The Islam and its Concept of Jihad and Jihadism - Essay Example

 The Islam and its concept of Jihad and Jihadism The events leading to 9/11 and after the event have been mostly linked with the Islam and its concept of Jihad and jihadism. Though Jihad is considered as one of the essential elements of the Islam as a faith however, its portrayal especially after 9/11 has presented a very bleak and negative picture of Jihad and its overall interpretation in Islam. Jihad has a very long history in Islamic world and it started since it was allowed under the basic tenets of Islam. This was done in order to allow Prophet (PBUH) so that the religion can be spread and the power and strength of Islam as a religion and Muslims as a community can be established. In order to understand the concepts of Jihad as outlined in the Islam and as they are being practiced now, it is really critical to understand the overall concept of Jihad and how it has been outlined by the Islam in it original principles. Further, it is also critical to explore as to how the Jihad is being conceived and practiced now and whether there is a drift from the earlier established principles or not. It has been argued that the Jihad as it is practiced now is a complete shift from the earlier traditions of Islam and is now believed to be practiced in a manner which marks a complete shift from the same. Whether this is the case or not or whether Jihad is exactly practiced the way earlier traditions outlined is the topic which this paper will attempt to explore and discuss. The literal meaning of the word Jihad in Arabic is struggle and is a noun in Arabic language. The word Jihad has appeared in the Quran for more than 40 times however, indirect references to the metaphysical meanings of the word have also been made in Quran on various occasions. Quranic interpretation of Jihad therefore indicates a struggle in the way of Allah and is considered as one of the important religious duties for the Muslims. There are various instances in Muslim history in which Prophet (PBUH) has considered doing Jihad under different conditions. The overall importance which has been attached to it is because it is not only mentioned in Quran but it was also practiced by the Prophet (PBUH) himself. (Burgat & Dowell, 1993) There are various instances in the Islamic history wherein Prophet (PBUH) has specifically mentioned that the greater Jihad is the struggle against one’s own desires. Based on this, Jihad is therefore often divided into two categories i.e. lesser Jihad and greater Jihad or Jihad e Akbar. Greater Jihad is often referred to the notion where a pious Muslim has to strive against his wishes and ego and make a complete surrender to the Will of Allah. Such surrendering to the will of Allah and renunciation of the worldly wishes is therefore given a greater significance in Islam as compared to the waging a lesser Jihad in the way of Allah. It is also argued that Jihad has also been named as a process to bring a balance between Islam, faith and righteous living. This so called spiritual struggle is still considered as one of the fundamental aspects of defining the Jihad and its right context. This concept is relatively more critically in order to accurately trace down the differences between the Jihad as described in the earlier traditions of Islam and how it is being practiced now. The visible differences between the approach of the moderate Muslims and more fundamentalist Muslims towards the interpretation of Jihad and its actual place in ordinary Muslim Life is one of the fundamental arguments which need to be discussed further. Jihad is often used within three different contexts i.e. jihad or struggle to correct oneself and fight with oneself in order to correct the faith of an individual, Jihad in order to improve the Muslim society and Jihad as a holy war. It is this third concept of jihad as a holy war which has attracted much of the significance and importance over the period of time because of its direct and indirect influences on the other communities i.e. non- Muslims. The original concept of Jihad and its allowing in Quran is often considered as the time specific phenomenon. This is based on the belief that the Jihad has been ordered in order to combat with those who were opposing Islam in its early days and therefore once the religion has been completed, it should not have not been carried forward to other communities which were specially living outside the geographical locations of the Arab. However, the rapid rise of Islamic empire after the death of Prophet has witnessed a frequent use of Jihad as one of the basic moral reasons behind the expansion of the Islamic empire beyond the geographical boundaries of Arab world. It is probably because of this reason that this word in Western countries is often directly referred as the holy war despite the fact that many Islamic scholars of current time are now also emphasizing on the non-violent connotation of the world. The relative interpretation of Jihad and its place in the ordinary life of a Muslim is also considered as different. From the fundamentalists’ point of view, Islam provides a complete code of life including how to run the society and the government. However, majority believe that leading of the social life should be driven by the other factors such as the secularilism or nationalism while following Islamic principles in day to day life. This difference between the perceptions between the moderate Muslims as well as the fundamentalists therefore itself present a root of internal conflict which Muslim societies are facing by and large specially after 9/11. As discussed in the introductory section that the events after 9/11 has brought the overall concept