The Jihad definition according to the original arab meaning
72The meaning of Jihad today has been clearly transformed from the original one
Islam Jihad today is like Christian Crusade yesterday. As explained in a text below by an Arab scholar, Jihad didn't mean Holy War but only an inner struggle against one's own evil (In Occident, James Conrad did also talk about our inner evil). So Jihad has been ceased by Politicians as a pretext to mystify their people or rather a group of religious extremists to launch a Holy War.
Islam by itself should not be responsible of this but the people who let interpret Religion in this evil manner: the arab politicians and the arab terrorists of course but also the atheists who are prompt to take for granted the false interpretation.
Below is an essay on inner Jihad found on an islamic site I visited for that purpose (I do not endorse the website as a whole as I didn't read the rest of their materials).
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“Muslims for centuries have engaged themselves and the world in pursuit of inner Jihad. This has been their way of getting closer to their Creator, achieving inner peace and getting closer to God's creations. Unless we are at peace with ourselves, we can not have peace with the Creator and vice versa.
The word Jihad is from the Arabic root word JHD which basically means striving or struggle. The question is striving for what or a struggle for what? The struggle is of two types, one is inner and one is outer. Both have the same purpose which is to change the status quo - a status which is not in line with God's will or not in line with nature as such, a status which causes unrest and disturbance. Thus, if there is an evil temptation for wrong doing and we struggle very hard to overcome that temptation, it is striving in the cause of God and is considered one of the best forms of Jihad. Thus if there is a tyrant ruler who is oppressing people and one stands up to that tyrant and says a word of truth against his rule it is also one form of Jihad.
In [the] Sufi tradition, the self is the enemy and conquering the self is overpowering the enemy and one of the best forms of Jihad. Unfortunately, the West describes Jihad as a holy war which is a wrong translation. If one translates holy war back to Arabic, the translation would be harb-e-maqadas or sacred war. Thus, holy war is not Jihad as such.
In fact, the word holy war came from the crusade when this call was made to the crusaders by then the Pope Urbana to unite them to fight against "infidels" who were occupying the birth place of Jesus (peace be upon him). Yet, it is true that one form of Jihad, that is the external form, can be described as taking up arms in defense of Islam and Muslims when they are attacked by external forces. But, this form of Jihad can only be declared by a head of the Islamic state who is a practicing Muslim or a consensus of Islamic Ulema or Scholars when they agree on a clear-cut threat on Islam or on Muslims by external forces. If a call for Jihad is made by a non-practicing Muslim ruler then [the] Muslim masses are not to heed such call.
Coming back to the inner Jihad, which is the Jihad and the most important part of Jihad, I must say that there are two forces within us operating all the time in opposite directions. One is inviting us to do good and the other inviting us to do evil. These opposing forces are trying to take over our hearts and our minds which have control over our actions to go in their direction. The inner Jihad is overcoming the forces of evil by the forces of good and the triumph of one over the other. Because, if the forces of evil, which insight us to do wrong doings are not overpowered the man will be destroyed internally and will be tempted to destroy his surroundings externally. God in His ultimate wisdom is with the forces of good and therefore He associates Jihad with listening to Him. In translation, [the] Qur'an says, "Those who believe, who strive in the cause of God with their wealth and their persons, are the ones who are successful." So, the winner is not the human being who overcomes the wrong temptations but the winner is God in this inner Jihad. If we do not submit to the will of God then we are submitting to the will of the devil and the winner is the hunter who overtakes our souls at that moment of wrongdoing.
Thus, harmony is the creation of a peaceful bliss within our souls so that we achieve a state of peace to make us worthy of entrance into Heaven. As [the] Qur'an says: "O, soul at peace, return to thy Lord well pleased and well pleasing. Return as His servant, return to His Heaven." When we are successful in inner Jihad and have subdued the devil or the forces within us inviting us to do wrong, then we are not only at peace and a level of surrender and allow God to carry on our tasks and fulfill His mission. Even those folks who rely only on external Jihad as a mission from God without having achieved inner Jihad first must ask themselves if they are at peace. There is no promise of peace for those who take the lives of the innocent thinking that they are doing a holy war which is not holy. In this regard, Muslims have a great role to play in removing misconceptions about Jihad as it prevails in the media and give its true meaning which is peaceful inner struggle.” http://muslim-canada.org/jihadshahid.htmlCommentsLoading...
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Salam 3alaikom.You are trully right.Are a lots of missconceptions about Jihad.When the struggle for better,is outer,must be peace,too.No waaaaaar.
