War: Between good and evil

salam kebangkitan..

Buat entri kali ini, penulis memilih untuk menyimpang sedikit daripada membincangkan situasi politik di malaysia atau berkenaan dengan arus perjuangan mahasiswa...
Penulis memilih untuk membicarakan isu ini hanyalah untuk tujuan ilmiah, sebagai pembuka minda dan argumentasi untuk pembaca sekalian berkenaan dengan isu-isu perang yang tidak pernah jemu membasahkan darah di bumi tuhan yang maha hebat ini...

Harapnya pembaca sekalian dapat memperoleh sesuatu setelah membaca secebis kupasan minda yang tidak seberapa ini...

Selamat membaca!!

Ibn Qadir


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War is the occurrence that people are afraid of... Most of the times it makes individuals scared to their spines and could create protest from organizations and many other individuals. War had been regarded as “evil” events, but ironically wars are still going on in our modern days. It makes me ponder, why such a destructive and humiliating event still exist until today. From a logical point of view, war is not good in its essence but it does not cease to exist much as people are against it. Henceforth, there must be some virtues in this well-known vice..

By the way, everything has advantages and disadvantages. The first advantage of war is, it promotes technological advancement in the country which is involved in a major war. Believe it or not, Internet had been created for the purpose of intelligence by United States army in a cold war. This is similar to the turbo engine jet that had been created during world war two in the Nazi era. If Hitler had not thought about creating the turbo jet, it may have been impossible that modern era jetfighter or airliner being in existence... Next, the virtue of war is that, we can achieve a proper balance in the world’s population. Ponder upon this; should World War II which have taken away 6 billion lives, have not occurred, the earth resources will be depleted sooner than we think.

Much as many detest war, and its essence the silver lining the war is that the spirit of patriotism and nationalism are instilled within the hearts of its people. Look at famous figure like Mussolini, Ho Chi Minh, and Hitler himself, had inspired their people to fight for their glorious country. Looking back into history we can see nations like Germans who had lost their patriotism due to World War 1. They, whom had lost heavily in World War I, had fought back to install the new magnificent empire of third Reich (third revival of the Germans).Such thing which seem impossible, was made possible for the reason of their spirit of patriotism.

But as all living body knows, war brings more disaster than goodness, despotism than peace, bloodshed than glory. The main disadvantage is that it brings human hazardous disaster. As we can see, there is no such war that ended without bloodshed and suffering, famine and economy meltdown and tarnished civil system. Look at Iraq, after the “success” of “Iraqi freedom” operation launched by the Americans and her alliance, the civil war never ends, thousands of the people including the old, women and children, died for the cost of war. Bombing, killing and shooting, has become a normal vista in Baghdad, which it was a weird thing during Saddam’s rule. The fights against tyranny brings more tyranny, an irony isn’t it not?

Much more than that, war also brings environmental disaster. Why do I say so, believe or not, 99% of the environmental destruction are caused by war. The biggest scale may be attributed from the effort to win the war. Look back at the famous destruction made by the atomic bomb that plummeted in Nagasaki and Hiroshima during at the end of World War II .Both cities with high populations and great civilization, in a single clip of an eye drastically changed into a plain land. As in today’s world, many superpowers of the world had tested their nuclear weapon to show their superiority in the arms race. As a result of that, the nuclear site test that was a natural habitat for the animal kingdom and greenery, had become deserted and hazardous for living.

War also brings the inflation of the common goods prices. This causes hardships to the people. This is because, during the war, the economical production it’s at ebb, since the production had been perturbed by war. The labourers are much harder to find, since they had joined the compulsory service as a soldier. The prices hike up as the result of trade restrictions known more as embargo. During the war, many trade ships will be halted for inspection by the both sides, this also brings a devastatic impact to the country’s economical growth..

And last but not least, it also brings the restriction on the movement of citizens. Imagine that, before the war, the people are free to travel all around the globe without fear of restrictions, but, due to war and its dire effect, they are now subjected to their own territorial boundaries. The only immaculate founding is the fear of being captured as an invader or prisoners of war. In addition to that, war also brings enormous sentiment of hatred towards a particular race, individuals and nations. A classic example can be seen in the highly tensed and aggravated detest among the people of Japan and Korea. A fine and distinct example can be seen in this instance; due to the crusades that had been launched by the Christendom kingdoms nearly 2 centuries ago, the sentiment of hatred between the Arabs and Muslims had never diminished and it has instead developed more stronger and rapid these days especially after the 9/11 incident.

According to Islam, war is denounced and should be averred, but it can happen if there are justifications to enter into war. The justification lies when it is to protect the religion or the rights of the Muslims. As we know, Islam has laid down guidelines in war. The instances are if the war can be avoided by negotiations between the parties, the war should not be happen. The peace agreement should be respected and preserved. If the war so occurs, the Muslims are not permitted to kill the old, women and children. They shall not destroy agricultutural areas and resources as well as buildings that bring benefits to the local people. Shrines, Temples, synagogues and churches should be preserved and not to be brought to crumbles. Thus, I believe strongly Islam is a religion promoting peace and harmony.

As mention in the Al-Baqarah : 224

“And make not Allah, by your oaths, a hindrance to your being righteous and observing your duty unto Him and making peace among mankind. Allah is hearer, Knower.”

In my opinion, much as many justification and advantages that arises in war, their disadvantages and negative effects weights to much to give a supporting motion for it.. But, it does not mean, that war is 100% forbidden to us, but there must be strict justifications to allow us to opt for war. Imagine this; if there is an individual who came up to us and gave us a good punching blow. Would you think that it ought to be wise just as to stand defenseless and not retaliating at all? Think about it, reasonably.