Oil Spills should never be allowed to happen

Now that carnival has come and gone and the revelry that marks one of the pillars of our cultural and national identity is departed until next year, allow me some space to comment on a tragedy that has affected another symbol of our national identity; the Great Salt Pond.
Although this increasingly sad body of water may be seen by many as an eyesore or as the promise of future land on which to build brothels and casinos, it remains the reason why there in fact is a St.Maarten and why we live on it. The pond is where our ancestors mined salt and it is where, during the profound Caribbean sunrises, the morning light used to paint pastel colours on her wavelets. It is where there still is a unique wetland ecosystem with numerous species of flora and fauna and it is where, just last week, hundreds of revellers made their lap ‘round the pond’. And, apparently, its has also become the unfortunate dumping ground for oil.

Allow me to explain a few things about oil and oil spills. Technically, an oil spill is the release of liquid petroleum hydrocarbons into the environment due to human activity. Non-technically it is a nasty, poisonous mess that takes decades to disappear. This release can either be accidental as in the present disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, or it can be intentional. An oil spill has wide ranging effects on both nature and human health. Contact with oil can cause kidney damage, liver failure, gastro-intestinal irritation, and eventually death in all animals. It also causes a reduction in the ability of marine plants and coral to photosynthesize and significantly reduces local fish stock. In humans contact with oil can cause skin irritations and rashes, gastro-intestinal irritations and, if the vapours are inhaled, irritation of the lungs. More disturbingly, a study conducted on populations affected by oil spills has shown that there were increased incidents of liver and kidney failure and hormonal imbalances resulting in infertility and cancer. It is worrying to think about the effects this spill might have on the people that live and work near where the spill was, not to mention on those inhaling the fumes while dancing and enjoying themselves in jump-ups and attending shows last week (some of the most harmful fumes are odourless, i.e. you can’t smell ‘em). But the real sad thing is that spills are not limited to the Great Bay area.

A couple months ago there were two significant spills in Cay Bay. Some of the oil washed ashore turning the sand black and the air foul. Some of the oil was carried out to sea where it affected the sea-grass beds and coral reefs and contaminated the local fish stock. Days before the Cay Bay spill sea turtle hatchlings were discovered at the Seaside Nature Park. They were the lucky ones, having dodged a foul smelling, pitch black, and viscous bullet. Very few are as lucky. There are also frequent spills in certain parts of the Simpson Bay Lagoon and in Oyster Pond which, incidentally, is not very far from some of the most pristine coral reef systems and fishery areas of the island.

If a spill does occur there are numerous ways to get rid of it. The most common method is spraying detergents on the slick, but this only sinks the oil and doesn’t get rid of it. Using biological agents such as some nitrate and sulphite containing fertilizers dissolves the slick but brings with it a number of other environmental issues (such as harmful algal blooms). Burning and scooping up the slick works but takes forever. The second best method uses Bioremediation Accelerators which are ‘green chemicals’ that naturally dissolve the oil through biological processes. But the best solution is to ensure that the oil spill doesn’t happen in the first place. Cleaning a spill is an expensive and time consuming enterprise which puts an incredible strain on both the authorities and the NGO’s that are involved. The United States, with all of its industrial and military might, is catching hell trying to contain the present Gulf Spill and caught hell in Alaska with the Valdez spill (the Gulf of Alaska is only now rebounding after 21 years). All steps should be taken, including legal penalties and monetary fines, to ensure that a spill never happens again. The authorities would have to open all channels of communication and cooperation to address the problem and silence on the issue should never, ever be the option. After all, not only is the environment at stake but the health of the population is in serious danger.

We must realize that if our environment becomes sick so will our society and there is no greater evidence of this than the wilful poisoning of the people, their land and their water. Our society will collapse and descend into chaos and those precious tourism dollars we depend on will be history. We, as a people that are in five months headed into a new chapter of our collective history, need to take pride in our natural and social surroundings and should not, for example, pollute the very thing which has determined us as a people. I would love for my grandchildren to tell me one day “Gramps, we going jamming round the pond” without me having to fear for their health or remind them what the pond used to be and what it meant. It is sad that personal greed and ambition have taken precedence over the wellbeing of our neighbours and our environment. Oil spills are just one of the symptoms of the greater ill faced by our society, as is the disregard for our wetlands, including the pond. And let us not forget what is in a name, for although it is becoming less and less so, it still remains and hopefully will always remain, the Great Salt Pond.

The Link between an Unhealthy Environment and Crime on St Maarten

Over the past decades St. Maarten has been faced with two issues that are increasingly eroding our national psyche and has caused many of us to question what it means to be a St. Maartener and the pride that that label should bring with it. While the crime rate on our island is taking on frightening proportions, affecting the lives and well being of a broad spectrum of our society, our natural environmental is being degraded at an equally frightening pace. What is interesting to note is that both the increase in crime rate and the decrease in our environmental quality seems to be occurring parallel to each other and it may be relevant to examine what influence environmental degradation has on the increase in crime that has so tarnished the image of our home. It is an established fact that many factors contribute to an increase in crime: poverty, societal gaps and inadequate education just to name a few. But increasingly, studies have shown that a society that functions within an unhealthy environment will eventually get sick and start to exhibit physical (vector borne diseases such as dengue fever and malaria) and psychological (crime, corruption, apathy) symptoms before it withers and dies.

