Muslims and Islam..............., page 1

The more radical Muslims (a minority, not the majority), believe that the Jihad (which means struggle), is a fight to purge the world of infidels (non-believers). Jihad is a duty of Muslims...however, most muslims believe that this struggle is to convert infidels, not slaughter them. To die in the service of Allah, and while on a Jihad, it is said that paradise awaits, the virgins, etc.

Not exactly true.

The word Jihad (from the Arabic root Ga-Ha-Da) is a verbal noun meaning exerting an effort, expounding an energy, striving, working to improve, struggling, doing one�s best.

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For political and historical reasons, the word Jihad in the West connote violence. It is most often translated into English not only as �a holy war,� but also a war waged against non-Muslims, a kind of Crusade in reverse.

Today in the West the term Jihad leads people to believe that Muslims are supposedly encouraged to take up arms in order to impose their faith by force, annihilating those who reject it.

This is contrary to the Islamic teachings for the muslims that it is not for man but for God alone to judge and punish disbelief and that compulsion in religious matters is formally forbidden. It is regrettable that in Western public opinion, Jihad seems to have retained only the misleading meaning of �holy war.�

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However some Muslims must bear responsibility for the bad name given to Jihad. Today some contemporary governments and groups in Muslim countries make reference to Jihad only in its military meaning, through words and deeds, in order to hide their moral, social and political bankruptcy. In the process they kill the innocent, cause only death and destruction and do not advance the cause of peace and justice. But regrettably they are the ones who show up regularly in the newspapers and on television.

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In fact, Jihad in Islam is waging peace and justice. Jihad is a war against unjust, oppression, exploitation, tyranny, fear, corruption and denying the masses basic human rights. One of the most important objectives of Jihad in Islam is to stand for those who are oppressed.

Jihad in Islam is not meant for domination, and not to achieve personal, territorial and/or economical gains and not to exercise power and control. Any type of aggression would make Jihad null and void.
It is impossible for Jihad to be performed by an oppressor, a tyrant, a transgressor or an exploiter; it does not matter what that person/government/group calls his/her/its actions. Nor there is Jihad for those who are seeking after personnal, tribal and national gains.

Jihad was and still being invoked in Muslim protests against foreign occupation, oppression and exploitation during colonialism, post-colonialism, and neocolonialism(Afghanistan, Iraq.........), a cause perceived as both just and
necessary.

[Edited on 6-5-2003 by VzH]