Author: Emil Lazarian

ARMENIA NOT TO DEPLOY FOREIGN BASES ON ITS TERRITORY – ENVOY
Interfax news agency
3 Aug 04
Moscow, 3 August: The Armenian ambassador to Russia, Armen Smbatyan,
has confirmed that his country has no plans to allow the establishment
of foreign military bases on its territory.
“The possibility of deploying third countries’ bases in Armenia is out
of the question. There is simply no such issue on Armenia’s foreign
policy agenda,” Smbatyan told Interfax on Tuesday (3 August).
Commenting on observers’ opinions on the rivalry between Russia and
the United States in former Soviet republics, including the Caucasus,
the ambassador said that these allegations lack any sound grounds.
“In my opinion, remarks about a collision of the interests of Russia,
the United States and Europe on the former Soviet territory are
exaggerated. Caucasian countries are primarily guided by their own
interests while developing their policy,” the diplomat said.
Yerevan’s foreign policy is driven by “Armenia’s current interests” as
well, he said.
Commenting on the situation in the CIS, Smbatyan suggested that
integration processes within this organization have been proceeding
slowly, particularly in the economic sphere. “A revision of values
needs to take place. It is necessary to take a new approach to
building relations between the CIS countries, as well as to accelerate
the development of economic relations,” he said.
Smbatyan said he shares Russia’s opinion that “it is necessary to
centre efforts on raising the level of relations between the CIS
nations”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Mother Jones, CA
Aug 3 2004
Christians Leaving Iraq
The religious leaders of Iraq’s small Christian community have
long-downplayed the fact that many Iraqi-Christians are leaving Iraq.
But Sunday’s coordinated attacks in Baghdad and Mosul on five
churches — which, unlike mosques, have not previously been targeted
— will no doubt strengthen the resolve of Iraqi-Christians thinking
of leaving Iraq and convince others of the necessity of doing so.
Iraq’s Christians — Chaldean Catholics; Assyrians; Roman and Syriac
Catholics; Greek, Syriac and Armenian Orthodox; Angicans and others
— make up 3 percent of the population, and are concentrated in the
cities. Of course, the lack of security has been a problem for all
Iraqis, whatever their religion, but the country’s Christians feel
particularly vulnerable to attack. For one, many within the
insurgency view the American-led coalition as a Christian crusade and
Iraq’s Christian community as its supporters and collaborators. Shops
selling alcohol, many of them owned by Christians, have been
attacked, their merchandise destroyed, and their owners beaten and
even murdered. As the BBC reported last month, the Iraqi police
blamed the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army for the
attacks: “His men are no longer fighting American and interim Iraqi
government troops, and some suspect they are now channelling their
energies into a moral battle instead.”
Iraq’s national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie held Egyptian
militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi responsible for Sunday’s attacks on the
churches, which occurred during mass, killing 11 people and injuring
47: “Zarqawi and his extremists are basically trying to drive a wedge
between Muslims and Christians in Iraq. It’s clear they want to drive
Christians out of the country.” But as the Christian Science Monitor
reported last month:
“Not all Christians are killed by Islamic militants. Issaq [director
of international relations for the Assyrian Democratic Movement] has
compiled a list of 102 Christians killed since April 9, 2003. Some
were killed for selling alcohol; others for working with Americans as
translators or laundresses. (About 10 percent were killed by
coalition troops, casualties of postwar violence.) Many were
kidnapped and killed for money, a fate that befalls Muslims, too.
But sometimes it’s hard to separate kidnappings from religious
murders. Among Iraqis, there’s a widespread belief that Christians
are wealthy. This stereotype, too, can kill.”
Iraq’s Christians had their churches destroyed and themselves
forcibly relocated under Saddam Hussein, but they didn’t experience
the sort of persecution that the majority Shia, not to say the Kurds,
have been subjected to. Considered less politically threatening by
the Baath Party than Islamic minorities and the Shia majority,
Christians were granted a greater degree of religious freedom in
return for their political obedience. Relations between Muslims and
Christians have generally been placid.
Today, Iraqi Christians are upset about what they say is inadequate
representation in the current government (a claim echoed by every
group) and they fear the creation of an Islamist state. Some
Christian leaders say that a separate Christian province is necessary
to protect the country’s minority. Aside from the obvious failure of
coalition troops to provide security, the United States is blamed by
some Christians for promoting Islamic rule in Iraq, where Christians
date their presence to the first century. As one Assyrian-Iraqi told
UPI in early June:
“The American-funded TV station, Al Iraqia, broadcasts Muslim
programs four times every day and for two hours each Friday but
nothing for the other religions. The recent inauguration of the new
government was opened by a Muslim mullah reciting a long passage and
a prayer from the Koran, but none of our priests were invited. Why do
they do this? Why do the Americans promote Muslims? They need to
promote equality and democracy and freedom, not Muslim dictatorship.”