A study released by the Scottish city of Edinburgh has shown that the steps it took to improve its environmental quality resulted in a reduction of violent crime as well as the creation of new opportunities for recreation and activities which provide constructive alternatives to criminal activity. It is a sad fact that many of the criminal acts on St. Maarten are committed by individuals below thirty. When one speaks to them they often cite boredom and apathy as one of the major contributing factors for the committing of the crime. St. Maarten has very little in the way of recreational opportunities which distract from criminal behavior. I was fortunate enough that I fell in love with the ocean from an early age and my interest in the sea and diving took up most of my time. A few years ago I was involved in a program where a group of youngsters were trained to become ecologically conscious divers, and many of them have pursued interests related to the marine environment and have become expert divers themselves, moving away from a possible life of crime. While I was working on a project in Africa I was involved in a program where child soldiers were trained to become rangers on marine protected areas, and many left to pursue environmental programs within their own country, returning to enhance their own communities. Many young people on our island, however, do not have that opportunity due to the environment, both social and natural, in which they were raised and now have criminal records as thick as the bible.

What is more frightening, however, are the results of various studies that have shown that pollution has a direct physical affect that causes an increase in criminal behavior. A study from the University of Lagos in Nigeria has shown that the conversion of environmentally fragile areas into urbanized areas with poor infrastructure has resulted in an increased poverty and crime rate due to pollutants that were found in the community’s drinking water and breathing air. A similar study released by NATO suggests that the human brain is being damaged by pollutants and that people exposed to certain chemicals experience a marked decline in intelligence, causing anti-social and socially damaging behavior (which is what crime is essentially). A paper jointly published by the American FBI and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggest that high levels of copper, lead, and manganese, which are common marine pollutants, have caused the breakdown of inhibition mechanisms in the brain, causing violent urges to be inadequately controlled. There are a myriad of point sources for such chemicals on our island: the landfill in the center of our capital, untreated household waste that is pumped into our sea, poorly managed development, and unregulated coastal industries just to name a few. What is sad is that the people most affected by these chemicals are adolescents and pre-adolescents who, coincidentally or not, commit the majority of criminal acts.

Even if one were to disregard the effects mentioned above, it is a simple fact that history, culture, lifestyle, and stages of development of a social group, society, or nation are exclusively or largely governed by the health of its environment. Do we then, as a budding nation, want our national identity be developed amidst the status quo? If we, as a people, continue to let poor infrastructural development and increased environmental degradation continue unrestrained we cannot expect to start to begin to cure the social ills that we face. A human being simply needs fresh air, clean water, and sufficient green to function to his or her full potential, and we need to function to our full potential if we want to achieve our goals. What we are now doing is trying to study for the most important exam of our lives sitting at a dirty and cluttered desk. We cannot focus because we are faced with issues that are interrelated and not adequately addressed. But despite this all; despite the fact that our youth find comfort in crime; despite the fact that our environment is being damaged at an alarming rate; and despite the fact that our island is sick, both physically and psychologically, and is in desperate need of a cure, St. Maarten is still our beautiful island home and it is in our own interest that we must strive and cooperate to protect both our beautiful people and our beautiful land and sea.

The Bermuda Seagull Races

The Bermuda Seagull Races

I am up the Creek without a paddle, sitting in a ten foot dinghy with a hole in the hull that silently lets in the cold Atlantic. The little boat is being pushed by a tiny and ancient outboard that is screaming uncomfortably, trying to push us against the three foot waves and twenty-five knot wind courtesy of the Bermuda triangle. Lightning flashes off in the distance like a dying man’s last memories. Surrounding me a group of pirates are throwing bottles and cans full of beer at me and trying to best our ten knot speed.
I am in a Seagull race, and no I'm not trying to outdo the cantankerous, oft-crapping birds that stole my bait the other day while I tried to fish for my dinner. A Seagull is a primitive looking outboard engine that was first produced in Britain in nineteen-thirty-one. The engines aren’t made anymore because, well, simply put; they don’t die and there was not much of a market for new ones. They can be easily carried on a shoulder and are immensely durable; some of the first Seagulls produced are still used today. In Bermuda seagull engines are an obsession.

