Re: Jihad does not mean "holy war"

Submitted by Jonathan M (Singapore), Sep 30, 2006 at 11:37

I must disagree. Jihad in my dictionary does mean (1) fight or battle (2) holy war i.e. the religious duty to fight the unbelievers. Now I have met Muslims - particularly in South-East Asia where the religious tradition is rather different that in North Africa and Western Asia - who clearly see jihad in the peaceful sense cited in the post, but in Islam's early history and subsequently, jihad has generally been understood to refer to holy war against unbelievers. Other words sharing the j-h-d root would have a meaning closer to striving, effort or struggle.

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