Jihad: Religion or Terrorism? Islamic Radicals have been a worldwide issue in the past twenty years. These radicals have bombed, beheaded, and committed genocide in the name of their religion. Jihad is a part of the Islamic religion. The reason jihad is so controversial is because it has several meanings and to different people it means different things. Muslims are being judged for these terrorists crimes that they do not support. Christians are not being evaluated based on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. or the Oklahoma City Bombings. Therefore every Muslim shouldn’t be viewed as a member of Isis. “The faith of Islam was translated through the prophet Muhammad in the seventh century”(Jordan 11). Allah is professed to be the …show more content…
“To emphasize the terrorists rational qualities and views the terrorist as a cool, logical planning individual whose rewards are idealogical and political rather than financial” (Johansen 117,121,131). Most terrorists are often very well educated and skilled for political analysis. A terrorist is labeled a “fanatic”, which is a generally extreme held belief that more than likely ends iin self harm or selfdestruction. They view this world at only their perspective, to an absolute extreme. Commonly in almost all terrorists they are willing to commit the ultimate sacrifice, to kill themself in order to avoid capture. Most Muslims believe that Jihad means nothing more than a daily struggle, but for radicals it is safe to say they think “ Jihad authorizes defensive war against those who would oppress Muslims or oppose Islam” (Johansen 117,121,131). “On February 28, 1998, a FATWA was issued by Osama Bin Laden and four other leaders of extreme Islamist groups, that called for every Muslim to engage in Jihad to kill the Americans and plunder their money” (Johansen 117,121,131). Many Muslims did not listen to Bin Laden because they know Allahs will, But some fanatics did. Which would later result in the September 11,2001 terrorist attacks on the United
The term, “Muslim Extremist” was interpreted wrongfully by Americans. A large amount of people believe every Muslim is an extremist, and that at any moment any Muslim could attack. That is not true, just because your Muslim does not mean you are a terrorist. History does repeat itself, but not in every situation, when it comes down to accusing people it has. People find it easy to blame the problems that arise, on other people.
When we think of terrorist, we might think of radical Islamic individuals or groups who would take pride in killing anyone who is not Muslim. Even more, there are antagonistically people who want nothing more but to destroy the lives of innocence people because of their belief system. Take an individual like Theodore Kaczynski for instance; he was a former University of California at Berkeley math professor. Otherwise known as the “Unabomber,” he was indeed a terrorist because he used explosives that killed three people and wounded eighteen others in a span of almost two decades. Even more, his brother David Kaczynski was responsible for his capture.
The concept of Jihad was not widely known in the western world before the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Since then, the word has been woven into what our media and government feed us along with notions of Terrorism, Suicide Bombings, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, and now, Jihad. Our society hears exhortations resounding from the Middle East calling the people to rise up in Jihad and beat back the imperialist Americans. Yet, if we try to peel back all of these complex layers of information we can we attempt to find out what Jihad really means. Webster’s Dictionary defines Jihad as “a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty or a crusade for a principle or belief” (1). Often, media depicts Jihad in the same manner—as a vicious clash between two very different peoples, each of whom believes that righteousness, and in many cases God, is on their side. From this interpretation and our daily media intake, one may reasonably assume that Jihad refers to nothing more than violent acts, or “holy wars.”
Christians refuse to fight at war, they can still be part of war in a
Terrorism is not synonymous with extremism. One can be an extremist, hold and voice extreme political or religious views, and justifiably not be considered a terrorist. Extremists hold opinions that are either to the “extreme” right or the “extreme” left on a spectrum and are only open to ideas that confirm their beliefs. It is an issue of either black or white. Moving from simply espousing extremist views to joining a terrorist group or committing a terrorist act is facilitated by several psychological and behavioural factors that are different for each individual. Through their roles as educators and facilitators, the leaders of Al Qaeda and its affiliates leverage the psychology of defeat, generational and transnational transmission,
Through the years the idea that Islam is an aggressive religion has been developed. This is mainly due to the fact that the word "jihad" -- a very important concept in Islamic faith -- is often misunderstood or its initial meaning is intentionally misrepresented. From the very beginning of Islamic invasion in Europe a sense of devotion to the religion was instilled in the Muslim soldiers and believers. Religion was a really important part of their lives. The soldiers were taught to die for Allah in their holy war against unbelievers -- this was the so-called jihad. However, if one examines thoroughly the Quran, the saint book for Muslims, he/she will find that jihad carries a completely different meaning -- this is an internal struggle with oneself for achievements in a certain filed or, simply, for self-improvement. Even though most Islamic believers know what jihad really is, there are zealots that still look for excuse for their appalling and inhumane deeds in the abovementioned word. Nowadays, this is still a major problem, especially concerning the...
... There are those individuals that have a strong hatred for Islam, than we have people that feel sorry for Muslims in America and make them feel like they actually belong to society. However, it would be fantastic if people can start to actually separate terrorists from the Muslim community. Their religion was hijacked by the attack. Like I previously mentioned, we many not seem to stop and realize that our own religion might be part of terrorism. Religion should not matter when we look at a person because there are two kinds of people in the world, the good and bad. If we all had to look at the flaws in everyone’s beliefs and religious we would probably come to the conclusion that we aren’t all terrorists but some people with the same beliefs as us, might be. We tend to find the bad in something and associate it with everything else that is somehow connected to it.
