Qur'an 20081229

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

168. The ones that say, while they themselves sit, "If only they had listened to us, they would not have been slain." Say, "Avert death from your own selves, if you speak the truth."

169. Think not of those slain in Allah's way as dead. No, they live, finding their sustenance in the Presence of their Lord.

The Family of Imran 3:168-169
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Avert death from your own selves, if you speak the truth.

We approach the most famous aspect of Islamic philosophy: do we make like Gandhi, or do we fight back?

The biggest difference of reaction between Gandhi and prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) is that prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) was commanded by God to fight back. After all, prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) was in service to Allah.

What is "fighting in Allah's cause"? Allah is the Compassionate One , the Forgiving, the Merciful, the Just... and so on. Allah commands to fight oppression. But are you fighting oppression, or taking revenge? Or even worse, fullfilling your personal ambition? These motives are not hidden to God, and God will eventually make these motives plain to humans. Besides that, how can you justify being for the cause of Allah when you INTENTIONALLY hurt the innocent? When you DON'T EVEN TRY TO HELP the innocent you accidently hurt?

What is "oppression" in the Qur'an? In studying the Qur'an, I find that authority figures and organizations are under extremely close scrutiny by Allah. If authority figures and organizations hurt the worshippers of Allah, and the innocent, then this could be counted as oppression. The situation is complex of course, but as a Muslim, how can you go wrong if you make an effort to protect the worship of Allah and make it easy, and to protect the innocent? This counts as "fighting in Allah's cause"!

5:45 We ordained therein for them: "Life for life, eye for eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal." But if anyone remits the retaliation by way of charity, it is an act of atonement for himself. And if any fail to judge by what Allah has revealed, they wrongdoers.

Here we find a better option than revenge, and the Word of Allah is better than any human, no matter how educated he/she is. But since so few humans are willing to forgive, it results in the downward spiral of death and revenge, ever since the very first murder. In the case of prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), the oppression was so overwhelming that God was the one who drew the line, and gave the Command to fight back. Then Judgement Day. Although it is too late to stop the domino effect to Judgment Day, we can still try to be compassionate like Allah.