The Christian Church – Reaching Out To Muslims With the Message and Love of Christ –What Does the Quran say about Jihad and who is the target? – Part 5

#Church #TheChristianChurch #Muslims #Jesus #Muhammad #Christians #Christianity #Islam #religion #islamic #love #Crusades #hate #sword #unity #God #Mary #Disciples #Jihad #understanding #EscapeToAWorldOfUnderstanding

Subject – The Christian Church – Reaching Out To Muslims With the Message and Love of Christ –What Does the Quran say about Jihad and who is the target? – Part 5

Drawn from my Book – “Escape to a world of understanding – Antidote to hate against Muslims, Christians and people everywhere” – now in 14 languages in e-books and paperback via link

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Monday+Ogwuojo+Ogbe&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

OTAKADA.org content count 2,115,705

Sunday, 28^th of April 2019

Blog link: https://www.otakada.org/

NUGGETS OF WISDOM

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”

“An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind”

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding”

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

Matthew 26:52-54 The Message (MSG)

^52-54Jesus said, “Put your sword back where it belongs. All who use swords are destroyed by swords. Don’t you realize that I am able right now to call to my Father, and twelve companies—more, if I want them—of fighting angels would be here, battle-ready? But if I did that, how would the Scriptures come true that say this is the way it has to be?”

Key verses for Today:

Isaiah 11:1-3 Amplified Bible (AMP)

Righteous Reign of the Branch

11 Then a Shoot (the Messiah) will spring from the stock of Jesse [David’s father],
And a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
²
And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and strength,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the [reverential and obedient] fear of the Lord—
³
And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor make decisions by what His ears hear;

Proverbs 4:5-7 Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁵
“Get [skillful and godly] wisdom! Acquire understanding [actively seek spiritual discernment, mature comprehension, and logical interpretation]!
Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
⁶
“Do not ^[a]turn away from her (Wisdom) and she will guard and protect you;
Love her, and she will watch over you.
⁷
“The beginning of wisdom is: Get [skillful and godly] wisdom [it is preeminent]!
And with all your acquiring, get understanding [actively seek spiritual discernment, mature comprehension, and logical interpretation].

Proverbs 16:15-17 Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁵
In the light of the king’s face is life,
And his favor is like a cloud bringing the spring rain.
¹⁶
How much better it is to get wisdom than gold!
And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver.
¹⁷
The highway of the upright turns away and departs from evil;
He who guards his way protects his life (soul).

Introduction

Dear brethren, welcome to our fifth series which is meant to equip the Church of Jesus Christ to reach out to Muslims with the message and love of Christ. These series will clear up some misconceptions about Islam so you are better prepared to engage them for Christ by helping them to discover Christ for themselves. In the fourth series, we explored the summary of reference to Jesus in the Holy Quran. Today, are taking a clip-on Jihad from my book Escape to a world of understanding zeroing on contributions from Islamic scholars, Muslim background Christians and others and how we should respond with understanding:

Contributors: Islamic scholars perspective

Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani (Chairman, Islamic Supreme Council of America) and Shaykh Seraj Hendricks (Head Mufti, Cape Town, South Africa)

WHAT JIHAD IS

The Arabic word “jihad” is often translated as “holy war,” but in a purely linguistic sense, the word ” jihad” means struggling or striving.
The arabic word for war is: “al-harb”.
In a religious sense, as described by the Quran and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (s), “jihad” has many meanings. It can refer to internal as well as external efforts to be a good Muslims or believer, as well as working to inform people about the faith of Islam.
If military jihad is required to protect the faith against others, it can be performed using anything from legal, diplomatic and economic to political means. If there is no peaceful alternative, Islam also allows the use of force, but there are strict rules of engagement. Innocents – such as women, children, or invalids – must never be harmed, and any peaceful overtures from the enemy must be accepted.
Military action is therefore only one means of jihad, and is very rare. To highlight this point, the Prophet Mohammed told his followers returning from a military campaign: “This day we have returned from the minor jihad to the major jihad,” which he said meant returning from armed battle to the peaceful battle for self-control and betterment.
In case military action appears necessary, not everyone can declare jihad. The religious military campaign has to be declared by a proper authority, advised by scholars, who say the religion and people are under threat and violence is imperative to defend them. The concept of “just war” is very important.
The concept of jihad has been hijacked by many political and religious groups over the ages in a bid to justify various forms of violence. In most cases, Islamic splinter groups invoked jihad to fight against the established Islamic order. Scholars say this misuse of jihad contradicts Islam.
Examples of sanctioned military jihad include the Muslims’ defensive battles against the Crusaders in medieval times, and before that some responses by Muslims against Byzantine and Persian attacks during the period of the early Islamic conquests.

