The Changing Meaning of Jihad and Mujahid: Now Mujahid Means a Terrorist and Jihad Means an Act of Terror
By
Arman Neyazi, New Age Islam
24 August
2021
Mujahid
is not a Terrorist; Jihad is not Terror as the Terrorists have Manifested
Main
Points:
1. Somewhere
down the line somebody came and changed the meaning of Jihad and Mujahid.
2. Every
mother's wish from Allah the Most Gracious is that of a Mujahid son who
struggles against the deteriorating atmospheric social order in the society.
3. The socially
acceptable act of struggle to bring order in the society of a Mujahid is called
' Jihad’.
4. There are
many Muslims who started the act of terrorism by allowing sectarian abuses
among themselves.
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Every
mother's wish from Allah the Most Gracious is that of a Mujahid son who
struggles against the deteriorating atmospheric social order in the society.
Every mother wishes their sons to do Jihad (struggle) against the evils of the
social order. Every mother irrespective of religious beliefs, Hindu, Muslim,
Christian, Jew, Buddhist or Jain, even those who are an atheist dream of a
righteous, compassionate and loveable son whom the society looks at to at the
time of social necessity. Such men are called ‘Mujahid’ in Arabic. The socially
acceptable act of struggle to bring order in the society of a Mujahid is called
' Jihad’.
Mujahid in
English is a person that struggles to establish the order of compassion,
righteousness and justice in society, that can be called a warrior or a fighter
or a struggler in the path of truth and justice. Thus, the word Jihad in
English will be a just war or a just struggle. There will be no mother on the
earth who will desist from giving birth to such a son who is regarded as a
hero, a fighter for justice, in the society.
Islam,
therefore, being a universal religion has been expecting all mothers to teach
their sons to struggle in the path of righteousness and justice. And this is
what all the mothers have been doing but somewhere down the line somebody came
and changed the meaning of Jihad and Mujahid.
Muslims
Denounced Islam
Now Mujahid
means a terrorist and jihad means an act of terror. Allah has not bestowed upon
anyone the power of doing anything bad for anyone. Had it been so, we the
people would have destroyed the world and the human race would have finished.
Therefore, it is foolish to blame anyone for anything bad that happens to us.
It is we that unknowingly create devastating situations for us and after the
devastation blame others. Muslims, therefore are themselves to be blamed for
the Islam bashing, Islamophobia and phrases like ‘Islamic terrorism’ that has
widely spread all over the world.
All the
abuses and the bashings that Muslims of the world in general and Islam, in
particular, are being sentenced to is not because of others. There are many Muslims who started the act of
terrorism by allowing sectarian abuses among various sects. This sectarianism
took the form of hatred among communities and resultantly the nations, the
organisations and the people looking for opportunities to abuse Islam took full
advantage of the situation and created an unbridgeable rift among the Muslim
communities and others.
The Muslim
youth are turned into a terrorist in the name of being a Mujahid and the Jihad
is turned into an act of terror by the enemy within. The youth who should have
been trained in Jihad al-Nafs, practising spiritual ethics were given weapons
and trained to kill all those who oppose them, irrespective of their religious
identity. These terrorists cannot be called Mujahid and the present act of
terror cannot be called Jihad by any parameter. Muslims are themselves to be
blamed for the situation Islam and its followers are in.
This term ‘jihad’ can include various forms of nonviolent struggles: for
instance, the struggle to become a better person. AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
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Changing
Meaning of Jihad
In Islamic
parlance Jihad is of three categories, Jihad against self and Jihad against
Satan is termed as - Greater Jihad and Jihad against an open enemy is known as
– Lesser Jihad. It is thanks to the terrorist organisations, ISIS, Al-Qaeda,
Boko Haram, Afghan Taliban and Pakistan Taliban and many others that Islam is
not only losing its true ideology but is being religiously disintegrated from
the social fabric of the society.
Now Jihad
means, ' waging holy war’, ' killing whoever comes in the way’, and 'committing
terrorism’. Now Jihad does not mean a struggle for getting a better education,
quitting smoking, beating cancer and patenting. Now Jihad is no longer a
struggle against self, the greater Jihad. Struggling for self-control is no
longer taught in our society. Every struggle is against the establishment, the
lesser Jihad. All have lost the urge to struggle against self that is the '
greater Jihad’ because of the denouncement of the beautiful words, Jihad and
Mujahid. Islamic ideology of Jihad has been systematically abused to the extent
that now it is hated and denounced.
Terrorists
and the Quranic Commands
The
terrorists are guilty of not following the command of Allah, the All-Knower,
who says in the Holy Quran says: ‘Fight in the way of Allah those who fight
you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors. -
(al-Baqarah: 90)’. Allah, the Most Gracious has forbidden to transgress but the
terrorists transgress all the boundaries of human rights in their quest of
proving themselves right.
Allah, the
Most Gracious further denounces the act of creating disorder in the society
whereas the terrorists are prone to creating havoc among the people and the
system. Consider the following verses:
“And
create not disorder in the earth after it has been set in order” (7:57)
“Defraud
not people of their things and commit not iniquity in the earth, causing
disorder” (11:86)
Prophetic
Traditions about the Real Jihad
Prophet,
peace be upon him, said: “The fighter in Allah’s path strives against his lower
self in (obedience to) Allah.”
‘Abd Allah
b. ‘Umar said, when asked about jihad: “Start with your ego and wage jihad
against it. Start with your ego and do battle with it.”
“You have
returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad.” They inquired: What is
the greater jihad? He said: “A person’s jihad against his carnal desires.”
Nothing is
beyond the power of righteously guided actions, therefore, it is now on the
Muslims of the world to come forward and engage in ‘Jihad against Self' to
teach the Muslim communities about damages that terrorists have caused to the
Muslims and the reputation of Islam. All concerned need to bring to the public
view the spiritual and social downfall of Islam perpetrated by the terrorists
hiding behind the peaceful and righteous Islam. Let again all the mothers wish
to see their sons as the true guardians of Islamic ethics, engaged in ‘greater
Jihad’, struggle against self.
And
Allah Knows the Best.
---
Arman
Neyazi is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/radical-islamism-jihad/mujahid-jihad-terrorist-terror/d/125265