Jihad Jihad(Englishpronunciation: / dʒ ɪ ˈ h ɑː d /; Arabic:جهادǧihād [dʒiˈhæːd]), an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the wordjihādtranslates as a noun meaning struggle. The word jihad appears in 23 Quranic verses. [ 1 ]Within the context of the classical Islam, particularly the Shiahsbeliefs, it refers to struggle against those who do not believe in the Abrahamic God ( Allah). [ 2 ]However, the word has even wider implications. Jihad means to struggle in the way of Allah.Jihadappears 41 times in the Quranand frequently in the idiomatic expression striving in the way of God(al-jihad fi sabil Allah). [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is mujahideen. Jihad is an important religious duty for Muslims. A minority among the Sunni scholarssometimes refer to this duty as the sixth pillar of Islam, though it occupies no such official status. [ 6 ]In Twelver Shia Islam, however, Jihad is one of the 10 Practices of the Religion. AhmadiMuslims consider only defensive jihad to be permissible while rejecting offensive jihad. There are two commonly accepted meanings of jihad: an inner spiritual struggle and an outer physical struggle. [ 3 ]The greater jihad is the inner struggle by a believer to fulfill his religious duties. [ 3 ] [ 7 ]This non-violent meaning is stressed by both Muslim [ 8 ]and non-Muslim [ 9 ]authors. However, there is consensus amongst Islamic scholars that the concept of jihad will always include armed struggle against persecution and oppression. [ 10 ] The lesser jihad is the physical struggle against the enemies of Islam. [ 3 ]This physical struggle can take a violent form or a non-violent form. The proponents of the violent form translate jihad as holy war, [ 11 ] [ 12 ]although some Islamic studiesscholars disagree. [ 13 ]TheDictionary of Islam [ 3 ]and British-American orientalist Bernard Lewisboth argue jihad has a military meaning in the large majority of cases. [ 14 ]Some scholars maintain non-violent ways to struggle against the enemies of Islam. An example of this is written debate, often characterized as jihad of the pen. [ 15 ] According to the BBC, a third meaning of jihad is the struggle to build a good society. [ 7 ]In a commentary of the hadith Sahih Muslim, entitled al-Minhaj, the medieval Islamicscholar Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawistated that one of the collective duties of the community as a whole (fard kifaya) is to lodge a valid protest, to solve problems of religion, to have knowledge of Divine Law, to command what is right and forbid wrong conduct. [ 16 ] Origins Main article: List of expeditions of Muhammad The beginnings of Jihad are traced back to the words and actions of Muhammad and the Quran. [ 17 ]This encourages the use of Jihad against non-Muslims. [ 18 ]The Quran, however, never uses the term Jihad for fighting and combat in the name of Allah; qital is used to mean “fighting.” Jihad in the Quran was originally intended for the nearby neighbors of the Muslims, but as time passed and more enemies arose, the Quranic statements supporting Jihad were updated for the new adversaries. [ 18 ]The first documentation of the law of Jihad was written by Abd al-Rahman al-Awzai and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani. The document grew out of debates that had surfaced ever since Muhammads death. [ 17 ] Usage of the term In Modern Standard Arabic,jihadis one of the correct terms for a struggle for any cause, violent or not, religious or secular(though كفاحkifāḥis also used).[ citation needed]The terminology is also applied to the fight for womens liberation. [ 19 ] The term jihad has accrued both violent and non-violent meanings. It can simply mean striving to live a moral and virtuous life, spreading and defending Islam as well as fighting injustice and oppression, among other things. [ 20 ]The relative importance of these two forms of jihad is a matter of controversy. A poll by Gallupshowed that a significant majority of Muslim Indonesiansdefine the term to mean sacrificing ones life for the sake of Islam/God/a just cause or fighting against the opponents of Islam. In Lebanon, Kuwait, Jordan, and Morocco, the majority used the term to mean duty toward God, a divine duty, or a worship of God, with no militaristic connotations. Other responses referenced, in descending order of prevalence: *.A commitment to hard work and achieving ones goals in life *.Struggling to achieve a noble cause *.Promoting peace, harmony or cooperation, and assisting others *.Living the principles of Islam [ 21 ] Distinction of greater and lesser jihad In his work,The History of Baghdad, Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, an 11th-century Islamic scholar, referenced a statement by the companion of Muhammad Jabir ibn Abd-Allah. The reference stated that Jabir said, The Prophet... returned from one of his battles, and thereupon told us, You have arrived with an excellent arrival, you have come from the Lesser Jihad to the Greater Jihad—the striving of a servant (of Allah) against his desires (holy war).