“Sold down the river”--cheated or deceived. (1)

High Cost of Ignorance

Ø    ig-no-rance  (ignr-ns)n. The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.

According to the common understanding of the word, as well as to the defining of it by the American Dictionary, to state that someone is ignorant on a topic is to state that that one is “uneducated, unenlightened, unread, unschooled, untaught, untutored” on the said topic. 

Ø      be-night-ed     (bi-nitid)adj. 1. Overtaken by night or darkness. 2. Being in a state of moral or intellectual darkness; unenlightened. 

Congruently, to state that one is benighted on a topic is to state one is unread on a topic. As such, any statements or summations that one makes on that topic, one makes them strictly on supposition, which is absent the benefit of sound conclusions arrived at only after a thorough examination of the facts on the said topic. 

Statements or summations made absent such an examination of the facts are clearly not statements or summations made that are “free from illusions or false beliefs.” (Enlightened: American Dictionary.)  

Hence, when defining the condition our leaders lead this nation and the troops under their command to with respect to the religion that spawned our present war,  feeds and fuels it today; which, lest addressed forcefully, will fan its fighters, “al-Qaeda’s” mujahideen, on to the world dominance that is Allah-assured to them, my choice of using the word “Ignorance”. 

Whom are troops our fighting? In short, the troops of Allah. 

Few, if any, would argue that Mujahid (Islamic fighter) Usamah bin Ladin and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi are (one, now in the “was” department) enemies of our nation. Most also know, they are only two members of a much larger group of Islamic fighters known as the mujahideen (multiple Islamic fighters). (2.) 

These Islamic fighters fight as representatives of Allah. 

As such, as Allah commands all able-bodied Muslims to do, they are fighting in the way of Allah. Carrying out Allah’s orders to them that command them to do so until the Day of Judgment or until the religion is Allah’s only. 

Hence, the following hadith, commonly quoted by Mujahid bin Ladin: 

SAHIH BUKHARI, BOOK 2: Belief

Volume 1, Book 2, Number 24:

Narrated Ibn 'Umar:

Allah's Apostle said: "I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle, and offer the prayers perfectly and give the obligatory charity, so if they perform a [sic] that, then they save their lives an [sic] property from me except for Islamic laws and then their reckoning (accounts) will be done by Allah." (3.)

Moreover, Allah has told his troops, he uses their hands--the hands of the mujahideen--to bring his punishment upon the unbelievers, as the following verse declares:

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YUSUFALI: Fight them, and Allah will punish them by your hands, cover them with shame, help you (to victory) over them, heal the breasts of Believers,

PICKTHALI: Fight them! Allah will chastise them at your hands, and He will lay them low and give you victory over them, and He will heal the breasts of folk who are believers. (4.)

So when Allah defines punishment for those waging war against him and his messenger, it is understood that punishment is intended for any forces opposing or warring against those who represent Allah’s hands here on earth. 

Those representing Allah’s hands here on earth are none other than those who yield their lives and their substances to Allah (as all Muslims are Allah-ordered to do). They are Allah’s troops, the Islamic fighters--the mujahideen. 

With that in mind, what does Allah instruct his “hands” here below to do; hands at work in Iraq, here at home, and elsewhere? 

From the Qur’an, basic info on Islam our leaders failed to inform their troops on. Basic instructions all Muslims are obligated to follow, or they will face Allah’s fierce punishment in this life and hell fire in the next.  

Basic fabric, we could say, that forms the psyche of all who take the religion of Islam to heart, word for word, and live it out just that way--just as Allah and “his Messenger” commands the believers to do:

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YUSUFALI: The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter;(5.)

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SHAKIR: When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them. (Or other extremities [dl])

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YUSUFALI: This because they contended against Allah and His Messenger: If any contend against Allah and His Messenger, Allah is strict in punishment. (6.)

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YUSUFALI: O ye who believe! Do your duty to Allah, seek the means of approach unto Him, and strive with might and main in his cause: that ye may prosper.

