On Islam and Jihad

On Islam and Jihad At the very beginning of the Quran, the first invocation reads: “In the name of God, the most Merciful, the most Beneficent.” Throughout the Quran, this verse is repeated for no less than 114 times. Even one of God’s names is As-Salam (Peace). Moreover, the Quran states that the Prophet of Islam was sent to the world as a mercy to mankind. (21:107) The word ‘jihad’ has nowhere been used in the Quran to mean war in the sense of launching an offensive. It is used rather to mean ‘struggle.’ The action most consistently called for in the Quran is the exercise of patience. Yet today, the ‘Muslim Mujahideen’ under unfavourable conditions have equated “God is Great” with “War is Great.” In the light of on-going conflict, we must ask why so great a contradiction has arisen between the principles of Islam and the practices of Muslims. At least one root-cause may be traced to historical exigency. Since time immemorial, military commanders have been accorded positions of great eminence in the annals of history. It is a universal phenomenon that the hero is idolized even in peace time and becomes a model for the people. It is this placing of heroism in the militaristic context which has been the greatest underlying factor in the undue stress laid on war in the latter phase of Islam’s history. With the automatic accord in Muslim society of a place of honour and importance to the heroes of the battlefield, annalists’ subsequent compilations of Islamic history have tended to read like an uninterrupted series of wars and conquests. These early chronicles having set the example, subsequent writings on Islamic history have followed the same pattern