[ unreliable source?] [ 22 ] [ 23 ]This reference gave rise to the distinguishing of two forms of jihad: greater and lesser. Some Islamic scholars dispute the authenticity of this reference and consider the meaning of jihad as a holy war to be more important. [ 22 ] According to the Muslim Jurist Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, the quote in which Muhammad is reported to have said that greater Jihad is the inner struggle, is from an unreliable source: This saying is widespread and it is a saying by Ibrahim ibn Ablah according to Nisai in al-Kuna. Ghazali mentions it in the Ihya and al-`Iraqi said that Bayhaqi related it on the authority of Jabir and said: There is weakness in its chain of transmission. Hajar al Asqalani, Tasdid al-qaws, see also Kashf al-Khafaa’ (no.1362) [ 24 ] The best of jihad During the Arab Spring, many peaceful demonstrations in the Arab worldfaced violence and gunfire by their governments regime. The gunfire encouraged the protesters and led them to revolutions, based on their strong faith in what is called the best of jihad. The best of jihad was encouraged by their prophet, Muhammad, saying: [ 25 ] [ 26 ] The best Jihad is the word of Justice in front of the oppressive Sultan [ruler].[ citation needed] In a battlefield context, whenjihadis used to denote warfare, Ibn Nuhaascited the following hadithto explain the meaning of the best Jihad: Ibn Habbaan narrates: The Messenger of Allah was asked about the best jihad. He said: The best jihad is the one in which yourhorse is slain and your blood is spilled. [ 27 ] In a similarly worded Hadith to the one above, Ibn Nuhaascited a hadithfrom Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, where it states that the highest kind of Jihad, is The person who is killed whilst spilling the last of his blood.(Ahmed 4/144) [ 28 ] It has also been reported that Muhammad considered performing hajjto be the best jihad for Muslim women. [ 29 ] Spiritual struggle Muslim scholar Mahmoud Ayoub states that The goal of truejihadis to attain a harmony betweenislam(submission), iman(faith), and ihsan(righteous living). [ 30 ] In modern times, Pakistanischolar and professor Fazlur Rahman Malikhas used the term to describe the struggle to establish just moral-social order, [ 31 ]while President Habib Bourguibaof Tunisiahas used it to describe the struggle for economic development in that country. [ 32 ] Warfare (Jihad bil Saif) Further information: Mujahideen, Jihadismand Jihad fi sabil Allah Within classical Islamic jurisprudence—the development of which is to be dated into the first few centuries after the prophets death [ 33 ]—jihad is the only form of warfare permissible under Islamic law, and may consist in wars against unbelievers, apostates, rebels, highway robbers and dissenters renouncing the authority of Islam. [ 34 ]The primary aim of jihad as warfare is not the conversion of non-Muslims to Islam by force, but rather the expansion and defense of the Islamic state. [ 35 ] [ 36 ]In later centuries, especially in the course of the colonization of large parts of the Muslim world, emphasis has been put on non-militant aspects of the jihad. Today, some Muslim authors only recognize wars with the aim of territorial defense as well as the defense of religious freedom as legitimate. [ 37 ] Whether the Quran sanctions defensive warfare only or commands an all out war against non-Muslims depends on the interpretation of the relevant passages. [ 38 ]This is because it does not explicitly state the aims of the war Muslims are obliged to wage; the passages concerningjihadrather aim at promoting fighters for the Islamic cause and do not discuss military ethics. [ 39 ] In the classical manuals of Islamic jurisprudence, the rules associated with armed warfareare covered at great length. Such rules include not killing women, children and non-combatants, as well as not damaging cultivated or residential areas. [ 40 ]More recently, modern Muslims have tried to re-interpret the Islamic sources, stressing that Jihad is essentially defensive warfare aimed at protecting Muslims and Islam. [ 36 ]Although some Islamic scholars have differed on the implementation of Jihad, there is consensus amongst them that the concept of jihad will always include armed struggle against persecution and oppression. [ 10 ] Debate Controversy has arisen over whether the usage of the termjihadwithout further explanation refers to military combat, and whether some have used confusion over the definition of the term to their advantage. [ 41 ] Middle East historian Bernard Lewisargues that the overwhelming majority of classical theologians, jurists, and traditionalists (specialists in the hadith) understood the obligation of jihad in a military sense. [ 42 ]Furthermore, Lewis maintains that for most of the recorded history of Islam, from the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammadonward, the