by Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n
Private Papers<\/em><\/p>\n W<\/span>henever Osama bin Laden addresses the West he always prefaces his message with the simple statement, \u201cPeace to whoever follows guidance.\u201d What exactly is bin Laden\u2019s purpose, and what exactly are Americans and Europeans to understand by this simple statement?<\/p>\n Considering that this statement is always anchored in messages rife with grievances and accusations \u2014 which culminate into threats of reciprocal treatment \u2014 those addressed most likely assume that bin Laden\u2019s \u201cguidance\u201d is for the West to terminate hostilities against the Islamic world and thereby have peace for itself.<\/p>\n In fact, \u201cpayback\u201d \u2014 you attack us, we attack you \u2014 is the over-arching theme of bin Laden\u2019s propaganda.\u00a0 Says bin Laden:\u00a0 \u201cThe time to settle accounts has arrived: just as you kill, so shall you be killed; just as you bomb, so shall you be bombed. Expect more to come.\u201d In context, then, the overall impression is that bin Laden is suggesting that whoever follows right guidance \u2014 i.e. whoever deals \u201cjustly\u201d with Islam \u2014 will have peace. Live and let live.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, a long and bellicose history revolves around this seemingly peaceful proverb \u2014 one that those addressed are often quite unaware of. In fact, bin Laden is not the originator of this statement; it was first uttered by the prophet of Islam Muhammad, and had nothing to do with \u201cpayback\u201d or a desire to live and let live.<\/p>\n After Muhammad had converted most of Arabia to Islam by the power of the sword, he set his sight on his neighbors including the Byzantine Christians to the north and west (known in the Arabic sources simply as \u201cthe Romans\u201d).<\/p>\n It is in this context of war and rumors of wars that bin Laden\u2019s oft-quoted proverb \u2014 \u201cPeace to whoever follows guidance\u201d \u2014 was first made. Addressing the Christian emperor, Heraclius, Muhammad sent the following terse message in the year 628:<\/p>\n In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. From Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, to Heraclius, the Roman emperor. Peace to whoever follows guidance. To the point: Embrace Islam and you shall have peace [al-Tabari,\u00a0Tarikh al-Rusul wa\u2019l-Muluk<\/i>\u00a08:104-105].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In Arabic, \u201cEmbrace Islam and you shall have peace\u201d is simply a two-word pun:\u00a0Aslam taslam<\/i>, which most literally means \u201cSubmit, have peace.\u201d In fact, perpetual warfare \u2014 that is, jihad \u2014 has been the true legacy of Muhammad\u2019s ominous missive to the Christian emperor.\u00a0 After Heraclius refused to submit to Islam, an infinite barrage of jihad campaigns erupted, for centuries, until Constantinople, the seat of Christendom, was finally conquered by and incorporated into the Abode of Islam in 1453.<\/p>\n I<\/span>n classical terminology, the \u201cAbode of Islam\u201d (Dar al-Islam) denotes all the regions that are governed under Islamic law.\u00a0 During the 800 years when Muhammad first made his demand of Heraclius and the subsequent fall of Constantinople, the Abode of Islam, through jihad, had grown into a vast realm from Spain to India.\u00a0 Constantinople, first attacked by Muslim hordes in the 7th century, was often seen as the \u201cultimate\u201d prize \u2014 but by no means was it thefinal<\/i>\u00a0goal.<\/p>\n A fundamental tenet of Islam is that jihad must persevere until the entire globe is either converted to or at least governed by Islam.\u00a0\u00a0 When the \u201cAbode of War,\u201d the non-Islamic world, has been subsumed into the \u201cAbode of Peace,\u201d then and only then will there be peace.<\/p>\n Indeed, the above scenario best explains the etymological relationship between the words \u201cIslam\u201d and \u201cpeace,\u201d a relationship often distorted through conflation.\u00a0 Even though \u201cIslam\u201d and the Arabic word for \u201cpeace\u201d are formed from the same three-lettered root \u201cs-l-m\u201d \u2014 and thus are in fact related \u2014 only the word \u201cSalam\u201d means \u201cpeace.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cIslam\u201d means \u201csubmit\u201d or \u201csurrender.\u201d\u00a0 The connection between the two words, then, is clear: In Islam, peace is only achieved through submission \u2014 just as Muhammad proclaimed to Heraclius.<\/p>\n Even though bin Laden prudently omits the conclusion of Muhammad\u2019s message when addressing the West, he achieves three goals by constantly quoting the opening sentence, \u201cPeace to whoever follows guidance\u201d:<\/p>\n 1. Powerful allusions and imagery are established, earning bin Laden legitimacy among radical elements of the Islamic world.\u00a0 For now he is seen as walking in the footsteps of Muhammad, using his exact terminology and repeatedly addressing it to the spiritual descendants of Heraclius and Christian Rome in the West, where the age-old struggle between Islam and Infidelity, the Abode of Peace and the Abode of War, rages on.\u00a0 Indeed, by reiterating this symbolic sentence, bin Laden, far from murderous thug is transformed into pious Muslim leader \u2014 a modern day caliph of sorts, attacking his infidel neighbors in the name of Islam.<\/p>\n 2. As with all of Muhammad\u2019s habits, his approach to infidels \u2014 first demanding that they submit, then attacking them if they refuse \u2014 has become standardized.\u00a0 In other words, before attacking infidels, Muslims, like their prophet, should first call on them to submit to Islam.