Cameron on Conflicts of Commands, Part II. – A Guest Post Series
To sum up, it’s acceptable – God willing- for the Muslim American military personnel to partake in the fighting in the upcoming battles, against whomever, their country decides, has perpetrated terrorism against them. Keeping in mind to have the proper intention as explained earlier, so no doubts would be cast about their loyalty to their country, or to prevent harm to befall them as might be expected. This is in accordance with the Islamic jurisprudence rules which state that necessities dictate exceptions, as well as the rule that says one may endure a small harm to avoid a much greater harm.
And God the Most High is Most Knowledgeable and Most Wise.
Fatwa of Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi
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We, reserve combat officers and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, who were raised upon the principles of Zionism, self-sacrifice and giving to the people of Israel and to the State of Israel, who have always served in the front lines, and who were the first to carry out any mission in order to protect the State of Israel and strengthen it.
We, combat officers and soldiers who have served the State of Israel for long weeks every year, in spite of the dear cost to our personal lives, have been on reserve duty in the Occupied Territories, and were issued commands and directives that had nothing to do with the security of our country, and that had the sole purpose of perpetuating our control over the Palestinian people. …
We hereby declare that we shall not continue to fight this War of the Settlements. …
We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people.
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What will we say about Mattathias, a hero of the Chanuka story, who demonstrated his zeal for God by killing a Jew who was sacrificing to a pagan god? He acted, we are told in the Book of Maccabees, by following the model of Pinchas, the zealot of an earlier biblical story in the book of Numbers. Pinchas, grandson of Aaron the high priest, killed a Jew who had sexual relations with a pagan Midianite woman. God’s response was to reward Pinchas with an everlasting covenant of peace. Should we as modern Jews honor zealots the same way today?
The biblical story makes clear that God has called for the Israelite leadership to act forcefully against the sinners and it was only when no one else, including Moses, had the courage to act, that Pinchas took the initiative. If God so clearly approved of Pinchas’ zealous act of murder, how can we be critical of a zealot like Yigal Amir?
The answer is that for more than 2,000 years we have understood that no Jewish action or any human action that is destructive, cruel and heartless can be justified by the claim, “God told me to do it.” The rabbis of the talmudic period,whose favorite activity in the world was argument and disputation, ensured that this story of Pinchas can never again serve as our model. They never permitted themselves to decide an issue by claiming direct communication from God. For the rabbis, citing biblical verses was only the beginning, but never the end of their discussion.
Rabbi Jon Haddon, Making sense of Chanukah amidst tragedy
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