Commander of the Faithful: The Life and Times of Emir Abd el-Kader Essa

The life of Amir Abd el-Kader was marked by a litany of difficult decisions— questions of whether to respond to violence and oppression strongly or weakly, to remain unyielding in retaliation or to surrender and, in doing so, stop unnecessary death. Upon closer analysis, the challenges and decisions which confronted the Amir are not so drastically different from more modern concerns of international intervention or political upheaval. In reading of the Amir’s life and prior to this, the Ghost Dance of the Lakota people and the development of the Khalsa in the Sikh religion, there has been a desire to identify and separate religious responses to suffering from other, equally legitimate but perhaps more seemingly political, economic, or militaristic responses. This categorization is useful for a society that has, since the enlightenment, become increasingly compartmentalized, ever seeking to separate actions and responses according to their perceived motivations. But, when looking to the life of Abd el-Kader, whose actions often seem to defy such categorization, it becomes difficult to see the divides separating religious responses from humanitarian, political, economic, militaristic, or personal ones as anything more substantial than convenient and occasionally, dangerous fictions. In order to discuss the ways in which Abd el-Kader’s actions complicate notions of religious response, this essay will focus on two of the Amir’s responses / actions: the 1847 surrender to French forces and the Amir’s intervention to rescue Christians living in Damascus in 1860. On the most fundamental levels, both actions contest traditional notions regarding the purpose of jihad and the edicts outlined in hadiths; both represent what seem to be personal transformations in the Amir’s reaction to non-Muslin oppressors; both demonstrate a desire to negotiate Muslim traditions and beliefs with a world which was quickly becoming more globalized. In both cases, the actions of the Amir reflect the concerns faced by almost all religious communities: All religious communities face this tension between religious inspiration and religious action †¦ The troubled waters that need to be navigated in this global age lie between two shores: Respecting the right and reality of religious conviction and motivation and recognizing the problem of religious action in the pluralistic... ...s of a deep, personal regret. Regardless of the motivation / category of response, the Amir’s words mark the conclusion of a long progression, from the 24-year-old who claimed that â€Å"paradise is found in the shadow of the sword.† The progression of Abd el-Kader’s method of response to the suffering of the Muslim people, presents challenges to the categorization of religious response and the extent to which divisions between religious, political, humanitarian, and personal responses to suffering, both for the individual and for the community, can be realistically determined. While it seems obvious that there are numerous complex and perhaps even contradictory motivations driving a single response, perhaps the more pertinent question to consider, at least in terms of religious studies, is the way such classifications limit or enable the justification of the response. Works Cited Heck, Paul L. "Jihad Revisited.† Journal of Religious Ethics. 32.1 (2004): 95-128. Kiser, John. Commander of the Faithful: The Life and Times of Emir Abd el-Kader. Rhinebeck, New York: Monkfish Book Publishing, 2008. McClatchy, J.D. "Jihad." Poetry. 180.6 (September 2002): 311-312. Commander of the Faithful: The Life and Times of Emir Abd el-Kader Essa The life of Amir Abd el-Kader was marked by a litany of difficult decisions— questions of whether to respond to violence and oppression strongly or weakly, to remain unyielding in retaliation or to surrender and, in doing so, stop unnecessary death. Upon closer analysis, the challenges and decisions which confronted the Amir are not so drastically different from more modern concerns of international intervention or political upheaval. In reading of the Amir’s life and prior to this, the Ghost Dance of the Lakota people and the development of the Khalsa in the Sikh religion, there has been a desire to identify and separate religious responses to suffering from other, equally legitimate but perhaps more seemingly political, economic, or militaristic responses. This categorization is useful for a society that has, since the enlightenment, become increasingly compartmentalized, ever seeking to separate actions and responses according to their perceived motivations. But, when looking to the life of Abd el-Kader, whose actions often seem to defy such categorization, it becomes difficult to see the divides separating religious responses from humanitarian, political, economic, militaristic, or personal ones as anything more substantial than convenient and occasionally, dangerous fictions. In order to discuss the ways in which Abd el-Kader’s actions complicate notions of religious response, this essay will focus on two of the Amir’s responses / actions: the 1847 surrender to French forces and the Amir’s intervention to rescue Christians living in Damascus in 1860. On the most fundamental levels, both actions contest traditional notions regarding the purpose of jihad and the edicts outlined in hadiths; both represent what seem to be personal transformations in the Amir’s reaction to non-Muslin oppressors; both demonstrate a desire to negotiate Muslim traditions and beliefs with a world which was quickly becoming more globalized. In both cases, the actions of the Amir reflect the concerns faced by almost all religious communities: All religious communities face this tension between religious inspiration and religious action †¦ The troubled waters that need to be navigated in this global age lie between two shores: Respecting the right and reality of religious conviction and motivation and recognizing the problem of religious action in the pluralistic... ...s of a deep, personal regret. Regardless of the motivation / category of response, the Amir’s words mark the conclusion of a long progression, from the 24-year-old who claimed that â€Å"paradise is found in the shadow of the sword.† The progression of Abd el-Kader’s method of response to the suffering of the Muslim people, presents challenges to the categorization of religious response and the extent to which divisions between religious, political, humanitarian, and personal responses to suffering, both for the individual and for the community, can be realistically determined. While it seems obvious that there are numerous complex and perhaps even contradictory motivations driving a single response, perhaps the more pertinent question to consider, at least in terms of religious studies, is the way such classifications limit or enable the justification of the response. Works Cited Heck, Paul L. "Jihad Revisited.† Journal of Religious Ethics. 32.1 (2004): 95-128. Kiser, John. Commander of the Faithful: The Life and Times of Emir Abd el-Kader. Rhinebeck, New York: Monkfish Book Publishing, 2008. McClatchy, J.D. "Jihad." Poetry. 180.6 (September 2002): 311-312.