Written By : Bookworm

It’s very simple, according to some British Muslims. You can be a soldier in your nation’s military as long as your military isn’t fighting against Muslims. However, if your military is fighting against Muslims, your military has become the enemy, and you should use your resources and abilities to kill your fellow troops. Have you got that (all emphasis mine):

Worshippers at one of Britain’s biggest mosques reacted to the Fort Hood shooting yesterday by saying Muslims who serve in the Armed Forces are complicit in killing their “brothers and sisters” in Afghanistan.

[snip]

Speaking to The Times after Friday prayers at East London mosque, young Muslim men said the lives of those who follow Islam were of more value than those of non-believers. They gave only their first names, claiming that the authorities might place them under investigation.

Mustapha, 26, from South London, said that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were wars against Muslims and he would not consider joining the Army nor encourage fellow Muslims to. “I would not fight against my friends and brothers,” the house-builder said. “The Koran says even if you make allies with non-Muslims and join them to kill Muslims, then you die as a non-believer.”

Asked his views on the killings at Fort Hood, he said: “Killing military members is all right. If you are killing people who are fighting against Muslims then that’s okay.”

Abdul-Hakim, 17, who was born in Britain but spent his formative years in Tanzania, said it was a bigger crime to kill Muslims than non-Muslims such as the soldiers at Fort Hood: “For you to go and kill your own brother, that’s more of a crime than killing them.” Ashraf, a Somali-born A-level student, said that only God could judge the murders committed by Major Hasan. “I’m not saying I justify it,” said the 17-year-old. “But maybe if he was alive he could justify what he done.”

Not all British Muslims agree with these views:

But their views contrasted with those of other Muslims. Zeeshan Hashmi, 30, who was born in Pakistan and served as a British soldier from 2000 to 2005, did two tours in Afghanistan. “People would ask what I would do if I was asked to fight fellow Muslims, but for me it was all about going there to help create a better understanding between peoples,” he told The Times.

In 2006 Mr Hashmi’s brother, Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi, became the first British Muslim soldier to be killed fighting the Taleban.

“Jabron and I never had any difficulties squaring our identities as both British soldiers and Muslims,” he said.

I appreciate Mr. Hashmi’s viewpoint and his patriotism. However, there is no doubt that the others interviewed express views that comport more closely with the Koran, which has always divided the world into two categories: Muslims, who good and worthy of life; and all others, who exist to serve Muslims or, if they are Jews or fall into other disfavored categories, to die.

Until the vast and vocal majority of Muslims begin to believe that there are parts of the Koran that are historical anomalies and not active instructions for daily life, the tension between Islam and the West will continue unabated.

Cross-posted at Bookworm Room

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