Concepts of Jihad in Christianity - Essay Example

Can you think of any concepts in Christianity, Judaism or any other religions that are somewhat similar to the Islamic concept of jihad? Why are they similar? Why are they not similar?According to Islam, Jihad is the struggle or strive for improvement or fighting back for purposes of defending one`s self, assets, homeland, honor as well as the struggle against evil that are internal or external within a society or of a person. Considering the above definitions of Jihad, various aspects of the bible can be equivalent to Jihad.

Despite that the term Jihad is not exactly used in the Bible, the idea of struggle and striving is deep-seated in Christianity (Ali 2014). Thus, the word struggle can be used to mean Jihad in the Christian Scriptures. Christians should struggle in fighting for peace and unity, even if one has to embrace sworn enemies. Similarly, the Quran demands that Muslims struggle against the use of violence but make peace and speak well of others even if they are non-Muslims (Quran 17:53-54 and Quran 2:256).

Another major element of Jihad in Christianity struggle is to ensure they do not pay back evil for evil as written in Romans 12:17. In a similar way Quran 4:9 asks Muslims to refrain from fighting back. Moreover, Christians should strive to eliminate evil in society and humanity. Many instances in the Bible such as in Exodus 22: 18-20, Exodus 32: 27-28 and Numbers 31:1-18 allows punishment of evildoers in the very harsh way Just like Jihad in Islam that aims at clearing evil in the society. Many other elements of jihad or struggle such as defending of faith, strive to keep doing good, to struggle for the later kingdom and life after death among other things as found in Quran are evident in the Bible.