will someone who is muslim explain jihad to me i am doing research paper?

Question

i would like to know the religous context as well as your personal thoughts on the current "jihads" going on now, p.s. please understand that i have already done research and know that some of the current events are just extremist groups not main stream muslims

Answer 1

Jihad---holy war. its just that simple. and don't let people like p%ki p%ki try and trick you with his glib statements like the following:

Islam asks us to perform jihad by means of the Qur'an, calling this 'greater' jihad (25:52). But it never asks its believers to do the 'greater' jihad by means of the gun.

no, the Qur'an doesn't ever ask us to use a gun to convert people, it tells us to use a sword.

come on, pokester----at least be honest.

Answer 2

Explain Jihad

Answer 3

I'm not Muslim, but have studied Muslim philosophy. For Muslims there are two kinds of jihad, which by the way means struggle. The first, and most important, is called Big Jihad, which is the internal struggle in the soul for the believer to be a good and righteous Muslim. The second, more well known version, is little Jihad, which is defensive war, which is used to defend Muslims against their enemies. A Muslim war is governed by strict conditions, particularly if it is between Muslims, in which case negotiations are required before armed conflict takes place. Jihad is not supposed to be aggressive, and it's not supposed to be fought against civilians. Extremist groups have justified jihad because they believe that the West is taking aggressive actions against them and that it's their duty as Muslims to fight for their faith. They believe that civilian Muslim deaths are just collateral damage that are justified to achieve a greater good. Islamic extremism is born out of Islamism (or political Islam) which largely emerged from the fundamental Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia who are defined by their strict adherence to the Qu'ran and what they believe are Muslim precepts.

Answer 4

Nowhere does the Holy Quran advocate violence. Quran only allows retaliation that too prefers forgiveness to retaliation. You have misinterpreted the Holy Quran. A true Muslim should forgive. As far as Jihad is concerned a true Muslim should wage Jihad against the unseen enemies of Islam that is Ignorance, Illeteracy, Backwardness, Misinformation etc. etc. As of today these are the worst enemies of Islam.

Answer 5

Jihad is fighting in the cause - or in the name of Allah. Jihad is two types of fighting-- there is personal Jihad: jihad of the soul, jihad against sin, jihad to overcome all struggle and all selfishness and sin to be close and to reach Allah in the end.
The second Jihad is to fight against those who prosecute you.

Qur'an: sura 2:190-193
'And fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you- but do not transgress limits: for Allah does not love those who exceed their rightful limits.

And slay those who fight against Allah's cause- and turn them out from where they have turned you out, for persecution and injustice are worse than killing. But do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque, unless they first fight you there. If they fight you: slay them. Such is the reward for those who block faith.

But if they cease fighting- Allah is most forgiving, most merciful.

Keep fighting them until there is no more persecution and injustice. And justice and faith in Allah continues. If they cease in fighting then let there be no more hostile acts.

So: to sum it up: Jihad is to fight against the struggles which deprive us of Allah.... If some one tries to kill you for your faith: it is not a sin to slay them-- if they cease then you are suppossed to have mercy on them.
Jihad is struggling in the name of God, for God-- no matter how hard it may be for you, in order to perservere.
(sorry, english is my second language and I cant spell very well. I hope you have learned something. God bless)

Answer 6

There's a really simple book called "The everything to know about Islam"

Very easy discription, and very easy to understand.

Peace.

Answer 7

to struggle for God

Answer 8

Jihad is regularly misconstrued as war, with all its connotations of violence and bloodshed. However, in the Islamic context, and in literal sense, the word jihad simply means a struggle - doing one's utmost to further a worthy cause. The actual Arabic equivalent of war, is qital, and even this is meant in a defensive sense.

According to Islamic teachings, jihad is of two kinds. One is with the self (jihad bin nafs), that is, making the maximum effort to keep control over negative feelings in one's self, for instance, arrogance, jealousy, greed, revenge, anger, etc. The psychological efforts to lead such a life of restraint is what jihad bin nafs is about. In social life, it happens time and again that all sorts of base, negative feelings well up within a man, causing him to lead his life succumbing to desires and temptations. The internal effort made in such a situation to overcome the temptations of the self and to continue to lead a life guided by principles is the truly Islamic jihad bin nafs.

According to the Hadith, a believer is one who wages jihad with himself in the path of obedience to God. That is, at moments when the self (nafs), lured by some temptation, desires to deviate from the path of God, he keeps control over it and remains unswervingly on the divine path. This is his jihad - a permanent feature of the life of a believer, continuing day and night, and ending only with death.

