Muslim group tackles confusion over the meaning of Jihad
A campaign to disassociate ‘Jihad’ with terrorism is coming to Australia.
Muslim group the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Chicago chapter is to run bus ads “to reclaim Jihad from the Muslim and anti-Muslim extremists” in Sydney and Melbourne, the Herald Sun reported today.
The campaign, which centres on the website myjihad.org, aims to explain the real meaning of Jihad – personal struggle – and distance the word from links to extremism. It is also to run in London, Manchester and Toronto.
The campaign has just launched in the US, and its Twitter hashtag was “hijacked by Islamophobes”, the group posted on its Facebook page today.
I can see absolutely no way that this could go wrong. At all.
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Good luck to them. Because of al-Qaeda and the Taliban who have damaged “brand” Islam, it will take many decades before people will ever get back to the same level of trust we had before 9/11.
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Smart strategy, pity about the creative.
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Good on ’em. It’s interesting we keep using that word when we already have a perfectly good English word for the concept of ‘holy war’ : Crusade
I’m not sure emphasising ‘My Struggle’ is a good idea, though. Especially not if they have a German language version …
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Perhaps the same should be done for “crusade”…. seems there is a bit too much of that going on in christian fundamentalist circles
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Mac the reason we hear the word ‘jihad’ so often is becuase that is what Islamic jihadis call themselves. it is also a different sort of ‘holy war’ than the Crusades which were fought to reclaim lands stolen from Christians by Muslim invasions.
(not that i would at all defend the mass killings conducted by the crusaders on their way to ME).
Wonder how CAIR will address these hadith – laws garnered from the conduct of Mohammed – , if at all, via the billboards:
Hadith 1:13– “I have been ordered by Allah to fight with people till they bear testimony to the fact that there is no God but Allah.”
Hadith 1.24 “Narrated Ibn `Umar: Allah’s Apostle said: “I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah’s Apostle, and offer the prayers”
Hadith 1.25″Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle was asked, “What is the best
deed?” He replied, “To believe in Allah and His Apostle (Muhammad). The
questioner then asked, “What is the next (in goodness)? He replied, “To participate in Jihad (religious fighting) in Allah’s Cause.”
Hadith 19:4294 “Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war.”
Hadith 1:35 “The person who participates in Allah’s cause (namely, in battle). . will
be recompensed by Allah either with reward or booty or will be admitted to Paradise.”
Hadith 9:4 “Wherever you find infidels kill them; for whoever kills them shall have reward on the Day of Resurrection.”
Hadith 9:50, 57 “No Umma (a member of Muslim community) should be killed for killing a Kafir (an infidel). . Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him.”
Sahih Muslim 4363: “You (the Jews) should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle and I wish to expel you from this land (Arabia)
Sahih Muslim 4366 Narrated by Umar ibn al-Khattab. Umar heard the Messenger of
Allah (peace be upon him) say: I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslims
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Sprezzatura, as nice as it is to try and find moral equivalence between “crusaders” and jihadists, you really can’t. How many countries are violently impacted these days by jihadism and how many are violently impacted by crusading Christian fundamentalists. Not much balance there.
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