Jihad?

Kuan · Post by **Kuan** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 2:51 am

Could someone please explain this concept to me? I dont really understand it. Is it part of Islam? What are the purposes and reason behind it?

Murad · Post by **Murad** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 3:03 am

As i've said in: http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... hp?t=15056
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Jihad is a beautiful yet greatly misunderstood Islamic Concept. The Arabic word "Jihad" is derived from the root word "Jahada" which means "to strive - to struggle, to strain, to exert, to endeavor, to persevere and to defend"

Contrary to popular opinion, Jihad is not a means of forcing Islam on others. It should never be viewed as an expansionist, proselytizing movement. However, historically, and even in today's times, some Muslims have taken it as such. This distortion of the virtuous concept of Jihad is in total contradictions to authentic Islamic teachings.

Jihad is the noble effort of improving oneself, one's family and community, one's nation and the world at large. Jihad is the struggle that a mother undergoes during pregnancy, child-birth, and the raising of her child; it is the years of hard work that a student puts towards a good education; its the sacrifice that a firefighter makes when risking his own life to save another; and it is the courage that a soldier has on the battlefield in the defense of his life, his country, his freedom and beliefs.

"And whosoever strives, strives only for himself, for lo!
Allah is altogether independent of the universe."
(Quran 29:6)

Darias · Post by **Darias** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 3:27 am

Jihad means struggle.

It is often confused with "Holy War" but that's not what it is.

In ancient times, battles between Muslim nations/parties and other groups was called the "lesser jihad" and the "greater jihad" was the a personal inward struggle against evil.

Many consider Jihad to be a 6th pillar of Islam. There are 5 official pillars, including: the Shahada (confession of faith); pilgrimage to Mecca, to visit the Kaaba -- the Holiest site in Islam (once in a lifetime if you are male and if you are financially and physically capable); giving of alms (like tithing); Prayer 5 times a day facing the Kaaba in Mecca (Prayer times change daily, based on the Islamic lunar calendar: Mosques[masjids] have little nooks which indicate the direction of Mecca); and fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

Those aren't in order, but those are the 5.

Now, "war" in Arabic is "Harb" -- it's simply a conflict, there's nothing good about it. Originally the "lesser jihad" in ancient times was a sort of a "just war" -- or a defensive war.

However jihad usually referred to that inward struggle with the self, with evil, or with Shaytan.

With the wake of Islamic fundamentalism, such as Wahabbism, in resent centuries, the concept of Jihad has turned much more violent. Much of these fundamentalist movements grew out of a response to European colonialism, which practically swept most of the planet.

After the Ottoman Empire fell after WWI, the vission of an Islamic Empire or Caliphate fell to the way side. A number of Muslims hope for an Islamic empire once again (sort of like a Millennial Kingdom in Christianity).

Now there are fundamentalists who see the Crusades, the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the colonialism of the Middle East by Britain, Soviet aggression, and America's occupation as a history of Western attacks on Islam and Muslim peoples. This fits well into a narrative that the West is at war with Islam.

Al-Qaida, a militant variant of conservative Wahhabism was practically born in the hills of Afghanistan when self-described jihadists were fighting the Godless Western invader, with the help of the good 'people of the Book' From America of course. Islamist jihadists like bin Laden were able to repel Mother Russia from their land.

Essentially this group, with its very violent version of jihad, was empowered by us, and then our subsequent interference in Palestinian/Israeli conflicts, as well as the First Gulf War, drove bin Laden to the belief that America was at war with Islam and that they must pay (for trespassing onto the Holy Land and for killing Muslims, and for backing up 'dictatorships' AKA the Wahhabi Monarchy of Saudi Arabia [oh the irony].)

The extremist ideology of jihad has perverted the faith of many, even to the point where some Qur'anic translations actually insert [AK47s, Tanks, Bombs] into the Holy book, when it is referring to the tools of war in an ancient conflict.

Terrorists often target youths with this virulent strain of Islam, recruiting them in much the same manner a gang would. They are then indoctrinated, trained, and convinced of the narrative they were taught -- in part due to our foreign policy. It's kinda hard to say the West isn't at war with Islam when a drone just bombed your house. Then these young boys go out and end up killing more Muslims than Westerners anyway (not that al-Qaida considers Shias, Sufis, and any Sunni other than Wahhabist extremists like them as "True Muslims" anyway).

That being said. This is a very complicated issue.

But for most Muslims, jihad is an inward struggle -- not an excuse to slaughter innocent people.

(My info comes from studying in the class I took on Islam two semesters ago at my university)

Kuan · Post by **Kuan** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:22 pm

Murad, sorry. I didnt see that thread. Thanks for the reply!

Darias, great answer.

i think I got it now. Just seemed that Jihad = terrorism but I think that is mostly cause of the western media and portrayal of Islam. Thanks everyone!

Lux · Post by **Lux** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:21 pm

mormon boy51 wrote:Just seemed that Jihad = terrorism but I think that is mostly cause of the western media and portrayal of Islam. Thanks everyone!

The very reason I asked in the thread Murad linked to was so that I could more effectively contradict those that use Jihadist as a synonym for terrorist

Kuan · Post by **Kuan** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:47 pm

Lucia wrote:
mormon boy51 wrote:Just seemed that Jihad = terrorism but I think that is mostly cause of the western media and portrayal of Islam. Thanks everyone!
The very reason I asked in the thread Murad linked to was so that I could more effectively contradict those that use Jihadist as a synonym for terrorist

Yeah, I know some people who are so blinded. They kept talking about how Jihad is this terrible thing and that Islam is the devils religion cause of it, ect. I got into an argument with them then realized that I had no clue what it was.