You may read Jihad and the Modern Word, part 2 of 2, in this month’s Ascent Magazine, the magazine published by the Harvard and MIT Students on Islam and Society.

B. Jihad in the Classical Juristic Tradition

Turning to the post-Prophetic era, classical jurists unanimously divided jihad into two main modalities. The first we may refer to as “aggressive jihad,” which is pro-active, and according to the majority, constituted a communal requirement to be carried out at least once every year. The second modality was the “defensive jihad,” which was waged whenever Muslim lands were attacked. This jihad was actually a much more serious affair than its counterpart, inasmuch as many of the stipulations and restrictions governing aggressive jihad were dropped in the case of defensive jihad. For example, the Muslim ruler did not have to announce the obligation to join the defensive jihad nor conscript soldiers for its prosecution. Similarly, all those groups who were normally exempt from participating in the aggressive jihad, e.g., women, minors, the elderly, young men who had not been granted permission by their parents, were required to participate in defensive jihad. For our purpose of trying to determine the credibility of the claim that Islam is a religion of peace, we may ignore the defensive jihad. For no one would accuse Islam, or any other religion for that matter, of not being a peaceful religion simply because it insisted on defending itself. We shall thus restrict the remainder of our discussion to the aggressive jihad.

Part 1 is also available.

In the wake of Imam W. D. Mohammed’s death [may God have mercy on his soul and grant him peace and Paradise], Dr. Jackson presents to us a most erudite article regarding not only the imam’s passing but a clarion call to entire America Muslim community as to the milestone we’ve reached and where we ought to be heading. Enjoy the article here.

In a talk delivered at Standford Univesity, Dr. Jackson discusses the realities of Shari’ah as they are contexualized here in America, especially in “Western” points of view in lieu of how Islam and Muslims are portrayed in the media and other various worldly happenings. The talk, entitled Laying Down the Shariah Law: Democracy or Theocracy?, is available on HalalTube. See a small write up here. Hat tip to MJ.

As a part of Dr. Jackson’s two-day stay in New York at NYU he partook in a panel discusion on race. Here’s a collection of Google videos that give an account of pertinent words. To quote Dr. Jackson,

“My view is that race is a social construct, but my view is also…, so what?!“

Links here and here. Enjoy.

Update

Due to learning that the complete videos for Dr. Jackson’s lecture was not uploaded in its entirety, it has been retracted here as well as on other sites. As per Dr. Jackson’s request, we would as that anyone who has uploaded the videos, remove them. You can see the reason for his request here.

In a recent article published in Issue 6 of the Michigan State Law Review, Dr. Jackson published a concise essay on literalism both in the Islamic juridical interpretation as well as the influence and assumptions of Western thoughts concerning religion on Islam. Here’s a small excerpt:

It was in the nineteenth century that the “scientific” study of Islam approached maturity in the West. This was also the period during which the hegemonic rise of the hard sciences and “higher criticism” in religious studies opened a new chapter in the age-old conflict between “reason” and revelation. Among the most important by-products of this development was the rise of religious Fundamentalism, in which Christian—more specifically Protestant—scholars and theologians moved to erect a dike of literalism around the Bible to stave off doctrinal erosion and compromise. To their opponents, secular and Christian “progressives” alike, literalism came to represent the antithesis of both modernity and reason. This attitude would soon permeate the academy where it informed the study of religion in general and Islam more particularly. As the Western academy settled into its new “post-religious” identity, almost every criticism that could be directed at religion in general was assumed a fortiori to apply to Islam. Literalism, in this context, as the Believer’s last-ditch effort to find refuge from the deluge of modern secularism, came to be identified with any and every serious commitment to Islam.

For the complete article, click here. Hat tip to Hood for the info.

Here’s another online lecture by professor Jackson at the Harvard Divinity School. The format is an embedded RealPlayer file [just warning as some Firefox users have complained of bugs with these]. Enjoy the lecture here. Hat tip to Khalifa for this one.

This year’s ALIM program will take place in NYC from January 12th to January 15th. Dr. Sherman Jackson will be there along with several other notable scholars. For more info, watch the YouTube video. Hat tip to sister Heather for the info. Be there or be very, very bad.