Luqman Institute of Education and Development

Jihad, Qital and Terrorism what's the difference?

The pure term Jihad has become infested by a distort ideology and has become common currency in the lingua franka of those politically minded criminals who justify acts of mass murder and carnage in the name of Islam.

Violence, Terrorism and Brutality are their chosen path of engagement with not only non Muslims, but also with Muslims, who may not share their worldview.

Jihad, which in its essence has very positive connotations and other Qur'anic terminologies are extensively used by these people to indoctrinate and gain support from the wider impressionable and less knowledgeable Muslims, who happen to love their religion and their co-religionists.

September the eleventh, the Bali bombers, Greek tourist bombers in Cairo not to mention the 7/7 perpetrators in London have finally succeeded in persuading the mass media to take up the term of 'Jihad' without exploring the possibility of its misuse or abuse. In other words the media have in turn failed to scrutinise the term Jihad, which has become, unfortunately, associated with terrorism in recent times.

It is high point that words that truly describe acts of violence and terror be introduced to public discourse. Two such words found in the Qur'an are 'Shaar' (wickedness) and 'Fasaad' (mischief or mayhem). Reciprocally the pure word Jihad needs to be restored to its original sense and pure meaning.

Whether terrorism fits these two terms, in regards to either their meanings, layout within the Qur'anic verse and the context in which the verses are used, will be the subject of deeper exploration in forth coming writings.

The link below aims to give some indicators as the true sense of the meaning of Jihad in the Qur'an by exploring other terms used in the Qur'an, such as Qital (killing) and concurrently attempts to place current day terrorism into sharp perspective.

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