One Friday I was having a couple of beers with a marine biologist by the Bermuda aquarium in Flats village, looking at the sunset burning the cobalt sky an orange blue. I confessed to him my love of outboard engines and he suggested we head up the creek; the Mills Creek Boat Yard close to Hamilton city. Mills Creek is the local hangout of the Mills Creek Seagull Tribe, a group of men (and women) whose sole function in life is to race these engines; everything else they do is just biding time until that blissful moment when they pull the start cord of their little gulls for the next race. At the boatyard, in between the hulls of forlorn looking boats missing their mother ocean, and surrounded by empty beer bottles and dead roaches (not the insect kind), and sitting on an overturned bucket and nursing a dark-and-stormy, I was initiated into the Seagull Tribe.
The head of ceremonies was a Mr. Charlie Brown (I kid you not. A strange coincidence is that, years later, I would dive as Statia Marine Park Manager on one of the Caribbean's most beautiful wrecks...the Charlie Brown), owner of the boatyard and the reigning Seaguller in his class. Said Charlie “the Seagull is the best motherfucking engine in the world, you can drop it, burn it, sink it, and let it rust for thirty years and it would still start!” he emptied his beer and blew out blue smoke that curled into the North Atlantic wind (in a few days it would fall as green THC snow on the ice-blue shores of Greenland). Across from him a medical doctor, lets call him J.R., was being laughed at by his fellow Gullers; Something to do with two beautiful Thai women in Thailand who turned out to be two pretty young men in Thailand. Next to me my marine biologist friend, Dr. Thaddeus Murdoch, was explaining me the intricacies of seagull racing; “We get together, jump in our boats, fire the Gull, go slow very fast –or fast very slow, fish for our dinner (in some races there are prizes for biggest fish caught. Once a four foot Wahoo was landed on an eight foot boat by two very drunk and very bewildered Gullers), hydrate with copious amount of beer, and when we cross the finish line we are too hammered to stand.”

As the festivities of the Friday night Mills Creek Happy Hour was winding down, against the hull of a rusted trawler, a little Seagull stood on its one foot, listening to its champions sing Janice Joplin into the heavy Bermuda night.

Two weeks later I am standing somewhat gingerly in Thad’s dinghy for the first Seagull race of the season. A cold-front is hammering Mills Creek (the same front spawned a tornado in Virginia a few days before and killed six people) sending three foot waves crashing into the bow, ripping the hula girl bobble head Thad stuck to the bow into wine-dark sea. I am bailing water out of the boat with one hand and using a stick to push the boat forward with another; the engine cut (though durable, this does happen to the engines quite frequently) and the boat needs to be moved forward to engage the prop. It is cold. I am miserable. Once outside of the creek, in Hamilton harbor, the race starts in earnest. Fishing lines are thrown out, beer bottles and cans are hurled at one another and emptied in five seconds by those sober enough to catch them, and the little seagulls strain their hoarse moan into the howling wind.

Some of the engines have been modified, mainly by the newer, younger guys, to go fast and they are already specks on the silver horizon. But this really is not that kind of race. It is a race for simply being on the water, with likeminded individuals, using a piece of machinery that has stood the test of time. It is a race for getting stupid drunk with friends while trying to catch dinner but usually catching sunburn. It can also turn into a dangerous race; once a boat came apart at the seams and split clear in two, its four occupants, including one small child and his mother, spilt into the sea (don’t you dare wear a life vest during a Seagull race). The boat immediately sank to the bottom twenty feet below, with the Seagull still attached. The owner forgot about his wife and child, dove to the bottom, retrieved his engine, swam with the twenty pound gull on his back to shore, and then and only then organized a boat to get his family…yeah it’s like that.

Sometimes the race can get competitive. Some boats cut each other off, forcing some boats unto the shallows or unto the reefs that string the island like Technicolor pearls. Sometimes people get injured because they are too far gone, alcoholically speaking, to steer the boat in a safe direction. But generally these guys know their craft, and serious injuries have never, according to the good doctor, ever happened. Sometimes people do fight.
But today the wind has abated, the rain has stopped. A sea turtle peeks its phallic head out of the gin clear water to look at us moodily. The Bermuda sunlight, in all of its pink glory, has shyly begun to make an appearance. We have survived the race and I have survived my initiation. Thad unsteadily steers his dinghy into the dock, the Seagull signing sweetly into the lily scented breeze. Charlie Brown, who is already at the Creek yells “It’s the best little engine in the fuckin world!” And it definitely is. I have quit bailing and the warming breeze caresses my three day old sunburn.
The dock gets closer but there is no change in the Seagull’s song. No indication of a gear change into neutral or reverse, just the forward buzz of this little engine. I look up at Thad, feeling a little worried, the dock approaching closer and closer, a very woody crash approaching nearer and nearer. “Oh yeah”, he says, “there are no neutral or reverse gears on Seagulls, just forward…a little like life should be, wouldn’t you think?”

Diving the Bermuda Triangle

The sun is setting blood red, painting the western sky the color of a fresh bruise. Over to the east, black thunderheads flash blue lightning into the darkening distance, illuminating a solitary lighthouse, its single shining eye warning sailors to stay away from this devils isle. I am on a forty foot dive boat that still bears the pock marked holes of bullet wounds; an unfortunate incident from her previous life when the United States Coast Guard intercepted her doing twenty-two knots running drugs in the Bahamas. We are moored to a shipwreck, the King George, a fifty meter steam powered dredger sunk seven miles off of the north eastern corner of Bermuda, presumably another victim of the infamous triangle. Together with the other six divers on board I ready my kit and try not to think on the ghosts of the dead sailors that may lurk on the coral encrusted deck of the ship below. I vaguely remember the captain giving a pre-dive briefing, but don’t pay attention to a single word, apprehensive at diving into the Bermuda triangle.


