Islam and Jihad Essay

To understand the connection between Islam and violence, one must understand certain facets of the Muslim worldview. One of the most important is the fact that, according to the historic Muslim understanding, there is no separation between religion and government—what in Christianity would be called the separation of church and state.

Islam extremists believe in "jihad" which is interpreted by traditional clerics and Muslim scholars, the word speaks of spiritual struggle against sin. This can include fighting an attacker, but when it does, it has specific rules that bar indiscriminate killing. The word can also refer to the believer's internal striving for self-improvement. But within the dictionary of Islamic extremists, it has connoted acts of exceptional violence against governments that are deemed as non-Muslim or inadequately Islamic. This has led to include the launching of deliberate attacks against innocent civilians, essentially, terrorism. From the perspective of totalitarian ideologues, societies that reject the call for total revolutionary transformation are

The Qur’an stated that God does not love aggressors. The Qur’an stated that you should fight for the sake of God against those that fight against you, but only if they attack first. Upon being attacked, you should slay them where you find them and drive them out of the places from where they drove you; fight against them until God’s religion reigns supreme. For nonreligious violence, the Qur’an stated mankind has the right to guard himself against evil, but only if the means are just; one should not devour one's property by unjust means or be the first to attack.

Like the Bible is the code of conduct by which Christians should wage war, the doctrine of jihad is the rules that the followers of Islam are called to adhere to. In the Quran, jihad is described as a “holy war”, and it is declared that “permission is given to those who fight because they are wronged,” (Irwin 222; The Qur’an Al-Hijr 22:39). While this is true, jihad is also defined as “striving in the path of God.” (Bonner 2). So, it is meant to be something that carries both

For example, from personal experience as a follower of Islam I am always subjected into conversations of how Islam only promotes violence through jihad and sharia law. From experiences from attending religious classes I see sharia as interpreted as a way of life and jihad as an inner struggle. These interpretations are based on the reasoning of putting things into context during the creation of Islam and during the times of Prophet Muhammad. During the time of the Prophet, the religion of Islam had to be defended by the means of violence because it was the inner struggle of those who were following it. For example, the Crusades were a reaction to instill Christianity throughout Europe. The crusades and those who use Islam to attack the United States are no different. Unfortunately the term jihad has been misinterpreted as an adjective to describe the actions of petty criminals who are

There is an ever changing understanding and use of the term Jihad that depends on the needs of the Muslims and the circumstances in the historical context (Heck, 2004). There are two categories in which Jihad may be interpreted. The first sense it is political and territorial and in the other interpretation it is religious. The term literally means struggle in the path of God, the writer explains. This has been interpreted to mean the struggle for the privilege of Islam over other religions. The religious text uses the term conflict in its discourses. What is often misunderstood is whether the terms refer to the conflict between good and evil or the conflict with objects

To the point that they can not even be considered the same religion. While the Koran does call for jihad it does not insinuate that the fight needs to be full of violence. It is dual experience one of changing your inner faith and helping teach the people around you. This belief is very similar to the Christian practice of missions. Many terrorist groups translate this to a calling for extreme warfare against anyone who is not a conservative Muslim. The definition of Jihad also ties into a core belief of the Islamic faith, not to kill/harm another person. Harming someone is an extremely dishonorable act and is cause for punishment in the Koran. This does not sound like the ideology of the many terrorist groups does

When your introduction to Islam are multiple numerous airplanes hijacked in the name of Allah, and those planes are used repurposed to reduce diminish towering monumental skyscrapers to ruble dust; when you watch observe the replays over, and over, and over, and over again, and Muslims cheerfully gleefully thank praise Allah for the havoc devastation, and you develop a preconceived notion someone wants to harm you, then you might want to fight back, and that is exactly what I did, so I found launched myself into the middle of Afghanistan to join The-War-On-Terror (10 years later as a service member). But not all of these so-called-terrorist wanted to harm sabotage me; in fact, they were chefs who wanted to display exhibit their culinary artistry skills, and they were interpreters who wanted to display showcase their English and love for American culture, and Mayors that wanted to protect defend us from the 1% of Muslims who actually absolutely wanted to harm desecrate us. 99% of

The position of Islam on the issue of terrorism, whether Islam at all approves or endorses this kind of action (), and if the Islamic doctrine draws its roots from the sources of violence is a question that experts in the teachings of Islam, can clearly and indisputably respond to (). Although Western analysts define terrorism as the use of force against random, civilian targets, with the intention of intimidating and provoking a general fear among the people, in order to achieve certain political goals (), terrorism is also seen as a threat, violence and violent behaviour or struggle aimed at those causing fear.