\u00a0 So by evoking the opening sentence of Muhammad\u2019s paradigmatic message, bin Laden gains legitimacy for ensuing acts of terror.<\/p>\n 3. Most importantly, he simultaneously fools the people of the West, who, more often than not assume that the \u201cguidance\u201d bin Laden is predicating peace on is simply a poetic way of saying \u201cDon\u2019t start the fight.\u201d\u00a0 Yet the all-important historical and religious connotations \u2014 much acknowledged and appreciated in the Islamic world \u2014 are altogether missed in the West.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Thus, bin Laden satisfies both diametrically opposed audiences: the liberal West, which honors peace and cultural sensitivity, and therefore seeks the best interpretation of his apparently prudent \u201cguidance\u201d \u2014 live and let live \u2014 and the Islamists, for using the same uncompromising approach the Muslim prophet did whenever he called upon infidels to submit or else.<\/p>\n Raymond Ibrahim is a research librarian at the Library of Congress. His new book,\u00a0<\/i>The Al Qaeda Reader,\u00a0<\/i>which translates Osama bin Laden’s communiqu<\/i><\/span>\u00e9s,\u00a0will be available in April 2007<\/i>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Osama bin Laden’s “Peace to whoever follows guidance” by Raymond Ibrahim Private Papers Whenever Osama bin Laden addresses the West he always prefaces his message with the simple statement, \u201cPeace to whoever follows guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[227,765],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1ra","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5432,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/peace-to-whoever-follows-guidance\/","url_meta":{"origin":5528,"position":0},"title":"Peace to Whoever Follows Guidance","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"More al Qaeda double talk by Raymond Ibrahim National Review Online As with every message directed to the West, Osama bin Laden\u2019s most recent address begins and ends with his hallmark sentence: \u201cPeace to whoever follows guidance.\u201d What exactly are Americans and Europeans to understand by this simple statement? Considering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5390,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/an-encouraging-revelation-bin-ladens-latest-message-in-context\/","url_meta":{"origin":5528,"position":1},"title":"An Encouraging Revelation: Bin Laden’s Latest Message in Context","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Private Papers Full of the same old complaints, threats of retaliation, and victim status role that have become mainstays of al Qaeda propaganda, Osama bin Laden\u2019s latest release would seem to offer nothing new. It dwells on the many \u201ccrimes\u201d the West insists on visiting upon the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5561,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/lying-defying-and-demoralizing\/","url_meta":{"origin":5528,"position":2},"title":"Lying, Defying and Demoralizing","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"OBL's three-fold strategy to defeat the West by Raymond Ibrahim Private Papers Like all of Osama bin Laden\u2019s previous messages to the West, his most recent communiqu\u00e9 contains three Ladenese trademarks \u2014 lying, defying, and demoralizing \u2014 that are always present whenever the al Qaeda chieftain addresses the West. That\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3281,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/osama-bin-laden-man-of-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":5528,"position":3},"title":"Osama bin Laden: Man of Love?","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim MESH (Middle East Strategy at Harvard) In many ways, Michael Scheuer is the paradigmatic case of an otherwise knowledgeable and experienced Western adult who takes al Qaeda\u2019s word at face value. According to his book,\u00a0Imperial Hubris, his credentials and thus authority to speak about al Qaeda and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3086,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/was-osama-bin-laden-the-chicken-or-the-egg\/","url_meta":{"origin":5528,"position":4},"title":"Was Osama Bin Laden the Chicken or the Egg?","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim PJ Media To posit the significance of Osama bin Laden's demise, we must first decide which came first \u2014 the chicken or the egg? Quaint as it is, this question is fundamentally an inquiry into the nature of cause and effect. In our context, did Osama bin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3075,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/bin-laden-and-the-eternal-hydra-of-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":5528,"position":5},"title":"Bin Laden and the Eternal Hydra of War","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Hudson New York As we ponder the significance of Osama bin Laden's death, it is well to reflect that Islamists are not the\u00a0cause\u00a0of hostilities; they are but\u00a0symptoms\u00a0of a much greater cause. Individually killing them off \u2014 which is nice \u2014 is like a doctor temporarily treating a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Islam"","block_context":{"text":"Islam","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/islam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5528"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5529,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5528\/revisions\/5529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}