Fact of the day: On Holy War

There is nothing in Islam called Holy War, and no, Holy War is not synonymous or interchangeable with Jihad. In fact, it was Pope Urban II who first used the term "Holy War" to ignite the bloodbath we now call the crusades.

In her Book ‘Decipering the signs of God: a phenomenological approach to Islam’ the late scholar and Harvard Professor Annemarie Schimmel notes "The translation of Jihad as 'holy war', as is now current even among Muslims, cannot be justified on philological grounds; the term 'Holy War' was first coined in medieval Europe for the undertakings of the Crusaders."

The Encyclopedia of Christianity reads "From Urban II in 1095 to Innocent XI in 1684, pope after pope wrote or authorized the dispatch of letters, including many general ones, in which the faithful were summoned to crusade, offered spiritual privileges if they responded and threatened with divine judgment if they did not… From the fourth century to the sixteenth most Christian thinkers believed that God or Christ could and would authorize the use of force, either personally or through an intermediary… Until the nineteenth century, moreover, the majority opinion was that acts of violence were not in themselves evil, but were morally neutral."

The Maternal Aunt in Islam

Every Muslim knows the status of the mother in Islam inasmuch as every Muslim knows that "Heaven is under the Mother's feet." The status of the Mother is so great that, by extension, solely because she is the Mother's sister, the Maternal Aunt also has important place in Islam.

Lets examine this first Hadith:

On the authority of ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and said:
“O Messenger of Allaah, I have committed a grievous sin; can I repent?’
He asked: “Do you have a mother?”

The man said: “No.”
The Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) asked the man: “Do you have a maternal aunt?”
He said: “Yes.”
Allah's Prophet (Peace be upon Him) said to him: “Then honour her.”
- In another translation Allah's Prophet (Peace be upon Him) said to him: "Be good and kind to her."
[References: Tirmidhi #3975, Tirmidhi# 1904, Ibn Hibban #435, Classified as Saheeh Hadith by al-Albaani]

The aunt also has kinship rights because she is a close relative, even if she is a kaafir. Lets now examine this Hadith concerning Asma', whose mother was a Non-Muslim.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to Asma’ (may Allah be pleased with her): “Uphold the ties of kinship with your mother.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2620; Muslim, 1003.

'The ties of kinship' in Arabic refers not only to the mother, but also generalizable to the mother's side of the family.

These next Hadith pack a punch and get straight to the heart of the matter at hand.

The Prophet of Allah (Peace be upon Him) said: “The maternal aunt is like the mother.” [Bukhaari, 2700]

Also,

"The sister of the mother has a status similar to the mother."
[Bukhari #2552]

Also,

Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib, The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "The maternal aunt is like mother." [sunnan Abu Dawood #2271 and #2273]

Then for those who can read Arabic, there is this Hadith concerning Maternal Aunt which I am too lazy to translate right now:

عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال الخالة بمنزلة الأم http://hadith.al-islam.com/Page.aspx?pageid=192&BookID=26&TOCID=1305

Bottom line: If you're a good Muslim, be good to your Maternal Auntie!

White-Washing History, Dehumanizing Muslims

What follows is the reason why after 10.5 years in college I've never heard the all-important name of the intellectual giants and polymaths like Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn Khaldun, ibn Zakariyā Rāzī, Ibn al-Nafis, ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī and many more like them.

Its a cryin' shame:

"The intellectual transfer from Islam to Christendom was limited by the West’s selectivity, and by the way in which it detached Classical learning and Arabic ideas from their Muslim environment. The West sought to dehumanize the Muslim scholars to which it owed so much, and to transform them into passive agents of transmission of Classical learning." The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, edited by John McManners, Oxford University Press

Sports Addicts and Heart Attacks

One of the more comical (albeit nonetheless serious) things I learned in medical school is that during the Super Bowl, people (read: men) who experience pain associated with heart attacks often wait until the end of the game before they go to the ER. The following quote from the Harvard Health Newsletter:

"Another issue is that people who are having heart problems often wait until the game is over before going to the hospital for evaluation. Physicians who work in emergency departments always expect a surge in visits right after the end of the Super Bowl and other huge sporting events. Some of those folks come in with heart attacks that have caused more damage than they should have because they delayed seeking help right away. It’s conceivable that some people don’t reach the hospital alive because they delayed calling 911 while awaiting the outcome of the game."

I see these types of patients everyday. Stubborn middle age to older men who adamantly refuse to come into the hospital until they are knocking on death's door. Sometimes their wives or daughters will be able to pull the old man in by their ear and force them to see the doctor. More often than not, its too late and they realize they should have paid better attention to what their body was saying!! 

Maybe there should be a mandatory commercial during the Super Bowl encouraging people with chest pain to go to the hospital? Or perhaps we should continue to let natural selection take its course? What a silly way to die.