Jihad

The word jihad has many meanings and implications, one of these being in how it is expressed in the Quran. This also relates to how Mohammad thought and acted upon it, which heavily influenced many people in the Islamic society. This then brought about the justification of it, coming from such a powerful leader in a vast religious community who was looking to express aggression in a way that was holy and pleasing to God.

Jihad frequently refers to combat, as this lies at the core of the definition. The Qur'an makes oabundant references to this fighting in the cause of faith. The question, however, is whether this fighting is sanctioned only for the purpose of self-defense. The Qur'an itself seems to be of two minds on this matter and Definitions can include Holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty and a bitter strife of a spirit of a holy war. It is also commonly referred to as “striving in the way of the Lord”, as derived from the Arabic translation. However, the concept jihad is wrongly called holy war most of the time, however it had two distinct meanings throughout the centuries. The first being that Muslims who hold the view their faith differently are considered infidels, or targets of jihad and Lends to the explaination as to why peopled groups such as Egyptians, Afghans, and Algerians were often victims of the jihadist violence. The second definition being that it defines the legal description of jihad as it instructs Muslims to abandon worldly distress, in order to attain spiritual profundity.

With its established definition, jihad was first permitted when Muhammad made his journey to Medina in the year 622 known as the Hegira. It was during this expedition that he and his few followers began raiding the caravans of the Meccans, which displayed aggressive action that lead to the first jihad. “In the raids the Muslims were taking the offensive. Muhammad cannot have failed to realize that, even if the raids were only slightly successful, the Meccans were bound to attempt reprisals. In these little raids, then, he was deliberately challenging and provoking the Meccans. In our peace-conscious age it is difficult to understand how a religious leader could thus engage in offensive war and become almost an aggressor.”(Kepel 103) They immigrated to this area and performed this action to preserve their livelihood on this expedient rampage.

It was after this that many people started to defend Mohammad and his exploit and one of their first reasons being that it was very common among the Arabian Desert people during the seventh century to retrieve resources that they could not access. This made it common for different tribes to ransack each other’s belongings. The second motive being that it was justified revenge, as attributed from the Qur’an. “Thus, whether Muhammad incited his followers to action and then used their wrongs [wrongs committed against them] to justify it, or whether he yielded to pressure from them to allow such action, the normal Arab practice of the razzia [raid] was taken over by the Islamic community. In being taken over, however, it was transformed. It became an activity of believers against unbelievers, and therefore took place within a religious context. The Emigrants were described as "striving with goods and person in the way of God [Qur'an 4:95, 9:20, 9:41, 9:44]." They were promoting one of the purposes of the Islamic community in trying to establish a region in which God was truly worshipped.”(Cleveland 205) Mohammad had created a title for himself of a person who was both a crucial spiritual leader and an overall good human being. When it concerns this expressed revenge, Islam thought of it as not being self defense, but rather that it was invalid motivation.

As demonstrated, these raids through way of jihad quickly transitioned from being a battle between Mohammad’s followers and fellow peoples for possessions, to a fight between believers and non-believers. It was during these that the common phrase “the first arrow shot, the first bloodshed, and the first man killed, was in the name of Islam.” The transition has been made clear; the purpose of jihad had gone from an economic “expedient” to a prominent stand for the new faith that had been established, staying strong within that culture to this day.

Cleveland, William L. A History of Modern Middle East: Westhouse Publishers Inc.: 2000.

Kepel, Gilles. Jihad: Trail of Political Islam: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2001.