Lost in the Triangle

We splash into the water, breaking the liquid skin of the black ocean. Below, the lights of the divers are already piercing the darkness, illuminating the wreck lying at twenty meters. As I descend the bridge comes into view, its coral encrusted superstructure like a mausoleum to the dead. Hundreds of snapper school around the decks, eyeing me with that faint disdain our aquatic brethren hold for us landlubbers. A lionfish, an invasive species in these waters, spreads its peacock mane, its surreal beauty bellying the promised pain of its spine fringed fins. As I swim along the deck my trepidation from the beginning of the dive dissolves like mist before the sun, my light illuminating decennia of hard and soft coral growth. Suddenly, from deep inside the bowels of the wreck, a dark, shadowy figure emerges. I gasp, is this the supernatural specter of the long dead captain? As the figure draws near my eyes adjust and a thirty kilo grouper looks at me with bemused surprise. It gives me a full lipped grin and disappears back into the belly of the ship. My air is low, I ascend the anchor line, and on my safety stop switch off my light, leaving the darkness envelope me. Instantly my vision is clouded by thousands of bio-luminescent beings drifting downwards like day-glo snow. As I climb the swim ladder, helped by the captain, I glance to the east. Instead of lightning illuminating the lighthouse, fireworks are inexplicably exploding into the night sky. This is it, I thought, I am lost in the Triangle, and I never want to be found.

Tenacity

This was my first dive off of the coast of Bermuda, a British Over Seas Territory located in the middle of the North Atlantic. For dramatic effect, my first dive was to be a night dive on a shipwreck. If I actually listened to the pre-dive brief, I would have heard that the King George was in fact sunk deliberately in 1913, and no ghosts roam its submerged decks. I am diving with the aptly named Triangle Divers, a dive company located at the eastern end of the island at the Grotto Bay Hotel (there actually is a grotto there, stalagmites and all). On the ride back the owner and captain, Graham Maddox, gave me some information on the dive boat; “The boat is called the tenacity for obvious reasons. When I bought her she survived one of the strongest storms to ever have hit the island. Before that she was used by the U.S Navy when they were based on the island. She came to Bermuda from the Bahamas, where she was caught trying to smuggle drugs, hence the few bullet holes that are still left in her”. She is a beautiful boat, wide and comfortable, and full of the history that makes Bermuda so unique.

Water as Clear as Gin

Bermuda is in fact a collection of 138 islands, islets, and keys connected by bridges and causeways. Many mistakenly place the island in the Caribbean, but in fact the nearest landmass is West Virginia, USA. Despite its northern latitude, the island enjoys a subtropical climate owing to the Gulf Stream that bathes the island in warm, nutrient rich water. The island lies on a platform of a submerged volcano and is surrounded by two hundred kilometers of coral barrier reef. Many people claim that Bermuda does not have the variety of fish life and coral found in the Caribbean. They are correct; the reefs surrounding Bermuda are built by the most northerly tropical coral species in the world. Because the water can get quite chilly in the winter (when a 7mm suit would be necessary, as is opposed to the summer, when just a 3 mm shorty is all that is needed) many species that are found in the south are not found surrounding the island. But one would be mistaken to think that this translates into poor reef quality. Bermuda has some of the healthiest reefs in the Atlantic, specifically because they are so high north, and what the reef lacks in diversity it makes up in sheer number and size; during a dive at a site called North Rock, I swam thru a coral archway covered in sea-fans the size of boat sails and brain coral the size of minivans. The reef was covered in thick schools of snapper, and a black grouper the size of a Minicooper kept me company. All in water as clear as gin.

Shipwreck Central

Another claim to fame for the island is the immense number of wrecks that can be explored. Though this is the Bermuda Triangle most of the wrecks were sunk by the thousands of navigation hazards posed by the reefs that line the island like a string of pearls. Divers have the choice of diving on the wreck of the 17th century schooner the West Virginia in the morning, and then on the five hundred foot ocean liner the Christobal Colon in the afternoon. It is common to hear rumors of treasure whispered throughout the island, just ask Teddy Tucker, who found an emerald inlaid, solid gold cross amongst thousands of gold and silver doubloons and lengths of gold chain. Tucker was also the inspiration for the Peter Benchley Novel The Deep, based on Tucker’s discovery of morphine ampoules on the wreck of the Constellation. The book was later turned into a movie of the same name, starring Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset (her famous wet t-shirt scene will live on in my dreams).

