Jihad

Submitted by A. Ahmed (United States), Sep 8, 2003 at 14:42

I am a 60 year old born muslim and have travelled to many muslim countries. The only meaning of jihad I have known is warfare in the name of islam. Mohammed was involved in over 80 armed encounters in last 10 years of his life; except one (Battle of Ditch when they were attacked in Madina), all were offensive (ref: Sirat e Rasulullah by Ishaq) . Islamic history says that muslims attacked non muslim communities and countries and not vice versa.Why then modern apologists keep repeating that jihad is misunderstood and that it is only defensive. Is it just to fool every one or they are themselves in denial?

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