Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald discusses a particular element of traditional Islamic family values: the need to ask permission of one’s parents before going on jihad.
Family values, family values. Tradition.
I just checked my copy of The Lawful and The Prohibited in Islam (Al-Halal Wal Haram Fil Islam) by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi of Qatar, who is at present the most famous guide in Sunni Islam to what is haram and halal, a defender of suicide bombings, and the great friend of London Mayor Redken Livingstone.
On pages 234-235 al-Qaradawi discusses the need for those going on “violent” Jihad (qital) to ask permission of their parents:
The Parent’s Consent for Jihad
Pleasing one’s parents is considered so important in Islam that the son is forbidden to volunteer for jihad without his parent’s permission, in spite of the fact that fighting in the cause of Allah (jihad fi sabeel Allah) has such great merit in Islam that the merit of a person who spends his nights in prayer and days in fasting falls short of it.
Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin al”As,
A man came to the Prophet (peace be on him) and asked his permission to go for jihad. The Prophet (peace be on him) asked, ‘Are your parents living?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied. The Prophet (peace be on him) then aid, ‘Then strive in their service,’ [reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim]meaning that taking care of parents is a greater obligation than jihad in the cause of Allah.
‘Abdullah also narrated,
A man came to the Prohpet (peace be on him) and said ‘I take the oath of allegiance to you for hijrah (emigration to Medinah) and jihad, seeking reward from Allah.’ The Prophet (peace be on him) enquired whether either of his parents were living. On his replying that both of them were, the Prophet (peace be on him) then said, ‘Go back to your parents and be a good companion to them.’ [reported by al-Bukhari and others]‘Abdullah further narrated,
A man came to the Prophet (peace be on him) and said ‘I have come to swear allegiance to you for hijrah, and I have left my parents weeping.’ The Prophet (peace be on him) said to him, ‘Return to them and make them laugh as you made them weep.’ [reported by Muslim]Abu Sa’id reported that
A man from Yemen migrated to Madinah be with the Prophet (peace be on him). The Prophet (peace be on him) asked him, ‘Do you have any relatives in Yemen?’ He answered, ‘My parents.’ ‘Did you get their permission?’ the Prophet (peace be on him) asked. On his replying that he did not, the Prophet (peace be on him) told him, ‘Go back to them and ask their permission. If they agree to it, go on jihad. Otherwise stay and serve them.’ [reported by Abu Daoud]Family values. Asking permission of your parents if you wish to go on Jihad (the Hadith above needs to have its meaning explained in more detail based on the commentaries) leads to the following:
“Mother, may I go out and kill the Infidels?”
I think Muslim websites may also provide some amusing discussions of when you should ask your parents. And of course what should you do if your parents do not agree: “You’re grounded, mister!” I’m sure a way has been found around that possibility. Who wants to be grounded when so many others are having such fun?
Family values, family values. Tradition. No wonder that Muslim apologists, such as Mustafa Akyol, and all those Muslims smilingly greeting Christians and Jews for those “dialogues” at Mosque Outreach Nights, like to stress that “strong emphasis on family values that unite believers of all three abrahamic faiths.”
Some non-Muslims may feel a certain consolation in the demonstration of family values and respect for one’s elders that is manifested by the need to let one’s parents know that one is going off to wage war on Infidels, or to even ask their permission to do so.
For the life of me (a phrase endowed here with its literal meaning), I just can’t bring myself to share that feeling.
This “family values” stuff about Muslims is becoming a staple of their “we have so much in common” appeal.
But Mussolini was full of “family values.” Paid vacations for workers. Bonuses for large families.
Even more so Hitler. Think of all those decadent paintings by George Grosz and Ernst Kirchner and others that were banned. Instead, nice wholesome pictures of blond German youth, well-muscled, eyes right, looking forward to the glorious future of the Reich. Women, if not always barefoot and pregnant, breeding for that Reich –just as so many Muslims overbreed today: compare the birthrates in Muslim countries, or of Muslims and non-Muslims in Infidel lands. They often do this quite consciously in order to raise the percentage of Muslims in the population.
These “family values” mean nothing. Being “law-abiding” if the laws you obey are ONLY those that do not conflict with Islam — in which case they will not be obeyed — means nothing.
In World War II, as A. J. Liebling noted in his report from North Africa, “Molly,” some of those who joined the Free French had been small-time gangsters, Pepe-le-Moko types, in Algeria. During World War II Lucky Luciano, through his connections, reportedly helped to keep the ports in Sicily and Calabria safe for American invaders. While some fine family-values men — say, Fritz Kuhn of the German-American Bund, who wore a tie, and a shirt, and didn’t smoke reefers — was a traitor, and was jailed.
Like Kuhn and so many Fascists, many Muslims are family-valued oriented, all right — as long as the families they orient towards are Muslims.
But as for the rest of us, we Infidels, well that is a different matter.
I’ll take the supposedly decadent West over the most fine, upstanding, cleancut Muslim cleric, or True Believer, any day.
Pongame una cerveza, por favor. Beulah, peel me a grape. Gif me a viskey, ginger ale on the side, and don’t be stingy, baby.