JIHAD

JIHAD’S MEANINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS IN MUSLIM SOCIETIES



Introduction

         Literature shows that Islam is commonly understood as the bases of violence and terror by the Western world, because Islam has the concept of Jihad that works as dynamic force among Muslim societies. According to Spencer (2007) Jihad is “a radical, expansionist, totalitarian ideology… willing and able to commit acts of violence” (p.5) and it is accepted as war by Muslims mostly against non-Muslims based on the religion function (Ali, 1993). However, Jihad among Muslims involves different meanings and interpretations.

This paper aims to explore the meanings and interpretations of Jihad by Muslims to understand the literal and metaphorical meanings and some interpretations of Jihad by Islamic movements or schools of thought. On one hand, Jihad indicates violence and aggressions, on the other hand, Islam carries message of peace, tolerance (Khan, 2002), and brotherhood (Ahmed, 2002). Therefore, exploring the meanings and interpretations of Jihad would help to deeper understand this concept and relate its meanings and interpretations with real practices of Jihad through drawing some implications.

The Concepts of Jihad

Jihad is a complex and difficult concept in Islam, which includes different meanings or interpretations among Muslim societies. First, in linguistic meaning, the word Jihad is derived from the Arabic verb ‘Jahada’ that means ‘to strive’ or ‘to struggle’ (Fatoohi, 2004) and its root is ‘Juhd’ (Ali, 1993; Ali, 2004) that means ‘effort’ (Fatoohi, 2004). Furthermore, Jihad in the verses of Qur’an and Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), means ‘to struggle in the way of God’ (Ghazi, 2008; Mawdudi, 1995). However, mostly the literal meaning of Jihad is understood as struggle to achieve an objective or goal (Ali, 1993; Ghazi, 2008; Bar, 2006; Milson, 2007; Mawdudi, 1995).

Although some verses in Qur'an are interpreted as clear command to fight, Khan (2002) argues that Jihad in Qur’an is rather used to mean struggle but not in the sense of launching an offensive war. He differentiates between war and Jihad and says that war takes place in particular situations but Jihad is “strict adherence to the will of God” (p.14) where it is an action and ongoing process at the core of believer’s life. According to him Jihad or struggle in the way of Allah is used in the Qur’an mainly for three purposes: a) to control negative feeling within oneself; b) to communicate the message of God to all human beings; and c) to counter challenges from the opponents and safeguard religion in all circumstances.

Second, Sufis  present a metaphorical understanding and interpret Jihad as inner struggle for development of spirituality. For them “Jihad is the struggle between good and evil within an individual's soul” (Milson, 2007: p.1). They believe that Jihad is an essential component in the development process of soul to gain spiritual insight (Knapp, 2003). This understanding was developed based on a Hadith in which the Prophet Muhammad (as cited in Streusand, 1997) after a battle said, "We have returned from the lesser jihad (al-jihad al-asghar) to the greater jihad (al-jihad al-akbar)” (p.9). In the reply to the question ‘What is the greater jihad’, he answered. “It is the struggle against oneself" (p.9). However, Milson (2007) believes that the term ‘Jihad’ in Islam is equivalent to the ‘war’ in other nations. But Jihad includes war that emphasizes on high moral goals and it is done in the way of Allah, while war in the other nations is evil for achieving materialistic goals such as occupying land and holding natural resources. 

In addition, after the death of Muhammad (pbuh) different communities of interpretations evolved and developed their particular doctrines or principles (Daftary, 1996). So Jihad is also interpreted based on some particular ideologies and beliefs. For instance, according to Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali Schools  (as cited in al-Banna, 1997), Jihad is defensive fight and collective duty for Muslims and it becomes individual obligation due to certain conditions such as, if enemy attacks on Muslims and Imam announce Jihad. Furthermore, al-Banna  (1997) calls all Muslims for doing Jihad. He considers Jihad as a duty given by Allah for every Muslims that cannot be ignored and avoided. In this perspective Jihad means to fight against unbelievers. Beside this, according to Spencer (2007), Cairo’s Al-Azhar University  defines Jihad as “war against non-Muslims” (p. 6); A South African Mufti Ebrahim considers that spreading Islam throughout the world is one of the primary responsibilities of Muslim rulers; and for Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri , war in Israel was “Jihad for the cause of God until the entire region is for him only. Jihad seeks… to liberate every land that used to be a territory of Islam from Spain to Iraq” (p.5). These definitions and statements show that Jihad is fight to defend Islam and to establish a global Islamic social order in the world.

