allah « Penjihad's Blog

Goodbye Lesley, my friend…

I just lost a good friend.
Lesley Hazleton was a longtime friend with whom I had many deep conversations about faith, beliefs, politics and humanity in general. She was a real scholar and went into depths of knowledge about things that interested her and she wrote many books.

She lived her final time on a houseboat on Lake Union where she was very happy, enjoying the water in her not-so-large houseboat.

She wrote her goodbye letter and sent it to her MANY friends (I am proud to have been one) in which she wrote, “ The bad news is that it’s cancer (no, by some irony of fate, not lung cancer, despite my lifelong contribution to the coffers of Philip Morris et al). And that I am officially six-months-terminal.”. Lesley she had cancer of the bladder, it had gone to her kidneys and spreading. She decided to use the freedom offered to her in the Death With Dignity Act, she contacted End of life Washington and they helped her go in peace.

Lesley lived her life as a free-thing, free spirit, she was a strong feminist and believed in human equality and human dignity, whenever I saw her she was in a good mood, enjoying life and her cigarette (later vape).

I will miss her.

Her books reflected her own interests in diverse topics, usually faith topics. Her style was refreshing as it was interesting; she would write about a person or a period and she would weave a real personality based on the contemporary history around the person or period; I know whenever I read one of her books, I would come away with a deeper understanding of the subject..

Her book, “The First Muslim”, about the life of the prophet Mohammed created a real human being instead of sterile, historical details woven around connecting sentences; it offered a much better understanding of what the man was about, his ways of thoughts and actions. As her fame spread, she was invited to come and speak about Islam, the Prophet Mohammed and his philosophy, in Pakistan. Being a Jew, she asked me if it would be safe to go there and actually speak about Islam and the prophet Mohammed. I told her she would be perfectly fine so she went; she was treated as grandly as if she were a visiting queen.

“After the Prophet” was a fascinating picture of how the Shia-Sunni split happened and how the Caliphs who followed the prophet Mohammed, were human beings with human strengths and weaknesses. It is the best book I have encountered, that explains the schism that has plagued Muslims for over fourteen centuries.

“Mary” was a creation of who the woman was and what the people around her were like, the support she got from her tribe and family; a beautifully written book.

“Agnostic”. In this book she makes the case for those who do not deny there is a God, but do not agree there isn’t one either; they leave the case open, as opposed to atheists who deny the existence of God.

April 30, 2024 Posted by penjihad | Agnostic, Islam, Lesley Hazleton, Mary | Agnostic, allah, christianity, history, Islam, Lesley Hazelton, Mary, religion, The First Muslim | 2 Comments

About

Blogger Jafar “Jeff” Siddiqui is an American Muslim living in WA.. USA.

He grew up in the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (North-West Frontier) Province and has maintained close contacts in Pakistan.

He is a member of American Muslims of Puget Sound and is a human rights activist. He is involved with movements for inter-faith understanding. He has contributed articles for a textbook on terrorism, used by US law-enforcement agencies. He has also presented discussions and written article, on the Indo-Pakistan hostilities and their impact on Afghanistan.; he writes articles and gives lectures on Civil Rights, American Foreign Policy, on Islam, on current affairs including events in the Middle East, South and Central Asia. His works have been published in various print media. He also gives commentaries on radio and TV on these subjects.

******************************************************************************************************************

Dare I say “Jihad”?

Occasionally, I use the term “Jihad” in my articles, as the action needed to help make changes to better the ills of society. I often get feedback in which people worry more about my use of the word “Jihad”, than they do about the injustice about which I wrote; some wonder why I would use such a charged word among non-Muslims.

I intentionally use “Jihad”, because I want to jolt Muslims AND non-Muslims; “Jihad” cannot and must not become de-legitimized just because some people do not care to understand the true meaning of a sacred term and decide to associate it with terrible things.

“Jihad” springs from the Arabic “Jhd” which means “struggle”; “Jihad” means the act of struggle, “Mujahid” (Plural, Mujahideen) is someone who is doing “Jihad”.

At the core (the highest level), it is the duty of every Muslim to struggle against the basic negative predispositions we all have as humans…greed, envy, jealousy, rage, deceit, theft, murder etc.

