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Jihad- What It Means (Q&A)

1,045 views · Published 3 April 2013 · 9:04 · Indexed 21 October 2026

Channel: RighteousLiving40 · 2013 · News & Politics

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JIHAD
INDIA O'NEILL: TIME Magazine world editor Bobby Ghosh famously stated that Osama Bin Laden's greatest legacy was redefining the word 'Jihad' from an internal struggle against vice to an external struggle against forces that would threaten the faith which might involve taking up arms. How can Muslims reclaim the original definition of Jihad and how can the perception of Islam amongst Muslims and non-Muslims alike be returned to the focus on ethics, love and peace? 
MOHAMAD ABDALLA: Thank you so much for that very important question. Yes, it is true, unfortunately, that Juhud or the word 'Jihad' has been misunderstood, misinterpreted and, indeed, hijacked for various ulterior motives, political reasons. The etymology of the word 'jihad' is jihad, which means to strive and to struggle and, as you have rightly mentioned, one of the greatest forms of jihad or struggle is the inward struggle to reform one's own self, to refine one's own self so that a person is morally and ethically enhanced, if you like. Unfortunately, the word 'jihad' has been misused by people like Osama Bin Laden, where it implied in their mind a war against infidels or non-believers and, incidentally they didn't have to be non-Muslims but also Muslims were a casualty of this misinterpretation. Jihad has many meanings in Islam, one of which is to strive and struggle. As I said, a woman giving birth for instance is in a form of jihad, she's in a form of struggle. I am standing here in front of you trying to explain, this is a form of jihad, without guns and swords waging. So it's a struggle. However, I think there is a tragedy in the way Islam is being taught in institutions, in schools and so on and as Muslims we need to rethink the way we are teaching Islam. For the last century or so, Islam has been taught in a very puritanical way, Islam has been taught in a very legalistic way and we have forgotten a tremendous wealth of spiritual heritage, a mystical tradition that Islam has left us and, therefore, I think it is upon the leaders and the teachers to begin teaching their communities, the Islamic communities, about that wonderful mystical, spiritual heritage that is intended to reform the inward of a human being, and not only the external observances.
MOHAMAD ABDALLA: There are many Hadees. Well, not 72 actually. It doesn't. There are various traditions and that is a problem in western discourse. Not looking at the context when we talk about Islam or Islamic issues. The idea that a person can commit suicide and therefore go to heaven is, in itself, a self-contradiction because Islam prohibits suicide. So a person who actually commits suicide, according to the majority of scholars, the unanimous opinion of scholars, this is a person who has committed an act - a criminal act for which he is not entitled to heaven. It is a person - this is a person who will be punished and, under Islamic law, it is a crime against humanity. And so the idea that a person kills innocent people and, therefore, achieves the mercy of God in the manifestation of going to heaven is a fallacy. It is a delusion in the minds of these people.
TONY JONES: But the teachers - the teachers that you say are perverting the faith, they're not vulnerable. They're just manipulating these people.
MOHAMAD ABDALLA: Absolutely, yes. 100 per cent. 100 per cent. They are manipulators. They take the text out of context. You have to look at the text and the context and to use the term Islamic terrorism or extremism is a self-contradiction. There are Muslim extremists definitely. There are Muslim terrorists definitely but Islam as a faith itself is 100% against any form of extremism, even sexual extremism. That's why in Islam sexuality is recognised. It's an innate nature of human beings that must be expressed in a lawful way but it should be controlled otherwise any other form of manifestation can lead to extremism.

MOHAMAD ABDALLA: Absolutely. I think the Muslim community has, in a number of ways, also failed to come out openly and condemn acts of terrorism. Yes, there has been condemnation but I think there could be more of it. The silent majority needs to come out and we began to see this happening recently in Australia. I think you have to understand also the community was under shock.

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