Finally, there are other interpretations that devalue Jihad as fight and violence. Saudi Mufti Sheikh Abd Al-Aziz bin Abdallah (as cited in Milson, 2007) has issued a Fatwa in which waging Jihad without ruler’s authorization is a serious misbehavior and those who are engaged in it are causing damage to Saudi Arabia, to Islam and to the Muslims. In addition, Muslim thinkers or reformist writers such as, Syrian philosopher Sadiq Al-Azam or Arab-American psychiatric and author Wafa Sultan do not support the ideology of Jihad as fight or violence (Milson, 2007). Instead, they call for some adjustments where majority and minority or Muslims and non-Muslims (Ahmed, 2002) learn to live together, an alternative for Jihad and fighting.

Jihad as Perpetual Conflict in Afghanistan

For understanding Jihad as fight or violence, it would be better to have a look at the practice of Muslims in this regards. It was 1979 when Soviet force entered in Afghanistan and took control of important centers and military bases. After the invasion, the Soviet troops found themselves in conflict with tribal armies and sometimes Afghan armies as well. Afghan Mujaheddins who were initially called ‘freedom fighters’ (Edwards, 2002) started making small groups and waged gorilla wars in response to the Soviet invasion. Very soon the rise of militancy contributed to the conflict. Jihad was announced as individual obligation and between 1982 to1992 thirty-five thousands Muslims (Rashid, 2002), from Asians to Arabs, participated in Jihad and joined with Mujahedden. The fighting between Mujahedeen and Soviet troops continued with lots of social, educational, economical damage and death of thousands people till 1989 withdrawal of Soviet force from Afghanistan.

However, conflict and Jihad did not stopped but continued after removal of Soviet troops with different positions. On one hand, after victory over Soviet army, (Koschade, 2006) MAK  foundation, that was later called al-Qaeda, maintained Jihad as individual obligation to return other lands (e.g. Palestine, Somalia, Tashkant) that were from Muslims. These views of Jihad were well reflected in the recent events such as, hijack attack on 9/11 in the United State of America and rise of terror and suicide-bombing. On the other hand, the Afghan Jihad militants took control of the major cities in Afghanistan. But gradually different Muslim groups such as, Jamiat-e-Islami, Northern Militants, Wahdat-e-Islami, and Hezb-e-Islami  started fighting against each other in Kabul and some other cities which continued till 1998 when Taliban took rule over Afghanistan, and later on, US attacked and took control of Kabul after the event of 9/11. At this time, the view of Afghans’ freedom fighters changed as terrorists (Edwards, 2002), and Afghanistan become the base of terror and violence in the world.

Conclusion and Implications

Looking back on various meanings and interpretations of Jihad, it might be safe to say that Jihad does not have only one dimension but it is multidimensional concept in Islam. It is clear that Qur’an and Sunna do command for fight but it is applicable with defined purposes to oppose challenges and protect Islam. Jihad is not only to fight in the battlefield but mainly to struggle against evil and oneself for development of soul, spirituality and values that may result to justice and peaceful life.

As today Jihad is struggle for fight and violence, various factors might have influenced the interpretations and practice of Jihad among Muslims. Since the lives of human beings are socially constructed, educational, political, economical, and social conditions and desire have their roles in interpretations and practice of Jihad that may minimize the role of religion in this regards. For instance, looking on the Jihad in Afghanistan, many questions can be asked, such as, why Afghan Mujahedeen were initially called ‘freedom fighters’? How and where the Mujahedeen got training and who trained them? Why do Afghans’ freedom fighters are called terrorist now? Finally, why conflict did not finished after removal of Soviet force in Afghanistan? Thinking about these questions might help us to understand whether religion has created the bases of violence and terror or there are other factors that mainly have contributed to issues of Jihad?

The above points suggest some implications for us as being Muslims. First, we should not consider Jihad as only fight but a struggle and effort to develop our soul, spirituality, values and do justice to ourselves, our family members, and our societies. Second, we should not ignore the influence of both religious and unreligious factors that affect the interpretations of Jihad and consequently they involve different consequences. It means there are conditions, such as uncertainties, personal, economical and social goals, that significantly affect our beliefs, understanding and practices in our social activities, but mostly we do interpret religious concepts to justify our practices. Finally, Jihad as fight may not be a way to defend and spread Islam. Instead, we need to deeper understand this concept and do Jihad or struggle through presentation and communication of Islam not as base of violence and aggression but as a religion of peace, tolerance, and justice.

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