Among the Iraqi-Christians who have emigrated, some have settled in
neighboring countries like Syria, while others have received asylum
in Australia, North America, and Europe. Australia’s Iraqi-born
population, which includes the various Christian dominations as well
as Kurds and Jews, has grown dramatically since Gulf War. In 1991,
there were 5,186 Iraqi-born persons in Australia, but in 2001, the
last year for which census figures are available there were 24,819.
Among Iraqi-Armenians, who make up one of the smaller Christian
communities, some have emigrated to the Republic of Armenia.
The number of Christians seeking to emigrate is unknown, but the
estimated 800,000 that live in Iraq today represent a marked decline
from the 1987 census that registered 1.4 million Iraqi-Christians.
Shmael Benjamin a member of the political bureau of the Assyrian
Democratic Movement told Reuters: “We’re the Red Indians of Iraq. We
were the majority, today we’re the minority, our percentage is
reducing day by day in this country.” Perhaps, as Slate puts it,
“with Iraq’s Shiites and Kurds having earlier been targeted by
bombings, it was probably only a matter of time before the country’s
Christians would get their turn.” But given the previous attacks on
Christians, the continuing lack of security for everyone, and fears
of a future Islamist state, Iraqi’s Christians are more likely to
draw the conclusion that it is time to pack their bags.
— Nonna Gorilovskaya

20% OF EXPECTED HARVEST OF VEGETABLES ALREADY GATHERED IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, August 3 (Noyan Tapan). About 106.2 thousand tons of
vegetables, or 20% of expected harvest, have already been gathered in
Armenia as of July 30, which is more by 7,000 tons in comparison with
the index of the same period of last year. According to the operative
data, the main volumes of harvest were gathered in the Armavir region
(55,000 tons) and the Ararat region (42,000 tons). According to the
Plant Growing Department of the RA Ministry of Agriculture, it is
expected that 553,150 thousand tons of vegetables will be harvested
this year, which is less by 16,000 tons than the same index of last
year.
11,000 tons of vegetable crops, or 10% of the expected harvest, were
gathered as of the same day. It was mentioned that 5,350 thousand tons
of fruits, which is less by 3.5 thousand tons than the index of the
same period of last year, have already been harvested. It is expected
that a total of 131.3 thousand tons of fruits will be harvested this
year, which is more by 30,000 tons than the index of 2003.

ArmenPress
Aug 3 2004
PUPPET SHOWS FOR ARMENIAN, GEORGIAN AND AZERI CHILDREN
YEREVAN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS: Save the Children is implementing
Children Tolerance Programs in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. In
all three countries half hour 36 puppet shows will be developed. In
Armenia they will be aired on H2. The scenarios will be translated in
all three languages and puppets will be in national clothes.
According to Armenian office head Irina Saghoian, the shows are
not involved with politics and have educational nature teaching to be
honest, forgiving, also teaches how to involve in negotiations and
effectively communication with people of different culture. The
program will continue for one year.
Save the Children has representation in 40 countries of the world.
The Armenian office opened in 1993. By now a total of 420 project
have been implemented covering 40 percent of the republic’s
territory.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agassi, Moya win; Schuettler, Pavel eliminated in Cincinnati
.c The Associated Press
CINCINNATI (AP) – Former two-time champion Andre Agassi advanced to
the second round of the Cincinnati Masters when Mardy Fish retired in
the third set with a back injury on Monday.
Agassi, the last back-to-back winner in 1995-96, was leading 4-6, 7-6
(3), 4-1 when Fish quit.
Agassi isn’t sure whether this will be his final year on the tour and
is hoping to be back in form in time for the U.S. Open. Seeded 11th,
he has recovered from a sore hip that bothered him this summer.
His goal in Cincinnati is to build up confidence.
“I need all these matches now to do that,” Agassi said. “I’ve got
to string a few together now. So it would be really nice to see my
game elevate as the tournament progresses.”
In other matches, 2002 champion Carlos Moya, French Open winner Gaston
Gaudio and 14th-seeded Marat Safin also progressed, but No. 8 Rainer
Schuettler, No. 16 Andrei Pavel and 2000 champion Thomas Enqvist were
eliminated.
