord Harrow, it is solid Islamic doctrine that authorises Jihad ( and to some extent terrorism) , great and small, for Muslims all and this is well born out in Islamic history , including the anti- colonial jihads that were carried out in the Sene-Gambia. I now I humbly await the greater,humanitarian enlightenment.... On 19 Juli, 14:49, Felicia Oyekanmi <profoyeka...@yahoo.com> wrote:What is happening in Nigeria is a situation of very great economic and political inequity which is been played out as a religious and ethnic warfare. The rich want to retain their relative advantage and do not mind whose blood is split in a bid to maintain the status quo. If programmes can be designed to reduce abject poverty in the country, the average person does not care about your ethnic or religious group. I am a Christian but my first daughter was saved from being lynched by some islamic fanatics by a Muslim lady in old Kano state. In fact the Muslim lady gave my daughter and her fellow NYSC corper native dress (iro and buba) to wear and a hijab each to cover their themselves in order to walk through the rioters to the army barracks where they hid for about three days before they could escape to Lagos. Prof Felicia A. D. Oyekanmi Department of Sociology University of Lagos Akoka, Yaba, Lagos Nigeria Tel: {234} 1 7941757 Cell: {234}8056560970 --- On Thu, 19/7/12, Sadiq Alhassan <xturalsa...@gmail.com> wrote: From: Sadiq Alhassan <xturalsa...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Fwd: Fw: [muslimrights] Fw: [NMN] There's A Grand Christian Conspiracy Against Nig Muslim-JNI To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com Date: Thursday, 19 July, 2012, 7:23 Cornelius Hamelberg have said it all, I wish all the Muslim and christian faithfuls will understand On Jul 19, 2012 12:08 PM, "Cornelius Hamelberg" <corneliushamelb...@gmail.com> wrote:"There's nothing in our book, the Quran -- you call it 'Ko-ran' -- that teaches us to suffer peacefully. Our religion teaches us to be intelligent. Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery. That's a good religion." ( Malcolm X)What is not clear is whether or not it is World Christianity or only Nigerian Christians who are conspiring against Nigerian Muslims. I am in complete sympathy with the innocent Nigerian Muslims and see no reason why the great Fulani people of Nigeria should not be free to live wherever they want in Nigeria. Moreover, it is the duty of the Nigerian government to protect all her citizens.Islam is a great religion and when the umbrella organization for Nigerian Muslims, the Jama'atu Nasril Islam say that they will leave everything to Almighty God – they are only saying this at the early stages of the alleged Grand Christian Conspiracy against Nigerian Muslims, since Islam does not teach love for the enemy or the turning the other cheek, or suffering in silence and without taking action. As we all know, should the Grand Christian conspiracy theory/accusation gain traction and retaliatory "Christian" action such as missile attacks against innocent Muslim schools continue, then before you can say "Jack Robinson" we will have a full-scale religious war on our hands and since nobody but the devil wants that, we gotta be careful: Let the responsible religious Muslim and Christian leaders prevail on their people to cool down the rhetoric on all sides, the kinds of rhetoric that always leads to direct, violent action..On Jul 19, 1:40 am, Sadiq Alhassan <xturalsa...@gmail.com> wrote:---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Sadiq Alhassan" <xturalsa...@yahoo.com> Date: Jul 19, 2012 12:21 AM Subject: Fw: [muslimrights] Fw: [NMN] There's A Grand Christian Conspiracy Against Nig Muslim-JNI To: "xturalsa...@gmail.com" <xturalsa...@gmail.com>Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android------------------------------ * From: * ISHOLA Akeem <ishola...@yahoo.co.uk>; * To: * Muslim Rights <muslimrig...@yahoogroups.com>; Unifemga Ibadan < unifemga_iba...@yahoogroups.com>; Unifemga Ife <unifemga-...@yahoogroups.com>; Unifemga lagos <unifemga_la...@yahoogroups.co.uk>; * Subject: * [muslimrights] Fw: [NMN] There's A Grand Christian Conspiracy Against Nig Muslim-JNI * Sent: * Wed, Jul 18, 2012 9:24:58 PM** ABDULHAKEEM ISHOLA +2348035149585, +2348077112332Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile. ------------------------------ *From: * NMN WEB FORUM <listad...@nmnonline.net> *Sender: * nmnonline@googlegroups.com *Date: *Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:10:02 -0700 *To: *<NMNonline@googlegroups.com> *ReplyTo: * nmnonline@googlegroups.com *Subject: *[NMN] There's A Grand Christian Conspiracy Against Nig Muslim-JNIPosted by: Engnr. Habib Muhammad Birnin Kudu Posted on: Wed, 18 Jul 2012 21:05:41 +0000 Post Link:http://www.nmnonline.