Jihad, Fundamentalist Islam, and the West

Dear Blue Abaya readers, the following is a guest post written by Alex Bint Eisa. I recommend her article especially for the non-Muslim readers to learn a thing or two about Jihad that you might not have known before.
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"Jihad, Fundamentalist Islam, and the West"

Much in the same way that radicals have hijacked the public persona of Islam throughout the West, Western media has failed to maintain objectivity in its portrayal of Islam. The interpretation of the term 'Jihad' in contemporary Islam is one of the most common misconceptions, as well as points of debate, inside and outside the Arab world.

The different types of Jihad, its interpretations and the role it plays in the contemporary understanding of Islam are subjects of constant debate in the post- 9/11 globalized world. Even more so after the fundamentalist Islamic groups skyrocketed to international stardom. Jihad is the daily struggle to do what is halal and to avoid what is haraam. The Jihads in Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq, Chechnya, and Kashmir have provided a vivid and uniting consciousness for Muslims around the world.

When translated literally from Arabic, Jihad means effort or struggle.

What exactly Muslims are struggling against, however, depends on the type of Jihad one is referring to.  There are technically four types Jihad: of the heart, the tongue, the hand, and the sword.

Jihad is often more simply categorized as either greater or lesser, although there is some debate as to whether or not war/armed battle constitutes the lesser Jihad according to the Prophet’s teachings.

Greater Jihad, Jihad of the heart, is the daily struggle against ones evil desires, which the devil uses in order to tempt man.  Jihad of the tongue is the struggle to proselytize the word of God (Allah) to those who do not know it and bring to them knowledge of the one true faith, Islam.  Directly related to Jihad of the heart is that of the hand, or the compulsion to fulfill ones duties within society and especially to ones family. Lastly, Jihad of the sword, lesser Jihad, involves the defense of a Muslim’s faith and person if being attacked.

The term “holy war” when referring to Jihad of the sword dates back to the days of Saladin and the liberation of the Holy Land from the infidels.  It is important to keep the holy wars within their 11th to 13th century context.

When Catholic Pope Urban II called for Christians to aid in defending the Byzantine Empire from the Turkish invasion, Europe was engulfed by a series of endless territorial battles. The Pope saw the Crusades as an opportunity to unite Christians against a common enemy as well as satisfy the seemingly endless European lust for battle. After the arrival of the French and Italian Crusaders to Constantinople, they pledged to restore territories to the Byzantine Empire that had been seized by the Turks, which would eventually lead to the first siege of Jerusalem. As was the practice of the times, the Christian Crusaders pillaged the town, murdering its Jewish and Muslim civilian inhabitants, destroying their places of worship and eventually, the city itself.

The reinterpretations of Islam by ideological leaders like Hassan Al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in early 20th century Egypt, Mawlana Mawdudi created the foundation upon which modern Islamic fundamentalists have based their interpretations of Islam and therefore the familiar clamoring for Jihad.

The resurgence of powerful Islamic ideological and political societies, the eventual demise of Western Colonialism in the region along with the independence of countries like Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Pakistan has opened up the debate over the implementation of Shariah law. Newly liberated colonies with Muslim-majority populations adopted constitutions that were similar to those of their ex-colonizers. The failure to implement Shariah law in newly established majority-Muslim countries helped drive a new wave of Islamic fundamentalism, which had been brewing under the West’s radar until the Iranian Revolution in the 1970s.

Suddenly the West became very aware of a seemingly backwards revolution where the people of a country chose to fight against modernization instead of for it. Within the next decade, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the American support of any and all opposing forces created a figurative perfect storm.  The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan gave the fundamentalists a very real Jihad to fight, the first of such in centuries.

In the latter half of the twentieth century, Jihad became the struggle to defend Islam and the umma, or community of Islamic faithful, against the West’s perceived cultural imperialism. With the perceived corruption of Islamic societies throughout the Arabic world and beyond, fundamentalist leaders are calling for a return to a purer and more authentic Islam, similar to that of the Prophet Mohammed.

