Islamic Jihad

It remains an undeniable fact that, out of misconception or not; the violent Islamist groups—with their unquestioned belief that they are Fighting in the cause of Allah—will continue unleashing violence and terrorism against innocent men, women and children in the years and decades to come, causing incalculable damage and destruction to human life and society. Indisputably, Muslims are now a substantial and established group in every nation in the world. With current demographic trends, they may become the dominant religious group in many Western countries by the middle of this century. If the current tide of ascendant violent radicalism continues to thrive amongst Muslims, the stability of the tolerant, civilized world may face peril in the not-too-distant future. To secure the stability of the modernist, secular-democratic and progressive future of the world, nations must work unitedly for countering the ideology and activities of these radical Islamist groups—using both military and ideological means. As violent Islamists wreak havoc around the world, more so in Islamic countries—understanding the true meaning of Jihad is the most important requirement for Muslims and non-Muslims alike in order to devise effective counter-measures against the radicals. Without understanding what Jihad truly means, it is impossible for authorities and the people in both Islamic and non-Islamic countries to devise effective remedies against the growing violent trend in the name of Jihad among their Muslim populace. This book is a small effort to give readers an idea of what Jihad truly means. It goes through the life of Prophet Muhammad as he progressively received revelation from the Islamic God as contained in the Muslim holy book, the Quran. It will examine when and under what circumstances, Allah introduced the concept of Jihad into Islamic doctrines. It will also examine—based on the Quran, authentic hadiths [Muhammad’s sayings and deeds] and original biographies of Prophet Muhammad—how the Prophet of Islam had applied the concept of Jihad as he founded the Islamic creed during the last 23 years of his life (610–632 CE). Having thus made a sense of the religious foundation and prophetic model of Jihad, it will move on to examine how this prototypical model of Jihad was perpetuated by Muslims through the ages of Islamic domination. It is worth noting beforehand that, in putting Allah’s doctrine of Jihad into practice at the birth of Islam, Prophet Muhammad had established three major models of Jihadi action: 1. Use of violence for the propagation of Islam, 2. Islamic imperialism 3. Islamic slavery The historical accounts of these legacies of Jihad will be discussed in separate chapters in this book.