Fish was the beaten finalist last year to Andy Roddick, and had won
his only previous match against Agassi in the San Jose semifinals in
February.
He broke 10th-seeded Agassi in the ninth game and completed the first
set on his fourth ace. In the second-set tiebreak, Agassi broke for
2-1 and the 7-3 clincher. But at 1-1 in the third, Agassi won three
straight games before Fish’s injury worsened.
Carlos Moya, who beat No. 1-seeded Lleyton Hewitt in the 2002 final,
overcame British qualifier Arvind Parmar 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 by winning the
final four games of the match, and No. 9-seeded Gaudio dispatched
U.S. wild card Jan-Michael Gambill 6-4, 6-2.
Safin crushed Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-0 for his first
tour win in two months since the French Open. Safin had lost his last
three first-round matches, including at Wimbledon.
Tommy Haas broke in the last game to beat German countryman Schuettler
6-3, 1-6, 6-4 for the first time in five career meetings.
“I finally got a win,” Haas said. “It certainly wasn’t a pretty
match. In the end, it came down to a couple of points here and
there.”
Schuettler, also ranked No. 8, lost his sixth consecutive match on
hard courts since February.
Haas next faces Sargis Sargsian of Armenia, who beat Swiss qualifier
Michel Kratochvil 2-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Wayne Arthurs of Australia, a late replacement in the draw for David
Sanchez of Spain, upset 16th-seeded Pavel of Romania 7-6 (5), 6-3. The
first-round loss was Pavel’s fourth in five appearances in the
tournament.
Sweden’s Enqvist was ousted by Britain’s Greg Rusedski 3-6, 6-3 6-2.
Rusedski had to qualify, and he’ll play Gaudio next.
Argentines Guillermo Coria and David Nalbandian, set to be seeded
Nos. 3 and 6, withdrew with respective shoulder and elbow injuries.
08/02/04 18:44 EDT
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

“KARABAKH” FILM OF GEORGIAN AND ABKHAZIAN DOCUMENTALISTS SHOWN IN
ARTSAKH
STEPANAKERT, August 2 (Noyan Tapan). Lately the “Karabakh” 60-minute
documental film of Georgian and Abkhazian cinematographic workers has
been shown in Shushi and Stepanakert. The film, the main heroes of
which are refugees, represents the consequences of the Karabakh
conflict for both sides. At the discussion of the film Mamuka
Kubaradze, the Georgian co-author of the film, mentioned that they
wanted to show the fates of people, which are very much alike, and to
help the sides in making right conclusions. According to Svetlana
Gorsaya, an Abkhazian cinematographic worker, the authors of the film
restrained themselves from proposing any concrete solutions of
settlement of the conflict, their main goal was to etablish peace by
means of acquaintance and mutual understanding of the sides.

zawya
Bahrain mulling gas deal with Iran, Qatar: report
02 August 2004
Tehran — Bahrain plans to sign agreements with Iran and Qatar next year for
the purchase of gas, a Bahraini press report said, citing a finance ministry
official.
The projects involve pipe laying under the Persian Gulf, which is expected
to finish by 2009, Bahrain Tribune said on its website, quoting
Undersecretary for Finance and National Economy, Shaikh Ibrahim bin Khalifa
al-Khalifa.
It put the cost of the projects at one billion Bahraini dinars. Shaikh
Ibrahim said talks with Iran and Qatar were `progressing smoothly and would
be completed by the year-end`, Bahrain Tribune said.
It said, “Iran has affirmed its keenness to take part in the joint
investment project and provide investment options.”
The Itar-Tass news agency said last month that Iran had begun building a
140-km-long gas pipeline to Armenia. It said the two countries had signed an
agreement on the project worth around 120 million US dollars in May, when
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh visited Yerevan.
Under its provisions, Iran will be supplying 36 billion cubic meters of
natural gas to Armenia annually from 2007 through 2027. Itar-Tass, citing
OPEC sources in Vienna, said that the pipeline might be used to ship Iranian
gas to Georgia, Ukraine and farther on to Europe in the future.
Tehran has already a multi-billion-dollar contract with neighboring Turkey
to supply gas for 25 years. The gas flow was launched in December 2001 via a
2,577-kilometer pipeline, running from the northeastern city of Tabriz to
Ankara, which supplies gas from southern Iran near the Persian Gulf.
The contract has been a boon to Iran`s bid to become a sustainable gas
supplier to Turkey and Europe.
Looking for alternative markets, Tehran has held talks with the Persian Gulf
littoral states and the Central Asian nations for the sale of gas.
