My latest in PJ Media:
CounterPunch is a gang of hard-Left fantasists, but since their ideological kin run the world today, it’s worthwhile to look in on their fever dreams from time to time. On Friday, CounterPunch published an article entitled “The Privatization of ‘Jihad,’” alongside their usual fare: “If You Work in the U.S., You Don’t Know How Bad You Have It,” “Hungarian-Style Soft Fascism is the GOP’s Ruthless New Brand,” and the like.
The jihad article declares: “Modern jihad is exactly that—modern. It is not a revival of an ancient instruction from the Koran, nor is it even what the author of the Koran or its classical interpreters had in mind.” This confident and wholly unsupported statement is followed by the even more fanciful claim that modern jihad actually comes from the evil free market: “Instead, modern jihad as practiced by self-proclaimed Islamic organizations like Al-Queda [sic] and the Islamic State (ISIS) is a manifestation of this age of neoliberal capitalism.”
This “manifestation” apparently came about because “no longer is jihad carried out with an army of the Caliphate or even a state, but by a private group of individuals acting perhaps in concert, but just as likely as disconnected individuals angry at their lives and the society they exist in. Like those who shoot up high schools and those who murder dozens from hotel windows in Las Vegas or nightclubs in Orlando, the protagonist of this so-called jihad are symptoms of the economics and politics of their time and the atomized society of today.”
It is true that in classic Sunni theology and law, only the caliph is authorized to declare offensive jihad. However, the article ignores the distinction between offensive and defensive jihad. Only the caliph can declare offensive jihad, and that jihad is an obligation on the community as a whole (fard kifaya); an individual is released from it if others are taking it up. But all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence agree that when a non-Muslim force enters a Muslim land, defensive jihad becomes the individual obligation of every Muslim (fard ‘ayn) rather than a collective obligation of the entire umma, and need not be declared by anyone.
One manual of Islamic law, Bulghah al-Salik li-Aqrab al-Masalik fi madhhab al-Imam Malik (“The Sufficiency of the Traveller on the Best Path in the School of Imam Malik”), says this: “Jihad in the Path of Allah, to raise the word of Allah, is fard kifayah [obligatory on the community] once a year, so that if some perform it, the obligation falls from the rest. It becomes fard `ayn [obligatory on every Muslim individually], like salah and fasting, if the legitimate Muslim Imam declares it so, or if there is an attack by the enemy on an area of people.”
There is more. Read the rest here.
somehistory says
If this was not fictional garbage, in such places as afghanistan…where life is still in the past…there would be no terrorism among mozlums.
In pakistan, Christians are made to do the dangerous, filthy, degrading work, but they are not the ones carrying out the acts of terrorism.
In Nigeria, where it seems everyone either farms or herds animals…it’s not a “modern” country by any stretch… mozlums routinely carry out acts of terror against Christians.
The writers of this nonsense in the article, believe themselves to be intelligent. So very far from the reality and truth of the matter.
RichardL says
it is a narrative, a story and leftards prefer stories over reality. In their stories they are good and intelligent. In reality? not so much
gravenimage says
Grimly true, Somehistory and Richard.
Certainly, Muslims in places like Afghanistan and Mali are not affected by neoliberal capitalism–nor are Infidels affected by it waging violent Jihad.
More grotesque Leftist blaming of the civilized west for everything.
biola says
“In Nigeria, where it seems everyone either farms or herds animals… it’s not a “modern” country by any stretch… mozlums routinely carry out acts of terror against Christians.”
Nigeria is a modern country. You are allowing your ignorance to show too much. What do you know about Nigeria? Understand that Nigeria is split into North and South; majorly an agrarian society. The Jihadists Boko haram and the Fulani herders are tools of the present government to decimate other Tribes and grab their lands (Expansionism). What we have in Nigeria isn’t religious anymore. It is a genocide by the present government, most of whom are FULANIS, the same tribe as the Boko haram and the Herders. They are killing Muslims and Christians; so far, you are not a Fulani; you are game. Look at it like the Rwandan genocide
I hope you get the picture.
gravenimage says
It is true that Buhari–himself a Fulani Muslim–is emboldening Jihad terror and doing nothing to stop it. But the implication that this began with the curent government is utterly false. You do realize that this site alone has been tracking Jihad terror in Nigeria dating back well before this current administration.
Moreover, the claim that all members of Boko Haram are Fulani is quite false. The thing they do have in common is that they are both Islamic–as is much of northern Nigeria in general, which is ruled by brutal Shari’ah law. Shari’ah is Islamic, not specific to the Fulani or Boko Haram.
Then, Boko Haram makes no secret of its Islamic aims.
somehistory says
You evidently do not understand my comment.
You use “fulani” and “herdsman”…which I referenced….and then you say majorly agrarian as though that word denotes large cities with much modern industry, when it means “farming,” or land cultivation.
If you were to visit any city in the U.S., you might “get the picture.”
You are “ignorant” of the full “picture” to which I was comparing *your* country.
The “fulani” **herders*** are slaughtering the “farmers,” mainly Christian according to the many, many accounts coming from that country.
Those two jobs are not generally considered “modern capitalism.”
James Lincoln says
biola says,
“Nigeria is a modern country.”
According to World Population Review, Nigeria’s standard of living ranks 82 out of 82 countries.
Would you care to revise your statement?
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/standard-of-living-by-country
somehistory says
Thank you very much, James Lincoln.
tgusa says
Leftists now; “Modern jihad is exactly that—modern. It is not a revival of an ancient instruction from the Koran, nor is it even what the author of the Koran or its classical interpreters had in mind.”
Leftists later; Cant we talk about this?