Playing with words

Submitted by Gabriel Grosso (Italy), Dec 31, 2002 at 18:48

Quite frankly, I am very sceptical about the difference between 'good' jihad and 'bad' jihad. I have heard the same things about the word 'fundamentalism'. I did my bachelor degree at the University of East London (United Kingdom). Among our students, there were some Muslim Extremists. Some of these extremists argued that the word 'fundamentalist' indicates a person who believes in the 'fundamentals' of his/her religion. They objected to the use of the word 'fundamentalist'; they also objected to the use of the word 'terrorists'; and I am sure that they would argue that jihad is a good things and it is us- Europeans and Americans- who gave it a bad name. The truth is that extremists try to twist the meaning of words in order to defend their crimes. This is a blatant attempt to provide justification for violence, hatred and intolerance. The common man/woman from the street knows that there is no such thing as a good jihad and there is no such thing as a good extremist. Osama Bin Laden uses the word jihad as a mean of expressing hatred of Jews and Christians. In Sudan, the word jihad has meant the slaughter of the country's Christian minority. The mass-murder of Sudanese Christians is the forgotten genocide of our time. Jihad does not mean peace. Jihad means war, violence, hatred, intolerance, fear. There are millions of good, open-minded and tolerant Muslims. But there is no such thing as a good jihad. Calls for jihad indicate the desire to kill Americans, Israelis, Britons, Russians, Indians........and everybody who stands up against extremism. Attempts to define Jihad as 'positive' should not go unchallenged.

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