The War in Kashmir a Religious Conflict? Essay

Around 610 CE, the Prophet Muhammad’s journeyed to an isolated cave and received holy messages from the archangel Gabriel. These simple messages flourished over time into the Islamic faith and were compiled to create the Qur’an - the scripture of Islam. During a time of polytheistic supremacy, the teachings of Muhammad struggled to be established. “[T]he Qur’an emphasizes that while conversion to Islam should never be performed by force, its faith and moral strictures should be practiced in a society that abides by them and seeks to implement them in all human spheres of activity”, thus, followers of Muhammad employed manners of force to converted believers of other faith systems (Ellwood 587). This is an example of misinterpreting the holy scriptures. Although the use of force increased the boundaries of early Islam exponentially, the Qur’an’s insistence of pacifism was negated. To appease adopted converts sanctioned into Islam, some of their practices were accepted, for example, veiling women with a hijab, chador, or burqa are not innately Muslim, these practices were accepted from Persian people who were conquered by Muslims. Within their growing domain, Muslims accentuated the avoidance of idolatry and the Five Pillars which state to confess your faith, pray five times a day, give alms to the poor, fast during the month of Ramadan, and partake in the Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca. Jihad, or the struggle against the evils of the world and inner sin, is known as the sixth pillar of Islam and is also a commonly misinterpreted doctrine. Greater jihad or the internal struggle against the evils of oneself is the more important element of jihad, however, lesser jihad or the struggle to defeat external evils can be misinterpreted into justifying the killing of non-Muslims, violence against those who don’t acknowledge the Qur’an, and can even be used to legitimize a Holy War. Once again,

The five Pillars of Islam are the belief in Allah and Muhammad his Prophet, prayer five times a day, observing the holy month Ramadan, pilgrimage to Mecca and alms to poor and unfortunate. Muslim scholars created the Shari’a which was a law code, influenced by Hadith. It was a collection of prophet’s sayings. Muslims were forbidden to gamble, eat pork, drink alcohol, or be involved in dishonest behavior. Marriages were arranged by parents. Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s father in law, was the successor and he was also a religious leader. Jihad was a holy war for striving in the way of the lord. The Arabs defeated the Byzantine army and later took over Byzantine region of Syria. They also defeated the Persian forces and conquered the Sassanid Empire. They unified the Bedouin people and they didn’t force people to convert. They had to pay taxes to not be in the military because all men were required to join. Islam began to struggle when people went against Abu and promoted Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son in law. They established the new capital of Damascus. They conquered the Berbers and southern Spain but they failed to completely dismantle the Byzantine Empire. The Shi’ites were for Ali and were less strict than the Sunni

The word jihad or djihad in the Arabic language can be translated in a number of different ways, a variety of definitions ranging from the traditional Western phrase "holy war," to the "efforts of Christian missionaries."4 Three of the possible practical interpretations are expounded by Rudolph Peters, a professor at the University of Amsterdam, Majid Khadduri, a native of Iraq and an emeritus member on the board of the Middle East Institute,5 and Emmanuel Sivan, professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Religion has its shares of promoting violence. Many will argue that a cause of religion wars is for economic and political reasons, but others argue that those who start wars are, by definition, not religious. In reality, separating religion out of economic and political motives can be involved in such a way finding religious motives innocent of much. Excuses for Christianity responsibilities cannot be accepted whether the person has misappropriated the message of Christ. The primarily set of doctrines is not Christianity, but by living through past background it personified the visible actions of Christians. In other words, Christianity, Islam or any other religion has no intention of excusing from survey. Given certain conditions,

“There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet.” This simple statement is spoken aloud five times daily by the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims. It is the statement that establishes Islam as a monotheistic religion, identifies Mohammed as the final prophet of God [Allah], and is the first of the five pillars of Islam. The five pillars of Islam are required activities that provide Muslims with a foundation for practicing their religion. In addition to professing their faith, a Muslim must also pray five times daily in the direction of Mecca, pay an annual tithe, observe Ramadan, and participate in the pilgrimage to Mecca. In the following paragraphs, I will explain the origin of the five pillars and describe each along with how they are observed by Muslims.

Jihad means to struggle and/or to persevere. Many Muslims argued there are six pillars of Islam.