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YUSUFALI: As to those who reject Faith,- if they had everything on earth, and twice repeated, to give as ransom for the penalty of the Day of Judgment, it would never be accepted of them, theirs would be a grievous penalty.

PICKTHAL: As for those who disbelieve, lo! if all that is in the earth were theirs, and as much again therewith, to ransom them from the doom on the Day of Resurrection, it would not be accepted from them. Theirs will be a painful doom.
SHAKIR: Surely (as for) those who disbelieve, even if they had what is in the earth, all of it, and the like of it with it, that they might ransom themselves with it from the punishment of the day of resurrection, it shall not be accepted from them, and they shall have a painful punishment.  

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YUSUFALI: As to the thief, Male or female, cut off his or her hands: a punishment by way of example, from Allah, for their crime: and Allah is Exalted in power.  

(Truth or not, our troops and our nation are charged with robbing the wealth of the Iraqis.)

Considering the above, it is easy for us to see at least a charge or two that Pfc. Kristian Menchaca and Pfc. Thomas Tucker were found guilty of, according to the Law of Allah, which is the Law that guides Iraq.

Hence, the painful punishment the two of ours recently received.

When feasible, it is common in The Law of Allah for punishments to follows the guidelines of cutting off the bodily member that contributed to the wrong done.

A clear example of this is seen for one charged with the crime of theft. It is also worth mentioning here, if the Muslims are true to Allah and thus enact his law, those held accountable to Allah’s law when in an Islamic state such as Iraq include the Muslim and the non-Muslim alike.

Thus, if the charged, “has [sic] reached puberty, is sane, is acting voluntarily,” if found guilty of the crime of theft, the punishment for first offenders is amputation of the right hand.

If they are charged and found guilty of the same a second time, Allah orders his agents on earth to then amputated the left foot. “If a third time, then his left hand; and if he steals again, then his right foot.” (7.)

In short, whatever bodily member helped perform the wrong act done, Allah requires his “hands” on earth to sever that bodily member from the body of the guilty.

Knowing that, we can easily understand why Allah orders his agents on earth to sever the feet, the hands, and the head of enemy combatants: the head helps the warrior fight, as do his hands, as do his feet.

As do his eyes.

Add to that, to Allah, and thus to the Muslim, there is no sin worse than the sin of unbelief--unbelief in Allah and in his Messenger, Muhammad. (8.)

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the church at Rome states “With the heart a man believes.” (9.)

Safe to say then, from Allah’s view, the heart is the bodily member that contributes to the sin of unbelief.

Enough said.

Why must our troops and we refuse to remain any longer ignorant on Islam—as if that is even deserving of the asking?

Surely, there’s no need for me to answer that.  

One thing I will answer to, however, is a few questions I received from one reader. He was clearly incensed at me, after reading my last statements on Islam, incensed at my charging our leaders with leaving the troops in their command ignorant on Islam, thus he railed at me with the following question:  

“What makes you an expert on . . . Islam?  One muslim [sic] friend?  Reading some web pages? “ 

Well, to my “ one muslim” friends: as I have told them numerous times, their help to me in my efforts to understand the religion that defines this war, which is the religion my “Muslim” (in name only) friends were born and raised in, I count as inestimable.  

To those web pages: if they are Qur’an and Sunnah accurate, if we are to understand Islam, those “few web pages” are indeed worth a visit or two.  

As to what made me an expert on Islam: I don't recall stating I was an expert on Islam.  

I am, however, a student of those who are.  

Chief amongst those experts I count as my tutors in Islam are first Allah and "His Messenger," Mohammad--The two were incredibly plain spoken.  

They left little, if anything, to the chance of lacking perfect clarity. As is seen in all the aforementioned statements they made. 

