Is There an Islamic Way of War?
Is There an Islamic Way of War?
by Major Mehar Omar Khan
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Times have surely changed since that noon of March 10, 1982, when President Ronald Reagan dedicated the March 22nd launch of the Columbia Space Shuttle to the valiant Afghans and termed their struggle (Jihad) against the occupation forces of Soviet Union as a representation of ‘man’s highest aspirations for freedom’. While I remorsefully recognize any nation’s right to change and chop morality in the service of supreme national interest, I refuse to respect those dishonest historians and scare-mongering ‘experts’ who consider it their right to drag a great faith and its messenger into this ugly fight over heaps of sands that hide a lot of oil.
I profess and practice the same great faith as Osama bin Laden and yet the country that I have pledged my life to has lost more than 2500 soldiers and tens of thousands of civilians in our hot pursuit of Bin Laden’s gang over the last ten years. Thousands of Muslims across the world have died in the bloodshed caused by large armies of proud nations and small bands of determined fanatics resolved to bomb themselves into paradise. To say that any religion, let alone Islam, can condone or approve killing of innocent bystanders is not only ridiculous but also a lie that has already had catastrophic consequences for humanity. This wholesale branding and stereotyping of a faith, that essentially is a literal extension of Judeo-Christian religious tradition, has pitched two sister civilizations against each other. Evil arguments and wicked debates nurtured in the dark hatcheries of criminal minds have engendered seemingly insurmountable levels of misunderstanding, distrust and animosity.
Fear mongering has become the fastest growing industry over the last ten years in the global fight against terrorism. Thousands of books and articles written by self-proclaimed terror experts, war correspondents and regional gurus have perpetrated intellectual sabotage on the unsuspecting minds of readers and viewers. No limits seem to have been respected in the exercise of intelligence and intellect in defining the ‘enemy’. With dehumanization of faceless terrorists, many a legitimate freedom struggle and a whole faith professed by no less than 1.5 billion people have been condemned. Unfortunately, countless sane minds have fallen prey to the vagaries of dishonest words and perverted pictures.
Download the full article: Is There an Islamic Way of War?
Major Mehar Omar Khan, Pakistan Army, is currently a student at the US Army Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. He has served as a peacekeeper in Sierra Leone, a Brigade GSO-III, an instructor at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, and as Chief of Staff (Brigade Major) of an infantry brigade. He has also completed the Command and Staff Course at Pakistan’s Command and Staff College in Quetta.
