what is jihad??

লিখেছেন লিখেছেন muhaimin ০৬ জুন, ২০১৩, ০৬:৪১:১৩ সকাল

What does Jihad mean?

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The word Jihad represents a concept

which is much misunderstood in the

West. The concept is explained nicely

by the Christian scholar Ira 6. Zepp, Jr.

in his book entitled A Muslim Primer

on pages 133-135. We adapt from his

answer the following:

The essential meaning of Jihad is the

spiritual, psychological, and physical

effort we exert to be close to God and

thus achieve a just and harmonious

society. Jihad literally means

"striving" or "struggle" and is

shorthand for Jihad fi Sabeel Allah

(struggle for God's cause). In a sense,

every Muslim is a Mujahid, one who

strives for God and justice.

Al-Ghazali captured the essence of

Jihad when he said: "The real Jihad is

the warfare against (one's own)

passions. Dr. Ibrahim Abu-Rabi calls

Jihad "the execution of effort against

evil in the self and every

manifestation of evil in society." In a

way, Jihad is the Muslim's purest

sacrifice: a struggle to live a perfect

life and completely submit to God.

Another form of Jihad is the striving

to translate the Word of God into

action. If one has experienced God and

received guidance from the Qur'an,

one struggles to apply that guidance in

daily life. So the larger, more

prevalent meaning of Jihad is the

spiritual struggle of the soul. In this

case, Jihad is always present for the

believer whether there is an external

enemy or not. We should never

reduce Jihad to violence.

A third level of Jihad is popularly

known as "holy war." The classic

passage is found in the Qur'an:

Fight in the way of Allah those who

fight against you, but transgress not

the limits. Truly Allah likes not the

transgressors (Qur'an 2:190).

It is crucial to note here that what is

condoned is defensive warfare; Islam

cannot justify aggressive war.

Muhammad and the Tradition are also

against killing non-combatants,

torturing of prisoners, the destruction

of crops, animals and homes. Adapted

from Ira 6. Zepp, Jr., A Muslim Primer

(1992, Wakefield Editions, US)

pp.133-135.

Robert Ellwood of the University of

Southern California has the following

to say about the Muslim concept of

Jihad:

Out of the community ideal of Islam

comes the concept of jihad, or holy

war, which is designed to defend

Islam and allow its social practice,

though not to force individual

conversions, which is forbidden. Since

Islam in principle is a community as

well as a religion, presumably only an

absolute pacifist would be able to

reject the theory of jihad out of hand,

since other communities also fight to

defend or expand their ways of life.

(Many Peoples, Many Faiths by Robert

S. Ellwood, 4th edition, Simon &

Schuster, US, 1982, p.346).

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