The true meaning of the word Jihad

Submitted by Chris B. (Canada), Jul 27, 2003 at 01:18

I had a lengthy conversation with the director of the Muslim Student union of my University about Muslims and how they are often demonised and misrepresented in the western media. One of the most interesting concepts she explained to me was the true meaning of the word Jihad and that it isn't really synonymous with "Holy War".

According to her, the literal translation of Jihad is quite simply "struggle". The concept of Jihad or "struggle" in the Islamic faith can be applied to different facets of life. For example, Jihad could be when an individual loses his job and is undergoing economic hardship, he is struggling to get by financially. Jihad can also be applied on the emotional level; a son grieving the death of his parents could be an example of emotional Jihad.

However, life's struggles can take epic proportions, thus, an extreme example of Jihad or "struggle" could be an individual threating the safety of you and your family or an oppressive regime depriving you of your way of life. It is in that sense that terrorists use the word Jihad to define their activities. They feel that the western world is threatening or impeding their muslim way of life so they are fighting a struggle/Jihad against this supposed "oppression".

Since Muslims, like Christians, are instructed by their religion to generally be pacifists, the killing of another human would be unacceptable. However, an interpretation of the concept of Jihad from the Koran, is that the only justification for violence and fighting is to preserve one's life/way of life/relatives and that if one dies in the process, he/she will go to Heaven. Thus, a Muslim using violence to defend his family against agressors would be justified.

I don't pretend to be a scholar on the matter and I admit that my information comes from a secondary but reliable source. I think the term "Jihad" and "Islamic Fundamentalist" are terms that should be barred from western discource, because I feel we use these terms to accuse all muslims for the crimes of a few religious militants. Although there has been signs of support in the arab world for terrorist activities, I deem it unjust and prejudicial to put all muslims in one big category.

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