Jihadi Salafism: A Medieval Interpretation Of Islam

In post-classical history, Islam was recognized for its loyalty to Allah and its precise rules of religion. Muhammad, founder of Islam, was born from a nomad-merchant class, giving a pulse to the traveling trait of Islam and its literal veins of expansion throughout the Eurasian borders. While keeping the classic code of Muhammad’s original law underway, Islam’s expansion during 600- 1200 C.E. introduced advanced authority and systems of economic control.

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

In his 1996 FATWA, Usama bin Laden placed personal responsibility upon each individual Muslim to unify and fight oppressive forces, particularly the United States. With this FATWA comes the distinction of the “near” and “far” enemy, an innovative philosophy utilized by bin Laden and Al Qaeda that illustrates the overarching oppressive nature of the United States to Salafi Jihadist sympathizers. Integrating this ideology into the Salafi Jihadist movement is particularly useful for terrorist organizations, as their fighters—particularly their suicide bombers—are ideologically validated for their actions, and are confident that they will receive a reward in the afterlife should they strike against the enemy.

The face of Islam in western society has changed in light of the recent Paris attacks on November 13, 2015. Muslims in Canada are effectively trying to distance themselves from the extremist group associated with the Paris attacks. Due to the prejudice response to the attacks, Muslim Canadians are speaking up against the extremist group ISIS as written in the article by Sheema Khan in the national newsprint ‘The Globe and Mail’. The title of this article is “In the fight against terrorism, Muslims must own their message”, The Globe and Mail, 18 November 2015 (http://bit.ly/1lNjmYr).

The Jihad is probably one of the most misunderstood and feared terms in modern day America. Ever since the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11th, 2001, the Muslim religious duty of Jihad has had only negative connotations. Of course, seeing two trademark buildings collapsed and mangled on the groundwith thousands dead all in the name of religion would have anyone jump to a negative conclusion. But what most people don’t understand is that the meaning of the term “Jihad” is one greatly left up to interpretation. Each sect of the Islamic religion has a different take on this religion duty and the expectation that go along with it. Therefore, the idea of Jihad that America has learned to fear might not be the

In the recent past terrorism, especially in politically and economically unstable regions, brings a continuously growing threat for people from every color, religion or ethnic background. And also in rather safe areas, such as Europe or the U.S., people fear the threat of terrorism. For such inhumane violence a scapegoat is often easily found in Islam, the religion these groups affirm to fight for. Such belief can readily lead to condemnation of not only an actually peace loving religion, but also innocent minorities suffering under the perverted practices of liars. This discrimination cannot be tolerated, because Al-Qaeda, the most commonly known terror organization of the world, and their leader Osama Bin Laden, were founded on a political basis and find no countenance in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. The organization Al-Qaeda, following terroristic ideas and claiming to operate as surrogate for Islamic values, simplifies and intentionally misinterprets and shortens verses of the Quran, actually having no close connection to Islamic ideas, only claiming to do so in order to use it as a weapon to attack the United States and to convince potential followers to join the ' 'holy ' ' war fighting of Al Qaeda.

Islam is arguably one of the most misunderstood and relevant topics in modern Western society. Few subjects inspire such fear and hatred in so many people, especially in the United States. While the attacks on September 11th undoubtedly weigh heavily on the American psyche regarding Muslims, an examination of Islam’s long history shows that this Western wariness of the religion long predates any modern terror attack. However, while Karen Armstrong’s Islam: A Short History certainly explores these centuries of conflict between Islam and the West, it also, more importantly, communicates stunning similarities between the ideologies and histories of both civilizations, along with ironies and hypocrisies that would give pause to even the most ardent

“Muslims, Bin Laden argues, must reverse a series of humiliations that they’ve endured since the Ottoman Empire, the last Muslim great power, was dismantled after World War I. Al-Qaeda’s 1998 declaration of a jihad, or holy war, against ‘Jews and Crusaders’ urges Muslims to attack ‘the Americans and their allies, civilian and military,’ supposedly as a response to U.S. policies that al-Qaeda feels oppress Muslims: the stationing of troops in Saudi Arabia; the backing of U.N. sanctions against Iraq; support for repressive Arab regimes; support for Israel; alleged complicity in Russian attacks on Muslims in Chechnya; and interventions in Bosnia, Somalia, and other Muslim regions that bin Laden sees as attempts to spread America’s empire. These Western policies, according to al-Qaeda, add up to a ‘clear

Ever since September 11, 2001 Americans along with the majority of the world’s population have been skeptical of Muslims. It’s a sad reality but it’s hard for people to think of a Muslim without linking them directly to terrorism. But these assumptions aren’t totally out of the blue—the Muslim’s religion, Islam, teaches a low tolerance for other religions and the Islamic government has no separation of church and state, so it’s only normal to assume that their government shall have a low tolerance as well—some however, immediately translate this into terrorism. Through the Islamic government and religion, relations with foreign countries, and separation amongst themselves it can be concluded that Islamic Fundamentalism is clearly a threat

One can scarcely turn on the television, or the radio, or open up a web browser without the mention of Islamic terrorism or unrest around the world. Though the United States and the rest of the world may not be engaged in a protracted religious war, for radical Muslim fundamentalist they are. Bernard Lewis brings to light possible reasons for the issues facing the world dealing with Islamic terrorism. The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror explains these issues in historical context as well as how some of the actions professed in the name of Islam and claim to

During the medieval era, series of crusading brought significant impact for Western Europe. Increased cultural and intellectual contact with the Islamic world influenced on learning, literature, art, and other areas in society. Muslim accomplishment in science especially in medicine, mathematics, and astronomy were equally remarkable. More than that Muslim people studied wide variety range of science topics including astrology, geography, physics, chemistry, optics and other. This essay will be discussing about how science developed in medieval Islam, two main science topics they focused on most which are including mathematics and medicine and how science in Muslim emerge to Western Europe.

In the days after September 11, 2001, American leaders rushed to portray Islam as a peaceful religion that had been "hijacked" by a fanatical band of terrorists. One hopes that these assurances were merely tactical—that nobody was meant to believe them and that they were meant to assure the Muslim world that the inevitable American

Jihad as a political word was first recorded during the struggle of the Meccan establishment by Prophet Mohammed. The early movement of Muslims, first under their Prophet and later his passing, advanced both religion and political dynamics. In addition to the five tenets of faith, the organizations of the community were centered on structure, movements, decision-making systems and political agendas. The five pillars of the faith are: witness, prayer, pilgrimage, alms, fasting. Jihad main interest is the global jihad and they were looking for pure jihad. They have continued to dominate the scene in South Asia and the Middle East, their influence has reduced in the western diaspora.

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

In light of recent events in the global community, one word that is used frequently but rarely truly understood is the Islamic word Jihad. Jihad has become a very volatile word, so it is necessary that those who use it should understand exactly what it means, what it entails, and what significance it has in current global events.