By Kelly O'Connell —— Bio and Archives April 23, 2013
Comments | Print This | Subscribe | Email Us
It has been repeatedly stated the term "Jihad" in Islam is more properly defined as "holy struggle" than "holy war." Reuven Firestone, in Jihad, The Origin of Holy War in Islam, points out that the word "Jihad" has no direct connection to war. Yet, as Firestone elucidates, Jihad is a holy struggle most often expressed in terms of violent attack against Islam's enemies, stating, When the word is used without qualifiers, like "of the heart," or "of the word," it is universally understood as war on behalf of Islam (equivalent of Jihad "of the sword"--jihad al-sayf), and the merits of engaging in such Jihad are described plentifully in the most respected religious works.Robin Wright, in Sacred Rage, The Wrath of Militant Islam, defines jihad like this:
In the thirteen-century old lexicon of Islam, jihad is a struggle against an aggressive foreign force or an offensive in the name of the faith. The Koran incites Muslims to battles, for those who believe in God should fight for him. It is "an obligation on the true believer, because only in a free country can there be righteous self-respect." In the seventh century, jihad was considered by early Muslims to be the most effective means of conquering lands for the new Muslim empire.According to Rudolph Peters in Jihad in Classical And Modern Islam, two groups deserve correction--first, those under the Imam (Muslim leader) refusing to follow Allah's laws. Second, those unbelievers (kuffar) outside Islamic control who can only be conquered for god by conflict. These kuffar are outside the uma (Muslim polity) and therefore the enemies of Allah. And G.E. Von Grunebaum, in Classical Islam, A History 600-1258, explains how from the earliest period, despite instability, jihad was always practiced:
...it did not allow the jihad, the "battle on the path to God" to rest in its duty to incorporate the unconquered "war region" (dar al-harb) of the unbeliever into the dar al-islam. Guerilla warfare, apart from several larger expeditions, continued without interruption.
The world is divided into the House of Islam and the House of War, the Dar al-Islam and the Dar al-harb. The Dar al-Islam is all those lands in which a Muslim government rules and the Holy Law of Islam prevails. Non-Muslims may live there on Muslim sufferance. The outside world, which has not yet been subjugated, is called the "House of War," and strictly speaking a perpetual state of jihad, of holy war, is imposed by the law. The law thus divides unbelievers theologically into those who have a book and profess what Islam recognizes as a divine religion and those who do not; politically into dhimmis, those who have accepted the supremacy of the Muslim state and the primacy of the Muslims, and harbis, the denizens of the Dar al-harb, the House of War, who remain outside the Islamic frontier, and with whom therefore there is in principle, a canonically obligatory perpetual state of war until the whole world is either converted or subjugated.
The only reasons an unbeliever should be put to death...is their unbelief. This motive then goes for all unbelievers...Enemies must not be tortured nor their bodies mutilated. The Muslims agree they may be slain by weapons. Controversy exists, however, concerning whether it is allowed to burn them by fire
Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture - [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.
The command to participate in jihad and the mention of its merits occur innumerable times in the Koran and the Sunna. Therefore it is the best voluntary [religious] act that man can perform. All scholars agree that it is better than the hajj (greater pilgrimage) and the 'Umrah (lesser pilgrimage), than voluntary Salaah and voluntary fasting, as the Qur'an and the Sunnah indicate. The Prophet, Peace be upon him, has said, The Prophet, has said: "The head of the affair is Islam, its central pillar is the Salaah and the summit is the Jihad." And he has said: "In Paradise there are a hundred grades with intervals as wide as the distance between the sky and the earth. All these Allah has prepared for those who take part in Jihad." There is unanimity about the authenticity of this Tradition.Peters goes on to develop this subject of the religious significance of jihad to Allah, at length:
This is a vast subject, unequaled by other subjects as far as the reward and merit of human deeds is concerned. This is evident upon closer examination. 1. The [first] reason is that the benefit of Jihad is general, extending not only to the person who participates in it but also to others, both in a religious and a temporal sense. 2., Jihad implies all kinds of worship, both in its inner and outer forms. More than any other act it implies love and devotion for Allah, Who is exalted, trust in Him, the surrender of one's life and property to Him, patience, asceticism, remembrance of Allah and all kinds of other acts [of worship]. And individual or community that participates in it, finds itself between two blissful outcomes: either victory and triumph or martyrdom and Paradise. 3., all creatures must live and die. Since lawful warfare is essentially Jihad and since its aim is that the religion is entirely for Allah [2:189, 8:39] and the word of Allah is uppermost [9:40], therefore, according to all Muslims, those who stand in the way of this aim must be fought.
2.190. Fight against those who fight against you in the way of Allah, but do not transgress, for Allah does not love transgressors. 2.191. Kill them whenever you confront them and drive them out from where they drove you out. (For though killing is sinful) wrongful persecution is even worse than killing...but if they fight against you kill them, for that is the reward of such unbelievers. 2.193. Keep on fighting against them until mischief ends and the way prescribed by Allah prevails. But if they desist, then know that hostility is only against the wrong-doers.Virtually any Western country would fit into this category, but especially the United States, with our hegemony and control of entire Muslim nations.
The doctrine of Jihad as revealed by Allah in the Quran calls for forced conversion, particularly of idolaters, for establishing an imperial rule on a global scale with an integral purpose of economic exploitation of non-Muslim subjects and for engaging in slavery, including slave-trade and sex-slavery. All commands of the Quran, including for Jihad, must stand for all times. Therefore, the Islamic institutions of forced conversion, imperialism and slavery--if Allah's commands are to be obeyed--must persist for eternity. As for forced conversion, it must continue until such times that there remain no more infidels to be converted. Regarding Islamic imperialism, the perpetuation of a global Islamic rule for eternity is the ultimate goal of Allah.If Islam seeks the armed subjugation of the entire world by taking on its leading defender of liberty, shouldn't Americans finally get ready to fully defend ourselves?!!
Kelly O’Connell is an author and attorney. He was born on the West Coast, raised in Las Vegas, and matriculated from the University of Oregon. After laboring for the Reformed Church in Galway, Ireland, he returned to America and attended law school in Virginia, where he earned a JD and a Master’s degree in Government. He spent a stint working as a researcher and writer of academic articles at a Miami law school, focusing on ancient law and society. He has also been employed as a university Speech & Debate professor. He then returned West and worked as an assistant district attorney. Kelly is now is a private practitioner with a small law practice in New Mexico.