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"Jihad" (ǧihād جهاد) is an Arabic word which comes from the Arabic root word "jahada"; which means "exerting utmost effort" or "to strive." The word connotes a wide range of meanings, from an inward spiritual struggle to attain perfect faith to holy war. During the period of Qur'anic revelation while Muhammad was in Mecca, jihad referred essentially to nonviolent and personal struggle. Following his move from Mecca to Medina in 622, and the establishment of an Islamic state, fighting in self-defense was sanctioned by the Qur'an (22:39). The Qur'an began making distinctions between 'those who stay at home" and 'those who struggle in the cause of God with their wealth and their persons" (4:95). It also began incorporating the word qital (fighting or warfare), and two of the last verses revealed on the topic of military conflict (9:5, 29) suggest, to classical scholars such as Ibn Kathir, an ongoing war of conquest against unbeliever enemies. Among followers of liberal movements within Islam, however, the context of these late verses is that of a specific "war in progress" and not a universally binding set of instructions upon the faithful. These liberal Muslims have tended to promote an understanding of jihad that rejects or minimizes the identification of jihad with armed struggle, choosing instead to emphasize principles of non-violence. Such Muslims may cite the Qur'anic figure of Abel in support of the belief that someone who dies as a result of refusing to commit violence may attain forgiveness for sins. This is not the prevailing understanding of such matters among mainstream Muslims, however. Regardless of the later interpretations of these portions of the Qur'an, the passages in question, at the time, clearly emphasized the importance of self-defense in the Muslim community.
As a general struggleMuslims often refer to two meanings of jihad by citing a hadith recorded by Imam Baihaqi and al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (even though its isnad is categorized as "weak"):
Other examples of actions that could be considered jihad (on the basis of hadiths with better isnad) include:
The more literal meaning of the word jihad is simply "a struggle," and so it is sometimes dubbed the "inner jihad." This "inner jihad" essentially refers to all the struggles that a Muslim could go through, in adhering to the religion. For example, a scholarly study of Islam is an intellectual struggle that some may refer to as "jihad," though it is not common for a scholar of Islam to refer to his studies as "engaging in jihad." In addition, there is a dimension to the "greater jihad" that includes overcoming selfish motives, desires, emotions, and the tendency to grant primacy to earthly pleasures and rewards. The tradition identifying interior struggle as "greater" (that is, non-military) Jihad appears to have been profoundly influenced by Sufism, an ancient and diverse mystical movement within Islam. Today, the word jihad is used in many circles as though it had an exclusively military dimension. Yet even though this is the most common popular understanding of jihad, it is worth noting that the word is not used in this narrow sense in the Qur'an, the holy text of Islam. It is also true, however, that the word is used in both military and non-military contexts in a number of hadiths. A discussion of the military dimensions of jihad within Islam follows. Warfare in IslamDefensive JihadIt is important to distinguish between two types of armed religious warfare in Islam, namely the defensive jihad and the offensive jihad. Most Muslims consider armed struggle against foreign occupation or oppression by domestic government to be worthy of defensive jihad. Indeed, the Qur'an appears to require military defense of the besieged Islamic community. In colonial times, Muslim populations often rose up against the colonial authorities under the banner of jihad (examples include Dagestan, Chechnya, the Indian Mutiny against England, and the Algerian War of Independence against France). In this sense, defensive jihad is no different from the right of armed resistance against occupation that is sanctioned under the UN and International Law. Islamic tradition holds that when Muslims are attacked, then it becomes obligatory for all Muslims to defend against the attack; to participate in jihad. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the prominent militant Islamist, Dr. Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, issued a fatwa, Defense of the Muslim Lands, the First Obligation after Faith [1] (http://www.religioscope.com/info/doc/jihad/azzam_defence_1_table.htm), declaring that both the Afghan and Palestinian struggles were jihads in which military action against kuffar (unbelievers) was fard ayn (a personal obligation) for all Muslims. The edict was supported by Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti (highest religious scholar), Abd al-Aziz Bin Bazz. In his fatwa, Dr. Azzam explained:
Although such edicts from contemporary scholars can influence some communities of believers, the world's 1.2 billion Muslims are today so diverse that unified action on instructions like these is, as a practical matter, impossible to attain. Among the objectives of some groups promoting Islamism is the re-establishment of a caliph with global political and military authority to implement (among other things) such large-scale military campaigns. The question of whether, when, and how to implement a military defense of an oppressed Muslim community remains an emotional and divisive one among Muslims. Offensive JihadOffensive jihad is the waging of wars of aggression and conquest against non-Muslims in order to bring them and their territories under Islamic rule. According to the Encylopedia of the Orient, "offensive jihad, i.e. attacking, is fully permissible in Sunni Islam." [3] (http://i-cias.com/e.o/). An Islamic theologian considered the father of the modern Islamist movement, Dr. Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, declared in his fatwa, Defense of the Muslim Lands; the First Obligation after Faith that:
