Crossing the bridge to paradise
In my first installment of this series, I examined the historical roots of jihad in Islam. Jihad is to strive to defend or advance Islam either in warfare or through developing one’s personal Islamic character. Violent jihad is "lesser jihad," in distinction to "greater jihad," which is nonviolent but of much larger and scope and broader - nay, total - in application. Al-Islam.org explains the distinction:
In its most outward sense jihad came to mean the defence of dar al-islam, that is, the Islamic world, from invasion and intrusion by non-Islamic forces. The earliest wars of Islamic history which threatened the very existence of the young community came to be known as jihad par excellence in this outward sense of 'holy war'. But it was upon returning from one of these early wars, which was of paramount importance in the survival of the newly established religious community and therefore of cosmic significance, that the Prophet nevertheless said to his companions that they had returned from the lesser holy war to the greater holy war, the greater jihad being the inner battle against all the forces which would prevent man from living according to the theomorphic norm which is his primordial and God given nature.Islamic theology explains greater jihad along this line of thought:
[H]umans have been created with a sound nature and provided by God with a true religion that enables them to have fullness of life through close communion with God in this world and the next. Each human is a religiously grounded person, created and endowed with a fitra, a ‘sound constitution’ that acts as a kind of internal guidance system and way to God.Islam claims it is this true religion and the way to God. Greater jihad is achieving this "close communion" with God, and there is no other way. Jihad is literally the only way to paradise. Unlike Christianity, Islam has no concept of original sin - a stain of sin innate to human beings, present in each person even at birth that can be remitted only by God, not by anything mortals can do. In Islam, remission of sins can be done and salvation attained only by the believer's deeds in submission to Allah through Islamic confessions and obeying Islamic law. If a Muslim carries out Islam's commandments, then judgment day will be lightly born. If not, disaster.
A Muslim professor of Islamic studies at The George Washington University explained it to me this way 17 years ago. On the day of judgment, each person will have to cross a bridge from earth to paradise. The bridge spans a chasm so deep its bottom cannot be seen. To fall into the chasm is to plunge to Hell forever. If one has faithfully kept Islam's commandments and done well, then one's bridge will be so wide it will stretch from horizon to horizon. But if one has stayed in sin, the bridge will be only as wide as a human hair.
Muslims therefore know that their eternal destiny is in doubt at every moment because sin and merit are always in flux. This may seem quaint to us North Americans. We are so confidently (and unjustifiably) self-assured of our salvation (if we even believe it conceptually at all) that we hardly ever think about it. But for devout Muslims, earning salvation and avoiding Hell's very real torments is the actual purpose of living this life. It is what gives life focus and meaning.
However, even considering the bridge to paradise as an allegory, a Muslim can never know how wide his bridge is on any given day. But he does know that waging jihad is the most meritorious act a Muslim can do, and if one's greater jihad expands or further establishes Islam in the world then all the better.
Next installment: why all America is "ground zero" for greater jihad.
Part one is here, What is Jihad, Really?
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