Jihad

The five pillars and seven basic beliefs form the core of a Muslims belief. However, a concept which has been highlighted by the media as an aspect of Muslim belief, often in a negative and inaccurate manner is the term Jihad. It is often linked to terms such as ‘terrorism’ and ‘fundamentalism’.

The term Jihad is derived from the root word j-h-d which means to strive or to exert effort to do something. It is often translated by those who are not Muslim  as ‘holy war’ and is often a term used to portray Islam as an intolerant and violent religion which was ‘spread by the sword’. The religious and spiritual significance of the term has been distorted, diminished or lost.

In the correct understanding, Jihad is used to describe the inner spiritual struggle of an individual to overcome bad habits and vices. Every individual will have a personal jihad for something i.e. giving up smoking is a jihad. It is also used in the context of striving to maintain and protect faith. Maintaining and protecting the faith could be achieved by adopting political, economic or legal means. In the situation when a peaceful solution cannot be found, Islam allows the use of force – but only defensive force.

Furthermore, defensive force is normally exercised through a country’s military organisation, with the direct consent of the established government. There are clear rules of engagement such as, not being allowed to target children, women, places of worship, fertile land . The application of the jihad in physical force strictly applies to the situation described above -  that is the maintenance and protection of faith. The Islamic concept of jihad seeks to assist Muslims to improve socially, intellectually, spiritually and ethically. Those who misunderstand the term ‘jihad’ have used the concept in negative ways to either negate Islam or to engage in acts of terror. Such individuals or movements that misinterpret the term are not doing so within the context of the Islamic faith.