Jihad Essay

The military conquests or wars of expansion were motivated by the numerous efforts to abolish paganism among the Arabic peoples and include Arabia into a region under the control of Medina’s political power. The Muslim community was united by their devotion to God and commitment to political consolidation in these efforts. In addition, the wars of expansion were also fueled by commitment of the community to the concept of jihad. While the initial concept of jihad did not include aggressive warfare against pagans or non-Muslims, holy war was sometimes used by Muslims whose understanding of the Koran allowed them such actions. Nonetheless, jihad contributed to some of the early conquests of the Islamic religion in regions outside the Arabian …show more content…
Since the religion has a large number of followers in today’s world, the Islamic community has incorporated a wide and diverse range of positions in relation to democracy and liberalism. There are some Muslims who reject democracy completely while others are secularists who want to detach religion from politics and some are reformers who support elective governmental forms based on re-interpretation of Islamic traditions.
Despite the increased growth of Islam in today’s world, the religion is increasingly misunderstood and associated with terrorism and religious fundamentalism. The misunderstanding has partly been brought by the failure by Muslims to live by the Islamic tenants and failure to promote understanding of the religion through outreach projects. The association of Islam with terrorism was mainly fueled by the fact that the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks were Muslims. This association has resulted in the development of the term “Islamic terrorism” to refer to fundamentalist activities carried out by some …show more content…
The religion respects of all other faiths and humans as long as there is no prevention of Muslims from serving Allah, no religious oppression, disrespecting treaties, and prohibiting others from learning about the Islamic faith. However, the religion allows for jihad against all that prevent Muslims from serving Allah, defense of a Muslim community, people from learning about Islam, forceful eviction of a Muslim from their homeland, and revenge against oppression (Ali par, 21). Notably, physical jihad is the final alternative if the other peaceful initiatives have failed in resolving such situations. Moreover, such measures must be carried out based on Islamic rules and regulations and for the sake of servitude to