Jihad And Anti-Semitic Paranoia

Contrary to Maududi and Qutb’s views, Atkinson (2002) held the view that the Arabic word jihad appears in chapter 29 verse 69 of the Qur’an and the word strive has been used in its translation into English. The word jihad is a relatively short word but it has huge implications within Islamic society as a whole and especially for the daily life of the individual Muslim. Jihad. Jihad, as ordained by Islam, does not consist of killing and being killed but in striving hard to win the pleasure of Allah. Individually and collectively, jihad is essential for the advancement of the souls. The primary objectives of the wars of Islam were to establish freedom of belief and worship and to fight in defence of hounor and freedom against unprovoked attacks

The Islamic threat is made to seem disproportionately fearsome, lending support to the thesis (which is an interesting parallel to anti-Semitic paranoia) that there is a worldwide conspiracy behind every explosion (Edward 2016). Similar effort is made in Stephen Schwartz’s The Two Faces of Islam: the House of Saud from Tradition to Terror; it is a search for “demons” and a call to slay “dragons”, which only exist in the fantasy of the author. He says:

There have always been two Islam, which have coexisted uneasily through the centuries. One is the mainstream, traditional Islam practiced by the vast majority of Muslims and characterized, for the most part, by moderation and tolerance toward other monotheistic religions; the other an extremist and fascist-like creed that has been preaching and often practicing violence in the name of religion (Schwartz

It does not call for a “holy war” against the “infidels”. The term “holy war”, which in Arabic would meanHarb al-Muqaddasah, practically does not exist in the vocabulary of the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Similarly, peace (amn, salam, sulh) in the Islamic Tradition is not an antonym of war. It stands for a culture of peace, tolerance, mutual understanding and an ongoing systematic cultural and civilizational discourse and dialogue. Addressing the whole of humanity as a single Ummah the Qur’an invites all humans to cultivate an attitude of peace(Ahmed 2015). Qur’an says: “And Allah calls to the abode of peace, and leads whom He will to a straight path” (Qur’an, 10:25). The word peace in its different forms appears in around one hundred and thirty-eight places in the Qur’an(Ahmed 2015). In the same vein Badawi, (2015) adds, the Qur’anic Arabic Term Jihad has been commonly mistranslated as “Holy War”. The Qur’an was revealed in Arabic, not in English. The Arabic equivalent of the English expression “Holy War” is “al-Harbal-Muqaddasah”, an expression that is not found anywhere in the Qur’an or in the authentic sayings of the Prophet of Islam. Even when the Qur’an speaks about defensive war, it never glorifies it or calls it “Holy”; rather, it is described as something, which is inherently hated. Qur’an says:“fighting is ordained for you, though it is