What is Jihad?

If there is any word that has been politically misused by Islamic leaders other than 'Fatwa' , it's 'Jihad'. These fights have political and financial objectives. They have no relation with the religion by any means. Even if they present illogical definitions of 'Jihad' which are convenient to them, its impossible to accept them. Spreading violence under the name of 'Jihad' is a big injustice to Islam. Its high time that the religious scholars, Maulanas and Imams and Muftis who have the real knowledge about the concept of 'Jihad', they should come ahead and openly correct the false beliefs in general public about 'Jihad'.

'Jihad' is an inseparable part of the Islam religion. This religion constitutes of two factors. The first one is 'Deen' and the second one is 'Shariyat'. 'Deen' is the soul of Islam. No changes or manipulations are acceptable about it. But 'Shariyat' is the way of living life. It may change with times and circumstances. Other than "Kalema", Deen has five essential elements namely, "Namaz", "Roja", "Jakat", "Haj" and "Jihad". Amongst these, though "Jihad" is the last one, its very important. The meaning of 'Jihad' in common language is "Holy War". Other religions too have this system, but there it may depend totally upon the will of the follower. In Islam though, Jihad is essential. Whenever Islam comes in a danger, Jihad is essential, but the question that arises is, who is to decide whether in particular circumstances Jihad has become essential ? Many a times it has been seen that when there is a conflict between people of other religions with those of Islam, taking it that Islam has come in danger, shouts of 'Jihad' start. When the conflict of Palestine started with Israel, all the Muslims were requested and told by the leaders that the time for 'Jihad' has come. "Jihad has become essential to save Aksa masjid and Kibla-e-awwal in Israel" was what assumed by them. Some years ago, when the Gulf war started, Jihad was declared against America. This time America has started giving some treatment to Afghanistan, and again the shouts of Jihad can be heard. Whether its the battle in Bosnia, or the fight in Chechnya, Muslims there are told to get ready for 'Jihad' against the enemy. Talking about Pakistan, even before the partition with India the Mullahs and Maulavis started giving calls of Jihad, and they're still given on the Kashmir front. Various originations plan and carry out their operations there under the name of Jihad. These terrorists have been constantly motivated to carry out 'Jihad' under the name of Islam by Pakistan. Any question regarding the Muslims arises and to create an atmosphere of staunchness, mania and revenge, the shouts of Jihad are given. One would get a feeling that all the Muslims in the world would come out on battlefield, fight and bring victory to the Islamic country. But practically it has been seen that under the name of 'Jihad' only mania can be spread, ignorant but religious Muslims can be made to get excited, but they can't be sent on battle field to fight, and the people interfering into other countries' matters can't keep their own country safe. To fulfill their own objectives and political goals, if any word has been selfishly used by Muslim leaders, other than 'Fatwa' its 'Jihad'.

Any religion in the world teaches its followers to live life on the path of peace. Islam is no exception to this rule. If some Mullahs who do not even know Islam properly start misusing any word every now and then, why should a noble religion like Islam be held at fault ? After America's attacks on Afghanistan, 'Jihad' has again become a topic of discussion. So let us try to understand what is the actual meaning of 'Jihad' in Islam and in what circumstances it becomes essential. The word 'Jihad' originated from the Arabic word 'Jahada'. Its meaning in simple language is "to try". If any person utilizes all his energy to reach God then it is his 'Jihad'. There is some delusion between 'Jihad' and 'Kital' (slaughter). Because, commonly the meaning of both is related to fighting. The difference in the meaning of the two has been made clear in the Holy Koran. Fighting purely for Allah means Jihad. If a person devotes all his physical, oral, mental, monetary strength to Allah then his effort is named as Jihad. But 'Kital' means 'killing'. Jihad is for God, on the contrary, Kital is for one's own self. When fighting for God we have no selfish intentions in our mind but when man fights for his own self then it is purely out of selfishness. He fights for his own benefit. 'Kital' is done to reach material goals, whereas 'Jihad' is for God and to reach God. The one fighting it doesn't have a handful of personal gain. In short, 'Jihad' is spiritual war whereas 'Kital' is totally of material nature. One is positive and constructive for the society; the other is negative and destructive. In the Holy Koran, war is said to be 'kital', whereas the act of finishing your own self for God is said to be 'jihad'. In 'kital' there is a hope of some personal gain, whereas in 'jihad' there is the will to sacrifice everything. There is description of 'jihad' in the Holy Koran many times, and every time it has been clearly specified that 'jihad' is meant only to reach to God. In it, no personal gain is allowed. With the intentions of establishing empires the wars that were fought under the name of Islam can never ever fall in the category of 'Jihad'.

For 'Jihad' there are some strict rules and principles. If anyone has attacked first then only 'Jihad' can be started in response. Hence, Jihad is not invasion. If anyone attacks you then the act in reply, is the first important condition of Jihad. One should not attack kids, women or old people while fighting Jihad. Jihad cannot be against Muslims, i.e. if the two parties fighting against each other are Muslims then the fight cannot be called as 'Jihad'. Saving the life of a Muslim is the moral responsibility of every Muslim so if any Muslim says, "This particular Muslim is not a true Muslim so we'll do Jihad against him" then its not permissible. Because only Allah has the right to decide whether a Muslim is a true Muslim or not. If both the fighting parties are Muslims then there is no question of Jihad. According to Islam every grown up man is fit for Jihad, women though cannot participate in Jihad. In Jihad Muslims are requested to apply all the strengths they have. This fight should engage four factors, i.e. along with your physical strength you should use your intelligence, your speaking skills and your moral courage equally. In short, all the virtues you posses should be used for Jihad. In the history of Islam, one can mainly see two examples of Jihad. That the fighter fights for God and gets no personal gain is impossible to happen. But when one does something going beyond this, he leaves a mark on human culture.