Dark and Stormy

It is ten a.m. We are on the south side of the island in a moderate chop and I am not feeling well. Not because of any misgivings about the dive, rather because of the Bermuda Experience I had topside yesterday. The day before started out beautifully, the early morning sunlight evaporated the memory of the thunderstorms from the night before, long tailed tropic birds danced over the flat calm water, and the smell of Bermuda Lilies perfumed the air. I grabbed my daypack and headed out into the comfortable morning. For the duration of my stay on Bermuda I took the excellent public transportation system, though visitors (who are brave enough) can rent their own scooters. Rental cars are illegal on the island, keeping it free of traffic congestion. On my way to St. George’s, the island’s first capital and an UNESCO World Heritage Sight, the island’s pretty scenery passed outside the bus window; rolling green hills dotted by the pink, yellow, and blue pastel hues of the houses, while views of the azure ocean were never far behind. Once in St. Georges I walked along its cobblestone streets, marveling at the seventeenth century architecture and peeking into the narrow alleys that are full of mystery. I paused to have a fish chowder lunch at the Whitehorse tavern, the taste of the fish blending perfectly with the view of St. George’s harbor. From there I took a forty five minute ferry ride to the old Naval Dockyard, strolled amongst the old garrisons and the forts and snorkeled at the snorkel park. Then another bus to Somersett, where the world’s smallest drawbridge is located (wide enough only for a ship’s mast) and a hike to the beautiful pink sands of Horseshoe Bay. Then another bus ride to the Island’s small but busy capital Hamilton, where the Friday night happy hour was in full swing, the bars along its main strip filled with people happy at the approaching weekend. The drink of choice is the Dark and Stormy, a mix of Goslings dark rum and ginger beer. It is delicious and deadly. And it is the reason why, at 10 am, getting ready for my first dive of the day, I am not feeling well.

The Cathedral

We are moored to a sight called the Cathedral, located on the south eastern side of Bermuda. It is called the Cathedral because of its large swim through into a coral encrusted cave, with at the top a fissure that lets in shafts of sunlight, giving the site an awesome, religious feel. After the briefing I splash into the water, following dive instructor Mr. Christmas (if you dive with him, it’s always Christmas). The reef is alive. Huge stoplight parrotfish munch on finger coral while simultaneously defecating sand. We approach the entrance to the Cathedral, a spooky swim through called the Devil’s Hole. We push aside a curtain of silversides, and suddenly find ourselves in an immense, light filled cavern. Bait fish shimmer in the shafts of light and huge tarpon enter and exit thru the hole above, regal as silver kings. It reminds me of the Pantheon in Rome, the same awe inspiring feel ten fathoms under the sea. We exit the Cathedral and make our way along the explosion of life that is the coral reef back to the boat. I have never felt better.

Our second dive was on the wreck of the Pelinaion, a steam powered, 4000 gross ton steamer that ran aground in 1940. She lies in twenty-one meters of water and is spectacularly covered in coral. Lionfish hover at her props.

Caves and Towers

That evening, while enjoying a rum swizzle and cheeseburger at the Swizzle Inn restaurant, I talk to Dane Robinson, Master Instructor at Triangle. Dane has a hobby called extreme deep diving. His last dive was to a Russian submarine off of the coast of Venezuela in 200 meters of water using hydrogen. I asked him about the possibilities of technical diving on Bermuda. The island is perfect for novice divers, with shallow wrecks and easily navigable reefs, but I have been hearing persistent rumors about the possibilities of technical diving. The night before a research team from the US based Cambrian Foundation conducted a rebreather seminar on the island. They are using the rebreathers to map the as yet miles of unexplored cave systems that snake under Bermuda. As for deep diving; “though we have deep wrecks, our most spectacular dive is the Argus Tower. An old cold war listening station that was used by the Americans to listen for Soviet subs,” mentions Dane. The tower lies an almost six hour boat ride in the middle of the Atlantic at the summit of the Argus bank, and is 50 meters at its shallowest point and 80 meters at its deepest. Because it is in the middle of the ocean, it is the place to be for big pelagic life; yellow fin tuna school in the deep blue, sailfish unfurl their majestic fins there, and tiger and dusky sharks are regular visitors. It is even possible to dive with humpback whales amongst the tower’s coral covered structure. The dive is spectacular. And breathtaking.

Submerged Grand Canyon

It is my last day on the island. I am preparing to make a shore dive at Flatts inlet, a narrow inlet that connects Harrington Sound to the ocean. The village of Flatts is home to the prestigious Bermuda Aquarium (the island is home to institutions that lie at the forefront of ocean research. It houses several institutions that conduct a wide variety of research in the fields of oceanography, ecology, and biology. William Beebe, the man who invented one of the first deep diving submersibles, the bathysphere, tested his vessel in the waters off of Bermuda. All of the dive sites on the island are protected areas, and a fish-trap ban in the early nineties has resulted in one of the healthiest Atlantic basin ecosystems). It is from the aquarium docks that I enter the water and drift along the moderate current, which can occasionally rocket at five knots. The water is clear, fifty meter viz, and the scenery is spectacular; the underwater crevasses resembling a mini version of the Grand Canyon. The fish life is dramatic, with groupers, snapper, and jacks schooling in profusion. A loggerhead turtle swims by and looks at me with its ancient eye.
I almost got lost in the Bermuda Triangle. Not because of some supernatural force pulling me into its mysterious depths. I almost lost myself because I intended to. I wanted to stay in this place with friendly people, amazing diving, good food, and the ghostly grouper on the wreck of the King George.

