REALITY OF ISLAMIC JIHAD AND TERRORISM

REALITY OF ISLAMIC  JIHAD AND TERRORISM

The term ''Jihad ' has caused stir in recent years due to its presumed relationship with terrorism.Jihad is a part of Islam,no doubt,but it not all about violence,as many believe.The term ''holy war'' is incorrectly applied to jihad,because the scope of jihad reaches beyond fighting.Jihad is taught to children in schools in the Middle East as part of their Islamic education.Are the children being trained for battle ?On the contrary ,they are learning that the true meaning of jihad is in exerting an effort for the cause of Almighty Allah (GOD).

The word Jihad literally mean''striving ''or ''struggling ''.In islam the word refers to striving for the cause of Allah,spreading knowledge about his religion,and protecting his believers.Using the word jihad as a synonym for ''holy war ''which is often done by the media ,is inaccurate and misleading.The arabic word for war is harb,and the word for fighting is ''qital'' neither of which has any thing to do with jihad .The image of jihad as an army of unruly fighters calling out ''To Jihadi '' set out to massacre the Jewish or Christians  is completely misguided.

Although ,jihad can take the form of physical struggle,yet in islam,the word is more commonly used to describe different,nonviolent form of jihad.Jihad is within easy reach of any muslim and is rewarded abundantly in heaven.The non confrontational type of jihad,such as when a muslim  tells his non muslim friends about the Quran or when a scholar appears on TV to answer questions about islam,are all excellent deeds according to the Quran.

Types of Jihad

Based on the Quran and Sunnah jihad can basically be divided into four categories

(1)---Jihad of mind and heart

(2)---Jihad of the tongue

(3)---Jihad of the pen

(4)---Jihad in battle

Jihad of the mind and heart is a secretive,personal endeavor.When a muslim sees some one sinning ,but knows that a verbal confrontation is not a wise approach,she can silently reject the injustice.Also ,things like fasting regularly,memorizing the Quran and spending the night in prayer qualify as form of jihad of mind and heart.This is because these practices take an effort to produce, and whatever requires an effort to draw a believer closer to Allah is jihad.   

The Quran mentions jihad of the tongue in the following verse ''call onto the way of your lord with wisdom and fair exhortation,and reason with them in the better way'' (16;125).This is the more daring or perhaps more eloquent to verbally confront non muslims with the Quran ,asking them to take the a glance at it.with the hope that they believe it.It is also more of an effort than jihad of the hear,which involves keeping thoughts to one,so it could receive better reward in heaven.

Jihad of the pen is also called daawah-preaching for Islam.If a Muslim living in a non Muslim community writes up a flyer about Allah and distributes it among hie neighbours ,he is performing jihad of the pen .It does not matter if the flyer are rejected or tossed away;what matter is that the Muslim exerted a real effort in calling non Muslim to Islam.His striving for the cause of Allah is valuable deed that Allah will reward.This applies to any one who strives to spread knowledge about the Quran. Jihad in battle is the type often mistaken as a holy war.Since the Quran clearly forbids initiating hostility ,the term holy war is better changed to defensive war.It is this type of war that is acceptable to Allah as stated in the Quran .In general Muslims are encouraged by the Quran to strive in the cause of Allah by the heart,mind,tongue and pen and then only if needed in battle.This conclusion is based on Prophet Muhammad;s (S.A.W) thirteen years of peaceful preaching in Mecca,where he avoided violent confrontation ,and limited his jihad to the mind,heart and tongue.In Islam a person ,who performs any type of jihad is called Mujahid or Mujahideen ,in the plural form.However this term mostly applied to soldiers in a defensive battle to protect Islam.If a Mujahid dies in confrontation he becomes Shaheed- martyer. 

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said, '' He who is killed in defence of his belongings,or, selfdefence,or for his religion,is a mrtyer. A martyer is called shaheed in Arabic. .A martyer;s soul flies straight to heaven according to the Quran;Think not of those who are slain in the way of Allah,as deed ,Nay they are living '' with their Lord,they have provision.''(3-169)This promise by Allah that all shaheed go to Heaven strengthen the will of soldiers in battle.They know that if they die,Allah will take their soul right up to Heaven.
Now at the end of this topic we come to conclude that the concept of jihad needs to be understood unambiguously.The word jihad does not mean ''holy war'' and this term is used loosely by the anti muslim element.The word ''jihad '' is arabic word which stands for striving and working hard and as regard the islamic terminology its meaning is of bilateral dimensions including ,major jihad and minor jihad.Actually second name of spiritual struggle is major jihad.Basically it consists of two powers one from the soul and other from the body respectively.Fasting is the best example in this regard.Now lets come the brief description of minor jihad which is in the form of armed struggle and it is further divided into two categories ,aggression and defense.Islam strictly against aggression in any form,however islam believes that defense is the absolute right of every body. Now it evident that Islam never permit for minor jihad for the sake of aggression.Islam permits the muslims to to protect and defend their lives,properties,lands  physically against ant aggression.