Garvey's Ghost: Black Talk

Join the Ummah

So I'm perusing Black Electorate when I stumble across this article by Carol Wolman entitled:

Why Americans should observe Ramadan which struck me was plain WRONG for many reasons. First we have this:

Muslims all over the world consider themselves part of the body of Islam, called the ummah. This is their primary identity, stronger than national loyalty. "Islam" means "peace", and "Muslim" means "servant of God". During Ramadan, most Muslims are praying for peace. The jihadis are aberrant, heretical- Islam has no place for targeting civilians or killing people who have not attacked them. On the other hand, an attack on any Muslim is considered an attack on the entire ummah, and self-defense is legitimate, according to the Qu'ran.

Firstly, Islam does not mean "peace." I don't know who told Carol this but it is wrong. Islam means submission to God. "Salaam" means peace. With such a basic mistake how can the reader even begin to take the rest of the article seriously. Why didn't the editor of this online journal correct this before it's posting? Anyway. For some reason the author wants us to believe that in spite of the vast history available to us, Jihadis are an aberration. Yah, OK. SUURE.

Then Carol puts this out there:

Any American who considers him/herself a servant of God can join the ummah and observe Ramadan. There are no special ceremonies needed to become a Muslim, one simply has to accept Allah, and the validity of Muhammed's prophetic mission. This is a sticking point for right-wing Christians, who are taught by their false prophets that Allah is a moon god, and not the same as Eli, the God of the Bible. Muslims and the Qu'ran, however, emphasize that Allah IS the God of the Bible, that Jesus is the ultimate leader, and that Muslims are descended spiritually from Abraham, through his older son Ishmael.

Oh I see, It's not really about fasting, it's about becoming a Muslim. See that's the problem. You'll note that the author wants us to believe that rejection of the institution of Islam is a by product of right wing Christianity. Note to author: Some of we aren't even Christians. But I don't want to dwell on that point. What is important here is the discussion of the Ummah, Jihadis and why taking Carol's advice is a bad idea.

The modern ideology of Jihad was authored by Sayyid Qutb of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. While imprisoned he wrote that the world is divided into two realms:

Dar Al-Islam- The abode of Islam. and Dar Al-Harb- The abode of war. He wrote that Muslims should not fight for a particular piece of land, but rather the whole Dar- Al -Islam, which we shall refer to as the Ummah. Dar Al Harb is any place that hampered the practice of Islam and/or failed to apply Sharia. Furthermore the abode of war should be combated even if one's own relatives, national group, capital and commerce are there.

Later another Egyptian, Muhammad Al-Farag, a leader in Jamaat al Jihad movement wrote in a tract entitled "The Neglected Obligation" that Jihad was the sixth pilar of Islam and that armed struggle was an imperative for all true muslims.

"There is no doubt that the first battlefield for Jihad is the extermination of these infidel leaders and to replace them by a complete Islamic Order."

So since the objective of the Jihadi is ultimately to convert the infidel to Islam, the suggestion by Carol, that we join the Ummah, actually plays right into the Jihadi goal. Even though Carol couches her suggestion as a means to oppose the Bush regime, it is simply an unwise and ill informed suggestion. Rather than roll over for the Jihadi, those of us who are not Muslims, should denounce the Bush regime and Jihadis in our own terms from within our own faiths and belief systems.