The Baha'i Studies Listserv Actually, there were a series of raids on Meccan caravans in the first 1-2 years of hijrah; and one of them occurred during the forbidden month of Rajab (I think it was the Nakhlah raid), one of them precipitated Badr. It's all in ibn-e ishaq and Tabari, and Bukhari, etc.
What hostility did Egyptians, Syrians, Spaniards, etc. show towards Islam? Islam was and is a religion for Arabs. The Islamic conquests happened while your very favorite sahabah guys like `Umar, etc. were in power. Don't try to be so selective. Or, are you finally admitting that `Umar was a ruthless, Godless tyrant just like the rest of sahabah? He was not Mr. nice guy. Neither was `Uthman. But they are your "Rightly guided" Caliphs. Looks like they were seriously wrong and misguided. No, it's you who don't understand the difference between just war in the context of collective security (something similar to the first Gulf war in 1991) and religious (un)holy war specifically termed jihad. Baha'u'llah has categorically forbidden and prohibited religious strife and warfare in any shape or form. There is a big difference. Iskandar On Wed, Dec 29, 2010 at 9:09 PM, Gilberto Simpson < gilberto.simp...@gmail.com> wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > On Wed, Dec 29, 2010 at 8:31 PM, Iskandar Hai, M.D. > <iskandar....@gmail.com> 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:arch...@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-549221-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu 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/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
