How old is Jihad?

Question

How old is Jihad? Has Jihad been around as long as Islam? Is Jihad the sixth pillar of Islam? Does Islam have plans for the claphate to return? Who was the driving force for Jihad, and was it justified by the right people?

I know that Bin Laden has called for Jihad, and that it has been reawaken in a sense by like minded people, but who in fact is responsible for such a decision as this in the Islamic context. Bin Laden surly does not have such powers or does he?

Surly these decisions are for higher authority in Islam.

Answer 1

asalaamulikum,

very good question, I have some links videos
you can check it out. Also the word Jihad comes from the root word: Jahaadaha, which means to strive or stuggle. but it is not just physical stuggle, but any kind of stuggle. most powerful kind of Jihad (Stuggle) is to do good and avoid evil espcially in the mind. soo you have to stuggle to keep thinking and doing good and all ways avoid or stuggle not to do anything that is evil.

salaamlikum.

Answer 2

Jihad is definitely part of Islam. The Arabic meaning is "to struggle". Depending on the context, it can also easily mean "to fight". Jihad is all over the Qur'an, chapter 4, 5, and 9 are the easy ones. It can mean a spiritual struggle, but the majority of Islamic writing concerns military operations.

There are only 5 actual pillars of Islam, making jihad the 6th is open to opinion. Jihad is definitely a duty for capable Muslims, in whatever capacity.

Islam technically needs the caliphate because it is technically the olny ones who can decide major Islamic Law questions (its the highest authority). How to reform the caliphate for Muslims is an entirely different question.

In the beginning of Islam, jihad was justified by Mohammad. It was nescessary for the new Muslim population to strive and fight to not get wiped out by the rival pagan Arab tribes. The Qur'an authorizes Muslims to fight whoever is oppressing Muslims.

I'm too lazy to provide direct Qur'anic citations for the verses concerning the okay for jihad, but I can if needed.

Answer 3

what is Jihad :
*Jihad is fighting for the sake of praising god's word and threatening non-Muslims who hurts Muslims and opposes ALLAH

*Jihad is as old as Islam

*Jihad has two cases
1- it may be sufficiency dictating : that if some Muslims did it it's ok for others not to do and this is the case when a Muslim country is occupied by an enemy ... so Jihad is sufficiency dictating on all Muslim countries surrounding this occupied one at a distance greater than 80 Km. so If some of these countries send army to rescue this country ... this dictating is done for all Muslims in other countries at this far.

2- It is a must on all Muslims living in the occupied country and all Muslims in the neighborhood at a distance less than 80 Km. ..... so all Muslims in this country Must go and fight for the freedom of the occupied one.

*There is a forecast of the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that in the last days of life before the judgement day , one of his successors will be the leader of all Muslims and will rule the world with fair and faith .

*ALLAH says what means : O Prophet! Exhort the believers to fight. If there be of you twenty steadfast they shall overcome two hundred, and if there be of you a hundred steadfast they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because they (the disbelievers) are a folk without intelligence.

This is a clear order of ALLAH for Muslims for Jihad

and the motivations of Jihad have been mentioned above

Answer 4

Jihad is a call for a holy war, many believe that Jihad is a call for a counterattack to defend the Islamic world. The first Jihad known by the western world was under the crusades when sallah el din drove out the crusaders from the holy land (outremer).

Others believe that Jihad means we fight or to fight, for the Islam and can have many different forms (fight - help, donate money, convert more people to Islam enlight unbelievers...etc so they believe that it is a call for fight but not in a violent way..)

Confused? sorry

Answer 5

Jihad is as old as the religion. However, the current radical fanatics aren't following the jihad properly - to the best of my knowledge it's not being followed as originally laid out. These wack-jobs have twisted the meanings to fix their own crazy minds...

Answer 6

I don't know. It's probably dated to the Crusades, if not earlier. And I think you might be referring to the prophecy of the 12th Imam, the Caliphate, and that seems to be driving the radicals now.

The belief is the whole world will be proselytized, and it would seem to be working with over 20% of the world's population Muslim.

Answer 7

Jihad means to fight in the name of Allah.
how u interpret fight is open to discussion.

Answer 8

How old?
Too old...
Primitive mysticism & religions should be buried...
See this source: