The Arabic word Jihad literally means "holy struggle". It is not holy war. War is war. No war can be holy. The blood of humans is holy and sacred. The Quran says unjust killing of one man means the killing of the whole mankind. What is just killing and what is unjust killing. When some body kills a man without any reason or justification it is unjust killing. When the judge gives the capital punishment to this murderer and issues the order of his death, it is a just killing. Similarly, when a war is thrust upon you and you become the victim of persecution and aggression, you are permitted to defend yourselves and kill the invaders or perpetrators. There are some Muslims who believe in Jihad in the name of aversion and conversion. They have aggressive attitude. Such extremists divide the world in to two blocs. The House of Peace (Darus Salam) and the House of War (Darul Harab). Wherever there is no Islam as a code of system of life it is Hose of war and we should crusade for the enforcement of Islamic way of life and change it in to the House of peace. Such ideology has created immense problems for the Muslims world over.
In Islam Jihad is of three types. The struggle by Tongue; the struggle by Pen and the struggle by Sword. So far as religion is concerned the Quran time and again announces peaceful preaching through exhortation, love, logic, mercy and example. No where the Quran has said that the people of other faiths should be killed or forcibly converted. In Sura Al-Nahl in verse 125 the Quran says; "Invite (all) to the way of Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious; For thy Lord knoweth best, who has strayed from His path, and who receive guidance." The Jihad by Tongue and Pen means that you preach your ideas and ideology with logic and love. Do not hurt others feelings. Do not sow the seeds of hatred and discord in the name of God. The Quran announces the whole of humankind as one community. We are the members of one human family. Believers are human beings.
“Jihad was but one of the reactions that Muslims had toward the Franks. But given its prevalence in the medieval Islamic sources—understanding this concept and its history in the years leading up to the era of the Crusades is important.” states Cobb (Cobb, page
... and Jihad According to Islam." HWeb. HWeb, 13 June 2006. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. .
While there is no precise definition of the term, the meaning of Jihad is far more complex. In fact, the term Jihad generally refers to the struggle one must undertake as one “strive[s] in the path of God” (Church 110). That struggle is defined both externally and internally. As so, they are classified in terms of an external struggle with enemies or non believers, or an internal struggle with oneself to reject greed and temptation. While popular opinion has been misconstrued to see Jihad as a malevolent, violent action; a serious investigation of the term’s historical and religious background reveals a multi-defined word.
...behalf of Islam as a religious duty. This is as obvious of a situation of religious hypocrisy as you will see. Over 270 million people are estimated to have been killed by Jihads since the birth of Islam (Tears of Jihad). Islams are supposed to practice values of peace, yet have no issues waging war and killing other human beings.
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...
For everyone has a baseline, trespassing the final line can easily infuriate the country who has endured for long. Albeit aggressive wars are unbearable as “wholesale robberies and murders”, Christian stance toward defensive war is obvious. “Peace Society” is a daydream since we live in a real world, but “war should only be defensive”. “As soon as the invader is disarmed, his life should be spared,” for the invading sovereign is diabolic rather than the “private soldiers”. Confucian Analects explicate the condition prior to wars is education. What’s more, Hebrew Bible “teaches” the “valour of the defensive soldiers is one of the noble fruits of religious faith” since that’s the principle of “God”. Moreover, the guidelines in Islams also give us instruction of war that is conditional. “Fights is the cause of God against those who fight you, but do not transgress limits, for “killing a person” in the first place resemble the situation “killing the whole people” and “God does not love transgressors”. Defensive war was the only last resort, but countries cannot be belligerently and vehemently wave national flags from their vehicles. The Hinduism admits the valor to attack, stating that “May your weapons be firm to attack, strong also to withstand.” However, this belligerence is inordinate because attack may inflict hatred and vengeance. Similarly, the principle of ISIS, which can be found via the
Christianity has been in America since the Colonial Era (1600’s - 1700’s), and for over three centuries has dominated and deeply engrained itself into American Society . Islam, however, has only been introduced recently, and this has caused Islamic Believers (or Muslims) residing in America to be misinterpreted. After the September 11 bombings in 2001, there was a huge hatred for Muslims as they were interpreted as a religion that promotes destruction in the name of ‘Jihad’, or as it is often mistranslated as ‘Holy war’ . Although, the meaning of ‘Jihad’ is much wider than just ‘Holy war’, it is an internal struggle, within each Muslim, “…to be a good Muslim as well as advance the cause of Islam.” The Western understanding of ‘jihad’ however has been twisted to become related to terrorism. Whereas, Christians claim to promote the qualities of hard-work, honesty and moderation, and are therefore highly thought of in American Society, not only because of their supposed all encompassing teachings, but also because of their dominance as a religion in the Western World.
