Jihad in Islam

Submitted by Sep (Malaysia), Jun 18, 2012 at 20:35

Jihad in Islam is a sensitive matter to Muslims. Basically, there are two versions of Jihad - one which seculars and fundamentalistis follows and another is the one fanatic follows.

To understand both, you need to know the history of Islam and Muhammad. In early days of Islam, when Muhammad lived in Mecca (his home town), he was practising the type of jihad which secularists and fundamentalists follows. He spend his time teaching people about Allah and Islam, as well as spend his wealth toward his cause and teach his followers to do the same. The purpose is to convert people to Islam in a much "softer" way. I could like to mention here that, at this time, both Jews and Christians had accepted Muhammad as prophet of God and lend him their support.

However, after Muhammad left Mecca and settled in Madinah (largely due to the support of Jews and Christians), he started to establish his own Islamic Kingdom in Madinah. That is where the fanatic's version of Jihad began. Muhammad started to preach warfare and the acceptance of war against infidels and those who "he believed" will cause Islam, Muslims (and Allah) harm. The way he approached in this matter was similar to a "pre-emptive" strike - strike those who are least prepared, loot as much as possible, convert as many as possible, cover as many areas as possible - one waterhole at a time.

At this time, Jews and Christians have stopped supporting Muhammad and denounced him as prophet of God (because in their opinion, Prophets must be peace-loving and wage battles ONLY for sake of preservation and self-defense). This is the time when Muhammad started to preach hatred toward Jews (mostly, because they controlled the economic at that time) and Christians, which continued to this day.

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