Peace and the four Islamic sacred months

Narrated Abu Bakr: The Prophet ﷺ said: “(The division of time has turned to its original form which was current when Allah created the Heavens and the Earths. The year is of twelve months, out of which four months are sacred: Three are in succession Dhul-Qa’da, Dhul-Hijja and Muharram, and (the fourth is) Rajab of (the tribe of) Mudar which comes between Jumadi-ath-Thaniyah and Sha’ban.” - Sahih Al-Bukhari, Book of beginning of creation, Hadith: 3197

Many Muslims are unaware that there are four sacred months in the Islamic Calendar. Even during the days of Jahilliyah, the idol worshippers of Arabia knew how to respect in these months. There used to generally be no fighting and most places were peaceful.

During these sacred months, Muslims are supposed to spend every possible opportunity to please his creator and avoid from harming anyone physically, verbally or mentally.

O you who believe! Violate not the sanctity of the symbols of Allah, nor of the sacred month. - Surah Al-Maida(5), Verse 2

[Fighting in] the sacred month is for [aggression committed in] the sacred month, and for [all] violations is legal retribution. So whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in the same way that he has assaulted you. And fear Allah and know that Allah is with those who fear Him. Surah Al-Baqarah(2), Verse 194

Recently we are getting more and more news of people who are calling themselves Muslims but doing everything against Islam and Muslims. These crazy zealots, many of them subscribing to Islamic State ideology are doing everything against Islam (see here for more details).

There are many other glory hunters who may not be a part of any terrorist organization but think of themseleves as holier than others and are harming others every other day. This post is directed mainly towards these people to remind them that they are violating the sanctity of the sacred months that Allah and his Prophet ﷺ talked about on many occassions.

It's Not Islam That Drives Young Europeans to Jihad, France's Top Terrorism Expert Explains read more: http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/1.791954

Salman Abedi, the suicide bomber who killed 22 people at a Manchester pop concert this week, started life advantageously enough: to parents who had fled Gadhafi’s Libya for a new life in Britain. But actually it was that kind of dislocation that would send him off kilter two decades later, says Olivier Roy, one of France’s top experts on Islamic terrorism.
“An estimated 60 percent of those who espouse violent jihadism in Europe are second-generation Muslims who have lost their connection with their country of origin and have failed to integrate into Western societies,” Roy says.

They are subject to a “process of deculturation” that leaves them ignorant of and detached from both the European society and the one of their origins. The result, Roy argues, is a dangerous “identity vacuum” in which “violent extremism thrives.”
Born in Britain in 1994, Abedi would later be drawn to violent fundamentalism after a life in limbo. On the one hand, he tried to reconnect with Libya, where he traveled shortly before this week’s attack, while on the other, he strove to emulate the same British young people he killed.
“Unlike second generations like Abedi’s, third generations are normally better integrated in the West and don’t account for more than 15 percent of homegrown jihadis,” Roy says. “Converts, who also have an approach to Islam decontextualized from any culture, account for about 25 percent of those who fall prey to violent fundamentalism.”

With little if any understanding of religion or Islamic culture, young people like Abedi turn to terrorism out of a “suicidal instinct” and “a fascination for death,” Roy says. This key element is exemplified by the jihadi slogan first coined by Osama bin Laden: "We love death like you love life.”

“The large majority of Al-Qaida and Islamic State jihadis, including the Manchester attacker Abedi, commit suicide attacks not because it makes sense strategically from a military perspective or because it’s consistent with the Salafi creed,” Roy says. “These attacks don’t weaken the enemy significantly, and Islam condemns self-immolation as interference with God’s will. These kids seek death as an end-goal in itself.”
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