In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
To live in a human way is to have honour - that is, nobility of spirit. And this nobility of spirit is the cause, the genesis, of civilization itself: that is, of the creation of a particular type of community living.
Honour means fairness; it means civility - that is, manners: being courteous to others. Honour means being honest; it means being tolerant and using our reason, our ability to think. Honour means using our will to restrain ourselves - that is, to follow an ethical code whose standards we strive to uphold and which we consider more important than our own personal desires, feelings, comfort or even happiness.
Honour also means we accept that there is a God - a Creator, an Eternal Being far more powerful than we mortals. There can be no real honour without this understanding of God, for it is this understanding of God which gives us the cosmic perspective we need to understand ourselves, as humans, and judge ourselves - with such an understanding and judgement being the beginning of morality. It is this understanding alone which prevents us from being insolent - from upsetting the natural balance by 'overstepping the mark'. Furthermore, this understanding of God which is the basis of honour is not a belief, a question of faith, but rather a reasoned apprehension - the result of rational observation and reasoned thought.
One of the glories of Islam is that it expresses this reasoned apprehension of God - for Islam, God is not a question of faith, but the conclusion of us thinking about ourselves, our world, and the cosmos itself. Our very existence, our human nature, the complexity and beauty of life on Earth, the wonders of the cosmos are all Signs - all pointers to the conclusion that there is and must be a Supreme Being, one God and only one God, who is Infinite, Eternal and whom Muslims call Allah(1) [literally, The One (and Only) God].
The Prophet Muhammad is the perfect example of the honourable man - he was the archetypal human being, the archetypal honourable and chivalrous man: fair, courteous, just, trustworthy, brave, tolerant, honest, generous, modest and pious. Anyone who studies his life in a reasoned and fair way is impressed - and one of the reasons for the failure of Islam to make significant converts in the modern West is a lack of unbiased, trustworthy and readable accounts, in English, of the life of the Prophet Muhammad, of his honourable Companions and of those honourable warriors - such as Ali Ibn Abu Talib and Salah al-Din - who fought for the cause of Islam.
Every pious Muslim - that is every Muslim who strives to be honourable - has a duty (waajib) to do what Allah has ordained, and refrain from doing what Allah has forbidden. One of the duties of a Muslim is to be loyal (walaa) to fellow Muslims. Another duty a Muslim has is Jihad.
In truth, the Shahada - the affirmation which makes a person a Muslim
- may be likened to an oath of loyalty freely sworn by a person of honour:
it is an oath to Allah, and to His Messenger, Muhammad; thus, a Muslim
is someone who is honourably bound to uphold that oath: to be loyal to
Allah and His Messenger, and to obey their commands. To disobey such commands
- once having sworn to obey them - is dishonourable: the act of an ignoble
person.
If Islam is threatened, or if the lands of Islam are occupied by oppressors
and those who are insolent and opposed to Islam, then physical Jihad becomes
an obligation for all Muslim men who are able to fight. Neglect of this
duty makes a Muslim a hypocrite and a sinner.
Since Islam is the Way of Honour, physical Jihad is governed by strict rules - by a code of honour(2). Indeed, the fighters of Islam (Mujahideen) were the first in the world to fight according to such honourable rules, and following this code of honour is obligatory. Because of this, it is correct and fitting to call such fighters honourable warriors, and Jihad the Way of the Honourable Warrior.
The history of the spread of Islam is the history of peoples being impressed by the nobility of the fighters of Islam, and the honour, the civilized nature, of Islam itself, and converting to Islam willingly. The peoples of the West do not at present understand this - and so have not begun to understand what Islam is - because they have not been presented with the simple, wonderful truth.
A perfect example of this truth is the return of the Prophet Muhammad to Makkah at the head of a ten thousand strong army, following years of exile and fighting. Even before his exile from Makkah, the Quraish had taunted him - he had been spat upon, stoned, laughed at. But on his return, he entered the citadel of his enemies alone, and asked them: 'O assembly of Quraish! What do you say? What do you think I will do to you?'
"We hope you will do what is good", they replied.
"I say what my brother Yusuf once said. He said: '(There shall be) no reproof against you this day. May Allah forgive you, for He is the most Merciful of the merciful."
So it was that his former enemies willingly embraced Islam, and accepted him as their leader, overwhelmed as they were by his personal example - by his nobility, his honour. For he was a living example of the honour and truth of Islam.
Compare this to the example of Alexander 'the Great' who ordered the population of whole cities killed. Compare the example of the honourable warriors of Islam to the warriors commanded by Agamemnon when they sacked the citadel of Troy. Compare the conduct of Salah al-Din (Saladin) and his warriors during the Crusades with that of the Crusaders themselves, with Salah al-Din respecting Christian and Jewish places of worship, and the Crusaders wantonly desecrating Churches, destroying Mosques and persecuting Jews. No wonder the Christians in the Palestine of the time looked to Salah al-Din for protection, for they thought the Crusaders were barbarians.
History is replete with conquerors and armies who 'overstepped the mark'
and who thus acted dishonourably and so dishonoured themselves. The one
and only exception are the Chiefs and armies of Islam - who went into battle
with the nobility of the noble Quran and the example of the Prophet
Muhammad living in their hearts, as alive for them as it was for the very
first Muslims, for one of the many wonderful things about Islam is that
they had the noble Quran exactly, word for word, as the Prophet
Muhammad recited it, just as we have today.
In the same way, the history of the decline of Islam is the history of the decline of honour: of rulers abandoning honour, failing the follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad, failing to control themselves, and thus giving in to their own desires, lusts and whims.
Expressed in the same simple way, Islam itself is a guide to the truths
of Existence - the truth about life and death and what is beyond: truths
which we can apprehend and understand if we use and develop the reason
we are gifted with.
Abdul Aziz
1421 AH
2. These rules are evident in many Hadith,
and in the letters and sermons of Ali Ibn Abu Talib, especially in the
advice Ali gave to his Soldiers, Army Commanders and the letter given to
Maalik when Ali appointed him Governor of Egypt. (See Nahjul Balagha
- usually translated "The Peak of Eloquence").