巴格达迪宣称伊斯兰是战争的宗教,萨米尔神父指这是十分狡猾的信息
罗马(亚洲新闻)—昨天,伊斯兰国发表了一份视频,其中伊斯兰国领导人巴格达迪呼吁世界穆斯林向着加里发“移民”,向着现在的吉哈德、圣战地“移民”。因为“伊斯兰从来就不是和平的宗教,伊斯兰是斗争的宗教”。
这份视频全场33分钟,要求“世界各地的每一名穆斯林向着伊斯兰国所在地移民,或者在本国战斗,无论身在何处”。
此外,“对你们来说难道还没有到了认识到没有加里发国就没有权利与荣耀、没有加里发国就没有安全与权利的时刻了吗”?!
伊斯兰“从来就不是和平的宗教,伊斯兰是斗争的宗教。任何人都不应该认为我们正在进行的这场战斗是伊斯兰国的战斗,这是全体穆斯林的战斗,伊斯兰国在领导而已。这是穆斯林打击异教徒的战争”。
分析家们指出,听声音似乎是伊斯兰国最高领袖巴格达迪。很清楚、自信、甚至是带有诗意的。但没有证据表明就是他本人。
一段时间以来,盛传他在今年三月的空袭中受伤了。昨天,是六个月以来首次播出他的讲话,并同声传译为英语、法语、俄语、德语和土耳其语。
迄今为止,巴格达迪只在视频上露过面。即六月在摩苏尔大清真寺讲道,主持伊斯兰国成立仪式。
以下为伊斯兰问题专家、贝鲁特圣若翰大学教授、现罗马宗座东方学院临时代理院长,耶稣会士萨米尔·卡利尔·萨米尔神父的文章:
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s message is very shrewd because it corresponds to the expectations of a part of the Islamic world. Certainly, Salafi groups, which seek to roll back society to the style and practices of Muhammad’s, will be happy about it and will say: Finally, we find the true Islam!
It should be noted that when talking about emigrating (hijrah), Baghdadi was referring to Muhammad’s migration from Makkah to Madinah, what we call "’hegira’", which marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar world (from 622 AD), i.e. the beginning of the Islamic era.
This migration represents the transition from a peaceful Islam to a bellicose Islam. In Makkah, Muhammad never made war, but seeing that his message was not getting through and that few people bothered to listen to him, and that in fact, his life was at risk, he sent a group of his followers to Ethiopia, a Christian country that was willing to accept him. Instead, he went to Madinah.
There he began to preach and a year later, he began to fight, first against the Makkans, then against the tribes, in order to convert them.
Muhammed won all these wars. Most tribes in Arabia ended up following him. However, they did so because he was a military chief not a religious leader.
Evidence for this lies in the fact that when Muhammad died around 634 AD, many tribes broke away, refusing to fight and pay taxes. As a result of this, the new caliph, Abu Bakr, declared war on them and force them to return to Islam.
They refused, saying that they had made a pact with Muhammad, not with Islam. However, Abu Bakr defeated them and forced them to come back to Islam.
It is interesting that this new "caliph" chose Abu Bakr as his name and that he wants to launch a holy war around the world, to subjugate everyone to Islam.
His call is meant to rekindle an idea that is deeply embedded in Islam, namely: let us all go through our hijrah, let us leave behind all those who want an Islam of peace, and let us move to the true Islam that conquered Arabia first, then the Middle East, then the Mediterranean. This would be the last phase of the prophet’s struggle through his new envoy.
All this is highly symbolic.
Currently, some reports indicate that IS is losing support, that several young men, after arriving in Syria and Iraq to fight, have tried to quit and are now languishing in IS prisons.
Baghdadi’s message then is an attempt to mobilise further Muslims in order to gain the support of more committed young people.
His call will almost certainly shake up Muslim Salafis, whose model is primitive Islam. They take as a model Islam’s first generation, and this will convince many Muslim traditionalists to become Salafis and fight.
Faced with such call to arms, what can be done?
A military fight might be necessary, but it will not be decisive. Military actions will reduce the violence, shed less blood, push back IS, but the movement will continue because it is part of Islam.
The only solution is a radical reform to the internal reading of Islamic history.
When al-Baghdadi says that "Islam was never a religion of peace," he is exaggerating. Islam also had periods of peace. To say that Islam is only war is also a mistake.
Islam is both war and peace. And it is high time for Muslims to re-examine their history.
It is also important to note that the Islamic war is not comparable to the Crusades: The Crusades were at best a limited war to save Jerusalem and the holy sites; it was not a total holy war inspired by the Gospel.
By contrast, war in Islam is always holy if it is made to expand the boundaries of Islam or recover Islamic lands.