The country sits on the second largest proven gas reserves of the world
after Russia, which has been a headache for Iran by getting into, what is
feared to be, an unnecessary and costly competition.
© IRNA 2004
Article originally published by IRNA 02-Aug-04
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BIRTHRIGHT ARMENIA
Contact: Linda Yepoyan
[email protected]

July 30, 2004
BIRTHRIGHT ARMENIA CELEBRATES ITS INAUGURAL YEAR
Yerevan, Armenia – Armenian youth from a cross section of our diasporan
institutions came together, joined by the newly repatriated diasporan youth
and their Homeland peers, to celebrate the launch of a new and truly
forward thinking organization, Birthright Armenia/Depi Hayk. The inaugural
festivities, under the name ” Gateway 2004″, symbolizing the organizations’
promotion of an ever-widening bridge between the Diaspora and the Homeland,
was held on July 16th in Yerevan with lively dancing, food and drink.
“Gateway 2004” marks this non-profit’s first year of operations in Armenia.
It also served as a means to highlight the diversity of the first group of
young participants which Birthright Armenia/Depi Hayk sponsored from seven
different summer volunteer, cultural, and study programs serving our
diasporan youth. It was an unprecedented evening of unification and
networking in one, under the main “Journey of Self-Discovery” theme. The 40
Depi Hayk participants of 2004 and other diasporan attendees represented the
following organizations: Armenian Volunteer Corps, Armenian Students’
Association-NY, Armenian Assembly of America, Armenian Youth Federation,
Land and Culture Organization, Armenian Medical Association and the Armenian
Church Youth Organization of America, the University of Michigan Summer
Language Institute and the Christian Youth Mission to Armenia .
Welcoming the 160 plus attendees, Birthright Armenia founder Edele Hovnanian
commented that “It is refreshing to see a truly integrated group of youth
gathered together under one roof, all of whom understand the importance of
our presence here in the Homeland at this particular time in the history of
our building a nation-state”. She then introduced Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian to continue the welcome and opening remarks. Addressing the group,
Minister Oskanian stated:
“The first time I heard about the Depi Hayk program, I immediately jumped on
the idea, committing the Foreign Ministry to help this new organization in
any way necessary. This is the first step in really increasing the number
of diasporan youth who can experience the Homeland, and I am confident that
it will continue to grow and expand beyond North America to include young
people and groups from all over the world. This will enable young adults to
see Armenia, in all its beauty, to see its progress, to understand the good
and the bad, to take in everything that Armenia is at this moment.
The message I want to leave you with today is the following: please don’t
take what you see in Armenia today for granted. It took us a great deal to
build this and to keep this. We’ve come a long way since the early days of
independence. A long, long way. Our main source of pride should be this
Armenia. Believe in Armenia. Be committed to it. When you get back home,
stay involved, join efforts with others, influence your governments, and
become more engaged. Yes, there are many differences between the Diaspora
and the Homeland, as a result of many things like history and geography. The
result is different upbringing and different thought processes. We can
certainly bridge these gaps, and one of the best ways to do so is through
the younger generations. One of the most effective ways to do so is through
interaction among youth here on Armenian soil, so we can reach our goal and
say we are one nation, comprised of two entities, the Diaspora and the
Homeland. The two together through joint efforts will make Armenia the
place we will all be proud of.”
The Gateway 2004 celebration took place at the spacious art showroom of the
Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art – graciously offered to
Birthright Armenia by co-Founder Edward Balassanian. Live international
music was provided by Arsen Nercessian, a local musician with a
Latino/Calypso touch.
It is foreseen that “Gateway” celebrations will be an annual affair, to
capture the energy and spirit of Birthright Armenia/Depi Hayk efforts at the
peak of the summer programs, and to continually serve as a networking and
relationship building event for Armenian youth worldwide.
Birthright Armenia’s mission is to strengthen ties between the Homeland and
diasporan youth by affording them an opportunity to be a part of Armenia’s
daily life and to contribute to Armenia’s development through work, study
and volunteer experiences, while developing a renewed sense of Armenian
identity. This is accomplished by supporting and complementing the
initiatives of existing diasporan organizations that offer youth programs in
Armenia, and encouraging them to expand their offerings in depth and breath.