Is Islam a violent religion? Well, the Islamic holy book, the Quran, states “…if anyone killed a person, it would be as if he killed the whole of mankind; and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole of mankind…” (Qureshi). The Islamic Messenger Muhammad also states, “You do not do evil to those who do evil to you but you treat them with kindness and forgiveness” (Prophet Muhammad). These are statements by Islam’s 2 most reliable sources and they clearly show that Islam does not preach for violence, but peace. Now the other stereotype is that Muslim’s themselves are violent people. One fact that we cannot ignore is that there are over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world today, if Muslims were violent a big part of the world’s population would be dead today. Also according to FBI, 94% of terrorist attacks carried out in the United States from 1980 to 2005 have been by non-Muslims. This means that an American terrorist suspect is over nine times more likely to be non-Muslim than a Muslim (Alnatour). Another point is that there have also been 140,000 terror attacks committed worldwide since 1970. Even if Muslims carried out all of these attacks, which they have not, those terrorists would represent less than 0.00009 percent of all Muslims. To put things into perspective, this means that you are more likely to be
The prophet did not show mercy or spare the lives of people criticizing Islam. His views remain a big motivator to Muslims that fight other people for belonging to the different religions. Muhammed orders Muslims to fight the non-Muslims everywhere and ensure that they acknowledge that “Allah” is the only God. The position taken by the prophet is openly one that escalates existing tensions and creates war. People from different cultures in the world have different religions that relate to their cultures. Muslims should use ideologies to convert people to Islam and war as directed by the prophet. The use of force calls for retaliatory attacks from non-Muslims who may be unwilling to join the religion. The prophet also instructs the Muslims to kill those who choose to leave the religion in favor of other religions. Killing those who leave creates an example of Muslims waging war to their fellow Muslims. The prophet clearly illustrates Muslim is a religion that does not promote peace by viewing other members as inferior. According to his teachings of the prophet, it is not a sin for a Muslim to kills a non-Muslim. The heavenly rewards Allah gives for killing non-Muslims encourage the Muslims to follow the teachings of killing peaceful and innocent members of other religions. Often people rely on the prophet’s views and teachings to interpret the scriptures they are not able to
Like Christianity, Islam only permits fighting. self-defense, in defense of religion (but not the excuse for your own). personal or political purposes), or on the behalf of those who have.... ... middle of paper ... ...
War has always been, and will always be, a necessary action perpetrated by man. There are many reasons for war: rage, passion, greed, defense, and religion to name a few. When differences cannot be solved or compromised through mediation with an opposing party, war is the last remaining option. Muslim historian Ibn Khaldun wrote in fourteenth-century Spain, that “War is a universal and inevitable aspect of life, ordained by God to the same extent as the sky and the earth, the heat and the cold. The question of whether to fright is not a significant moral question because fighting is constant; the minor decision not to fight this war will be made only in the context of knowing that another war will present itself soon enough because it is simply always there.” (Peter S. Themes. The Just War)
However, the Qur’an never once stated that killing innocent people over political debates and the rights of women in these third world countries is acceptable. But as you can see, regardless of this, the Taliban took a murderous approach in order to make a stand against what they believe in, using what they believe were their rights given to them by the readings in the Qur’an. Although this is an extreme case, it goes to show the extreme lengths people are willing to go to in order to gain power by shutting others off. Which further shows that religion can be a helpful cover and be a powerful motivator for the evil-hearted.
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 ...
Nowhere does Islam or the Qu’ran (Holy book for Muslims) encourage the killing of innocent people. The Qu’ran itself says: "Fight in the cause of God against those who fight you but do not transgress limits. God does not love transgressors." (Qur’an Chapter 2: Verse 190) And also, "If they seek peace, then seek you peace. And trust in God for He is the One that heareth and knoweth all things." (Qur’an, Chapter 8: Verse 61).
Islam, the religion of peace and harmony has unfortunately been corrupted by the deadly terrorist acts which have taken place around the world during these past couple of years. Today the people in this world view Islam as a threatening and terrorist religion. Often, the killing of innocent people, suicidal bombings and terrorist attacks are carried out people who tend to claim themselves as Muslims, though in reality, the dissident actions of these so called named Muslims have nothing to do with Islam. Among all the attributes of God, the Holy Book (Quran) mentions that: he is the source of peace and bestower of security (59:23) people must establish peace in their life. Terrorism what a complete disgrace, however people forget one thing that terrorism is not only found in Islam yet also continued in other religions and countries. But then why Islam? Is it because terrorism has been related to Islam just like peace is to war. The terrorist that claim they are Muslim with pride are oblivious, ignorant and it shows their lack of knowledge. The Holy Quran clearly states that: