What is really al-jihad and what is really al-ijtihad?and should we call islam: istislam instead of Islam?

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Mar 15, 2009 at 09:32

Dr Pipes

You are very correct. We cannot neglect the appalling destruction of civilizations and the cultural imperialism by the Arabs in the past 1400 years and this ugly islamic doctrine of holy war or jihad

And the turth is the likes of Osma Bin Ladin is correct and the likes of Ibish are worng and that jihad really means holy war

I do not know what Ibish's background is and if he is an Arab or the degree of his command of the arabic language. But I suspect that if you conduct a survey in any Arab country and ask: what is really jihad? and what is a mujahid? the answer will be; holy war and holy warrior and nothing about struggle against one's demons or whatever Ibish seems to call it.

But again Muslims and islam is now under scrutiny and what is most amazing is that Mulsims now want to change the meanings of some stable words in Arabic that they find to be embarrassing (as in the case of the word dahaaha in Q79:30 where we have been told for 1400 years that such word means he made it flat or the earth is flat. But now we are told that the word really means the egg of an ostrich (sic) so no one can say that the Qur'an says that the earth is flat!)

But the genuis of the semitic root system (the three letters) is that you can very well define a word but if you are ignorant of how the root system works then you will mix things up and istislam becomes islam and jihad becomes ijtihad.

Take the case of the root SLM where we have the following stems from the root SLM:

1. Islam, yislam, muslim and if you ask an Arab about what these words really mean the answer would be: the religion of Islam, he becomes a muslim and he who is a muslim and nothing about submission and you can confirm it by checking the words in Lisan al-Arab dictionary

2. Istislam, yistaslim, mustaslim or submission, he submits and he who submits

And as you can see we do not call the religion of islam Istislam we call it islam and the word islam has nothing to do with the word Istislam except they share the same root SLM and for this I urge readers that can read Arabic to check Ibn Manzur's Lisan al-Arab dictionary. And for those readers that cannot read Arabic you can check Hans Wehr (yes it is a dictionary of modern Arabic but the root SLM is really a stable root thanks to the masoretic activity (circa 3rd century) and the Arabic language dictionary par excellence Lisan al-Arab)

Now let us turn to thr root JHD we have the following stems from the root:

1. Jihad, mujahid and yujahid or holy war, holy fighter and he fights holy war and any reader can check Lisan al-Arab and that is what you will find and for those that can read Arabic i urge them to read malik's Kitab al-Jihad where you will find that the word jihad really means holy war period and in the words of Peters: "in the books on islamic law the word means armed struggle against the unbelievers which is also a common meaning in the qur'an"

2. Ijtihad, mujtahid and yajtahid or striving to improve, he who strives to improve and he strives to improve and this is where the problem is as those that do not understand how the Arabic language root system works so to them Istislam becomes islam and ijtihad becomes jihad

Yes and as per Peters and Firestone the word jihad is also the verbal noun of the verb jaahada and that the word jihad therefore means: to strive, to exert oneself to struggle but in the Muslim masora and in books of islamic law as well as in Lisan al-Arab the word jihad really means: holy war period

As for "jihad al-lisan wa jihad al-qalam" (the jihad of the tongue and the jihad of the pen) they are non Quranic expressions and and i suepect that the ulama at one stage were confronted by Muslism who were fighting infidles and were told why do you sit and enjoy food and women and dancing girls and we fight and get killed and the ulamas way out was this little gem about "we the ualma are also fighting jihad or holy war but it is jihad al-lisan wa al-qalam so can convert the infidles to islam and it is the greater jihad. Oh fighting? It is the lesser jihad!"

But from the Arabic language point of view the proper word to be used here is: ijtihad and not jihad

3. Juhd, majhood and yujhad or strain, he who is under physical strain and he is strained (physical strain that is) and he strains

Now I urge readers to call and protest any Muslim who tells us that the word jihad does not mean holy war ...

I urge the readers to check the following:

1. Those that can read Arabic check Malik"s Kitab al-Jihad

2. "JIhad the origins of holy war in islam" by Reuven Firestone"

3. Jihad in classical and modern islam by Rudolph Peters

4 Those readers that can read Arabic please check Lisan al-Arab dictionary

5. Those readers that cannot read Arabic I suggest hans Wehr dictionary and yes it is a dictionary of modern Arabic but thanks to the Muslim masora the root JHD is a stable root

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