Birthright Armenia assists with travel fellowships, language instruction,
in-country seminars, orientation and excursions in exchange for community
service in Armenia. Please visit our Web site at
for more information.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanArmenian News
July 31 2004
PRESIDENT’S PRESS OFFICE REFUTES HEARSAY ON TRANSPOSITIONS IN
ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT AND RESIGNATION OF MAYOR OF YEREVAN
BAKU AUTHORITIES DID NOT SANCTION RALLY AGAINST ARMENIAN OFFICERS’
ARRIVAL IN AZERBAIJAN
HEARINGS ON COMPENSATION PAYMENT TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS BEGAN
IN CALIFORNIA
*********************************************************************
PRESIDENT’S PRESS OFFICE REFUTES HEARSAY ON TRANSPOSITIONS IN
ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT AND RESIGNATION OF MAYOR OF YEREVAN
31.07.2004 13:54
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President’s press office refuted the
reports of the local media about the forthcoming transpositions in
the Armenian government and the resignation of the Mayor of Yerevan.
As President’s Press Secretary Ashot Kocharian told Armenpress
agency, such rumors do not correspond to reality.
*********************************************************************
BAKU AUTHORITIES DID NOT SANCTION RALLY AGAINST ARMENIAN OFFICERS’
ARRIVAL IN AZERBAIJAN
31.07.2004 13:53
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Baku City Administration refused to give sanction
to the protest actions of the United Front Party of Azerbaijan (UFPA)
against the arrival of the Armenian servicemen for the participation
in NATO exercise this September. To remind, UFPA activists intended
to picket the Embassies of NATO member-states in early August. The
press release of the party states the City Administration’s deed as
“gross infraction” of the law on Freedom of Meetings. According to
Echo Baku newspaper, the final decision on the planned rally is to be
taken by UFPA leadership on August 2.
*********************************************************************
HEARINGS ON COMPENSATION PAYMENT TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS BEGAN
IN CALIFORNIA
31.07.2004 13:51
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The final hearings of the case “victims of the
Armenian Genocide against New York Life Insurance Company” began in
the Californian Court on July 30. The Court is expected to decree on
the payment of $20 million to the heirs of thousands of Armenians,
who insured their lives in American Insurance Companies and then fell
victims of the Genocide in Ottoman Turkey. To remind, the company
officially recognized the validity of about 2300 insurance policies.
According to the lawyers, Liberty reports, the moral factor in this
case is more important that the material one, since the fact of the
Genocide is for the first time to be recognized in legal form.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Frontpagemag.com
July 30 2004
The 9/11 Commission and Jihad
By Andrew G. Bostom
FrontPageMagazine.com | July 30, 2004
While I see some limited evidence of progress in the 9/11
Commissioner’s understanding of the global jihad we are facing,
ultimately their report resorted to the same tired and ahistorical
canards that distort the mainstream tradition – indeed which are
central to Islam – of jihad war. The report mentions the ad
nauseatingly referenced Hanbali jurist Ibn Taymiyya (d.1328), who
despite his Muslim orthodoxy, now serves as a convenient prop for
those who contend, either deceitfully or in blissful ignorance, that
jihad war is not a main tenet of traditional Islam. Once again a
distorted historical nexus is made between Ibn Taymiyya, but not
countless other seminal jurists and theologians who expressed
identical opinions, throughout the history of Islamic civilization,
and 20th century ideologues like Sayyid Qutb, and the Muslim
Brotherhood movement. This flimsy construct, reiterated in the 9/11
Commission Report, is completely untenable.
Jihad wars have been waged continuously for well over a millennium,
through the present, because jihad, which means `to strive in the
path of Allah,’ embodies an ideology and a jurisdiction. Both were
formally conceived by Muslim jurisconsults and theologians from the
8th to 9th centuries onward, based on their interpretation of
Qur’anic verses (for e.g., 9:5,6; 9:29; 4:76-79; 2: 214-15; 8:39-42),
and long chapters in the Traditions (i.e., `hadith,’ acts and sayings
of the Prophet Muhammad, especially those recorded by al-Bukhari [d.
869] and Muslim [d. 874]). The consensus on the nature of jihad from
all four schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence (i.e., Maliki,
Hanbali, Hanafi, and Shafi’i) is clear:
Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani (d. 996), Maliki jurist 1
Jihad is a precept of Divine institution. Its performance by certain
individuals may dispense others from it. We Malikis [one of the four
schools of Muslim jurisprudence] maintain that it is preferable not
to begin hostilities with the enemy before having invited the latter
to embrace the religion of Allah except where the enemy attacks
first. They have the alternative of either converting to Islam or
paying the poll tax (jizya), short of which war will be declared
against them.
Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328), Hanbali jurist 2
Since lawful warfare is essentially jihad and since its aim is that
the religion is God’s entirely and God’s word is uppermost, therefore
according to all Muslims, those who stand in the way of this aim must
be fought. As for those who cannot offer resistance or cannot fight,
such as women, children, monks, old people, the blind, handicapped
and their likes, they shall not be killed unless they actually fight
with words (e.g. by propaganda) and acts (e.g. by spying or otherwise
assisting in the warfare).
