It is taken for granted that Islam is, like the other religions of the world, fundamentally peaceful. But is that really true? Is Islamic jihad something relatively new? Is it a product of political and economic change in the 20thcentury? What is the history of jihad in Islam?
Jihad…
What is jihad? Is it an essential teaching of Islam? The word jihad means struggle. But what does that mean? Struggle against what? Struggle for what? Is it central to the scripture and culture of Islam? Do Islamists twist its meaning or do they represent its true belief and practice?
By whatever definition, it is clear leadership within the faith use it. Jihad is used alternately to require and to justify armed conflict with kafir, non-believers. Throughout the last 1,400 years Muslims have acted out their faith. Why is it reasonable to expect them to change now?
Jihad was the rallying cry of Mohammad. It is the religious duty of Muslims. It has been a primary tool for the expansion of Islam. Do we understand Islam? Are we being guided by apologists and appeasers? Who are we being guided by and what are their motivations?
Do we understand Islam?
Do we understand that this organization is designed to subjugate all that is not Islam? If we do not understand it, how can we make proper decisions when dealing with Islam? Jihad is not simply terrorism. That is, quite simply, wishful thinking. Jihad has been the outward expression of a conquest ideology; an ideology which will never be satisfied with less than submission.
Since the beginning of Islam: What periods have been characterized by peaceful coexistence between Muslims and non-believers? When has mainstream Islam taught equality of Muslims and non-believers? Has there ever been a time when the teachings of Islam did not include jihad warfare? Can it be shown that in Islamic theology jihad is anything but primarily warfare against non-believers?
Islamic law…
Islamic law contains the imperative of conversion, subjugation or death. The majority of Muslims are Sunnis. There are four Sunni schools of thought on Islamic law. They agree Muslims are required to wage jihad for the cause of Islam. Holy war is a religious duty. The Muslim mission is to convert everybody by persuasion or force.
The Sunni schools of jurisprudence have never reformed nor have they rejected jihad. Shi’ite schools teach much the same thing. Jihad as a spiritual struggle is a secondary concept even though it may be known as greater jihad. Jihad as direct physical confrontation is the primary concept though it is known as lesser jihad.
Conclusion:
It is time to understand Islam. It is not possible to deal correctly with that which we do not understand. Islam is not as it is most often portrayed. To understand it we cannot listen only to those with the loudest megaphones. Rather, we are well advised to rely on the source documents of the faith itself. We should temper our reading of the source documents with the history of the actions that have stemmed from them.