Striving

Now we know that when the Messenger's companions had to fight to defend themselves

they didn't use the word for warfare, fighting for power,

but the word for struggle, Jihad,

fighting for peace.

But any kind of fighting, whatever you call it, is going to be scary,

after all you could get badly hurt or even killed.

And probably even more scary for those forced to fight to defend themselves,

as opposed to those eager to fight for power and glory.

So it had to be very frightening indeed

when the muslims had to face overwhelming odds against the Makkan tribes.

But they stood their ground

and defended the Messenger and their community.

And it was not just the men who had reason to be scared,

though at a time when fighting was mostly hand to hand and reliant on strength,

it's hardly surprising that it was mostly a male affair.

Which doesn't mean that the women had no reason to be afraid.

If the enemy prevailed, their fate might be rape or slavery,

so women also were known to help out on the battlefield.

If necessary the Messenger's companions,

male and female,

were all prepared to die for the right to believe that there is only One God,

and the freedom to speak what they believed,

and to worship in the way the Messenger had taught them.

And they were prepared to fight to the death

to defend this man who was a channel for the Words of God,

a blessing and a mercy for all mankind.

But battles were just a few short days in the history of the Messenger's community.

For the vast majority of their years together they just did what people do,

they lived their everyday lives.

But life is also full of many things to be afraid of,

disease kills loved ones as surely as war,

and a toothache is just one of many aches

that can cause a lot more pain than we want to go through.

And life goes on every day from birth to death,

and the Messenger told those around him

that they should think of fighting in battle as a Lesser Jihad,

and their daily life as the Greater Jihad.

Those times of fighting were urgently dangerous

enough to focus their minds

on what they believed about the purpose of life,

what was worth dying for

and what came after.

But at times of peace,

it can be quite easy to forget the immediacy of our relationship with God.

Once an immediate danger is over and gone

we quickly forget

God's part in providing us with blessings

while at the same time

showing us the dangers as a warning.

What is hard for everyone,

a struggle,

is learning to be thankful for what we are given.