رواں صدی میں مسلمانوں کی ترجیحات کیا ہوں؟, Urdu Section, NewAgeIslam.com

Urdu Section

رواں صدی میں مسلمانوں کی ترجیحات کیا ہوں؟

In this attempt, first of all, the Muslims should try to find out the reasons for their tragic condition. How and why have they been degraded to such a low-level as to remain an undeveloped and unstable community, whereas other communities of the world have succeeded even in harming them? Why are the Muslims lagging behind and have remained backward educationally, financially and politically? Other communities, who were the victim of impoverishment, lifted their status and raised themselves to greater heights.

Obviously, there are certain reasons for Muslim backwardness – the greatest of all is that they have lagged behind in education, research and technology. On the other hand, other communities especially the western communities pulled their socks up, continued their struggle for all-round progress and succeeded in their hardy endeavour, obtaining notable successes in financial, political and cultural fields as well as in defence and science and technology. The economy of the western countries is quite strong; so the American dollar and the European euro are enjoy greater standing throughout the world. This gives them an upper hand in the international trade market; their products sell like hot cakes everywhere in the world making their currencies more valuable than others.

http://newageislam.com/urdu-section/رواں-صدی-میں-مسلمانوں-کی-ترجیحات-کیا-ہوں؟/d/1604

Jihad: Holy or Unholy War? Asks John L. Esposito, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Jihad: Holy or Unholy War? Asks John L. Esposito

John L. Esposito

The importance of jihad is rooted in the Quran’s command to “struggle or exert” (the literal meaning of the word jihad) oneself in the path of God. The Quranic teachings have been of essential significance to Muslim self-understanding, piety, mobilization, expansion and defense. Jihad as struggle pertains to the difficulty and complexity of living a good life: struggling against the evil in oneself – to be virtuous and moral, making a serious effort to do good works and help to reform society. Depending on the circumstances in which one lives, it also can mean fighting injustice and oppression, spreading and defending Islam and creating a just society through preaching, teaching and, if necessary, armed struggle or holy war.

The two broad meanings of jihad, non-violent and violent, are contrasted in a well-known Prophetic tradition. Muslim tradition reports that, when Muhammad returned from battle, he told his followers “We return from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad.” The greater jihad is the more difficult and more important struggle against one’s ego, selfishness, greed, and evil.

Jihad is a concept with multiple meanings, used and abused throughout Islamic history. Although it has always been an important part of the Islamic tradition, in recent years some Muslims have maintained that jihad is a universal religious obligation for all true Muslims to join the jihad to promote a global Islamic revolution.

http://newageislam.com/jihad--holy-or-unholy-war?-asks-john-l.-esposito/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/1154

What is wrong with Arabs?, Islamic Society, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Society

What is wrong with Arabs?

By: Khalid Batarfi

Indeed, this is hardly unique to Arabs. All over the world and throughout history national pride and cultural passions have driven nations to violence and folly. As Yale’s Donald Kagan has written, “The common practice of calling such motives ‘irrational’ reveals how narrow the professional understanding of what matters to people has become in our day.” He goes on: “The notion that only economic benefits, power and security are rational goals is a prejudice of our time, a product of the attempt to treat the world of human events as though it were the inanimate physical universe, susceptible to scientific analysis and free to ignore human feelings, motives, and will. Such an approach is no more adequate to explain current behavior than to explain the actions of human beings throughout history.”

http://newageislam.com/what-is-wrong-with-arabs?/islamic-society/d/483