This article proves that Jihad does NOT mean "holy war," but means striving.
The definition of fight is reletive as is the word jihad irrespective of original definition. Jihad is used over and over by fundamentalists or islamists who promote the religious state via "the fight" or "holy war" jihad. There are muslims who want to feel comfortable with meanings in the koran but still ignore those who are taking the meanings and becoming extremists and are hijacking the religion. In the US as in other western countries the chrisitians rose above the crusades of the middle ages. Though we still have wars we also have more civilized laws for daily life and separation of church and state which is why a lot of muslims want to come to the west. They often encounter problems when they try to impose religious state thinking in the respective countries which in essence is in line with jihad though not terroristic certainly not benign. All other religions that I know of in the US abide with the separation of church and state for the most part. In the cases where muslims cannot abide by this then there are problems and challenges that put them at odds with nonmuslims. Certainly the so called moderates are put in a bind but it is their bind and their duty to speak out and act out against extremists and jihadists and as yet their is a need for more such activity in the western countries for while it is one thing to call onself a moderate and be silent it is another for a nonmuslim to not know who is who and if the silent one in the neighborhood it tomorrow's sleeper set to kill nonmuslims. It is impingent on muslims to dissociate themselves from extremism and jihadists because jihadist themselves have often referred to any muslim as subject to this law and they also spread propaganda that anyone who is wary of muslims is islamophobic versus islamistphobic which is only a natural reaction to the terrorists or islamists (promoters of the religious state and jihad) at odds with western society. Those who become citizens of a country should try to assimilate and abide by that countries laws and when they don't they should not be surprised if the other citizens have something to say about it. Who opens their doors only to have the unappreciative tear the house down is naturally ready to stop it. The thing that islamists have done for a long time is twist the circumstances of their intolerance by ironically crying intolerance to themselves and they gaining unfair advantages at others expense.
It is obvious when reading the Koran on the 111 verses of Jihad, what the definition is. It is death to infidels, anyone who is not a Muslim. Read the Koran and you will get the real definition. It will not be obscured by those who have their own agenda.
Just about everywhere there is conflict in the world, today, you will find Islam at war with its neighbors...be they Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus or whatever...
Whether it's the continuing violence in Chechnya, Sudan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Phillipines or Israel, Islam seeks to depose all existing cultures.
Im not Muslim,but i agree in some ways with this,in some ways,we are our own devil.
the devil can tempt you,when you give up,then you do his will,but if the devil tempts you,and you resist him,he will flee.
Coming from a christian//jewish understanding
But im pagan now lol,so i no longer believe in such things lol
Don't get atheists into this, it has nothing to do with them.
Jihad is struggke for war
Lets them know again that"La ilaha illahu Muhammad rasulullah"THERE IS NONE WORTHY OF WORSHIP,EXCEPT ALLAH{GOD},MUHAMMAD IS HIS MASSENGER GOD{ALLAH}"but NOT "there is no God but Allah...
I've struggled for many, many years about the world's religions. I was raised Christian, became Wiccan around 13 or so, and eventually just refused to take a religious affiliation at all! I know there is a God because I have walked with Him and talked with Him. Equally, I know there is a "devil" because I have seen him. I live every day of my life wanting nothing more than God in my heart and see God in everything and every place. It tears me up inside when people start getting all religious and "holier than thou" because, while we should all want to find God ourselves and help others find Him, we should not try forcing our opinions and viewpoints on others because we may very well become the pebble in front of someone else that causes them to trip and miss God entirely. I know that I do not want to have to stand before God on Judgment Day and have to explain to Him why I was the cause of shutting someone off from His truth and love.
I admire you for trying to understand Islam, but please do read between the lines. I live in a city where Muslims are a majority, and I tell you, Jihad is USUALLY interpreted as the holy war against non-believers. Note what you cited, that Jihad is a struggle "of two types, one is inner and one is outer. Both have the same purpose which is to change the status quo - a status which is not in line with God's will or not in line with nature as such, a status which causes unrest and disturbance." Don't you see, non-believers are the status quo; Western ideals of freedom and liberty are the status quo. Thus, sowing terror against non-believers is sanctioned, encouraged in the Qur'an.
Ron2helpu 4 years ago
I really enjoyed this article, it was much better than the ads that appeared with it. Though, I have to tell you, I think it is imperative for us on hubpages to make sure we share our input about our links to our advertisements. This way we know what works and doesn't.