The Jihad of Jesus

The Sacred Nonviolent Struggle for Justice

Andrews

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781498217750
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

We are caught up in the cycle of so-called "holy wars." In The Jihad of Jesus, Dave Andrews argues that while this inter-communal conflict is endemic, it is not inevitable. Depending on our understanding, our religions can be either a source of escalating conflict or a resource for overcoming inter-communal conflict; and for our religions to be a resource for overcoming conflict, we need to understand the heart of all true religion as open-hearted compassionate spirituality. In the light of an open-hearted compassionate spirituality, we can reclaim the word "jihad" from extremists who have (mis)appropriated it as a call to "holy war," and reframe it, in truly Qur'anic terms, as a "sacred nonviolent struggle for justice"; and we can reconsider Jesus, as he is in the Gospels, not as a poster boy for Christians fighting crusades against Muslims, but as "a strong-but-gentle Messianic figure" who can bring Christians and Muslims together. As this book shows, many Christians and Muslims have found Isa (Jesus) and the Bismillah (celebrating the mercy, grace, and compassion of God) as common ground upon which they can stand and work for the common good. The Jihad of Jesus is a handbook for reconciliation and action: a do-it-yourself guide for all Christians and Muslims who want to move beyond the "clash of civilizations," join the jihad of Jesus, and struggle for justice and peace nonviolently side by side.

Part One

The Jihad of Dajjal

Both Christians and Muslims believe Jesus or Isa will return. But before the coming of the Masih will come al-Masīh ad-Dajjāl whom the Christians call the Anti-Christ. Dajjāl is a common Arabic word meaning deceiver. Al-Masīh ad-Dajjāl, with the definite article refers to “the deceiving Messiah,” an end-times deceiver. Abdullah bin Umar said that the Prophet said:

I tell you about him something of which no prophet told before me:

You should know he is one-eyed, and Allah is not one-eyed.2

Some say Christianity is the Anti-Christ.3 and as a Christian, I must confess, that much of what Christianity has become, in terms of its “one-eyed” arrogance and aggression, is the very opposite of what its founder, the strong-but-gentle Christ, was on about. Others, like Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, say that “the one-eyed Dajjal will be born in the Muslim community [and] speak the language of the Qur’an to become a deceiver of the Muslims.” Maulana Wahiduddin Khan sees the Dajjal as “an ideological evil (or fitna) leading to a movement based on hatred and violence—in the name of Islam.”4 Maybe both are right.

2. Bowker, Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, 43.

3. Andrews, Christi-Anarchy.

4. Khan, The Prophet of Peace, 155.

1

Remembering Our So-Called Christian “Holy Wars”

As a Christian I was brought up to believe that the history of Christianity was a history of Christ-like spirituality that shone through the centuries like a light in the darkness. And in spite of Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris’s claims to the contrary, I still believe there can be little doubt that Christianity as a religion has brought much light into our darkness.

The dignity of the individual is based on the Judeo-Christian idea of people being made in the image of God and the concept of equality is based on the Christian belief that all people are loved, equally, by God, regardless of color, class, caste, or creed. Thus, as I have written elsewhere, there have been Christians all through history who have been at the forefront of campaigns for compassion, freedom, justice, and peace, like Telemachus, Nicholas, Patrick, Aiden, Francis, Clare, Menno Simons, George Fox, John Wesley, William Wilberforce, Charles Finney, Sojourner Truth, Florence Nightingale, Henri Dunant, Mary MacKillop, Pandita Ramabai, Toyohiko Kagawa, Albert Luthuli, Helder Camara, Oscar Romero, Clarence Jordan, Martin Luther King Jr, Dorothy Day, Desmond Tutu, Jean Vanier, and Mother Teresa.

But I’ve come to realize that Christianity as a religion also has a dark side, and that tragically the history of Christianity is as much a litany of cruelty as it is a legacy of charity. It is to that litany of cruelty we need to turn our attention now. In doing so, I will not attempt to present a detailed account, lest we get bogged down in the detail; but, at the risk of being accused of caricature, I will try to sketch, with the briefest of strokes, a rough outline of an historical overview of Christianity that highlights our dark side.5

Christians are not alone in waging so-called “Holy Wars.” Many Christians, Muslims, and Jews have slaughtered their Abrahamic brothers and sisters, using the violence advocated in the Hebrew Bible to justify their violence. After all, they say, Moses says, “if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise” (Exod 21:23–24).

Christ often used unforgettable metaphorical language to express his opinions. He once famously cautioned his disciples about making judgments of others by saying:

Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” while the plank is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye. (Matt 7:3–5)

So, as a Christian, I will follow the commandment of Christ and “take the plank out of my own eye” before trying to take the speck out of my Muslim neighbor’s eye.

Councils, Creeds, and Coercion: Circa 100–500 CE

Christianity may have begun as a voluntary nonviolent movement committed to authentic human growth and change. But it wasn’t long before it became a fierce reactionary force, which fervently circumscribed personal choice and ferociously suppressed political dissent.

It was during the reign of the Emperor Constantine that Christianity in the Roman Empire started to align itself to the status quo. Constantine saw the Christian religion as a means of uniting a fragmented empire and the church saw the state as a means of securing a favored position for its religion. and so the deal was done.

In ...