Christian Perspective:

By Dr. Ravi and Nabeel Qureshi, a former Muslim, offers challenging, respectful answers to the many questions surrounding jihad, the rise of ISIS, and Islamic terrorism

Jihad is an Islamic ideology, which is revealed in the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book. Throughout history, Islamic and non-Islamic scholars have debated the concept of jihad. Even among Islamic scholars there are various interpretations of this principle. Some Islamic scholars consider jihad to be the sixth pillar of Islam. According to the Qur’an, jihad assures various rewards-even paradise itself. Muslims believe that jihad is the best thing that a Muslim can voluntarily offer. Some Islamic scholars consider jihad superior to the obligatory acts of salat (prayers), sawm (fasting), Zakat (almsgiving), and Hajj (pilgrimage). Clearly, the concept of jihad is worth examining in view of its crucial place in Islamic doctrine.

REWARDS OF JIHAD
Islam teaches that those who participate in jihad will receive rewards. However, only martyrs are assured of paradise.⁶ According to the hadith Sahih Bukhari, “The person who participates in (Holy battles) in Allah’s cause and nothing compels him to do so except belief in Allah and His Apostles, will be recompensed by Allah either with a reward, or booty (if he survives) or will be admitted to Paradise (if he is killed in the battle as a martyr). Had I not found it difficult for my followers, then I would not remain behind any sariya going for Jihad and I would have loved to be martyred in Allah’s cause and then made alive, and then martyred and then made alive, and then again martyred in His cause” ( Volume 1, Book 2, Number 35: Narrated Abu Huraira, Sahih Bukhari).

The Qur’an envisions Muslims as the best people: “You are the best of all people, evolved for mankind” (3:110). It teaches that Jews and Christians who don’t convert to Islam are the worst of all creation: “Those who do not believe [in Islam] from among the Jews and Christians and the idolators will go to hell. They are the worst of creatures” (98:6; see 98:1–5 for context). This is why the Qur’an in 9:33 commands Muslims to fight Jews and Christians, so that Allah may cause Islam “to prevail over all religions.”

This view of jihad reigned from the 10th until the 19th centuries

It’s not just that battles are memorialized in the Qur’an, but also that its final chapter is the most violent of all, commanding Muslims to fight and subdue non-Muslims. The title of the chapter is “The Disavowal,” and it disavows all treaties of peace that came before it.

Muhammad’s life moved from peaceful to violent in a crescendo—reflecting the trajectory of the Qur’an—and he died just after conquering the Arabian Peninsula. Consider his words in the canonical collections:

I have been ordered by Allah to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshiped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah’s Messenger. . . . Only then will they save their lives and property from me. (Sahih Bukhari 1.2.25).

Muslims are commanded to follow Muhammad’s example. And his example was jihad.

HOW SHOULD CHRISTIANS RESPOND?
Islam does not offer Paradise to all Muslims. It only assures paradise those who die in jihad. No wonder some extremist Muslims are willing to die in the name of jihad. They believe that as long as they are fighting Allah’s cause and they die for it, they go to Paradise. However, Christians would contend that acts of terrorism do not assure anyone of Paradise, because those who do them are not fighting for God’s cause. Rather, terrorists are committing a great sin. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3, NIV).

… read more from Escape to a world of understanding..

Conclusion and prayer. Wisdom is key and understanding is better. If we understand, we will respond with a heart of love Jesus has commanded us to by separating the soul from the event, no matter how tragic. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” He separated the people from the event .. Luke 23:34

And Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing His clothes among themselves.

Lord, help us all to see people they way you see them so we can respond the way you will respond with an understanding heart, in Jesus name, Amen

Shalom!

Monday Ogwuojo Ogbe – E-discipleship @