The word jihad commonly referred to as “holy war” has raised various discussions all over the world with every group and individuals coming up with their understandings. The views have not only arisen between the Muslims and non-Muslims alone, but also within the Muslims themselves. This concept has led to establishment of different Islamic groups and more so development of Islamic terror attack groups like the ISIS who are a threat to the world today. Nevertheless, jihad has affected the Islamic community, the United States, and other nations in the world. This paper discusses the definition of jihad across different groups and individuals and its implications.
The Meaning of Jihad
Jihad is an Arabic word that means struggling or striving, and it is also translated as “holy war.” Besides, jihad involves much more than the holy war. David (1) points out that, Muslims have described jihad in three main categories; the effort to build a good Islamic society, an internal struggle by believers to live in Muslim faith as much as possible, and the holy war. David (40) further states that the internal jihad has been referred as the grand jihad by Prophet Mohammad. Just like any other believer in adhering to the lives that is pleasant to their God, also Muslims struggle to live according to Allah’s instructions. The term holy war refers to defending Muslim faith against others. The defense can be done through any possible means including, diplomatic, political, and economical factors. Besides, Muslims allow the use of force if legal means does not work but they are guided by rules not to harm children, women, and those who are not concerned with the war and any voluntary surrender by the opponent must be accepted.
The five pillars of the Muslim jihad manifest the exercise of jihad in this sense; since a Muslim gets closer to Allah by performing them. Furthermore, Muslims also get involved in the greater jihad in other different ways which can be described as learning the Quran by heart or get involved in other Islamic studies. Besides, learning how to control anger, hatred, greed, and pride among others engages a Muslim to the greater jihad. Nevertheless, the prominent jihad promotes working in social justice, forgiveness, giving up on smoking and performing religious duties such as cleaning the mosque (David 39). Besides, jihad is not forcing non-Muslims to convert to Islam, violent concept, colonizing other nations, and economic gain through taking control of territories.
How Different Groups and Individuals Differ on the Meaning of Jihad
Disagreements have risen towards the Islamic teachings on jihad. This difference is not only to Muslims and non-Muslims, but also different Muslim groups do not have a common understanding. In the western media, jihad has been used to present the killings of innocent people more so non-Muslims due to political reasons by the military Muslim. Additionally, these killings are associated with those who resist being forced into converting into Islamic. Besides, many Muslims claim that jihad is a spiritual development concept that is not associated with violence but promotes nationalism and democracy.
According to different Islamic groups, the word jihad has brought up contrasting meanings. The Ahmadiyya believe that jihad is an individual inner effort of embracing Islamic religion and should not be to promote violence in the name of political differences. Furthermore, the Ahmadiyya are convinced that is not a way of protecting religion, and the military should only be used for defense under the instructions of Caliph.
The other Islamic group is the Quranist, this group believes in Allah as the only true God. They have confidence in struggling or strive as the true meaning of the word jihad (Sergeev 58). Besides they believe in donating money and risking their souls for self-defense. Both military and non-military actions should be used in protecting the Islamic faith. The third Islamic group is the Bahai commonly referred to as the Bab’s. This group does not believe in jihad. They refer to it as an illegitimate scripture that was added to the Islamic teachings. They claim that Bahaullah the founder of the Bahai faith forbade jihad and its holy war concept.
The Implications of Jihad
To the Muslim Community
The misconception created across the globe towards the true meaning of jihad has led to hatred towards the Muslims by other religious groups. Most people believe that jihad is associated with terrorism. Jihad has contributed to racism among the Muslim community in America due to terror crimes related to them. Furthermore, the Muslims have also been affected by discrimination and hatred by the non-Muslims. In the United States, Muslims face the fear of violence and hate in public places such as an airport, workplace, and even in schools. Besides, issues have been raised when a new mosque is proposed for construction in fear that it will lead to an organized terror attack. Today, Muslims across the globe are making an extreme effort to educate people and to fight for social justice and democracy.
To the United States of America
The translation of jihad as the holy war is not familiar to Americans. They believe jihad is all about violence. Americans have been affected by the Islamic terrorist groups at different time periods, in 11th September 2001; a major terrorist attack was carried out in Manhattan, the U.S. commonly referred to as the 9/11. The attack was coordination of four terrorist attacks by Islamic terror group known as the al-Qaeda. Consequently, the attack resulted in 2996 deaths, 6000 injuries among the Americans and distraction of properties worth not less than $10 billion. Besides this, other terror attacks that are associated with Islamic terrorists groups have emerged such as the one that involved Omar Mateen that killed 49 people and causing 58 injuries in Orlando, Florida. In 2015, the Boston Marathon bombing that was done by two brothers claimed three lives and 264 injuries (Jacobs n.p). The two brothers learned how to make bombs from the inspirations in the al-Qaida magazine. This act by the Islamic terror groups has led to the discrimination of Muslims by the Americans.
To the Rest of the World
In accordance with the different views among the Islamic groups towards the meaning of jihad has contributed to various terror attacks across the globe. For instance, the ISIS, an Islamic terror group that has recruited thousands of individuals from many nationalities all over the world is a threat to a terror attack. According to the Lister " Sanchez et al. (n.p), since 2014, the ISIS a self-proclaimed Islamic State has been involved in more than 140 terror attacks in 29 nations apart from Syria and Iraq. These attacks have accounted for 2043 deaths and thousands of injuries among individuals. The United States of America and other 75-world coalition are making efforts to end this Islamic terror attack. The State government of U.S. has identified 40 ISIS who are operating under an Executive order on planning terror attacks. Moreover, the U.S. government is playing a critical role in defeating the ISIS by fighting it on recruiting more members, blocking their financial resources, and liberating areas in Syria and Iraq that are not associated with this terror group. Additionally, there are also other Islamic terror groups like the al-Shabaab, Bokoharam, and the al-Qaida
Conclusively, jihad also known as the holy war is a term that Muslims have regarded as a tool that guides them on protecting the Islamic faith. Jihad means merely struggle or to strive. Disparities have arisen between individuals and Islamic groups on the true meaning of the word jihad. Jihad has both internal and external implications. Prophet Mohammad referred to the internal jihad as the greater jihad. Different Islamic groups have come up with their understanding of the jihad. Other groups like the Bahai or the Babs do not believe in jihad; they claim that it is an illegitimate scripture that was added to the scripture of Muslim teachings. Furthermore, disparities in the definition of jihad have led to Muslims being discriminated and hated primarily in the United States. Besides, the terror groups that have been created in the name of jihad have affected Americans through massive terror attacks and the rest of the world.
Work Cited
Cook, David. Understanding Jihad. Oakland: University of California Press, 2015. Print
Jacobs, Ben. America since 9/11: timeline of attacks linked to the 'war on terror'. The Gurdian. 11th Dec 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/01/america-since-911-terrorist-attacks-linked-to-the-war-on-terror. Accessed on 4th Appril 2018.
Lister, Tim, Sanchez, Bixler, O’key, Hogenmiller et al ISIS goes global: 143 attacks in 29 countries have killed 2,043. CNN. 12th February 2018 https://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/17/world/mapping-isis-attacks-around-the-world/index.html. Accessed on 4th
April 2018.
Sergeev, Mikhail. Theory of Religious Cycles: Tradition Modernity, and the Bahá'í Faith. , 2015. Print.