>From (primarily) the Hanafi school (as given in the Hidayah) 3

It is not lawful to make war upon any people who have never before
been called to the faith, without previously requiring them to
embrace it, because the Prophet so instructed his commanders,
directing them to call the infidels to the faith, and also because
the people will hence perceive that they are attacked for the sake of
religion, and not for the sake of taking their property, or making
slaves of their children, and on this consideration it is possible
that they may be induced to agree to the call, in order to save
themselves from the troubles of war… If the infidels, upon receiving
the call, neither consent to it nor agree to pay capitation tax, it
is then incumbent on the Muslims to call upon God for assistance, and
to make war upon them, because God is the assistant of those who
serve Him, and the destroyer of His enemies, the infidels, and it is
necessary to implore His aid upon every occasion; the Prophet,
moreover, commands us so to do.
al-Mawardi (d. 1058 ), Shafi’i jurist 4
The mushrikun [infidels] of Dar al-Harb (the arena of battle) are of
two types: First, those whom the call of Islam has reached, but they
have refused it and have taken up arms. The amir of the army has the
option of fighting them…in accordance with what he judges to be in
the best interest of the Muslims and most harmful to the mushrikun…
Second, those whom the invitation to Islam has not reached, although
such persons are few nowadays since Allah has made manifest the call
of his Messenger…[I]t is forbidden to…begin an attack before
explaining the invitation to Islam to them, informing them of the
miracles of the Prophet and making plain the proofs so as to
encourage acceptance on their part; if they still refuse to accept
after this, war is waged against them and they are treated as those
whom the call has reached….
In Khaldun (d. 1406), jurist (Maliki), renowned philosopher,
historian, and sociologist, summarized these consensus opinions from
five centuries of prior Muslim jurisprudence with regard to the
uniquely Islamic institution of jihad:
In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of
the universalism of the [Muslim] mission and [the obligation to]
convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force…The
other religious groups did not have a universal mission, and the holy
war was not a religious duty for them, save only for purposes of
defense…Islam is under obligation to gain power over other nations.5
By the time of the classical Muslim historian al-Tabari’s death in
923, jihad wars had expanded the Muslim empire from Portugal to the
Indian subcontinent. Subsequent Muslim conquests continued in Asia,
as well as on Christian eastern European lands. The Christian
kingdoms of Armenia, Byzantium, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia,
Herzegovina, Croatia, and Albania – in addition to parts of Poland
and Hungary – were also conquered and Islamized. When the Muslim
armies were stopped at the gates of Vienna in 1683, over a millennium
of jihad had transpired. These tremendous military successes spawned
a triumphalist jihad literature. Muslim historians recorded in detail
the number of infidels slain or enslaved, the cities and villages
which were pillaged, and the lands, treasure, and movable goods
seized. Christian (Coptic, Armenian, Jacobite, Greek, Slav, etc.), as
well as Hebrew sources, and even the scant Hindu and Buddhist
writings that survived the ravages of the Muslim conquests,
independently validate this narrative and complement the Muslim
perspective by providing testimonies of the suffering of the
non-Muslim victims of jihad wars.