At the next level, it is the duty of every Muslim to fight against the ills that beset Mankind…hunger, disease, homelessness, illiteracy, injustice, lack of water, pollution etc.,

At the least important level, Muslims are required to fight those who attack us AFTER we have exhausted all other efforts towards peaceful resolution. Even then, if peace is at hand, even at mid-battle, one has to stop and accept terms that are just and preserve the dignity of all parties.

I would imagine these are things that every person needs to subscribe to, not just Muslims.

Yet, there is a growing body of opinion in the non-Muslim West, that “Jihad” can ONLY be equated with murder and mayhem and thus, anyone using the word, can be presumed to be associated with supporting murder and mayhem.

I would suggest that supporters of the body of opinion that would like to taint “Jihad”, are people who consider themselves at “War!” with Islam, Muslims and Arabs. They may be a growing number of people, but they are wrong and it would be wrong for Muslims to lend credence to this opinion by shying away from “Jihad” in word, or in action.

Not so long ago, the Jewish organization ADL, launched an attack on some Muslim groups because the Muslims were wearing the Muslim Affirmation… “Shehada” (“There is no God but one God, and Mohammed is His prophet”) on their headbands and the ADL said that the Shehada stood for terrorism.

There are a growing number of bigots who state that Islam’s holy book, the Quran, is a symbol of evil and violence.

What should Muslims do? Abandon the Shehada and the Quran?

Some may say that we should just not use the Shehada on headbands, why not? Either the Affirmation (Shahada) is sacred or it is not; if it is sacred, then wherever it is used, as long as the use is not profane, is also sacred. If the Shehada is used in a profane manner, then the reflection is not upon the Shehada, but on the abuser.

Hitler took the Swastika as his symbol and today, it strikes fear and revulsion in the hearts of many, especially Jews. However, the Swastika is thousands of years old and among Hindus, the “Savas Tika” (“Peace sign”) is a holy symbol, it is used to adorn temples and used by Hindus at almost every occasion…it can be clockwise or counter-clockwise.

Should the Hindus be asked to abandon the Savas tika as a symbol?

If we dared to make such an absurd demand, we would be laughed off the stage.

The Star of David strikes fear and revulsion among millions of Palestinian men, women and children; should the Jews be asked to abandon the Star of David as their symbol?

I am betting millions of Bosnian Muslims shudder a little when they see a Crucifix, or the Christian Orthodox cross, because of the genocide of Bosnian Muslims by the Serbs and the Croats in the name of Christianity in the 1990s; should those symbols be cast aside?

The principle of “use it or lose it” is quite valid here. If we retreat for any reason, we are acknowledging that our sacred and holy terms or symbols are sometimes themselves, evil. Once we give that ground, then we can no longer use our Savas Tikas, our Crucifixes or our terms…THEN, the bad guys have truly won.

I believe that as reasoned and rational people, we cannot allow ourselves to fall victim to populist bigotries. We must look at what the symbol actually stands for, rather than associate it with the negative events that were tied to it by evil people; we must be able to differentiate between Nazi Swastikas on one hand, and symbols and words that are sacred, on the other.

Jihad; it is a sacred duty for every Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu…for every human being of good will.

9-11 ADL Afghanistan AJC Al-Qaeda America American Anti-Muslim myth-buster Anti-Semitism bigotry CAIR CIA Civil Rights Civil Rights in America Daniel Pipes Donald Trump Fasting FBI Foreign Policy Freedom of Speech Gaza Geert Wilders Genocide Gitmo Guantanamo Hamas Hate Homeland Security India Iran ISIS in America Islam Islamophobia Islamophobia in America Israel Israel Hamas war Jews Jim McDermott Kashmir law enforcement Middle East Minorities in Pakistan Muslim Muslim Civil Rights Muslims Muslims in America Obama Pakistan Pakistani Taliban Palestine Police Brutality Police Training Profiling Quran Ramadan religion Rep. Peter King Republican Party Robert Spencer Saudi Arabia Shia Shia Sunni Divide Suicide bombing Syria Taliban Terror Terrorism Thomas Friedman Torture Two state solution US US Congress US Constitution US Foreign Policy War on Terror

Email Subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address:

Join 51 other subscribers

Penjihad's Blog

"To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable"

Goodbye Lesley, my friend…

About

Email Subscription

Site info

Penjihad's Blog

"To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable"

Goodbye Lesley, my friend…

Rate this:

About

Email Subscription

Site info