UNDERSTANDING JIHAD IN THE CONTEXT OF HINDU-MUSLIM CONFLICTS
In order to understand the concept of “Jihad”, let us first understand the culture it comes from, i.e., Islam. As the Quran states, “The word Islam means, “surrender” to the will of God (Allah in Arabic). Since there is only one God and mankind is one species, the religion that God has ordained for human beings is one.’’ Islam also preaches that God in His mercy had sent messengers to convey His message, to different people, in different times. Each prophet came with guidance and miracles that were relevant for his time and for his people, but the message was the same: That there is only one God and worship is for him alone. "Islam" was the religion brought by all …show more content…
The words and its meanings have been twisted and misinterpreted by Muslim scholars stating it as a law that refers to struggle against all those who do not believe in the Islamic god often referred as Allah and do not acknowledge the importance of Muslims. There have been a lot of debates of over what people believe the meaning of Jihad is. In this debate of stating which definition of Jihad is correct, the very true meaning of Jihad has been lost. The true meaning as the Quran states, Jihad is a practice of eliminating evils or evil practices of Islam and educating people about Islam. Today this has changed to believing that Jihad has a military meaning. According to scholar Javed Ghamidi, “There is consensus amongst Islam scholars that the concept of jihad will always include armed struggle against persecution and …show more content…
In her book she talks about how Muslims themselves have changed and distorted the basic normative concept of Jihad, from a spiritual to a temporal one. She tells that “You are never born a Muslim, You struggle to become one.” As an original concept it was meant to be a philosophical jadd-o-jihad or literally meaning a struggle to live an ethical life. Agreeing to what Jalal states we as students of anthropology have also realised through our research and interactions with people that people largely have misunderstood the concept of Jihad, where the “Lesser Jihad” which does speak about revolting against for protecting Islam has been highlighted than the “Greater Jihad” which speaks about an ethical practice of an inner spiritual struggle. The word “struggle” has been put under the negative light and its connotation has changed from being a struggle to bring prominence of Islam to war and
In order to understand the concept of “Jihad”, let us first understand the culture it comes from, i.e., Islam. As the Quran states, “The word Islam means, “surrender” to the will of God (Allah in Arabic). Since there is only one God and mankind is one species, the religion that God has ordained for human beings is one.’’ Islam also preaches that God in His mercy had sent messengers to convey His message, to different people, in different times. Each prophet came with guidance and miracles that were relevant for his time and for his people, but the message was the same: That there is only one God and worship is for him alone. "Islam" was the religion brought by all …show more content…
The words and its meanings have been twisted and misinterpreted by Muslim scholars stating it as a law that refers to struggle against all those who do not believe in the Islamic god often referred as Allah and do not acknowledge the importance of Muslims. There have been a lot of debates of over what people believe the meaning of Jihad is. In this debate of stating which definition of Jihad is correct, the very true meaning of Jihad has been lost. The true meaning as the Quran states, Jihad is a practice of eliminating evils or evil practices of Islam and educating people about Islam. Today this has changed to believing that Jihad has a military meaning. According to scholar Javed Ghamidi, “There is consensus amongst Islam scholars that the concept of jihad will always include armed struggle against persecution and …show more content…
In her book she talks about how Muslims themselves have changed and distorted the basic normative concept of Jihad, from a spiritual to a temporal one. She tells that “You are never born a Muslim, You struggle to become one.” As an original concept it was meant to be a philosophical jadd-o-jihad or literally meaning a struggle to live an ethical life. Agreeing to what Jalal states we as students of anthropology have also realised through our research and interactions with people that people largely have misunderstood the concept of Jihad, where the “Lesser Jihad” which does speak about revolting against for protecting Islam has been highlighted than the “Greater Jihad” which speaks about an ethical practice of an inner spiritual struggle. The word “struggle” has been put under the negative light and its connotation has changed from being a struggle to bring prominence of Islam to war and