The meaning of Jihad

In the world since September 11th much has changed. Places and issues that were once unknown to most people have been thrusted into the heart of the media, and previously unknown conflicts and concepts are now daily newsflashes and the subjects of endless polemic on television and radio talk shows. One of the most frequently heard, yet commonly ill-or miss- understood of these concepts is the idea of Jihad. In almost any newspaper, and on most any talk show Jihad is mentioned at least once; Jihad and Al-Qaeda, Jihad and the Middle East, Jihadis in Iraq, etc., etc. But what is Jihad really? Why is it so important in the lives of so many people, and why has it been used to commit some of these terrible acts? And why is it so important and crucial in the current international system. To understand this one must first place Jihad in its context as one of the most important concepts in one of the world’s largest religions: Islam.
One of the most common misconceptions about Islam in the West is that it is an exotic religion, a religion that has nothing to do with the Western world and its two dominant religions: Judaism and Christianity. This is entirely untrue; Islam is one of the three great monotheistic, or Abrahamic, religions, which originated in the region that is today called the Middle East. “Each of these three religions embody many of the same notions of society, history, divine will, and personal responsibility…” (Anderson, Siebert, Wagner, 27). All three of these faiths believe in one God and the “same early patriarchs, and most of the same prophets” (Anderson, Siebert, Wagner, 27). In fact this notion applies directly towards the story of Abraham; the Jews and Christians view Isaac as the legitimate son of Abraham, while Muslims view Ishmael as the legitimate son of Abraham, so it can be safely stated that the father of all three of these religions is Abraham. Thus, it is impossible and ignorant to state that Islam has no connection with Judaism or Christianity.
The central, and most important figure in the faith is the prophet Muhammad. Muhammad was born into a respectable, middle class family, and soon became moderately wealthy doing business in trade; he married and had children. But the prophet always had a mystical disposition and used to retreat in the desert to meditate. It was during one of these retreats that he received divine visions from god thru the archangel Gabriel. He recorded these visions and they later became known as the Holy Book, or the Koran. The Koran, in addition to the Hadith -the personal sayings of the prophet- makes up the central scriptures of the faith.
Muhammad started spreading his ministry amongst the population of Mecca, in present day Saudi Arabia, but he soon became a threat to the status quo and was forced into exile in another town called Medina. It is here where some writers say the concept of Jihad as an outward, military, holy war began, for when the prophet was in Mecca he devoted himself to prayer, meditation, and spreading his ministry, but when he was forced to go to Medina he began to use his faith to spread the idea of using military action to regain re-entry into Mecca. As Mark A. Gabriel states in his somewhat biased book Islam and Terrorism: “ The prophet Muhammad’s life in Mecca was all about prayers and meditation, so the Koranic revelations in Mecca talk about peace and cooperation with others. But in Medina, Muhammad became a military leader… so the revelations in medina talk about military power and invasions in the name of Islam (Jihad).” (31)
Although this may be true, people tend to forget that using ones faith as an excuse for military action can also be found in Christianity, for example the Catholic Inquisition, and in Judaism the invasion of Jericho.
Another central component of the faith are the five pillars of Islam. These five pillars are the five rules by which each Muslim must live. (Muslim means he who submits, and “Islam means submission to god” (Gabriel)). The five pillars are respectably: “…declaration of faith…prayer, which ought to be performed five times a day…the giving of alms…fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, and…pilgrimage to the holy shrine in Mecca, or Hajj.” (Anderson, Siebert, Wagner, 14). Again, many scholars and writers suggest that there existed a sixth pillar of Islam: Jihad. Indeed many Muslims see Jihad “as an obligation much like the other five pillars, and the Kharijis sect openly says that Jihad is the sixth pillar, a position which other groups adhered to earlier.” ( i-cias.com, pars 6). Again, this may be open to speculation, especially if one member or group within the faith views Jihad as an inward struggle, like the Sufis, or an all out religious war.
In order to better understand the concept of Jihad, one must first define the word. Jihad is an Arabic word meaning “battle, struggle, holy war for the religion”. (Gabriel, 21). When analyzed it still does not become clear whether the term relates to an inward spiritual struggle or an outward physical struggle. The website http://I-cias.com/e.o/Jihad.html sheds a little more light on the subject by stating that:
“ Jihad has two possible definitions: the greater, which is the spiritual struggle of each man against vice, passions, and ignorance…the lesser Jihad is simplified to cover holy war against infidels and infidel countries” (pars 2). So which is the true definition of the term? This question gets even more elusive when one reads the Koran itself.
Like many Holy Scriptures, many passages in the Koran are ambiguous and may sometimes posses a double meaning. Also, one must keep in mind that these books were written centuries ago in a time very different from our own, and many of the same notions and ideas that existed at that time no longer apply today. many verses can be interpreted in a wrong way by those individuals who need an excuse to commit terrorist acts as proof of a Devine urging to kill people in the name of faith. But there are also verses in the book that preach compassion and understanding for others and their religion. One of these is one of the most important passages in the Koran; Sura 2:256, which states: “ there is no compulsion in religion” (Surah 2:256, The Noble Koran.). Since many Muslims view the above as a central aspect in their faith, then why should the extremist be so bent on waging war on people of other faiths, especially Christians and Jews, which are considered people of the book, or “Aluh I-Kitab” (pars 2).