But surely the much-lionized Sufi tradition offers a healthy
corrective to the so-called `narrow strain’ of Islam epitomized by
Ibn Taymiyya, and the consensus opinions (cardinal examples cited
above) of many other classical scholars representing all four main
schools of Sunni Islamic Law. Indeed, the scholar and theologian
W.M. Watt wrote that al-Ghazali (d. 1111), the famous theologian,
philosopher, and paragon of mystical Sufism, had been:
acclaimed in both the East and West as the greatest Muslim after
Muhammad, and he is by no means unworthy of that dignity…He brought
orthodoxy and mysticism into closer contact…the theologians became
more ready to accept the mystics as respectable, while the mystics
were more careful to remain within the bounds of orthodoxy. 6
The 9/11 Commissioners, and those who accept the views stated in
their report, should read the lauded al-Ghazali’s writings on jihad
war to understand that they differ not one whit from the opinions
expressed by the demonized Ibn Taymiyya. Below is what al-Ghazali
actually wrote about jihad war, and the treatment of the vanquished
non-Muslim [dhimmi] peoples (from the Wagjiz, written in 1101 C.E.):
…one must go on jihad (i.e., warlike razzias or raids) at least once
a year…one may use a catapult against them [non-Muslims] when they
are in a fortress, even if among them are women and children. One
may set fire to them and/or drown them…If a person of the Ahl
al-Kitab [People of The Book – Jews and Christians, typically] is
enslaved, his marriage is [automatically] revoked. A woman and her
child taken into slavery should not be separated…One may cut down
their trees…One must destroy their useless books. Jihadists may
take as booty whatever they decide…they may steal as much food as
they need…. 7
The Commissioners might also find particularly edifying the writings
of two contemporary Muslim scholars of jihad, the late Majid
Khadduri, and Bassam Tibi. Majid Khadurri wrote the following in
1955:
Thus the jihad may be regarded as Islam’s instrument for carrying out
its ultimate objective by turning all people into believers, if not
in the prophethood of Muhammad (as in the case of the dhimmis), at
least in the belief of God. The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have
declared `some of my people will continue to fight victoriously for
the sake of the truth until the last one of them will combat the
anti-Christ.’ Until that moment is reached the jihad, in one form or
another will remain as a permanent obligation upon the entire Muslim
community. It follows that the existence of a dar al-harb is
ultimately outlawed under the Islamic jural order; that the dar
al-Islam permanently under jihad obligation until the dar al-harb is
reduced to non-existence; and that any community accepting certain
disabilities- must submit to Islamic rule and reside in the dar
al-Islam or be bound as clients to the Muslim community. The
universality of Islam, in its all embracing creed, is imposed on the
believers as a continuous process of warfare, psychological and
political if not strictly military. 8
And in 1996, Bassam Tibi wrote this:
At its core, Islam is a religious mission to all humanity. Muslims
are religiously obliged to disseminate the Islamic faith throughout
the world. `We have sent you forth to all mankind’ (Q. 34:28). If
non-Muslims submit to conversion or subjugation, this call (da’wa)
can be pursued peacefully. If they do not, Muslims are obliged to
wage war against them. In Islam, peace requires that non-Muslims
submit to the call of Islam, either by converting or by accepting the
status of a religious minority (dhimmi) and paying the imposed poll
tax, jizya. World peace, the final stage of the da’wa, is reached
only with the conversion or submission of all mankind to
Islam…Muslims believe that expansion through war is not aggression
but a fulfillment of the Qur’anic command to spread Islam as a way to
peace. The resort to force to disseminate Islam is not war (harb), a
word that is used only to describe the use of force by non-Muslims.
Islamic wars are not hurub (the plural of harb) but rather futuhat,
acts of `opening’ the world to Islam and expressing Islamic jihad.
Relations between dar al-Islam, the home of peace, and dar al-harb,
the world of unbelievers, nevertheless take place in a state of war,
according to the Qur’an and to the authoritative commentaries of
Islamic jurists. Unbelievers who stand in the way, creating obstacles
for the da’wa, are blamed for this state of war, for the da’wa can be
pursued peacefully if others submit to it. In other words, those who
resist Islam cause wars and are responsible for them. Only when
Muslim power is weak is `temporary truce’ (hudna) allowed (Islamic
jurists differ on the definition of `temporary’). 9
In 1916, the great Dutch scholar of Islam, C. Snouck Hurgronje
underscored how the jihad doctrine of world conquest remained a
potent force among the Muslim masses 13 centuries later,
[I]t would be a gross mistake to imagine that the idea of universal
conquest may be considered as obliterated…the canonists and the
vulgar still live in the illusion of the days of Islam’s greatness.
The legists continue to ground their appreciation of every actual
political condition on the law of the holy war, which war ought never
be allowed to cease entirely until all mankind is reduced to the
authority of Islam- the heathen by conversion, the adherents of
acknowledged Scripture by submission. Even if they admit the
improbability of this at present, they are comforted an encouraged by
the recollection of the lengthy period of humiliation that the
Prophet himself had to suffer before Allah bestowed victory upon his
arms; and they fervently join with the Friday preacher, when he
announces the prayer taken from the Qur’an: `And lay not upon us, our
Lord, that for which we have not strength, but blot out our sins and
forgive us and have pity upon us. Thou art our Master; grant us then
to conquer the unbelievers.’ And the common people are willingly
taught by the canonists and feed their hope of better days upon the
innumerable legends of the olden time and the equally innumerable
apocalyptic prophecies about the future. The political blows that
fall upon Islam make less impression…than the senseless stories about
the power of the Sultan of Stambul, that would instantly be revealed
if he were not surrounded by treacherous servants, and the fantastic
tidings of the miracles that Allah works in the Holy Cities of Arabia
which are inaccessible to the unfaithful. The conception of the
Khalifate still exercises a fascinating influence, regarded in the
light of a central point of union against the unfaithful.’ 10
Writing a quarter century after Hurgronje in 1942, Professor Arthur
Jeffery stressed why detailed consideration of the institution of
jihad remained essential, `not merely academic,’ for understanding
the contemporary Islamic world
for the theory of the world which it enshrines is still fundamental
to the thinking of great masses of Muslim people to the present day.
