About Jihad in general...

Submitted by Saad K (Canada), Feb 20, 2006 at 12:01

I think the concept of Jihad has been blurred nowadays, especially thanks to the western media by deliberately showing uneducated militants with a copy of quran in their hands. Now, what does a non-muslim get out of that picture when he sees it for the first time?

Islam is getting popular in two ways: one is through the media which is always negative, and second through the true teachings which attract the sensible minds of a normal human beings (which they rarely show on TV). Now, those uneducated people who know nothing about Islam, will literally say that Jihad is only to destroy the infidels or create havoc in the society. Little do they know that jihad with inner self is the first step. Any Islamic scholar would be able to tell about different levels of Jihad. However, one thing that mainstream media always fails to show (perhaps will never show) that in reality, Jihad is an every day struggle for a muslim, especially muslims living in a non-muslim society (that is full of materialism plus naked women etc...) have to face a lot of difficulties. I personally think that the reason why the western media is focusing more on "physical jihad", instead of "mental jihad" is to show Islam in a negative aspect and repulse people from this beautiful religion.

As a result of the media bias, jihad is looked upon as an offensive attack on non-muslims. A true muslim warrior however, has a strict code of living (that can be compared to a 'samurai') that is rarely seen nowadays. Does anyone even know that killing a tree is forbidden in war according to Islam. So what about the weapons of mass destruction? Those weapons that dont even care where they are flying towards, or who they are going to kill.

It is not the militant Islam, it is the moral teachings of Islam that are at war with them. Islam is perhaps the only religion that gives so much respect to the nature as well as the innocent and the weak....

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