Islam: Religion, History, and Civilization by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Author:Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Language: eng
Format: mobi, pdf
ISBN: 9780060507145
Publisher: HarperOne
Published: 2001-01-02T10:00:00+00:00

The Meaning of Exertion in the Path of God: Jihd

In the West, Islam is often associated with holy war, despite the fact that the Crusades were ordered by the Cluny monks and the pope, not a Muslim ruler or religious authority. This deeply ingrained distortion of the image of Islam going back to these and other events has caused the Arabic term jihd to be translated as “holy war,” but it means simply “exertion in the path of God.” Recent constant reference to this term by both extremist Muslims and Western media has caused its authentic meaning to become totally eclipsed. Of course, one meaning of jihd is to struggle to protect Islam and its borders, but the term has much a wider usage and meaning for Muslims.

First, every religious act, such as performing the alh regularly day in and day out for a whole lifetime or fasting for fourteen hours in a hot climate, requires jihd; in fact, the whole of life may be said to be a constant jihd between our carnal and passionate soul and the demands of the immortal spirit within us. It was in reference to this profounder meaning of jihd that the Prophet said to his companions after a major battle in which the very existence of the early Islamic community was at stake, “Verily ye have returned from the lesser jihd to the greater jihd.” And when one of the companions asked what the greater jihd was, he answered, “to battle against your passionate souls (nafs).” Islam, therefore, sees jihd as vigilance against all that distracts us from God and exertion to do His Will within ourselves as well as preserving and reestablishing the order and harmony that He has willed for Islamic society and the world about us.

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