With regard to those who
Fight you not for (your) Faith
Nor drive you out
Of your homes,
From dealing kindly and justly
With them: For God loveth
Those who are just.
God only forbids you
With regard to those who
Fight you for (your) Faith,
And drive you out
Of your homes, and support
(Others) in driving you out,
From turning to them
(For friendship and protection).
It is such as turn to them
(In these circumstances),
That do wrong.
S.60 A.8-9
I love reading the Koran, and I hope I am not giving the impression that I understand it completely in these posts. As a matter of fact, they are becoming increasingly more challenging for me. This verse is a perfect example: God is loving and forgives us our sins, but He also counsels us as to how to defend ourselves, our faith, and our homes. I am so weary hearing politicians, pundits, and the media decry Islam as a violent religion - they must be reading a different book than I. On the other hand, just because a few extremists manipulate the word of God to justify violence, I am not willing to hide my eyes from the need to confront evil and the enemies of Islam forcibly. I think I have remarkable guidance on this issue, and this verse provides me a starting point.
God understands that we will fight each other, and he encourages kindness and forgiveness for many transgressions. He counsels us to make sure our hearts are pure, and to judge our own intentions before we enjoin any enmity. Man is imperfect, and needs God's guidance. No where in this holy book do I see a unilateral, senseless call to arms!
God does counsel us to protect ourselves responsibly. I like the specific references here to home and faith. I can remember watching Israeli bulldozers flatten Palestinian homes with little or no provocation (imagine if you child threw a rock at a police station and the showed up the next day to tear down your house, and imagine still the Israeli politician trying to pass legislation requiring that you pay for the demolition) and deciding that destroying a man's home is the ultimate act of terrorism, and I still believe that. Palestinian homes are destroyed or usurped every day. God does not tolerate this, and He expects that we will not either.
Even more basic to our identity than our homes is our faith. I live in a country where faith and spirituality are mocked everyday with little or no resistance, in the name of freedom - freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom to denigrate. The only respect I see is the respect of the individual not to respect. This is a dangerous place. My home safeguards my body, my faith safeguards my soul - God does not expect me to relinquish these protections. And if you put my body and soul at hazard, what then are your consequences?
I struggle greatly with the notion of self-defense, for me personally, and for us as Muslims, and I will continue to read the Koran for guidance.
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