Thursday November 22, 2012

I've Been Thinking:

The word that means "ceasefire" in Arabic is not the same as the
word for ceasefire in English or even in Hebrew.

It actually does not mean "ceasefire." The word used is "tahadiya" and it actually means "lull."

A lull means a lessening of intensity - it does not mean a stopping of action. Ceasefire, on the other hand, means a total stoppage of attacks.

Knowing this, one should not be surprised that 14 rockets were shot from Gaza into Israel within the first hours of the tahadiya.

Islam has another, similar, term - "hudna." We hear a lot about hudna regarding peace and ceasefires, but it, too, is the wrong term to use.

Hudna refers to a maximum ten year truce between Muslims and non-believers. We come across the term in the Koran as a response to the realization that Mohammed is not capable of defeating the tribe of Qaraysh. A tactical decision was made and it was called the treaty of Hudaybiyah.

The prophet Mohammed enters into the treaty and then builds up his power. Actually, he enters into the treaty in order to build up his power. At the point where he can defeat Qaraysh, Mohammed breaks the treaty and slaughters Qaraysh.

This story from the Koran is enormously illustrative of how Islam views treaties and ceasefire agreements.

Call it tahadiya or call it hudna - either way it will not last long.

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