Assalamualaikum wr. wb. Artikel berikut sangat menarik untuk disimak. Mudah-mudahan bermanfaat.
Wassalam, Abduh >-----Original Message----- >From: Supanjani Supanjani [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] >Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 1:17 AM >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [unibnet] wajah Islam > > > >Di tengah terterornya umat muslim di beberapa negara barat, berikut ada >artikel yang relatif netral dari Time.com. Yang namanya terorist itu >universal, ada dari Islam, Kristen, Yahudi, atau yang tidak beragama >sekalipun. > >Supan > >Tempo.com >October 1, 2001 Vol. 158 No. 15 >The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam >BY KAREN ARMSTRONG > > >There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, and Islam is the world's >fastest-growing religion. If the evil carnage we witnessed on >Sept. 11 were >typical of the faith, and Islam truly inspired and justified such >violence, >its growth and the increasing presence of Muslims in both Europe and the >U.S. would be a terrifying prospect. Fortunately, this is not the case. > >The very word Islam, which means "surrender," is related to the Arabic >salam, or peace. When the Prophet Muhammad brought the inspired scripture >known as the Koran to the Arabs in the early 7th century A.D., a >major part >of his mission was devoted precisely to bringing an end to the >kind of mass >slaughter we witnessed in New York City and Washington. Pre-Islamic Arabia >was caught up in a vicious cycle of warfare, in which tribe fought >tribe in >a pattern of vendetta and countervendetta. Muhammad himself >survived several >assassination attempts, and the early Muslim community narrowly escaped >extermination by the powerful city of Mecca. The Prophet had to fight a >deadly war in order to survive, but as soon as he felt his people were >probably safe, he devoted his attention to building up a peaceful >coalition >of tribes and achieved victory by an ingenious and inspiring campaign of >nonviolence. When he died in 632, he had almost single-handedly brought >peace to war-torn Arabia. > >Because the Koran was revealed in the context of an all-out war, several >passages deal with the conduct of armed struggle. Warfare was a desperate >business on the Arabian Peninsula. A chieftain was not expected to spare >survivors after a battle, and some of the Koranic injunctions seem >to share >this spirit. Muslims are ordered by God to "slay [enemies] >wherever you find >them!" (4: 89). Extremists such as Osama bin Laden like to quote >such verses >but do so selectively. They do not include the exhortations to >peace, which >in almost every case follow these more ferocious passages: "Thus, if they >let you be, and do not make war on you, and offer you peace, God does not >allow you to harm them" (4: 90). > >In the Koran, therefore, the only permissible war is one of self-defense. >Muslims may not begin hostilities (2: 190). Warfare is always evil, but >sometimes you have to fight in order to avoid the kind of persecution that >Mecca inflicted on the Muslims (2: 191; 2: 217) or to preserve >decent values >(4: 75; 22: 40). The Koran quotes the Torah, the Jewish scriptures, which >permits people to retaliate eye for eye, tooth for tooth, but like the >Gospels, the Koran suggests that it is meritorious to forgo revenge in a >spirit of charity (5: 45). Hostilities must be brought to an end >as quickly >as possible and must cease the minute the enemy sues for peace (2: 192-3). > >Islam is not addicted to war, and jihad is not one of its "pillars," or >essential practices. The primary meaning of the word jihad is not >"holy war" >but "struggle." It refers to the difficult effort that is needed to put >God's will into practice at every level--personal and social as well as >political. A very important and much quoted tradition has Muhammad telling >his companions as they go home after a battle, "We are returning from the >lesser jihad [the battle] to the greater jihad," the far more urgent and >momentous task of extirpating wrongdoing from one's own society and one's >own heart. > >Islam did not impose itself by the sword. In a statement in which >the Arabic >is extremely emphatic, the Koran insists, "There must be no coercion in >matters of faith!" (2: 256). Constantly Muslims are enjoined to >respect Jews >and Christians, the "People of the Book," who worship the same God >(29: 46). >In words quoted by Muhammad in one of his last public sermons, God >tells all >human beings, "O people! We have formed you into nations and >tribes so that >you may know one another" (49: 13)--not to conquer, convert, subjugate, >revile or slaughter but to reach out toward others with intelligence and >understanding. > >So why the suicide bombing, the hijacking and the massacre of innocent >civilians? Far from being endorsed by the Koran, this killing >violates some >of its most sacred precepts. But during the 20th century, the >militant form >of piety often known as fundamentalism erupted in every major >religion as a >rebellion against modernity. Every fundamentalist movement I have >studied in >Judaism, Christianity and Islam is convinced that liberal, secular society >is determined to wipe out religion. Fighting, as they imagine, a >battle for >survival, fundamentalists often feel justified in ignoring the more >compassionate principles of their faith. But in amplifying the more >aggressive passages that exist in all our scriptures, they distort the >tradition. > >It would be as grave a mistake to see Osama bin Laden as an authentic >representative of Islam as to consider James Kopp, the alleged >killer of an >abortion provider in Buffalo, N.Y., a typical Christian or Baruch >Goldstein, >who shot 29 worshipers in the Hebron mosque in 1994 and died in >the attack, >a true martyr of Israel. The vast majority of Muslims, who are >horrified by >the atrocity of Sept. 11, must reclaim their faith from those who have so >violently hijacked it. > >Karen Armstrong has written many books on religion, including >Islam: A Short >History, published last year by Modern Library > > > >_________________________________________________________________ >Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp > > > > >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > RantauNet http://www.rantaunet.com Isikan data keanggotaan anda di http://www.rantaunet.com/register.php3 =============================================== Mendaftar atau berhenti menerima RantauNet Mailing List di http://www.rantaunet.com/subscribe.php3 ATAU Kirimkan email Ke/To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Isi email/Messages, ketik pada baris/kolom pertama: -mendaftar--> subscribe rantau-net [email_anda] -berhenti----> unsubscribe rantau-net [email_anda] Keterangan: [email_anda] = isikan alamat email anda tanpa tanda kurung ===============================================
