256 DESTINY DISRUPTED
hadith-amounted to a commentary on the Law. The Qur'an did not pre-
scribe principles to guide human behavior but actual acts Muslims were to
perform. It revealed not just the form but the content of human life. In the
life of Prophet Mohammed, it gave a stencil for every Muslim to follow.
Medina in the time of Mohammed and the first three khalifas was the
ideal community, the one time and place when everybody knew the law,
got the law and followed it fully. That was why the First Community was
able to flourish and expand so miraculously. That Medina was the stencil
for every Muslim community to recreate.
The purpose of life was to follow the Law. The purpose of social and
political life was to build the community in which the Law could be rei-
fied. All who hindered the great task of building that ideal community
were enemies oflslam. The obligations of a Muslim included participation
in jihad, the struggle to defeat the enemies of Islam. Jihad was right up
there with prayer, fasting, alms, pilgrimage, and attesting to the unity of
God as a religious obligation.
And who were the enemies of Islam?
According to Wahhab's doctrines, those who did not believe in Islam
were, of course, potential enemies but not the most crucial offenders. If
they agreed to live peacefully under Muslim rule, they could be toler-
ated. The enemies of real concern were slackards, apostates, hypocrites,
and innovators.
Slackards were Muslims who talked the talk but didn't really walk the
walk. They espoused the creed, but when it was time to pray, you found
them playing cards or taking naps. They had to be punished so they would
not corrupt other Muslims. Apostates were those who were born into or
had converted to Islam but had then renounced it. They were to be killed.
Hypocrites were those who said they were Muslims but weren't really. They
mouthed the words but in their hearts their allegiance went to some other
faith. They were inherently a fifth column working against the community
and could commit disastrous betrayal in a crisis. Hypocrites were to be
killed as soon as they were unmasked. And finally, perhaps the worst of-
fenders of all were the innovators: Muslims who were corrupting Islam by
adding to or altering any aspects of the pristine original Law. People who
performed the rituals differently than the Pious Originals, or who per-
formed rituals the Prophet and his companions never practiced, or who