What does Jihad mean?
The word Jihad represents a concept which
is much misunderstood in the West. The concept is explained nicely by the
Christian scholar Ira 6. Zepp, Jr. in his book entitled A Muslim Primer on
pages 133-135. We adapt from his answer the following:
The essential meaning of Jihad is the spiritual, psychological, and
physical effort we exert to be close to God and thus achieve a just and
harmonious society. Jihad literally means "striving" or
"struggle" and is shorthand for Jihad fi Sabeel Allah (struggle
for God's cause). In a sense, every Muslim is a Mujahid, one who strives
for God and justice.
Al-Ghazali captured the essence of Jihad when he said: "The real
Jihad is the warfare against (one's own) passions. Dr. Ibrahim Abu-Rabi
calls Jihad "the execution of effort against evil in the self and
every manifestation of evil in society." In a way, Jihad is the
Muslim's purest sacrifice: a struggle to live a perfect life and
completely submit to God.
Another form of Jihad is the striving to translate the Word of God into
action. If one has experienced God and received guidance from the Qur'an,
one struggles to apply that guidance in daily life. So the larger, more
prevalent meaning of Jihad is the spiritual struggle of the soul. In this
case, Jihad is always present for the believer whether there is an
external enemy or not. We should never reduce Jihad to violence.
A third level of Jihad is popularly known as "holy war." The
classic passage is found in the Qur'an:
Fight in the way of Allah those who fight against you, but transgress not
the limits. Truly Allah likes not the transgressors (Qur'an 2:190).
It is crucial to note here that what is condoned is defensive warfare;
Islam cannot justify aggressive war. Muhammad and the Tradition are also
against killing non-combatants, torturing of prisoners, the destruction of
crops, animals and homes. Adapted from Ira 6. Zepp, Jr., A Muslim Primer
(1992, Wakefield Editions, US) pp.133-135.
Robert Ellwood of the University of Southern California has the following
to say about the Muslim concept of Jihad:
Out of the community ideal of Islam comes the concept of jihad, or holy
war, which is designed to defend Islam and allow its social practice,
though not to force individual conversions, which is forbidden. Since
Islam in principle is a community as well as a religion, presumably only
an absolute pacifist would be able to reject the theory of jihad out of
hand, since other communities also fight to defend or expand their ways of
life. (Many Peoples, Many Faiths by Robert S. Ellwood, 4th edition, Simon
& Schuster, US, 1982, p.346). |