The first jihad took place on the battlefield of Badar, when the people of Mecca invaded Medina. The people that had gone with Mohammed the Prophet to Medina were termed as "Muajahir", because they had done "Hijrat" (sacrifice of your country) of Mecca. Mohammed the Prophet's helpers in Medina were known as 'Ansar'. When the people of Mecca attacked the people of Medina, it was a duty of Mohammed the Prophet to protect his 'Ansar'- helpers. Mohammed the Prophet ought to give a reply to this invasion. The Prophet fought these invading people from Mecca along with only 313 people. Where as, the invaders were more than 1000 people. The Prophet's people had only 13 swords and 10 horses, compared to the lot of weapons that the invaders' army had. The Prophet's army attacked the opposition army using the sprigs of date palms as arrows and achieved victory. This battle of Badar came to be called as 'Jihad' because the invaders from Mecca were not Muslims, they had attacked first and the people who were attacked were Muslims. To ensure that the residents of Mecca do not fall victims of this invasion, Mohammed the prophet realized that it was his duty to take some action and accordingly he did it.

The second prominent example of jihad in the history of Islam was the battle of Karbala. Then, Yajid deceived Imam Hussain and called him at Karbala and attacked him. Imam Hussain had only 72 people along with him. Among those, one was a six months old baby and another one was his 90-year-old friend named Habib Ibne Majahir. Yajid had the wicked intentions of conquering Khilafat and finishing Islam by killing Imam Hussain. Even though Yajid called himself a Muslim, he was a cunning and atheist ruler who carried the wicked wish of finishing Islam by taking aid of Islam itself. Hence Imam Hussain fought with him along with his small army of 72. All the 72 people became martyrs. They did not surrender to a scoundrel like Yajid. This jihad of Imam Hussain is a matchless and inspirational incident in human history.

Now, let us compare the so-called 'jihad' fought under the name of Afghanistan with these two examples of jihad. Can it be called as 'Jihad' after all ? The Taliban associates of Osama bin Laden attacked the towers of the World Trade Center. Attacks carried out by Osama bin Laden have taken place before this too. Bomb blast operation was carried out through Yousuf Ramji and Abdurehman in the WTC building. Bomb blasts were carried out in the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In these attacks kids, women, old and ill people were also killed. In the same America where 7 million Muslims reside, the September 11 attacks were done. Osama bin Laden motivates Taliban to fight only with the intention of bringing one Taliban rule over entire Afghanistan, because there is still some region of Afghanistan that's not under control of Taliban. And also, all the countries but three in the world oppose the Taliban government. The official government of Afghanistan is still the one of Bahanuddin Rabbani. He is a Muslim. How can suspending his government be called as 'Jihad' on Islamic background ? What Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar and Taliban are doing is purely out of selfish motives. It does not include any act that's done purely for Islam. According to Islam, THIS IS NOT JIHAD. This is Kital, no doubt about it.

Many of the world's staunch Muslim organizations have been calling this as Jihad. Behind this they have the selfish intention of uniting Muslims and milking the situation to make the most out of it to achieve their goals. Which theory of Islam would be proved by throwing off the Rabbani government and replacing it with Mullah Omar government ? How are Muslims going to be benefited by it ? Mullah Omar is the leader of the Taliban only and Osama bin Laden is a terrorist who was deported out of his country. Both of them do not have the rank of any religious post. Neither are they Imams nor are they Muftis. So obviously, they do not have any right of releasing any fatwa. Staunch leaders in other countries too, who are causing people to get excited by giving shouts of Jihad, they do not have any right to abuse Islam by calling any war they wish as Jihad. Doing it is equivalent to making fun of the religious principles and beliefs openly. Spreading violence under the name of 'Jihad' is a big injustice to Islam. Its high time that the religious scholars, Maulanas and Imams and Muftis who have the real knowledge about the concept of 'Jihad', they should come ahead and openly correct the false beliefs in general public about 'Jihad'. Many Muslim nations have differences with America. Since the last fifty years America has been doing injustice on Muslim countries. But, on once side the Muslim countries are becoming slaves of America's materialistic progress and the dollar. And on the other side they're opposing America. These fights are totally political and financial. They have no relation with religion by any means. So, will the opposition made on the basis of religion survive ? Even if they present illogical definitions of 'Jihad' which are convenient to them, its impossible to accept them.

Whole world is aware of the fact that Taliban has been reaping huge amount of money through smuggling and sale of opium. From opium, these Taliban smugglers make heroin and LSD and then by smuggling these intoxicants into America they earn big money from millionaires there. Islam strictly prohibits production or sale of any intoxicant. To avoid any criticism over this Mullah Omar banned the production of opium in Afghanistan just a few days back. But this was a clever move by him. Because there has been huge production of opium in Afghanistan in the last four years. So in global market the rates of opium had fallen. But by playing the move of banning more production Mullah Omar in a way came up with the solution and didn't let the income of Afghanistan go down. If he had not done that, the economy of Afghanistan would have collapsed. Will Islam ever give the permission of earning money through the production and sale of narcotic like opium ? Of course not! Because, using black money or money made using ways against religion for the purpose of Jihad, would be in conflict to 'Shariyat'.

Nowadays, Osama bin Laden is cunningly making suicidal terrorists attack on various places. All these dangerous activities are to establish his and Taliban's supreme rule. Because by doing that Osama can establish his empire in Afghanistan through Taliban and claim to be the 'Khalifa' of the Muslim world. Doesn't making one be ready to die also mean setting him on foot to commit suicide ? Islam not only opposes suicide but it says that it is a dreadful crime. The person who is doing things that are against Islam at every step, how can that person have the right to release a fatwa or declare Jihad ?