During the golden age of the Muslim Caliphates, both of these faiths lived freely under Muslim rule, they practiced their faith and were protected by law, all they had to do was pay a tax, or “Jizyah” (Gabriel 74).
Still people look into the Koran and find excuses to wage a religious war against Christians and Jews, despite the Koran saying: “…and do not harm anyone whose killing Allah has forbidden.” (Surah 17:33, The Noble Koran). Instead, extremists cite such passages as Surah 5:51 which states:
“Take not the Jews and Christians as friends, they are but friends of each other. And if any amongst you takes them, then surely he is one of them”. (Surah 5:51, The Noble Koran.)
Extremist also justify their acts towards Christians and Jews by citing Surah 8:39, which states:
“And fight them until there is no more disbelief, and the religion will be for Allah alone. But if they cease, then certainly Allah is all seer of what they do.” (Surah 8:39, The Noble Koran).
The more extreme verses in the Koran with regard to holy war and forced conversions regards the conversion of people who are not of the book. “one of these is the verse of the sword” (Gabriel 30) which states:
“Fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them, and seize them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem: but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and establish regular charity, then open the way for them: For Allah is Oft forgiving, Most merciful.” (Surah 9:5, The Noble Koran).
Many western scholars view this as proof of the militancy of Islam, but people tend to forget the Christian inquisitions and forced conversions of many indigenous populations in Western colonies. And neither must one forget the Thirty Years’ War, in which members of basically the same faith massacred each other for thirty years.
Also, we hear so much about individuals being promised a secure place in heaven if they sacrifice their lives in a terrorist act. People find support for this in Surah 4:95; “Allah has preferred in grades those who strive hard and fight with their wealth and their lives above all else, above those who sit at home by a huge reward. “ (Surah 4: 95, The Noble Koran.).
This brings to attention three arguments: One; could this not be interpreted as a reward for a righteous life on earth? Two; does not the bible preach the same thing, that converting people to Christianity assures them a spot in heaven and was this not the basis for much of the missionary work carried out in countries around the world? Three; if an individual lives in such deplorable conditions, as say a refugee camp, that he views committing a religious terrorist act as his only means of gaining a better existence, then the side which places such individuals in positions which are conducive to militant revolt is also partially to blame for these acts. When it comes to politics and religion, it seems there are as many questions as answers.
Another aspect of Jihad is the argument that the term refers to the protection of the Islamic community from non-Islamic aggressors. The Afghani/Russian war, the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and the American invasion of Iraq can be seen as a manifestation of this concept. This view of Jihad holds to the tenant that it is a Muslim’s holy duty to react against forces which form a threat towards the Islamic community, hence, the current Intifadah in Israel/Palestine can be viewed as a current Jihad or holy struggle by the Palestinians against the Israelis as well as the events transpiring in Iraq which we hear so much about. Nusse enforces this view when she states; “ a Muslim duty is to wage Jihad against those expelling people from their homes, frightening them when they are safe and preventing them from living peacefully, without fear for their lives and property: Muslims are thus allowed to meet the hostilities by the same means by way of retaliation.” (70). This should come as no surprise since one can assume that any nation or people will fight against foreign aggressors whether they use religion as a base for it or not. Nusse adds more by stating that: “Jihad becomes an individual struggle when there is nobody else (no organized state army) to carry it out.” (72). This in particular can apply to the Palestinians and the Iraqi insurgents, since they have no organized, official military to carry out any actions against the Israeli Defense Force or the might of the American Military.
But still some Islamic scholars dismiss this notion of Jihad and hold to the notion that Jihad is the forced and necassary implementation of Islamic thought and law in the rest of the world. One of the foremost advocates for this form of Jihad was the Islamisist scholar Sayyid Qutb. Qutb was “ born in Southern Egypt in 1906. He earned a degree and became one of the top people in Egypt’s department of education. In 1948 he was chosen to go to the United States to conduct research. “ (Gabriel 115). While in the U.S, Qutb was disillusioned and angered at the materialism and secularism in the country. He was also concerned that this materialism was gaining too much influence in the Islamic world, leading Muslims away from the core beliefs of Islam. Upon his return to Egypt, Qutb “Joined the militant Islamic group; The Muslim Brotherhood.” (Gabriel 116).
Once in Egypt, Qutb wrote one of the most controversial books pertaining to Jihad: Ma’ alim Fi el-Tareek, or Signs Along the Road, also known as Social Justice of Islam. The book had such an impact on Islamic extremism that; “…the Egyptian government arrested Qutb and sentenced him to death in 1965...The Egyptian government ordered to take into custody and burn any copies of this book.” (Gabriel 117) But some of these copies survived and made it into the hands of extremists.
