The word \jihad"" has been frequently used in the Western press over the past several years, directly or subtly, to mean holy war. As a matter of fact, the term ""holy war"" was coined in Europe during the Crusades, or the war against Muslims. It does not have a counterpart in Islamic glossary, and jihad is certainly not its translation.
The word jihad means striving. In its primary sense it is an intrinsic struggle to rid oneself of debased actions or inclinations, and exercise constancy and perseverance in achieving a higher moral standard. Since Islam is not confined to the boundaries of the individual but extends to the welfare of society and humanity in general, an individual cannot keep improving himself or herself in isolation from what happens in the community or the world at large, hence the Quranic injunction to the Muslim community to take as a duty ""to enjoin good and forbid evil.""
Islamic Awareness Week: Demystifying the Faith
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It is a duty that is not exclusive to Muslims, but applies to all of the human race, who are, according to the Quran, God's vicegerents on Earth. Muslims, however, cannot shirk it even if others do. The means to fulfill it are varied, and in our modern world encompass all legal, diplomatic, arbitrative, economic and political instruments.
But Islam does not exclude the use of force to curb evil if there is no other workable alternative. At least in theory, jihad is even manifested in the United Nations Charter, with the Quranic reference ""make peace between [the two fighting groups], but if one of the two persists in aggression against the other, fight the aggressors until they revert to God's commandment.""
Military action is therefore a subgroup, a last resort in fact, of the jihad and not its totality. That was what Prophet Muhammad emphasized to his companions. When returning from a military campaign, he told them: ""This day we have returned from the minor jihad [war] to the major jihad [self-control and betterment].""
Unfortunately in today's world, leaders from both Muslim and non-Muslim countries have used this word to further their own political agendas. Meanwhile, Western journalists use it as a way to sensationalize their stories, further adding to the distortion of this key facet of the Islamic faith. This is truly a shame because it is actually a beautiful concept of bettering oneself and society as a whole. In fact, if many Americans only understood the struggle for social justice jihad describes, they too would begin calling for jihad at unparalleled rates. This is why the primary converts at the onset of Islam, and just as much today, are the poor and women, as these two classes are predominantly victims of social injustices meted out by the aristocratic male ruling class of not only the medieval world, but also our world today. Who would not want to live in a society where all were free to practice their faith and live where peace and justice are for all?
Does this sound like the goals of the American people in the Declaration of Independence? Well, as most knowledgeable Muslims will readily admit, America is arguably the closest of all societies in the world to providing its citizens with the social rights laid out under Islam.
Editor's Note: This is the fifth and final part in a series outlining current issues pertaining to Islam. Each part is written by a member of the Muslim Students Association for Islamic Awareness Week.
Tomorrow at 6:30 p.m., Dr. Sherman Jackson will speak about ""Jihad in the Modern World"" in 326 Pyle Center. Jackson is a professor of medieval Arabic law and theology in the University of Michigan's Near Eastern studies department.
For more information on this event and others during the week, see MSA's Web site at http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~msa/.