of Jihad in a new spotlight because of the obvious reasons. The world’s super power was attacked on its own soil and the roots of this attack were connected the radical Islam and how it practice the concept of Jihad in modern world. It is also important to note that the word jihad and who practice it now are often labeled with what is called fundamentalism. Islamic fundamentalism therefore has been highlighted as the key influence on those who practicing jihad as a holy war. However, in order to track down the roots of the fundamentalism and how it is linked with Jihad and how it is being interpreted now, it is critical to understand the political roots of Islam, its history and how it has shaped over the period of time. The roots of the recent conflict between the Muslim fundamentalism and the West is mostly based upon the notion of Political Islam and how it shaped the overall concept of Jihad to give it an entirely different meaning. It is largely been viewed that the current practices of Jihad are often directed at achieving the political benefits rather than it’s a war in the way of the Allah. In order to discuss this notion, it is important first to understand whether is there anything called Political Islam and how it influenced the concept of Jihad over the period of time. (Roy 1994) It is argued that Islam is a religion of collective morals however; it is not necessarily a political religion. It is important to note that there is a not specific concept of governance either outlined in Quran or in Sunnah and as such Islam technically does not prefer any style of governance neither it put any emphasis on anyone. Ayubi argues that even if there was any ideological concept of Islamic state, it must be in dissonance because the later formation of Islamic State is mostly based on the rules and conventions rather than purely on the laws of Shariah. Ayubi further argues that though the State has used Islam in order to legitimize itself however, it could not monopolize it despite its efforts and as such Islam has continued to keep its existence which is entirely separate from the State and its policies.( Ayubi, 1991). It is also important to note that the modern Muslim States have tried to disassociate themselves from the religion in order to pose a more secular outlook. This shift therefore indicates that though Islam played a critical role in the shaping of the State and its fundamental rules however, the State is not entirely reliant on the Islam as a guide for the governance. This is important point to be considered in the midst of the argument that the current Jihad is also a State sponsored Jihad wherein countries like Afghanistan and Iran are being accused of helping the Mujahedeen to wage holy war against the Western interests. This shift towards adapting the more modern orientation that the many Muslim States are facing an internal conflict within themselves wherein the extremist elements within Muslim States are challenging this new shift. It is because of this reason that those elements which are relatively Islamic in their orientation with significant political interests which are using religion as a tool against the Muslim States. This argument is relatively more plausible in order to understand the relative significance of Jihad in the current context and how it can be related with the orthodox practices of Islam. Ayubi (1991) argues that the concept of Islamic State is a relatively recent phenomenon and took its solid foundations only during the Ottoman Empire’s last days. It was after this period that the Muslim scholars actually started to put emphasis on the collective identity of Muslims as Ummah or community. The end of Ottoman Empire also started the virtual end of the global Muslim empire because Ottomans were the last rulers who ruled significant part of the Muslim world. Though the end of Ottoman Empire allowed the independence of many Muslim countries however, it was also the beginning of the new awakening within Muslim world which attempted to revive the Islamic values and so called Islamic empire. It has been argued that religious connotations to such struggles were deliberately given despite the fact that most of such resistance emerged as a result of some social and political reasons behind them. It’s believed that whenever the extremist movements emerged in Islamic world, they were mostly the result of some socio-political crisis rather than having its roots in the religion. (Ayubi 1991). It is also important to make a distinction between the Islamization of the different political movements or politicizing of the different Islamic movements. Though viewed from the current perspectives, this may be relatively difficult however, it is really critical to make a difference in order to understand the true context of the Jihad and how it is now being used to achieve the political motives. The rise of Islamic extremism in most of the countries therefore is largely viewed as a rise against the social and economic justice as in countries like Egypt, people increasingly faced difficult economic situations with minimum support from the State. This has been actually endured for decades. (Davis 1988). Most of the Muslim countries are being ruled by the Kings or Military dictators who are the rulers since decades. The decades of suppression of the individuals both on the economic and social spheres therefore have allowed the elements like Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaida to recruit vulnerable youth and brainwash them in the name of religion to obtain the political ambitions. The case of Palestine may be relatively different as it is related with a particular geographical conflict however, in other cases; especially the presence of American forces in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries is largely seen with the hostility. It has also been argued that the overall fluid nature of any social class within Arab world specially has made it relatively difficult to develop a solid mass of social class which can exercise its influence and power. Due to lack of this formation, the Islamic fundamentalism has emerged as a separate sociological order under which those who are left behind are trying to find an abode. It is due to this lack of concrete class formation within most of the Muslim world which has allowed the fundamentalists forces to take their roots and use Jihad and Islam as a valid tool in order to establish their writ and political influence.