Clarity, which the following hadith provides an acute example of: 

Volume 9, Book 84, Number 57:

Narrated 'Ikrima:

Some Zanadiqa (atheists) were brought to 'Ali and he burnt them. The news of this event, reached Ibn 'Abbas who said, "If I had been in his place, I would not have burnt them, as Allah's Apostle forbade it, saying, 'Do not punish anybody with Allah's punishment (fire).' I would have killed them according to the statement of Allah's Apostle, 'Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.'"

Volume 9, Book 84, Number 64:

Narrated 'Ali:

Whenever I tell you a narration from Allah's Apostle, by Allah, I would rather fall down from the sky than ascribe a false statement to him, but if I tell you something between me and you (not a Hadith) then it was indeed a trick (i.e., I may say things just to cheat my enemy). No doubt I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "During the last days there will appear some young foolish people who will say the best words but their faith will not go beyond their throats (i.e. they will have no faith) and will go out from (leave) their religion as an arrow goes out of the game. So, where-ever you find them, kill them, for who-ever kills them shall have reward on the Day of Resurrection." (10.)

(You see what I mean?

So much like the two. I swear. ‘ Leaves one shaking one’s head.

And me . . . well, being the westerner that I am, I'm like saying, “‘Abu al-Qasim,’ like, what are you trying to say?” [11.])  

Beyond Allah and his messenger, I am also the student of the Sahabah--those companions of the prophet who lived while the prophet was alive, and became reliable transmitters of his ways, actions, and judgments.

In addition to being the student of the Companions of the "Prophet," I am likewise the attentive student of those who specialize in the field of hadith. Those specialist include Islamic scholars such as Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Nasa 'i, Ibn Majah, Abu Dawud, Ibn Kathir, Dhahabi, and Nawawi--all widely accepted as reliable and well versed scholars on Islam.

In addition to their contributions and instruction, I am likewise the student of Tabari. His work “The History of al-Tabari” is "by common consent the most important universal history produced in the world on Islam.”  (12.)

Tabari was a student of Ibn (son of) Ishaq. Ibn Ishaq was the author of the first and most important books on the "Prophet."  He too, highly regarded as one, as we westerners would say, "in the know," when it comes to Islam.

Thus, in my effort to understand the religion that is costing us so dearly now, I am a student of all the aforementioned.

Beyond what I learn from all the above, as noted earlier, I do learn from my friendships with those who have been born into Islam, raised on it, know it--north, east, south, and west.

Nevertheless, absent the tutoring from all the mentioned here and others, prior to becoming their attentive student, I was as far too many westerners are:  shamefully, plum ignorant on Islam.

As is standing practice with all work posted at these web sites, if anyone can prove my statements wrong, feel free to do so.

Fair enough?

 
To be continued . . . .

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Notes 

1.  Sold down the river - meaning. 

2.  USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts Islamic Glossary Home. 

3.  USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Book 2: Belief . 

4.  USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts Translations of the Qur'an, Chapter 9: AL-TAWBA (REPENTANCE, DISPENSATION).

5.  USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts  Translations of the Qur'an, Chapter 5:  AL-MAEDA (THE TABLE, THE TABLE SPREAD). 

6.  See 5, Translations of the Qur'an, Chapter 8: ,AL-ANFAL (SPOILS OF WAR, BOOTY) . 

7.  Reliance of the Traveller: The Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law Umdat Al-Salik,  pp. 613-14.

8.  USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts Translations of the Qur'an, Chapter 4:  An-Nisa (WOMEN).  [Surah 4, Qur’an]: 48 & 116).

9.  Holy Bible, Romans 10:10. 

10.  USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts ( Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Book 84: Dealing with Apostates ). 

11.  The History of al-Tabari, Translated and Annotated by W. Montgomery Watt and M.V. McDonald, Vol. VIII, The Victory of Islam, p. 141: Muhammad’s kunya, his patriotic or name of honor, as in father of; Tabari, Vol. VI, Muhammad at Mecca, p. 15. 

12.    Tabari, Vol. VI., Preface.