A quote from the Quran states, “Ye shall do battle with them, or they shall profess Islam...”. Muslims felt they were fighting for their religion; case in point, the quote that was just used. However, even when fighting they were still very humane. This can be seen thanks to Abu Bakr, who was the first Caliph of Islam, and said to his army that were preparing to Byzantine and Persian Empires, “Neither kill a child, nor a woman, nor an aged man…you are likely to pass by people who have devoted their lives to monastic services; leave them alone.” Syed Ameer Ali seemed to agree, when he said, “Islam never interfered with the dogmas of any moral faith, never persecuted… Islam “grasped the sword” in self defense…”. Once again, this goes back to tolerant they were of other religions and that tolerance made their expansion easier. Of course, there are still people who would disagree with that statement, as Sir Edward Crecy describes the Muslims as people who “struck their enemies and laid waste to the country and took captives without numbers… and the fury and cruelty of the Moslems towards the inhabitants of the city were like the fury and cruelty of raging tigers.” Philip K. Hitti, who was a mentioned previously in this paper, had another reason for why they fought; “The passion to go to heaven i the next life may have been operative with some, but the desire for the comforts and luxuries of the civilized

If you are Muslim, and your opinion of righteousness comes in the form of killing all those who disagree with your brand of religion, race, and creed. Then you are a terrorist; and must be eradicated by all good and mainstream peoples of the world!

For my paper I decided to choose the religion of Islam. I decided to pick this religion because of its fast growing rate. It is also different from what I am used to growing up with, so I was interested in learning more. I had learned some basic facts after the 9/11 event, but the Muslim religion and culture was still a mystery to me. Picking this topic has helped me learn more about Muslims and will help me better relate to them in my future work.

However, Jihad’s age old association with violence was nearly unavoidable. Struggle can rather easily be translated into a call to conduct an external Jihad for the Islamic faith. For example, a verse in the Qu’ran states, “go forth, light armed and heavy armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah” (Church 111). This verse clearly pairs Jihad (“strive”) with external violence (“go forth, light armed and heavy armed”) (Church 111). Indeed, violent Jihad was an obvious necessity because the Muslim community had always been a religious and political faction. Many lost their lives to spread and defend the newfound faith in Arabia and eventually to locations far beyond. Jihad’s association with violence and religious duty made it an ideal expression for Muslims to justify “lesser Jihad,” or the notion of external conflict, centered on the idea of spreading the faith (Church 112).

Millions of Americans and people around the globe consider the terrorist bombings all over the Earth to be the work of cowards who can only execute such murderous acts because of the knowledge that they won't live to face the repercussions. However, while the actions of these people can never truly be justified, they are within the general spectrum of Islamic teachings. If these men believed that their faith was under attack by America, they raised the "sword" to defend it. As the Quran once again states, "Fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it. But you may hate a thing although it is good for you and love a thing although it is bad for you. God knows, but you do not" (Van Voorst 312). Muslims are taught that any martyr who dies in defense of Islam has the rewards of life multiplied many times over waiting for him in Heaven. "Allah has given those who fight with their goods and their persons a higher rank than those who stay at home" (Sherif 166-168). However, the idea of martyrdom and a beautiful afterlife for martyrs is not exclusive to Islam, but present in many other religions, including Christianity. The teachings of Islam are not to blame for

"Islam" is derived from the Arabic root salaama meaning peace, purity, submission and obedience. Islam stands for making peace by submitting to the will of God and obeying His law. Jews and Christians view Islam as the latest of the world's great religions. However, worldwide Muslims (sometimes written "Moslems") understand their universal religion as the "final religion" and the "primal religion."