Many analysts, researchers, and professors have tried to define the purpose of terrorism. Some believe that can only be achieved when we know how the mind of a terrorist works. The Encyclopedia Britannica describes terrorism as, “The systematic use of violence or threat of violence by organized groups to achieve specific goals. Terrorist activities may be directed against individuals, organizations or governments. Terrorism is employed by radical groups to obtain concessions from established governments, such as a change in policies unfavorable to them or the release of imprisoned members of their organizations…” (Encyclopedia Britannica. “Terrorism” 1987 T-169)
A United States citizen turning against one’s own government and embracing an ideology to kill another citizen or commit an act of violence is a growing phenomenon commonly known as homegrown terrorism. This transition or radicalization process that transforms an individual into an adversary has intensified since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The problem continues to persist in other parts of the world such as Canada, United Kingdom and even in Saudi Arabia, a Non-Western country. This form of extremism has shown its propensity in the United States since the turn of the century when Muslim extremism had its early beginnings as a venue to support a black separatist movement. Today, the threat emerges more rampantly with the accessibility and excess of information technology; as well as the political and socio-economic environment influencing many spectrums of perception and intent.
Terrorism is used around the world to create fear and influence the public on political views (Siegel, 489). There are four views of terrorism including the psychological view, socialization view, ideological view, and the alienation view. A religious terrorist would most likely fit under the ideological view. In this view the terrorist feels the need to change a wrong opinion and believes that, because they are sacrificing themselves for something they believe so strongly in, it justifies the damage and harm done to innocent people (Siegel, 490). They use terror to create fear in anyone who opposes them and attract followers to their religion. In short, terrorism is widely used for political reasons but religion has been linked to the violence as well.
Many terrorists believe that their religion is the only true religion, and they use it to justify violence (“Islamic Terrorism”). Most Muslim terrorists follow Jihad. Jihad is an Islamic perception that the way to integrate their religion is by massive force (“Of True Muslims and Terrorists”). Jihad is considered the “sixth pillar” of faith in Islam because it is the constant fight towards good. It is the idea of focusing on God and turning away from those that oppose God (David E. Long, 91). The terrorists believe that their religion is what everyone should follow, so they would naturally require personnel in power in Muslim states to either convert to their religion or resign from their terms. They will first threaten a leader that if they do not change, the terrorists will use violence. Sometimes, violent acts come about without any warning or previous threats (“Of True Muslims and Terrorists”). Islam is a proselytizing religion, which means it uses violence to convert people to its faith. This is because, in the ...
In the seventh century, a new faith arose in the Middle East known as the Islamic religion. Just like Christianity and Judaism, the Islamic religion believed in one God known as Allah. The founder of Islam was a very unique individual known as Mohammad. Mohammad had an amazing spiritual experience that transformed his life and made a great impact in history. He experienced visions and revelations from Allah which he accepted as messages. Mohammed
A lot of people believe that Muslims, Islam, and/or the Holy Quran encourages killing, fighting, and terrorism. Events such as the 9/11 attack in the United States, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and conflicts in the Middle East causes the media to label Muslims as terrorists. When a specific group of people cause violence to another group it is categorized as ‘hate crime’, but if a Muslim does the same act, the media immediately labels it as ‘terrorism’ (Frater, 2009). As a matter of fact, regarding to the attacks of the mosques in Israel, the media did not use the acts to victimize or stereotype Judaism. Moreover, some extremist groups use Islam as a tactic to gain followers even though a lot of their practices go against the teachings of the Quran. A person would not be considered a Muslim if they spread fear or terrorize others. The Quran clearly states, “You shall not take life, which God has made sacred, except by way of justice and law.” (Quran, 6:151). Islam is against any force or violence towards another person. Often the word ‘Jihad’ is taken out of context by violent militants; it means to strive or struggle for the sake of ones’ self improvement with respect to their spirituality. Religious and political groups use Jihad to justify ...
While widely accepted, this idea continues to remain un-true. Humanitarian and ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) council member Omar Alnatour discusses this in a Huffington Post article titled “Muslims Are Not Terrorists: A Factual Look at Terrorism and Islam”. Alnatour gives five examples of how Muslims are not terrorists. “1. Non-Muslims make up the majority of terrorists in the United States:” from 1980 to 2005, only six percent of all terror attacks committed in the United States have been by Muslims. This shows that it is nine times more likely that a terror attack would be committed by a non-Muslim. “2. Non-Muslims make up the majority of terrorists in Europe:” of the 1000+ terror attacks that have happened in Europe since 2011, only 2% were done by Muslims. “3. Even if all terrorist attacks were carried out by Muslims, you still could not associate terrorism with Islam:” going back from 1970 to present day, there have been around 140,000 terrorists worldwide. Since there are 1.6 billion Muslims, that number would only represent 0.00009 percent of them. “4. If all Muslims are terrorists, then all Muslims are peacemakers:” Out of the past 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners 5 have been Muslim (42 percent). Because some can claim all Muslims are terrorists due to a small percentage of attackers happening to be, one can also make the argument that all Muslims
In this world there are many different topics of controversy. With every controversial topic comes different views and arguments explaining why people believe what they do. There are problems that can be just within one country or throughout the entire world. Terrorism affects everyone in the world, specifically us as Americans, which is why it is one of the biggest controversial topics. Of course with a topic as big as terrorism, there are emic and etic perspectives involved. With past history, there are specific countries and religions that we think of when we hear the word terrorism, specifically Afghanistan, located in the Middle East and the Muslim religion in that general area. Being part of the American