The religion of Islam has long been associated with conflict and conquest, as have the other two Abrahamic faiths. However, what marks Islam out is the rapid nature of its expansion and the fact that within around 175 years, its influence had been asserted from the plains of Syria and Palestine, right the way throughout the Maghreb as far as the cities of middle Spain. If we are to consider “early Islam” as the first 200 years or so of its existence, we see there is a clear transition from defensive military action on behalf of the Muslim followers to an extremely outward and expansionary set of conflicts, occurring over a wide ranging geographical area. But what really forms the debate here? Ideology fiercely adhered to by Muhummad’s adherents such as the concept of Jihad and the duty to propagate Islam can only have fostered a desire to conquer foreign territories and widen Islamic influence. That said, Islam came under constant attack from the start and thus the constant need to defend itself may well have bred military tradition, something following generations were all too keen to sustain. The schism that occurred upon Muhummad’s death in 632 prompts further military activity between the resulting Caliphates that formed as a result. In constant

Is religion a major cause of war or/and a major cause of the conflict between people? A holy war is justified in the name of “God”. In Europe, during the 16th and 17th centuries, there were numerous wars caused by religious beliefs. For example, the Spanish Reconquista or the Christian Crusades are instances of religious warfare. The Crusades were wars that began with Christianity against the conquest impelled by the Muslims and their religious expansion. Religion has caused suffering and much immense pain. Friedrich Nietzsche believed Christianity is evil for the world. Bitterness, or ressentiment, is when one has repressed feelings and emotions. Our values play a big role. It reflects the way of life of each individual. Nietzsche, in

Religion is the basis of belief for humans, it is a belief that there is a higher being that watches over us guiding us, a belief that there is life after death and if we follow these beliefs we shall enter heaven the most beautiful place. However religion has also played a role in wars, religious conflicts in Ireland (Protestants and Catholics). Israelis and Arabs (Holy Land) and the Holy Crusades of the eleventh century (recapturing the Holy Land).

However, Jihad’s age old association with violence was nearly unavoidable. Struggle can rather easily be translated into a call to conduct an external Jihad for the Islamic faith. For example, a verse in the Qu’ran states, “go forth, light armed and heavy armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah” (Church 111). This verse clearly pairs Jihad (“strive”) with external violence (“go forth, light armed and heavy armed”) (Church 111). Indeed, violent Jihad was an obvious necessity because the Muslim community had always been a religious and political faction. Many lost their lives to spread and defend the newfound faith in Arabia and eventually to locations far beyond. Jihad’s association with violence and religious duty made it an ideal expression for Muslims to justify “lesser Jihad,” or the notion of external conflict, centered on the idea of spreading the faith (Church 112).

In light of recent events in the global community, one word that is used frequently but rarely truly understood is the Islamic word Jihad. Jihad has become a very volatile word, so it is necessary that those who use it should understand exactly what it means, what it entails, and what significance it has in current global events.

Due to this terrorism and religious hatred, India has lost two of its prime ministers who were assassinated by hired terrorist groups claiming themselves to be warriors of the religion. Terrorist from Pakistan invaded Kashmir with the support of Pakistani government.

Kashmir was originally a part of India when the conflict began, though, due to its high Muslim population, it leaned more towards Pakistan. According to The Times of India, “53% of the population of Kashmir is Muslim” and wants to “secede to Pakistan”. However, the conflict arises because Kashmir is also a part of Jammu. The two combine to make one state with is effectively known as Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu, according to The Times of India, “wants to stay with India”.

The Physical, Social and Mental health are central to life and all of these are deeply interdependent and entwined. Depression, currently ranked fourth among the most urgent health problems worldwide by WHO and predicted to become number two in terms of its disease burden, is more likely to be a result of various experiences like Conflict, Instability, Loss and Experiences of Humiliation, Disruptions, Oppression, Stress etc. Security concerns are dominant in the minds of the Kashmiri people as Deaths, Injury, Disappearances, Arrests, Encounters, Curfews, Rapes, Abductions and many other Abuses and Human Rights Violations are a part of their everyday lives (Syed Amin, 2009). A day in Kashmir starts with the news of Killings, Rapes, Torture, Arrests, Curfews, Assaults and what not, which then is recorded into the Psyche of the people. Everybody is affected from this war-like situation paralleled with a State of Mind wherein Grieving, Insecurity, Oppression, Poverty, Uncertainties of career and relationships are major themes (Asima Hassan, 2013).

The State of Jammu and Kashmir is situated between Pakistan and India. Among the key reasons for tension between Pakistan and India is the key problem of Kashmir. Whereas Pakistan has repeatedly termed this the "core issue" in its relationship with India, India has maintained that this matter was settled with Kashmir's accession to India in October 1947. As far as India has been concerned, therefore, the only issue for discussion has been what India regards as Pakistan's continuing illegal occupation of part of Jammu and Kashmir, an occupation that began in 1947–48, during the war between the two. About 63 per cent of the territory is under Indian occupation; while the rest, 37 per cent, is with