Originally Posted by
optimisticnad
I’ve found some research by Professor Jamal Badawi, acclaimed both in the eyes of Western and Muslim society, you can research on him if you want, he knows his stuff and writing is often scientific meaning he provides hard authentic evidence for his point.
So according to Prof Jamal Badawi:
Jihad is not holy war. He gives five reasons:
1. This is an English term, used by the Crusaders, it does not originate in the religion Islam and what is happening is what psychologists call projection.
2. No where in the Qur’an will you find the Arabic equivalent of holy war. Holy war in Arabic does not translate as Jihad, this is a common misconception especially amongst non-Muslims. Nor will you find the Arabic equivalent of Holy War in the saying of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, his saying are called hadith.
3. Oxymoron: there is nothing ‘holy’ about destruction, death, blood, rape and killing of innocent women and children.
4. By definition ‘Holy War’ means one religion against another religion. In the religion Islam and nowhere in the Qur’an is there any mention that it is permissible for Muslims to fight with people of a different faith solely for that reason. Rather it should be because they are being oppressed or civil liberties eroded etc. etc. Muslims are not allowed to do to a non-Muslim what they can’t do to a Muslim, those who do so are not Muslims and have nothing to do with Islam.
5. And finally the term ‘Holy War’ has some glamour and appeal about it. But nowhere in the Qur’an is there glamorization of War. In the Qur’an chapter 2 verse 216 it says: ‘Fighting has been prescribed but it is hated’. Like divorce, which is permissible in Islam, but it is disliked. So similarly war should be the last option.
Jihad has nothing to do with terrorism and it is uneducated journalists who seem to be doing anything but their job: provide accurate and honest reports of the affairs of the world. Terrorism means any act that deliberately victimizes an innocent whether individual, state etc. etc. If it Islam than it has nothing to do with terrorism, and if it is terrorism than it has nothing to do with Islam even if they claim ‘in the name of God’. God has not told them to blow up and kill innocent victims for their religion.
So what is Jihad? It is to strive in something, exert maximum pressure to achieve something. In Islam there is such a thing as individual jihad, so if jihad means ‘war’ and something negative how can an individual do jihad? In Islam there is such a thing as jihad with the Qur’an, which is the holy book of Muslims, so how can you do jihad if it means something violent and death with the holy book of their religion? There are many kinds of Jihad and the two mentioned here have no relation with the battlefield therefore when talking about jihad the problem is distinguishing between which one is being discussed, for example, whenever I hear the word jihad mentioned on T.V it is always in relation to war and they even have the never to call it ‘holy war’ but this a) isn’t the meaning of Jihad b) there are many types of Jihad. I am slowly beginning to understand why my Muslim friends become outraged and angry-you have a few minority exploiting and killing in the name of their religion-totally wrong and condemned in Islam as it would be in any religion, and then you have the people outside totally taking things out of context, rephrasing and distorting information for their own individual gains.
I think with any religion you need to go back to the original and authentic sources to judge the religion because unfortunately, with every religion especially those referred to as the religion of book, the revealed religions-that of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad,-unfortunately the participators of these religions only follow a half baked religion and themselves distort and destroy the beauty with in their religion giving the rest of the world a negative view.
I just want to clarify one last thing, Sunni and Shia Muslims are not fighting because they have different views of the same thing, or that there is some variation, rather they are fighting because one side feels oppressed by the other, one side is trying to claim the land of another, one side has joined the ‘enemies’, those oppressing and killing innocent people and children-this is why they are in war, not because ‘I pray standing up and you pray sitting down’ meaning small differences in their religion.
Hope this helps and I’ve re-read what I’ve wrote to make sure I haven’t offended anyone/groups/religions. If I have…not my intention.