发布时间：2021-01-19 热度：
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Islamic Extremists
It took a terrorist attack on our country September 11th, 2001, for Americans to consider the Islamic people and their religion, beliefs, and world view. When two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, America realized a fear that Islamic people have known for centuries; a constant struggle for balance and stability. This tragic impasse of our culture’s, has brought Islam into the spotlight. This paper is intended to present the evolution of Islamic Jihad, from conception to present and the misconceptions and misunderstandings therein, hopefully shedding some light on the tragic events of September 11, 2001.
In order to understand the motives of today’s Islamic extremists like the September 11thhijackers, it is critical to understand the origin of Islam. Islam is a monotheistic religion that owes its existence the prophet Muhammad. While his exact date of birth is unknown, it is commonly thought to be between 567 and 573. However, most scholars agree that it was probably 570 (Rodinson, 38). He was born in Mecca, located in present-day Saudi Arabia, into the Quraysh tribe. The Quraysh were known as a noble lineage but not particularly prosperous (Cook, 12). As an adult, Muhammad developed a yearly custom of retreating to a cave in Mount Hira, near Mecca, for the purpose of meditation and prayer (Peterson, 50). It was in this cave that the angel Gabriel appeared to Muhammad and commanded him to “Recite [Iqra] in the name of thy Lord, who created, created the human being from a bloodclot! Recite! And thy Lord is most gracious, who taught by the pen, taught the human being that which he did not know (Peterson, 51, 52).” Despite what must have been an unsettling vision, Muhammad did not begin preaching until three years later (Peterson, 65). The three year delay has led some to question Muhammad’s motives, but most scholars believe that Muhammad’s experience was indubitable, if not verifiable, lending to his sincerity (Peterson 51). Muhammad would have faced a difficult choice: ignore the visions or go forth and preach. The former could invite the wrath of God, the latter the ridicule of his audience. Certainly he did not want to be labeled as “majnun,” a word that translates today as “crazy” (Peterson, 52). When Muhammad finally began preaching, the only audience he effectively reached was poor and had no political power. This posed a major problem for him; those with privilege and influence had the resources to energize his ministry and effectively promote an image of trustworthiness to potential followers. However, the Mecca upper-class rejected Muhammad’s teachings because the new religion required people to reject their infatuation with affluence; they did not want to lose their earthly spoils (Peterson 61, 62). In fact, Muhammad’s belief that people should shun wealth caused marked division between himself and the Mecca elite and led to the oppression of those following the teachings of early Islam (Spencer, 75).
In Mecca Muhammad and his followers suffered years of oppression that included several assassination attempts (Wolfe, 27). In 622, the Prophet and his followers fled Mecca for Medina (Spencer, 89). This caused a shift in Muhammad’s leadership role; he went from a spiritual leader, to the head of a religiously persecuted group. This is a pivotal event in Muhammad’s ministry because the emigration changed his image from a spiritual leader to political and military leader (Spencer, 90). Interestingly, this emigration, referred to as “Hijira,” was so important to his followers that it marks the first year of the Islamic calendar. Now that he was essentially a military leader, Muhammad began planning and executing raids on Meccan expeditions, especially those transporting wealth (Spencer, 104). These raids were designed to punish the heathen Meccans and provide resources to the new Islamic movement; these military actions effectively created a state of war with the Meccans and eventually culminated in a victorious assault on Mecca itself in 630. These battles are the earliest examples of Islamic jihad. Two years after his victory in Mecca, Muhammad died and the majority of Arabia was practicing Islam.