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1715#p4889[image: :fullsalam]http://saharareporters.com/news-page/th... jni-claims<http://saharareporters.com/news-page/there%E2%80%99s-grand-christian-...>There's A Grand Christian Conspiracy Against Nigerian Muslims, JNI ClaimsJama'atu Nasril Islam (JNI), the umbrella organization for Nigerian Muslims, today stated that there is a grand Christian conspiracy against the country's Muslims.The organization made the claim as a part of a reaction to rocket attacks on the Islamic School in Bukuru, Plateau State on Tuesday morning. The umbrella body said Muslims would leave everything to Almighty God.JNI also asserted that Muslims were being killed around Gonin Gora, in Kaduna State, and accused the government of taking no cogent action at any level.The group's claims are contained in an email sent to SaharaReporters by its General Secretary, Khalid Abubakar Aliyu. The statement was titled "ROCKETS FIRED AT AN ISLAMIC SCHOOL IN JOS SOUTH L.G.C. OF PLATEAU STATE".The text of the statement is below:"Following unfolding scenarios with respect to the rocket launching on the Muslim Community of Bukuru, in Plateau State by irate Christian community as reported to us, we make this release with pains and grief that such a thing is happening but [the] majority of media outfits in Nigeria and beyond are not airing it. It is manifest that there is [a] conspiracy of silence against Islam and the Muslims in Nigeria. However, we leave our affairs to Allah, the Most High."Nonetheless, we call on the Plateau State Government and by extension, the Federal Government under the auspices of JTF to be cautious and handle with utmost intelligence the issue of the 48 hour ultimatum given to the Fulanis to leave the Plateau. A second thought should be given to the matter and a more realistic and proactive mechanism that will ensure the protection of lives and properties (sic) on the Plateau should be aptly put in place, because with recent developments, there seems to be a deliberate attempt to expel the Muslims from the Plateau. "Moreover, it is more apparent that the Gonin Gora settlement of Kaduna State has done more havoc to the Muslims in Nigeria and innocent travelers plying the road to and fro Abuja but regrettably, that has not called for any ultimatum to the suburb. Why the selective justice? Why are the Muslims in Nigeria manhandled. Why are the Muslims never given fear hearing in Nigeria?"We make bold to say, that Nigerian Muslims are worried about unfolding happenings on the Plateau, Muslims are concerned about the killing of innocent lives at Gonin Gora and yet nothing practically seen ?????done by any tier of government. In the light of all the aforesaid, we pray that Allah, the Most High will forgive those that lost their lives, and grant us peace and tranquility in Borno, Plateau, Yobe States and Nigeria at large." ------------------------------ I M P O R T A N T N O T E S- This message is sent to you from the NMN Web Forum: http://www.nmnonline.net/forum. - Please note that you CANNOT reply to this message by email. - To reply to this message please view it from the web forum on this LINK <http://www.nmnonline.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1715#p4889>. - You will need to provide your username, which is your email address, and your password. - If you have forgotten your password, please follow the instructions in this LINK <http://www.nmnonline.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=72> to retrieve it.-------------------------------- The Believers are but a single Brotherhood: So make peace and reconciliation between your two brothers; and fear Allah, that ye may receive Mercy. (49:10) Oh mankind! We created you from a single of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other. Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted. (49:13)Important Links and Email Addresses: Visit MIS page to update your personal information at:http://www.nmnonline.net/mis If you have GMail account, you can visit NMN Forum to view archives, configure your subscription, etc., at:http://groups.google.com/group/NMNonline Send a Mail to the list/forum using: NMNonline@googlegroups.com NMN public website containing press releases and other documents is at:http://www.nmnonline.net. For any problems, please contact the List Administrator using the address: NMNAd...@gmail.com or ListAd...@nmnonline.net __._,_.___ Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/muslimrights/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJxYWpkNm9l...>| Start a New... läs mer »
-- kenneth w. harrow distinguished professor of english michigan state university department of english east lansing, mi 48824-1036 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu
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