Basically, Qutb believed that the Islamic world was falling back into idolatry and paganism, and was too heavily influenced by American materialism. Qutb also believed that all of the world’s governments should be overthrown, and that Shari’a or Islamic law should prevail throughout the globe. He rejected the thought of Jihad as a defensive concept, but viewed it as a holy war to spread Islam. Indeed, Nusse states: “…Qutb understood Jihad as an expansionist war in order to spread Islamic law . He vividly rejected the interpretation of modernists…who underline the defensive characteristics of Jihad.” (70). Qutb viewed the concept of Jihad as : “…a permanent situation of armed warfare, a natural struggle between two different consciousnesses. The use of force is an inherent duty in Islam, because the aim of Islam is to spread God’s rule to the whole earth and amongst its entire population.” (Qutb 31). He goes on to say:
“Demolish all governments and organizations that were established by man. Eliminate human racism that exalts one over the other. The return of God’s kingdom can only be established by a movement of power and the sword.” (Qutb 57). Qutb’s book had a profound influence on radical Islamic organizations, amongst which the Islamic Jihad and the Muslim Brotherhood, who many say is responsible for the assassination of the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. Again, people fail to see the issue at hand when referring to this incident. In many religions leaders have been assassinated by members of their own religions. Gandhi, Sadat, and Rabin were all assassinated by extremist members of their own faiths who where opposed to their views, so this is not just an Islamic phenomenon but also a human one.
Also in many religions, culture plays a major role in how people view ideas and concepts within their respective belief systems, and this can also relate towards Islam and the Arab world (This of course does not apply to non Arab Muslims, but since Islam and hence the concept of Jihad originated in that part of the world, those concepts have thus also spread to other Muslim nations, amongst which Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim Country). It has been stated that Jihad is partially to blame on the violent mindset of pre Islamic Arabia, and which still exists in the Arabian collective mentality. Scholars argue that because of the many tribes that existed in the Arab world prior to the spread of Islam, a type of tribal warfare mentality still exists within the region, and this is in turn manifested in the religion. Also, the notion of the blood feud has been cited as a factor in the creation of the idea of Jihad, an example of this is Osama Bin-Laden taking offense in the stationing of American troops in the holy land of Saudi Arabia, causing him to vow revenge and commit the acts that he did. The arguments are flawed. To begin with, the notion of Arab tribal mentality does not pertain to non-Arab Islamic countries, like Iran, Afghanistan, and Indonesia, all of these countries have seen acts of terrorism committed based on the notion of Jihad. Moreover, feudalism and principalities that existed before the thirty years’ war in Europe can be seen as tribes. So if the notion of a violent tribal mentality for Islamic countries exists, then the same can be said about wars which where fought in Europe on the basis of religion. The notion of blood feud is just as present in other faiths and counties around the world as it is in Islamic countries., and not a few wars have been fought on basis of a blood feud in Europe.
Also, Jihad differs within each branch of Islam. Adherents of Sufi Islam view Jihad as a purely mystical experience, an inward battle against personal evil and unclean thoughts. In the Sunni branch of the faith, Jihad is encouraged as an offensive duty. “This interpretation sees Jihad as to be considered by all jurists with almost no exception.” (Nusse 73). Also, the I-CIAS website states; “offensive Jihad, i.e. attacking, is fully permissible in Sunni Islam.” (Pars. 5). But not in Shi’a Islam, where “it is prohibited by some of the larger groups of Shi’a…” (Pars 5).
In conclusion, one can draw from research done in this article that the term Jihad is a very ambiguous one, and one which is open to interpretation. It is a term which people of both Islam and other faiths bend to fit their needs, goals, and aspirations. One can view Islam as a fairly peaceful, unifying religion that is often used by individuals to fit their own needs, but this is a common occurrence in almost all religions. One can say that all religions grow out of love and compassion for humankind, but that the human factor and politics sometimes changes it to mean something totally different and very much more sinister, and that this is especially true of the three monastic faiths. The concept of holy war has always existed, but due to current events, Jihad has been thrust into the lives of almost everyone on earth by the media, sometimes cultivating a negative image of the religion it is a part of. Islam is no longer a religion that has nothing to do with the West; in fact it was never separate from the West. All three monastic faiths stem from the same root, and when people begin to realize this fact, that we are all members of basically the same divine truth, maybe there will be a greater coexistence between peoples of all faiths and creeds.

Works cited.

Anderson, Siebert, and Wagner. Politics and Change in the Middle East. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001.

Gabriel, Mark. Islam and Terrorism. Florida: Charisma House, 2002.

Nusse, Andrea. Muslim Palestine. Amsterdam: Academic Publishers, 1998

Qutb, Sayyid. Social Injustice in Islam. New York: Islamic Publications International, 2000
Jihad. Nov 2002 http://I-cias.com/e.o/Jihad.htm.
The Noble Koran. New York: Kazi Publishers, 1987.