Allah the Compassionate and Merciful

Today young Muslims find in all the media an emphasis on Muslim jihad as warfare, and the most recent, in the revival of the Caliphate in the ISIS doctrines with the tactic of brutality to terrorise opponents.

However, the Muslim Qur’an  and Mohammed’s first teaching emphasizes a religion rather than a jihad limited to killing others.  Young Muslims and all other people should know this original teaching.

We can compare it with other religions.  For example, today we don’t keep a lot of the Bible, but the fiercer fanatics select the angry and warlike passages. Most Jews and Christians don’t emphasise the plentiful murderous passages in the Bible.  Medieval Catholics and 17^thcentury Protestants emphasized finding and killing witches. Buddhism also developed monasteries with un-Buddhist practices.

Allah is the Compassionate, the Merciful in all descriptions of Allah in the Qur’an and in Muslims’ prayers. This description occurs everywhere, and is even shouted by the unmerciful and uncompassionate jihadis.

The appeal of Islam to the ordinary man is its simplicity, lack of theology apart from the description of Allah as Compassionate and Merciful, its lack of clerical hierarchy, and straightforward list of commands for action. It gives him power over women.

When Mohammed came to Mecca, it had idols, a meteorite, the black stone, a sacred well and a temple, the Kaaba. Mohamed denounced the idols, the ‘worship of sticks and stones’,  and he took over the others. He took over the single God of the Bible and much of its legends and teaching. Allah was the Eloha of the Old Testament revealed in a new light. The old religion of Abraham, Moses and Christ took on a new name, with the emphasis on charity, compassion, gentleness and love. Islam was the joy of submitting to the will and wisdom of Allah.

The 3 fundamentals Muslims must submit to were in faith, devotion, and conduct, in a social contract between God and man.

Faith

There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet. (A very simple creed for everyone.)

Devotion

Prayers is 5 times a day wherever a man is,  part of everyday life, for ‘every spot for divine service is equally pure’. ‘Praise be to Allah the Lord of the worlds, the Compassionate the Merciful’. Then Friday prayers together in the Mosque, without shoes, and clean washed hands, mouth, face, neck, & feet.  Ramadan is fasting every day for that month. And once in a lifetime, every Muslim seeks to be a pilgrim to Mecca, wearing a seamless white robe, symbol of the social unity of all members of races and classes. They must go to the sacred Kaaba and traverse it seven times. Pilgrims must be friendly to one another and merciful to all living creatures.

Conduct

An explicit ethical code is revealed in the Qur’an, prohibiting alcohol, gambling, dishonesty, selfishness and cruelty of every sort. The code distinguishes between mere piety and real prayer. He is pious who for the love of Allah disburses his wealth to the orphans, the needy and the wayfarers.  This is he who is just and this is he who fears Allah. Treat parents with respect and kindness. Give to orphans. Justice to the individual and peace to the world, with compassion to all living things. The union of all who love in the service of all who suffer. The whole world is one Brotherhood under one God. The umma of Islam extends to all Muslims throughout the world, and all men are equal (not so clear about women). The devout Muslim respects the adherents of other faiths.

Allah loveth not the aggressor. The true Muslim is a man of peace, but he is right to defend himself when attacked. Fight for the cause of Allah against those who fight against you, but not as the first one to attack. Allah loveth not the aggressor.

The true Muslim worshipped Allah and loved his fellow man. ‘I have not been sent to curse, but to be a mercy to mankind’ so the Muslim did not curse his enemies. There is no God but Allah and Mohamed is his prophet. Greet each other with ‘peace unto you’ ‘Use no violence against anyone. For all the creatures of God are members of one family. And he is most beloved of God who shows the greatest love to all God’s creatures’ . Gabriel told Mohammed, to teach ‘oppress not the orphan neither repulse the beggar, but declare the goodness of Allah.’ ‘Better than fasting, alms and prayers is the making of peace between man and man’.

When the biers of anyone whether Jew Christian or Muslim, passes you, rise to your feet.’

Feed the hungry and visit the sick and free the captive if he be unjustly confined. Assist any person oppressed, whether Muslim and Non-Muslim.’

The greatest enemies of God are those who without cause shed the blood of man.

What actions are most excellent? To gladden the heart of a human being, to feed the hungry, to help the afflicted, to lighten the sorrows of the sorrowful and to remove the wrongs of the injured.

Every man should set apart a certain percentage of his annual income for the poor.

In Heaven all grudges shall be taken away out of your hearts.

For all Muslims are the children of Allah and among them there is no distinction of race or color or tribe.

All this was Mohammed’s teaching at first.  In the later Qur’an there is much that doesn’t agree with this – warlike, hating, misogynist, and sectarian conflicts but this is the core of it, from the beginning of Mohammed’s teaching. Always there remains the description of Allah, as the Compassionate, the Merciful.

The later extensions to Islam came, as Mohammed took the sword and Islam was spread by it, after he and his new teaching was persecuted and he fled to Medina. This ‘Hegira’ was the beginning of the Muslim era, when to keep his religion alive, Mohammed took up the sword against his enemies who sought to destroy it. So the complete Qur’an is full of jihads which are Holy Wars both against one’s own failures and the enemies of Islam, as well as Mohammed’s original declarations. Still ‘the best of all Jihads is the Holy War for the conquest of oneself.’

 The wonderful Creation is based on a divine law, ‘that we must have compassion upon one another.’

 The sectarian divisions after his death included killing each other. Narrow definitions were made of his rulings. The development of shariah law, with amputations and other vindictive punishments, polygamy and injustice for women were taking the laws that were already strong in the desert. His misogynist passages forgot his early freedom for women - like his first wife, Khadijah bint Khuwaylid ,who was a great businesswoman. He had only her as his one wife for 25 years. Most of his later wives were taken for practical reasons – diplomacy or care for orphans.

In the development of cruelty, Islam has been similar to other religions and sects, demeaned by the successors, whether Jewish, Christian, Buddhist and so on.

It is better to remember the original beginnings.