to Dianamoon12

Submitted by B. Mustapha (Nigeria), Jan 3, 2006 at 07:47

I commend you of your effort, but allow me to make a little correction in your comment concerning Jihad.

1) You gave an example like '100 years ago, the word gay meant happy. it now means homosexual' this argument is not applicable to Islamic terms. The meaning of Jihad during the time of the Prophet is the same with its meaning today, just that its application may change.

2)You also concluded by saying 'the word jihad had 3 primary meanings. one of them was to struggle inwardly, one meant to struggle in resisitance to outside temptation, and the last was to struggle violently against nonmuslims'. The only point of correction here is the discription of Jihad as a 'struggle violently against nonmuslims'. Know that for the Muslims, Islam is a complete way of life (politically & spiritually) & if any one wants to suppress its course, Islam will find a way out, which may some times leads to war. For instance, US wants to impose its policies on other nations, & by doing that, it may some times leads to killings. If you describe this policy as "US violent struggle against the non-Americans', how does the US policy makers feel?

3) It is better to say 'Jihad is a struggle against all the evil forces' irrespective of whether the perpetrator is a muslim or a non -muslim, as against your saying 'struggle violently against nonmuslims'. For instance Umar (RA) caned his son for alcoholism, & the prophet vowed to cut his doughter's hand if she dares to steal etc.

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