The ability to apply itself within evolving social contexts is what allows Islam to remain relevant in modern times. The struggle against those of our internal longings that are haraam is the greatest of Jihads. However the vast majority of people in the West have no idea that Jihad constitutes anything beyond a war against the freedoms of secular societies. Today Muslims living in the West face many of the same challenges that other minority groups, long since assimilated into mainstream society, once faced in the past."

Alex Bint Eisa is a freelance writer currently based in Doha, Qatar. She is the first Cuban-American student at the University of Qatar's Gulf Studies Program.

You can contact her at alexbinteisa@gmail.com

Works Cited:
Amir, Ali. "Jihad Explained." The Deen Show ~ It's a Way of Life. Web. 04 Dec. 2010. <http://thedeenshow.com/nonmuslims.php?id=166>.
Esposito, John L. . Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002. Print.
Gould, Mark. "Understanding Jihad." Hoover Institution. 1 Feb. 2005. Web. 03 Dec. 2010. <http://www.hoover.org/publications/policy-review/article/6964>.
Halsall, Paul. "Medieval Sourcebook: Urban II: Speech at Council of Clermont, 1095, According to Fulcherof Chartres." FORDHAM.EDU. Fordham University, Dec. 1997. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2-5vers.html#Fulcher>.
Ibrahim, I. A. A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam. New Delhi: Goodword, 1997. Print.
Lapidus, Ira M. A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. Print.
Price, Nelson L. "Jihad: What Is It?" Welcome. Web. 04 Dec. 2010. <http://www.nelsonprice.com/index.php/?p=48>.
Yusufali, Abdullah, and A. A. Razwy. The Qurʼan: Translation. Elmhurst, NY: Tahrike Tarsile Qurʼan, 2000. Print.

U.S. Embassy Riyadh aka Bureau of Ignorance

The U.S embassy in Riyadh recently rejected my husbands visa application after having him waiting for over a YEAR for it to be processed. That's longer than any of the developing countries like say Zimbabwe would take to process any kind of applications. So now they finally decided to inform him it has been denied because they obviously suspect him of something sneaky. Ridiculous!!!

We've wanted to travel to Hawaii for a long time and of course my husband wants to visit his dear friends there so last year he decided to apply for the visa, that was around August. After having lived in the States for 15 years, over half of his life, it feels like a second home to him and we were really looking forward to flying over last year.
After my husband applied, the embassy did not reply his emails and enquiries about the application process. They just said he had to wait. Every once in a while he would ask about it but nothing happened. We had to change our travel plans and decided to postpone our trip.
Months went by with no word from them. In the meanwhile my husband would obtain a Shengen visa two times with no difficulties.

Then this October they suddenly contacted him wanting to have an interview. Finally we thought some progress and the news article seemed promising, stating "It now only takes nine days to get an interview appointment for a visa at the US Embassy in Riyadh, and a maximum of four weeks to receive the visa afterward". They asked to see my husbands previous passport, which had visit visas to the States, latest just two years back actually.

He arrived for his interview and was then was made to wait in the embassy for three hours for his interview which was conducted by some senior terrorist investigator visa official. They were particularly interested in what my husband had been doing working as a volunteer for an Islamic organization over 10 years ago when he was a teenager. Seriously, first of all this is a reputable organization and it was so long ago, suddenly it is an issue? Where is the logic? Oh, yes because it's an Islamic organization. But has he ever commited any crimes or violations or acted in any way suspicious?? Why did it take over a year to reach this decision? How come he was issued visas many times before? Since when did volunteer work and doing something good become a crime? Oh yes-of course when it's done for an Islamic cause.
This is so maddening and ridiculous, they should be ashamed for this stupidity! Clearly they suspect my husband is involved in something fishy in other words terrorism. What a great example yet again of the Great American Ignorance and prejudices.

Some goon representative from the Ignorance Bureau even said in the article "the US Embassy is delighted at the growing number of visa applications by Saudis" and they have "strong commitment to encourage Saudis to go to the US for education, business and other purposes" 
Ya right, what a JOKE!