Liberal muslims who do not subscribe to this militant interpretation of Jihad dispute the neccessity and obligation of the offensive Jihad in contemporary times. They argue that the traditional "land of war" referenced in Shaikh Azzam's fatwa refers to the hostile regimes and empires surrounding early Islamic communities. Under this interpretation, offensive Jihad was practiced only to preserve Islam from destruction and is now obsolete. In support of this view, those who reject militant Islamism are likely to resist the claim that Islam as a whole is under hostile attack. While acknowledging both political turbulence and suffering, they point out that Muslim pilgrims come and go as they wish to the annual Hajj pilgrimage, that religious freedom for Muslims to practice their faith exists in most countries, and that sizeable Muslim communities have emerged in countries like the United States and England. They are also likely to emphasize Islamic traditions that endorse tolerance for other religious and social groups. The militant interpretation of jihad, on the other hand, is likely to suggest a world-view in which hostile anti-Islamic forces are currently preventing Islam from realizing its full potential for peaceful global expansion--a world-view in which Islam will eventually be adopted by all mankind if these hostile forces are confronted socially and militarily. The conflict between these two points of view can itself be seen as a "struggle", or jihad, for the soul of contemporary Islam. Who can authorize offensive jihad?Shaikh Azzam's militant interpretation of Jihad describes "offensive jihad" as a campaign that can only be declared by a lawful and legal Muslim authority, traditionally the Caliph. According to this interpretation, no authority is required for initiation of "defensive jihad" -- because, in this view, when Muslims are attacked, it automatically becomes obligatory for all Muslim men of military age, within a certain radius of the attack, to defend against the attack. The question of which Muslim authority, if any, may carry out duties such as declaring jihad has been problematic since March 3, 1924, when Kemal Atatürk abolished the Caliphate, which the Ottoman sultans had held since 1517. Due to the divide and conquer strategies of the colonial and post-colonial world order, there is currently no single established political authority governing most of the Muslim world. Due to this lack of clerical organization amongst the vast majority of Muslims, any adherent may proclaim himself an "ulama" (Islamic scholar) and proclaim a defensive jihad by way of fatwa. Recognition is at the discretion of the listener. In the absence of a Caliph, the only remaining "de facto" Islamic political leaders would appear to be the governments of the modern nation-states in the Muslim world that emerged out of the turmoil of the early 20th century. However, due to the allegiance and subservience of the secular and pseudo-democratic or monarchic Middle East nation-states to the world's non-Islamic military and economic superpowers (U.S., Europe, and Russia), militant Islamists believe that the modern democratic or monarchic nation-states which emerged in the mid-20th century are un-Islamic and unrepresentative of Islamic societies. Secularism is widely perceived by militant Islamists to represent U.S. and European political interests hostile to Islam. As a result, Islamist movements (such as Al Qaida and Hamas) have taken it upon themselves to declare jihad, bypassing the authority of both the nation-state and traditional Islamic scholarship. Similarly, some Muslims, (particularly takfirists), have declared jihad against specific governments that they perceive as corrupt, oppressive, and anti-Islamic. Contemporary jihadisTo Muslims and non-Muslims alike, militant attacks under the rubric of jihad may be perceived as acts of terrorism. Two Islamist groups call themselves "Islamic Jihad": Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Supporters of these groups perceive a strong religious justification for a militant interpretation of the term jihad as an appropriate response to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Muslims believe that a person who dies as a part of struggle against oppression as a shahid (martyr) is assured a place in Jannah (Paradise). Descriptions of Paradise, in Islam as in Christianity, are inherently problematic. Accounts in the hadith and the Qur'an of the rewards awaiting the shahid -- the 72 "pure spirits" known as the Houris, the rivers that flow, the abundant fresh fruit -- may, depending on one's perspective, be considered as literal realities or as metaphors for an experience transcending human expression. Even if the death of a martyr in a military operation is certain, militant Islamists consider the act martyrdom rather than suicide. If non-combatant Muslims perish in such military operations, militant Islamists consider such persons shahid who have also secured a place in paradise. Under this conception, only the enemy kaffir, or unbelievers, are harmed by martyrdom operations. Most Muslim scholars reject this interpretation. Suicide is a sin in Islam. Mainstream Muslim scholars disagree with the militant Islamist approach to these matters, and have held that martyrdom operations are equivalent to the sin of suicide, that killing civilians is a sin, and that the sunnah permits neither. To such scholars, and to the vast majority of Muslims, neither suicide missions nor attacks on civilians are considered legitimate outcomes of jihad. Virtually all Muslims, however, hold that the legitimate defense of Islam carries rewards in the afterlife. The basis of shahid can be traced back to the words of Muhammad prior to the battle of Badr where he stated:
There are some Muslim clerics who authorize martyrdom operations as a valid form of jihad, especially against Israel, its allies, and its supporters, believing that such attacks are legitimate responses to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza [5] (http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=jihad&ID=SP54203). Yet the impermissibility of suicide bombing operations is suggested by the following hadith:
Militant Islamist organizations do not constitute an autonomous state or de facto authority; they nevertheless consider economic targets to be military targets, citing as evidence Muhammad's numerous caravan raids (see Battle of Badr for a description of one such caravan raid and the war that it led to). The fact remains, however, that the earliest Islamic tradition specifically forbids attacking women, children, elderly people, and civilian buildings during a military campaign. The Qur'an, the unquestionable source of authority in Islam, vehemently denounces the killing of innocents: "Whosoever killed a person - unless it be for killing a person or for creating disorder in the earth - it shall be as if he killed all mankind; and whoso saved a life, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind." (5:32) Thus, according to this verse of the Qur'an, if one human being has not 1) murdered another person 2) created conflict and disorder in the world ... then that human being is innocent. To kill such an innocent human being would be the equivalent to the massacre of the entire human race, an inconceivably barbaric crime and a monumental sin. For most Muslims, this verse is quite clear enough to dispel any doubt or ambiguity about the moral standing of attacks upon civilians. Treatment of Prisoners of WarThe U.S. military's 2003 invasion of Iraq has sparked violent retaliation by Muslim partisans who have captured and executed suspected enemy agents. The beheading of civilians, even those involved with the United States military, has been unanimously denounced by even militant Islamist groups. For example, in the Muslim world, the killing of Nick Berg was strongly condemned. Scholars at Al-Azhar University in Cairo issued a declaration of condemnation [6] (http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-05/12/article08.shtml), as did numerous Muslim groups in the West including the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Shiite Islamist group Hezbollah and Palestinian nationalist group Hamas denounced the murder. Hezbollah issued a statement calling it a "horrible act that does an immense wrong to Islam and Muslims by a group which falsely pretends to follow the precepts of the religion of pardon." Iraqi conservative and fundamentalist religious leaders also denounced the killing. Muthanna al-Dhari, a member of the Board of Muslim Clergy, said the act "does disservice to our religion and our cause. Even if he was military personnel he should be treated as a prisoner who, according to Shari'ah, must not be killed." Iyaad Samarrai of the Islamic Party commented "This is absolutely wrong. Islam does prohibit the killing or the maltreatment of prisoners." [7] (http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-05/12/article03.shtml) As was the common practice in medieval times, Islam actually categorizes prisoners of war as booty. When Muhammad and his armies were victorious in a battle, the captured male POWs would either be returned to their tribes for a ransom, exchanged for Muslim prisoners of war, or they would be sold into slavery, as was the custom of the time. Women and children who were captured and made prisoners of war also ran the risk of being enslaved, although conversion to Islam was a route to freedom. The treatment of prisoners of war under Muhammad himself appears to have been notably more humane than that of later generations of Islamic leadership. After the battle of Badr, some prisoners were executed for their earlier crimes in Mecca, but the rest were given options: They could convert to Islam and thus win their freedom; they could pay ransom and win their freedom; they could teach 10 Muslims to read and write and thus win their freedom. Even the hostile orientalist William Muir wrote of this period:
Excerpts from the Qur'an on warfareThe Qur'an uses the term jihad only four times, none of which refer to armed struggle. As such, the use of the word jihad, in reference to holy Islamic war, was a latter day invention of Muslims. However, the concept of holy Islamic war was not itself a latter day invention, and the Qur'an does contain passages that correlate to specific historic events ... and that may help to illuminate the theory, and practice of armed struggle (qi'tal) for Muslims. A few examples are as follows:
See also
External linksNeutral sites
Islamic sites
Non-Islamic sites
da:Jihad de:Dschihad eo:Ĝihado fr:Jihad it:Jihad nl:Jihad ja:ジハード pl:Dżihad sv:Jihad zh:圣战
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