( Wickham, Carrie & Rosefsky 2002). What is also critical to note that the emergence of organizations such as Al-Qaida and Muslim Brotherhood are directly the result of this divided within the Muslim societies which have allowed the rise of such forces to fill the social gap within the Muslim societies. Considering the above discussion and the socio-political nature of the Jihad as its being practiced now, it is very clear that the practices of Jihad may not be entirely up to the teachings of Islam. One of the most important things to be considered in this regard is the fact that current Jihadism is not only against the non- Muslims but Muslims are also the very target of the same. Countries like Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan are battleground for Jihadists where most of the casualties are of the Muslims. This raises one very important question of whether waging Jihad against Muslims is a possibility too in Islam? The key source of knowledge in Islam i.e. Quran and Sunnah are probably silent on it however, the later adulteration in the overall Islamic thought and the hard line approach adapted some Ulema has given so called religious credibility to waging Jihad against the Muslims even. Though the traditionally in entire Muslim history Jihad was waged against the non- Muslims. The above point therefore highlights one of the significant issues which need to be dealt with in order to fully understand what Islam as a religion has said about the Jihad and how it is being practiced now under its current form. Further, the essential teachings of Islam put more emphasis on the Jihad against one’s ownself rather than emphasizing to wage war against the innocent human beings. Secondly, the current wave of Jihadism is a direct result of the some socio-political factors and emerged directly as a result of the inherent weaknesses in the governance structure within Muslim countries. The years of suppression, dictatorship as well as poverty has pushed people on the brink of finding an alternative wherein they can actually get an opportunity to make their voice heard. (Lia, 2007) The concept of Jihad has significant meanings and importance in Islam because Quran and Sunnah have repeatedly asked the followers to observe Jihad. However, there are literally two different types of Jihads i.e. lesser and greater Jihad. Greater Jihad often refers to the one’s struggle against one’s own self and ego whereas the lesser Jihad is labeled as the holy war against those elements which are perceived to be enemies of Islam. It is important to note that Islam has given more importance to the greater jihad and there are various instances where it has been repeatedly mentioned to correct oneself. The Jihadism as it is practiced now is often considered as a result of the different socio-political issues rather than being linked with the Islam as a religion. Fundamentalist elements in Muslim societies have used religion and Jihad as a moral reason to establish their religious authority and influence. Further, the overall governance in Arab countries, economic suppression as well as the absence of social classes within Muslim world has allowed fundamentalist elements to fill that socio-political gap and use Jihad as a tool to achieve their own objectives. While tracing the roots of this shift, it is important to explore the ideology of Syed Hasan Al- Banna and subsequent emergence of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt as one of the strongest radical opposition of the secularist thoughts in modern Islamic States which started to emerge after the Second World War. The struggle which started with the movement from Hassan Al-Banna therefore effectively divided into two different groups. One where the religious fundamentalists actually took control of the State as in the case of Iran or where there were armed struggles to bring the Islamic ideologies within the State. These struggles however, largely been seen as the moves for holding political hegemony rather than doing something in the name of Islam. It is also important to note that there are still groups within Muslim countries which despite holding the extremist tendencies, preferred to remain within the main political sphere and attempted to exist within the existing political structure of the countries. References Ayubi N (1991). Political Islam. 1st. ed. London: Routledge. Burgat, F & Dowell, W (1993) The Islamic Movement in North Africa, Austin: University of Texas Press Davis E (1988). Ideology, Social Class and Islamic Radicalism in Modern Egypt. In: Arjomand S, (ed). From Nationalism to Revolutionary Islam, London: Macmillan, Lia, B (2007) Architect of global jihad: the life of al-Qaida strategist Abu Mus'ab al-Suri, New York: Columbia University Press Roy O (1994) The Failure of Political Islam, London: I.B. Tauris Wickham, Carrie Rosefsky (2002). Mobilising Islam: Religion, Activism, and Political Change in Egypt. New York: Columbia University Press, . Read More