The Book lost in translation?

Nithin.S

Apropos to the editorial “Islam's enemy within” [April-15] the author portrays a picture,
that the root cause of Islamic terrorism lies in misinterpretation of the Islamic doctrines
by the priesthood. The author while commenting that the present teaching of Islamic
priesthood writes-“ most of which reflect nothing beyond prejudice, superstition and a
range of values derived from the local culture, and that have little to do with the teachings
of the Prophet.”

I would like to bring few facts into notice. Biographers of Muhammad have listed as
many as eighty-two expeditions which he mounted against various tribes of Arabia and
the neighboring lands, in a brief span of ten years between his migration to Medina in
622 CE and his death in 632 CE1.

Sita Ram Goel, renowned Historian after making an analysis of the life of Prophet
Mohamud and his wars concludes that- “In fact, prophets other than Muhammad had
arisen in Arabia itself, before, alongside and after Muhammad. But all of them had failed
because they did not raise armies and assemble arsenals. Muhammad succeeded because
he equipped his mission with a mailed fist. It may be noted that while he had only 301
ill-equipped warriors with him in the Battle of Badr (622 CE), he had 10,000 well-
equipped men when he marched into Mecca eight years later (630 CE) and 30,000 when
he planned an invasion of Palestine on the eve of his death (632 CE).2”

The Quran does not permit the existence or continuance of other faiths and their religious
practices. Of the 6236 ayats in the Quran about 3,900 fall into two categories - those
relating to Muslims who for their faith will be rewarded and those relating to Kafirs or
nonbelievers who are to be punished.3

Nirad Chaudhury has pointed out, the division of Islam into two variants - the one
Fundamentalist and the other Liberal - is the result of “either ignorance or repulsive
hypocrisy”. Suhas Majumdar has concluded Jihad in these words- “To put the whole
matter in a nutshell: the Koran as the word of Allah supplies the injunction; the Hadis in
the language of the Prophet confirms it; and the Sunnah gives a practical demonstration
of the same and thereby acts as an exemplar to future performers of the hallowed exercise
called jihãd.4”

1 http://www.voi.org/books/tcqp/chi3.htm

2 http://www.voi.org/books/tcqp/chi4.htm

3 http://www.voi.org/books/tpmsi/ch01.htm

4 http://voiceofdharma.org/books/jihad/