Francis was born to a French mother and Italian father in 1182, and his father called him Francesco – or Francis – after a trip to France. The ‘little Frenchman’ was brought up on romantic French ballads sung by traveling troubadours. The son of a wealthy merchant, Francis led a cavalier life in his youth, […]

Dave Andrews In the fifth phase of his nonviolent jihad for love and justice Jesus demonstrated active, radical, sacrificial nonviolence that would free people from the cycles of violence and counter violence. He said: ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the […]

Dave Andrews In the fourth phase of his nonviolent jihad for love and justice Jesus created communities that were committed to doing justice to the marginalized and disadvantaged. The dominant value of much of Jewish society at the time was purity – but the dominant value of Jesus was inclusivity. While the Jews despised Gentiles, […]

Dave Andrews In the third phase of his nonviolent jihad for love and justice Jesus advocated communities with leadership that would serve the people rather than oppress them. In his countercultural communities, Jesus encouraged people to liberate themselves from captivity to the political economy, by developing compassion for people that transcended the sick, obsessive, compulsive, […]

Dave Andrews In the second phase of his nonviolent jihad for love and justice Jesus not only consistently denounced the oppression of the powerless by the powerful, he also actively advocated liberation of disempowered groups of people through the empowerment of the Spirit. Jesus attacked the key religious leaders of the day, as ‘lovers of […]

Dave Andrews In the first phase of his nonviolent jihad for love and justice Jesus followed on from John the Baptist in denouncing the exploitation of the poor by the rich. John told the armed forces: ‘Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely – be content with your pay.’ And he told the tax […]

Dave Andrews Mohamad Abdalla is regarded as one of Australia’s most respected Muslim leaders. Recently, in an introduction to a book I wrote on Jesus, or Isa, Mohamad Abdalla wrote: ‘Muslims have always believed in the Prophethood of Jesus – or Isa – (peace be upon him) not due to political expediency but because it is […]

Dave Andrews Many conversations between Christians and Muslims about Isa or Jesus deteriorate from dialogue into debate and from debate into dispute, gener¬ating more heat than light on the subject. Often this occurs because both sides want to impose their own particular view of Isa or Jesus on the other and are unable and/or unwilling […]

Dave Andrews Qader Muheideen says ‘the purpose of jihad ultimately is to put an end to “structural violence”,’ and we must choose means consistent with that end. Muheideen says for jihadists to end violence we have to choose nonviolent means. He says there are eight cogent Islamic reasons to reframe jihad as a nonviolent struggle: […]

Dave Andrews In Christianity, Ambrose and Augustine developed a set of criteria to call those in power – who make war – to temper the use of violence with ‘wisdom, mercy, justice and equity’. They argued that in order for a war to be conducted according to the principles of justice it would need to […]

Dave Andrews Where the word ‘jihad’ is used ambiguously or unambiguously in the context of war, Rane says, the Qur’an imposes strict ‘rules of engagement’ to temper the use of violence with ‘wisdom, mercy, justice and equity’ in the hope of minimizing ‘force, suffering, ignominy and enmity’ and maximizing ‘welfare, freedom, dignity and fraternity’. Rane […]

Dave Andrews Rane says ‘in the context of conflict, the pursuit of peace is paramount to the extent that the Qur’an instructs Muslims; “Do not allow your oaths in the name of God to become an obstacle to virtue and God-consciousness and the promotion of peace between people” (2: 224). Peace should not be rejected, […]