word jihad was used in a primarily military sense. [ 43 ] Resistance against globalization See also: Jihad vs. McWorld Benjamin R. Barberused the termJihadto point out the resistant movement against globalization (which he refers to as McWorld) as well as the modern-institutionalization of nation states. The forces of Jihad come from fundamentalist ethnic groups who want to protect their traditions, heritage and identity from modernization and universalized markets. [ 44 ]The resistance has led to fragmented, small-scale violent conflicts between cultures, peoples and tribes. Although Jihad strengthens the solidarity within the resisting group, it obeys to hierarchy and cannot tolerate foreign influence, which discourages democracy. Views of different Muslim groups Ahmadiyya Main article: Ahmadiyya view on Jihad In Ahmadiyya Islam, jihad is primarily ones personal inner struggle and should not be used violently for political motives. Violence is the last option only to be used to protect religion and ones own life in extreme situations of persecution. [ 45 ] Quranist Quranistsdo not believe that the word jihad means holy war. They believe it means to struggle, or to strive. They believe it can incorporate both military and non-military aspects. When it refers to the military aspect, it is understood primarily as defensive warfare. [ 46 ] [ 47 ] Sunni See also: Opinion of Islamic scholars on Jihad Jihad has been classified either asal-jihād al-akbar(the greater jihad), the struggle against ones ego or self ( nafs), oral-jihād al-asghar(the lesser jihad), the external, physical effort, often implying fighting (this is similar to the Shia view of jihad as well). Gibril Haddadhas analyzed the basis for the belief that internal jihad is the greater jihad,Jihad al-akbar. Haddad identifies the primary historical basis for this belief in a pair of similarly worded hadith, in which Mohammed is reported to have told warriors returning home that they had returned from the lesser jihad of struggle against non-Muslims to a greater jihad of struggle against lust. Although Haddad notes that the authenticity of both hadeeth is questionable, he nevertheless concludes that the underlying principle of the superiority of internal jihad does have a reliable basis in the Quran and other writings. [ 48 ] [ 49 ] In contrast, the Hanbalischolar Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyadid believe that internal Jihad is important [ 50 ]but he suggests those hadithas weak which consider Jihad of the heart/soul to be more important than Jihad by the sword. [ 51 ]Contemporary Islamic scholar Abdullah Yusuf Azzamhas argued the hadith is not just weak but is in fact a false, fabricated hadith which has no basis. It is only a saying of Ibrahim Ibn Abi `Abalah, one of the Successors, and it contradicts textual evidence and reality. [ 52 ] Muslim jurists explained that there are four kinds ofjihad fi sabilillah(struggle in the cause of God): [ 53 ] *.Jihad of the heart(jihad bil qalb/nafs)is concerned with combatting the deviland in the attempt to escape his persuasion to evil. This type of Jihad was regarded as the greater jihad (al-jihad al-akbar). *.Jihad by the tongue(jihad bil lisan)is concerned with speaking the truth and spreading the word of Islam with ones tongue. *.Jihad by the hand(jihad bil yad)refers to choosing to do what is right and to combat injustice and what is wrong with action. *.Jihad by the sword(jihad bis saif)refers toqital fi sabilillah(armed fighting in the way of God, or holy war), the most common usage by SalafiMuslims and offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood. Some contemporary Islamistshave succeeded in replacing the greater jihad, the fight against desires, with the lesser jihad, the holy war to establish, defend and extend the Islamic state. [ 54 ] Sufic The Sufic view classifies Jihad into two parts: the Greater Jihad and the Lesser Jihad. Muhammad put the emphasis on the Greater Jihad by saying, Holy is the warrior who is at war with himself.[ citation needed]In this sense external wars and strife are seen as but a satanic counterfeit of the true jihad, which can only be fought and won within. There is no salvation for man without his own efforts being added to the work of self-refinement. In this sense it is the western view of the Holy Grailwhich comes closest to the Sufic ideal, for to the Sufis, perfection is the Grail, and the Holy Grail is for those who, after they become perfect by giving all they have to the poor then go on to become Abdal or changed ones like Enoch, who was taken by God because he walked with God ( Genesis:5:24). Here the Holy Ones gain the surname Hadrat or The Presence. History Age of the Caliphs Expansion under Muhammad, 622–632/A.H. 1-11 Expansion during the Rashidun Caliphate, 632–661/A.H. 11-40 Expansion during the Umayyad Caliphate, 661–750/A.H. 40-129
Posted on: Sat, 31 May 2014 04:17:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015