Reverend Jones-the Christian terrorist and the media

Religious extremists and intolerance are not just limited to the Middle East. Christian fundamentalism can be equally as hateful and destructive. Look at Pastor Terry Jones. What was his agenda really? To actually burn the Qurans or perhaps just to get some money and fame? I'm 100% sure it was the latter. I didn't want to write about this earlier with all the hype he caused going on in the media and add to it even a bit.

In a way he is actually a clever man, he used the media for his personal benefit at a time islamophobia is raging like an epidemic in the US. Before his magnificent idea to burn the books life wasn't that great for Mr Jones. He had a sorry 50 followers (thank God), he had been kicked out of Germany a disgraced preacher following accusations of emotional, spiritual and economic abuse of his followers, his hate book didn't sell, and he happened to be in deep depts too.
Read more on his sect in Germany:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/09/quran-burning-terry-jones-sect-germany

He saw the potential of growing fear for Islam and decided to manipulate the media to his own advantage.

And what did the western media do? Go all crazy in reporting on this nobody. Even reporting LIVE from his church! I mean seriously, why did the media even bother? Because they too want to profit and with the "ground zero" mosque debate and 9/11 anniversary, what better headlines for them to indulge in!
The western media is feeding the terrorists, the Christian terrorists like mr Jones. Even president Obama disappointed by going along in his game and giving this insignificant hater some attention-just what Jones wanted and needed.

Now lets look at the definition of terrorism and its psychological aspects:
Terrorism is defined as political violence in an asymmetrical conflict that is designed to induce terror and psychic fear (sometimes indiscriminate) through the violent victimization and destruction of noncombatant targets (sometimes iconic symbols). Such acts are meant to send a message from an illicit clandestine organization. The purpose of terrorism is to exploit the media in order to achieve maximum attainable publicity as an amplifying force multiplier in order to influence the targeted audience(s) in order to reach short- and midterm political goals and/or desired long-term end states."

The western media can be thanked for giving this terrorist maximum attainable publicity and allowing him thus to reach his goals. It's a shame on them for making such a little indifferent man top news for so many days. SHAME on them! He should not have made any headlines!

According to the reverend himself who btw never read the Quran or talked to a muslim before, his goal was to show the world how the muslims ie terrorists would (over)react. He wanted to send a message! I wonder what his noble message was. If anything it was a message of hate, intolerance and ignorance. Whatever his original message would have been, in reality it would've never reach the people he targeted unaltered.

First of all, if the foolish western media would have done the right, responsible thing and left the reverend to his pathetic existence, none of this madness would have happened.

Take those muslims in Afghanistan who got outraged and totally overreacted on the Quran burning. How did they actually find out and why was their reaction so blown out of proportion?
Media in places like Afghanistan is of course, nothing like media in the west. People don't have tv's or internet let alone access to channels like cnn or bbc. Otherwise they would have learned the truth of the matter, that about 90% of americans are against what Jones represents and entirely condemn his actions.
What ultimately reaches these uneducated poverty stricken people is mostly hearsay, not what we know, not what the reverends egoistic heroic message to them was.
These hypersensitive muslims probably heard about an american christian religious leader threatening to burn Qurans. They most likely heard it at the neighborhood mosque, from the imam they trust. The imam could possibly have a clue of the true matters, but what is most important here is that the message he delivers to them is of hatred and intolerance. So the original message becomes distorted and exaggerated.

Before reverend Jones or any other westerner goes ahead and rolls their eyes condmening these people and says "we told you so" we have to put things into context. These radically reacting muslims might have no education at all, they might be illiterate, their knowledge of the west is from anti-western extremists they look up to at their mosques, they have no access to other media outlets and their whole lives have been fed crap about the big bad west and it being the source of all their problems. That is their reality and it sheds a whole different light on the matter.
I think we as educated human beings should acknowledge this, not necessarily accept it, but at least understand the backrounds that lead to this behavior.

Maybe mr Jones could fly out to Afghanistan himself and see what goes on there and deliver his message while at it!