The troubles in India which lead up to the great Patna conspiracy
trials of 1864 were due to the fact that Syed Ahmad of Oudh had
preached against the Sikh cities of the Panjab a Jihad which later
turned to one against all non-Muslim groups. The bloody episode of
the Padri rebellion in Malaysia was due to the preaching of Jihad
against the pagan Battak tribes. The Fula wars in the Hausa country
[Western Sudan] in the early nineteenth century, which lead to Osman
Dan Fodio’s setting up the ephemeral sultanate of Sokoto, began as a
jihad preached against the pagan king of Gobir. The Moplah rebellion
in South India in 1921, with its massacres, forcible conversions,
desecration of temples, and outrages on the hapless Hindu villagers,
could be heard openly proclaimed as a Jihad in the streets of Madras. 11
With the resurgence of jihad military campaigns and major acts of
jihad terrorism literally across the globe in the last decades of the
20th century through the present, Jeffery’s additional insights from
62 years ago, resonate prophetically:
It is of course, easy to raise the objection that a Jihad in the old
sense is impossible of realization in the modern world, for Islam is
far too badly divided for anything like a general Jihad to be
contemplated and far too weak in technical equipment for a Jihad to
be successful even if started. This does not dispose of the fact,
however, that the earlier conception of Jihad has left a deposit in
Muslim thinking that is still to be reckoned with in the political
relations of the Western world with Islam. 12
Although time grows dangerously short, it is not too late for the
9/11 Commissioners and, more importantly, those who share their
assessment to broaden their understanding of the depth of the
ideological threat posed by jihad and consider more concrete,
expansive actions to be taken, such as the creation of the Alliance
of Western and Democratic Societies recently proposed by Dr. Raphael
Israeli.

ENDNOTES:
1 Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani, La Risala (Epitre sur les elements du
dogme et de la loi de l’Islam selon le rite malikite.) Translated
from Arabic by Leon Bercher. 5th ed. Algiers, 1960, p. 165. [English
translation, in Bat Ye’or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under
Islam, Cranston, NJ, 1996, p. 295]
2 Ibn Taymiyyah, in Rudolph Peters, Jihad in Classical and Modern
Islam, (Princeton, NJ. : Markus Wiener, 1996, p. 49)
3 From the Hidayah, vol. Ii. P. 140, in Thomas P. Hughes, `A
Dictionary of Islam,’ `Jihad’ Pp. 243-248. (London, United Kingdom.:
W.H. Allem, 1895).
4 Al- Mawardi, The Laws of Islamic Governance [al-Ahkam
as-Sultaniyyah, (London, United Kingdom.: Ta-Ha, 1996, p. 60).
5 Ibn Khaldun, `The Muqudimmah. An Introduction to History,’
Translated by Franz Rosenthal. (New York, NY.: Pantheon, 1958, vol.
1, p. 473).
6 Watt, W.M. [Translator]. The Faith and Practice of Al-Ghazali,
Oxford, England, 1953, p. 13.
7. Al-Ghazali (d. 1111). Kitab al-Wagiz fi fiqh madhab al-imam
al-Safi’i, Beirut, 1979, pp. 186, 190-91. [English translation by Dr.
Michael Schub]
8 Khadduri, Majid. War and Peace in the Law of Islam, 1955, Richmond,
VA and London, England, pp. 63-64.
9 Tibi, Bassam. `War and Peace in Islam,’ in The Ethics of War and
Peace: Religious and Secular Perspectives, edited by Terry Nardin,
1996, Princeton, N.J., pp. 129-131.
10 Hurgronje, Snouck. Mohammedanism. New York, 1916, p. 59.
11 Jeffery, Arthur. `The Political Importance of Islam,’ Journal of
Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 1, 1942, p. 388.
12 Jeffery, A. `The Political Importance of Islam,’ pp. 388-389.
Andrew G. Bostom, MD, MS is an Associate Professor of Medicine at
Brown University Medical School, and occasional contributor to
Frontpage Magazine. He is the editor of a forthcoming essay
collection entitled, “The Legacy of Jihad”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress