The Jihad Trap
The war America is engaged in after the attacks on the WTC, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania is a war for the hearts and minds of average Muslims around the world. Bin Laden, if indeed he is the mastermind behind the attacks, has set a trap for the US into which it must not fall. By attacking the US as part of a jihad ("a holy war"), Bin Laden is in fact claiming to Muslims to represent their grievances and to represent real Islam. He is in effect saying: "Muslims, I share your grievances unlike your corrupt and authoritarian governments; I am the only one doing something about it. I have destroyed the symbols of American capitalism and stopped the heartbeat of world finance which the US dominates."
The US, as well as moderate Muslims the world over, must unite and deny him this symbolic victory and must not accept to engage him in combat on these terms. We should not let him define the terms of our intellectual and symbolic battle. As a professor of Islamic law I have researched the law of jihad and can state unequivocally that the war Bin Laden has engaged us in cannot be labeled a jihad. Furthermore, I believe a strong case can be made that he has acted contrary to the tenets of Islam and can be ostracized from the community of believing Muslims. Moderate Muslims will agree with me, certainly, as they are horrified by this attack and are desperate to have it disassociated from their religion. The West must provide moderate Muslims a way out of Bin Laden's trap.
According to Islamic law there are at least six reasons why Bin Laden's barbaric violence cannot fall under the rubric of jihad:
1. Individuals and organizations cannot declare a jihad, only states can;
2. One cannot kill innocent women and children when conducting a jihad;
3. One cannot kill Muslims in a jihad;
4. One cannot fight a jihad against a country in which Muslims can freely practice their religion and proselytize Islam;
5. Prominent Muslim jurists around the world have condemned these attacks and their condemnation forms a juristic consensus (ijma`) against Bin Laden's actions. This consensus renders his actions un-Islamic;
6. The welfare and interest of the Muslim community (maslaha) is being harmed by Bin Laden's actions and this equally makes them un-Islamic.
Intolerance, reluctant to welcome beliefs, views, or behavior that contrast from one's own. It has not been dissolved and may never be resolved. In the last several decades, we have seen our world look down on those who are different. It could be as little as they dress differently to a different ethnicity. We make assumptions that those who alter our views are the evildoers, and those are monsters. Monsters don't stay the same; they change as times do. When a new fear is created, the monster than shifts.
Osama bin Laden was an adversary of the West for years and it was known to the whole world. Unfortunately, he took it a little further by having two planes fly into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and another plane possibly for the White House. As we all know, this is the unforgettable day of September 11, 2001. Thousands of Americans were innocently murdered that day and in our own country by a terrorist organization. The United States of America would not stand for this and rapidly sought out Osama Bin Laden for what he had done to us. This is the day that caused the United States to accelerate the search and destruction efforts of bin Laden. Soon after September 11th, the United States was very involved in Afghanistan in trying to find him.
We see that Bertilak perceives Gawain’s fault, his love of life, and irrespective of it, loves Gawain. Despite having sinned, Bertilak sees in Gawain a first-rate knight, far superior to his peers in Camelot, who, faced with the spectre of death, grew silent with cowardice, as the honor of the King lay unguarded.
...Gawain’s time in the wilderness, living nature, and his acceptance of the lady’s offering of the green girdle teach him that though he may be the most chivalrous knight in the land, he is nevertheless human and capable of error.
The September 11th attacks made us united as one powerful person who can stand up from the ruins of thousands pounds of metal and fight so that we wont have to be in ruins again. In the recent videos Osama bin Laden and his colleagues are talking about the power of Islam and the attacks on Twin Towers. It seems like Osama bin Laden and other radicals are ready for “Jihad” and they are ready to win. They say that Allah is on their side and people around the world want to learn more about Islam since the September 11th attacks. A good example was John Walker, an American who was with Taliban army man when he was captured. He was studying Muslim traditions in Pakistan where he joined Taliban. The other day I was watching “Dennis Miller Live” where I heard Dennis Miller talk about John Walker, he said that his parents should give him more then just spanking. This showed me that even today almost five months of 9/11 people still talk about it.
Likewise, Goodwin illustrates how the use of categorical terrorism can be seem being used by Al-Qaida during the attacks of 9/11. Nonetheless, it is evident that Al-Qaida is unusual in terms of using terrorism to influence the rise of unity rather than trying to overthrow a standing state. For the purpose of instigating a pan-Islamic revolutionary movement, Al-Qaida tries to unite all Islamic people under one state to develop umma, or Muslim community. The logic of Al-Qaida remained that if their “revolutionaries” could illicit a reaction from the powerful US state, resulting in oppression of the middle-eastern region, that Al-Qaida could, as a result, unite all Muslims to counter this suggested oppression. Although the end goal of Al-Qaida clear failed, it does suggest the organization’s attempt at implementing categorical terrorism.
"In the earliest Arthurian stories, Sir Gawain was the greatest of the Knights of the Round Table. He was famed for his prowess at arms and, above all, for his courtesy. ... Here Gawain is the perfect knight; he is so recognized by the various characters in the story and, for all his modesty, implicitly in his view of himself. To the others his greatest qualities are his knightly courtesy and his success in battle. To Gawain these are important, but he seems to set an even higher value on his courage and integrity, the two central pillars of his manhood. The story is concerned with the conflict between his conception of himself and the reality. He is not quite so brave or so honorable as he thought he was, but he is still very brave, very honorable. He cannot quite see this, but the reader can.
... and Jihad According to Islam." HWeb. HWeb, 13 June 2006. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. .
...use positive outcomes, and may stop that person from making a wrong decision. The most impactful measure in this story for me is Sir Gawain’s continuous return to virtuous decisions although every decision he made is not virtuous. It helped me to realize that I can return to virtue after any of my failures. Additionally I learned that in sharing the story of my failures, I may prevent others from choosing the wrong path and help them to remain virtuous as well.
She is such a strong willed and introverted person, that allowing folks to know she is not the devil in disguise would mean the end of how she lives and flourishes in her world. Josie dreams deep down of a life of pleasure and peace but she knows she could never have what her younger brothers were given, a chance to love. She understands that her life must be lived alone with her ailing father. On page 22 Josie and her father have a discussion about her marring a man named Tyrone and Josie says to her father "What about the farm?" Josie knows she could never leave her father because it would mean leaving him alone and Josie loves him to much. She is afraid of what might really happen if she walks away from all her father has begged, borrowed and stole. In a sense, Josie is giving up her life, to help her father finish his life. Not to mention Josie has no real thoughts or, she hides them so well, of what it would really be like to love someone other than her own father.
In 1988 Osama bin Laden started the terrorist group al-Qaeda. Osama stole over 250 million dollars, and was already committing murders by then. In 1993 a bomb exploded in the World Trade Center area, the bomb was set off by al-Qaeda members. The bomb did not kill as many as the planes did, but killed up to 6 people and injuring many. In 1995 a bomb went off at a military base, and killed around 15 people, not only Americans were killed also Indian soldiers. In 1996 he called full jihad war on the US. Two years later he killed 224 people in a US embassy in Africa, and three years later his attack on US soil 9/11 was the US last straw. The reason for Osama’s killing wasn’t just because of 9/11 it was to prevent war on jihad that Osama had claimed on the US, if we wouldn’t have killed Osama in 2011 think about how many more terrorist attacks would have gone on in the
"Everyday Use" is told from momma's point of view which helps to reveal how she feels about herself. Momma feels that she is an uneducated person, she says "I never had an education myself," this creates barriers between her and her oldest daughter Dee who has a college education (94). She describes herself as "big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands" that wears overalls by day and flannel gowns by night (93). From momma's point of view one can tell that she favors her relationship with her daughter Maggie mo...
The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight revolves around the knights and their chivalry as well as their romance through courtly love. The era in which this story takes place is male-dominated, where the men are supposed to be brave and honorable. On the other hand, the knight is also to court a lady and to follow her commands. Sir Gawain comes to conflict when he finds himself needing to balance the two by being honorable to chivalry as well as respectful to courtly love.
In the hunts of Bercilak, he hunts for the deer, the boar and the fox. In medieval times, the people portray different animals with different human qualities. Bercilak's Lady could also be said to be "on the hunt." For three different times does she try to tempt Gawain to succumb to her desires there by undermining Gawain's values and his believes. While Bercilak is on the hunt for the noble deer and boar and the cunning and deceitful fox.
If one were to research the answer to these questions based upon media interpretation, the answers provided by the media would make Islam appear to be a religion of hatred and violence. On the contrary, as stated by Robinson (2007) the Islam religion is divided into many subgroups. Of those subgroups, “a very small, radical, hate-filled, extremist, Fundamentalist, terrorist wing does exist. So too does a much larger peaceful, moderate wing” (Islam: Is It a Religion of Violence or of Peace?, ¶3).