The other form of jihad is that which is engaged into propagate the constructive message of Islam. All those who embark upon such a course must first of all study the Qur'an and Sunnah in a dispassionate and objective manner. No kind of conditioning should be allowed to come in the way of such study. Only after passing through this intellectual jihad will the would-be proponent of Islam be in a position to make a true representation of his religion.

Two conditions have been laid down in the Qur'an for the communication of the teachings of Islam to others - naasih, well-wishing and amin, trustworthiness. The former appertains to God and the latter to man.

What is meant by naasih (well-wishing) is an earnest desire on the part of the preacher of truth for the well-being not just of his immediate interlocutor, but the whole of humanity. This well-wishing should be so steadfast that it remains undiluted even in the face of injustice and oppression. Overlooking people's negative behaviour towards him, the preacher should continue to remain their well-wisher.

The element of trustworthiness (amin) is important in that it ensures that the religion God has sent to the world will be presented to the people without deletion, addition or distortion. For instance, if the Islam sent by God is akhirah (Hereafter) oriented, it should not become world oriented, if it is spiritually based, it should not become politics based; if it confines jihad to peaceful struggle, it should not become violence based.

Islam asks us to perform jihad by means of the Qur'an, calling this 'greater' jihad (25:52). But it never asks its believers to do the 'greater' jihad by means of the gun.

Jihad through the Qur'an means striving to the utmost to present the teachings of the Qur'an before the people. That is presenting the concept of One God as opposed to the concept of many Gods; presenting akhirah-oriented life; a humanitarian-oriented life and duty-oriented life as a categorical imperative taking moral precedence over a rights-oriented life.

Jihad, according to Islam, is not something about which is any mystery. If a simply a natural requirement of daily living. It is vital both as concept and as a practice because, while leading his life in this world, man is reportedly confronted by such circumstances as are likely to derail him from the humanitarian path of the highest order.

These factors sometimes appear within man in the form of negative feelings. This is something to which everyone must remain intellectually alert, so that if for any reason there is some danger of negative mindset gaining upper hand, he may consciously and deliberately turn himself to positive thinking. Even if circumstances repeatedly place him in situations which are depressing and demoralising, he must never on such occasions lose courage or lose sight of noble goals. The re-assertion of his ethical sense is the realjihad which he has to wage.

From the Islamic standpoint, intention is all-important. Any undertaking carried out with good intentions will win God's approval, while anything done with bad intentions is bound to be disapproved of and rejected by God. In actual fact, intentions are the sole criteria of good or bad actions in the divine scheme of things.

This truth relates jihad to man's entire life and to all of his activities. Whatever man does in this world, be it at home, or in his professional capacity, in family or in social life, his prime imperative must be to carry it out with good intentions and not the reverse. This, however, is no simple matter. In all one's dealings, adhering strictly to the right path requires a continuous struggle. This is a great and unremitting lifelong struggle. And this is what is called jihad.

Even if one is engaged in good works, such as the establishment and running of institutions which cater for social welfare or academic needs, or if one is personally engaged in social work of performing some service in the political field, in all such works the element of personal glory has a way of creeping in. Therefore, in all such instances, it is essential that in the individuals concerned there should be strong tendency to introspection, so that they may keep before them at all times the goal, not of personal glory but the greater glory of God.

It is one's intense inner struggle to make all activities God-oriented which is truly Islamic jihad.
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* Jihad of the heart/soul (jihad bin nafs/qalb) is an inner struggle of good against evil in the mind, through concepts such as tawhid.

* Jihad by the tongue (jihad bil lisan) is a struggle of good against evil waged by writing and speech, such as in the form of dawah (proselytizing), Khutbas (sermons), et al. It is one weapon in the jihadi arsenal.
* Jihad by the pen and knowledge (jihad bil qalam/ilm) is a struggle for good against evil through scholarly study of Islam, ijtihad (legal reasoning), and through sciences (such as medical sciences).
* Jihad by the hand (jihad bil yad) refers to a struggle of good against evil waged by actions or with one's wealth, such as going on the Hajj pilgrimage (seen as the best jihad for women), taking care of elderly parents, providing funding for jihad, political activity for furthering the cause of Islam, stopping evil by force, espionage, and the penetration of Western universities by salafi Islamic ideology, in numerous Middle East Studies departments funded by Saudi Arabia.