Religion IS Violent

I enjoy the study of theology and I love a good conversation. So when my friend, a devout Muslim and scholar (though he would dispute that), recently called we got into a discussion about violence and religion.

My friend asked in his frank and in his agenda-free way how is it that G-d commands the Jews in the Bible to wipe out the tribe of Amalek- men, women, and children?

Amalek was a medium sized tribe, whose origin is debated. Some argue that they are decedents of the biblical Esau, others like the Jewish sage, Nachmanides, claim that they are decedents of man named Amalek. Arabian scholars argue they are interchangeable with the Canaanites.

Either way, the story goes that the world was awed by the Jewish exodus from Egypt, and there emerged a global recognition of a monotheistic creator. The Amalekites, staunch pagans, decided to cool down the globalization of the belief in one G-d and attacked the Jews.

The Amalekites actions read like a polemic that went like this: "despite the many miracles (and the fact that there was strong evidence they would lose in their war against the Jews as the Jewish G-d had just devastated the super-power of their day, Egypt)they by virtue of their attack on the Jews, doubted the omnipotence of the Jewish G-d". The Amalekites hoped that this display of doubt would cool down the warmth of comfort that the global movement of monotheistic belief was experiencing. In other words, they hoped that the warmth of belief, fostered by the miraculous exit from Egypt would be cooled by the doubt engendered by their attack on the recently freed Jews.

Following the defeat of the Amalekites G-d tell the Jews "don't forget what these people did,wipe out their memory from under the sky"! For a religion of peace and friendship this is quite unexpected.

Yet a similar question is raised in relation to the more current religious violence perpetuated in the name of Islam.
How can it be that Islam -which as one of its founding principles believes in helping the weak- can be be so violent?

The justification offered by the perpetrators is called Jihad, i.e. our violence is mandated -nay obligated by G-d!

There seem to be a myriad of reasons raised in support AND in opposition to Jihad from the Muslim public. I will share the one offered by my friend, which also happens to be one of UCLA's Muslim scholar, Khaled M. Abou El Fadl, points in his book on contemporary Islam, "The Great Theft".

The detractors of this jihadist view make two points.

1. Jihad can be both external and internal.
2. and much more relevant, Jihad is not a myth it is a REAL part of Islam.

Yet most of the jihadists victims are other Muslims. Furthermore the jihadists are killing Muslims of their own branch of Islam (Sunni on Sunni and Shia on Shia violence)!

The only real manifestation of Koranic Jihad, manifesting itself TODAY is the internal Jihad, a war waged against the evil inclination within the self.

This is interesting when you consider that contemporary Judaism requires Jews to verbalize G-d's commandment to remember what Amalek did and to erase their memory from the face of the earth. To be clear Jews do not travel the world looking to kill the Amalekites. The commandment is in full affect and is being carried out, but not externally, internally.

This internal war against Amalek is defined by Kabbalah and Chassidus, as a war against doubt. Indeed the Hebrew word Amalek=240 as does the Hebrew word for doubt (safek).

Amalek which represents doubt must be wiped out; doubt must be wiped out. To be clear this is not a war on questioning and conversation; that is encouraged by Judaism. Here we are talking about a certain type of doubt.

The doubt that precludes you from the reaching out to a higher force, when that higher force is all you have.
Think about it, you have no where to go no money, no friends, but you have hope,
hope that this world is NOT a disjointed impersonal place,
hope that everything has a reason and purpose, (just as the minutest detail of our eco-system has a purpose).
That hope may even inspire you to overcome -to succeed.

But then doubt comes and undermines that sustaining hope; it cools down the warmth and comfort of inspiration.

Thus everyday a Jew is obligated to declare Jihad on the doubt that festers in the heart, BEFORE doubt severs the rope of hope that otherwise may inspires us to overcome.

So it seems that violence plays a role in religion but the application and direction of that violence be it Jihad or the war against Amalek, must be directed inwards; a brutal war for control over ones own emotions.
THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES.