Jihad: What Everyone Needs to Know
What Everyone Needs to Know ®
Published on 3. February 2022
240 pages
978-0-19-064734-6 (ISBN)
Description
The word "jihad" is everywhere in the global media. It generally appears in the context of violence waged against the West by militants in or from Muslim-majority societies. This usage overwhelmingly colors popular discourse about Islam and Muslims and it has resulted in highly simplistic, distorted, and ahistorical understandings of the concept of jihad. For most Muslims, jihad refers to the continuous human struggle to promote and implement what is morally good and noble in all walks of life, as well as to resist and prevent what is morally wrong and unjust. This book addresses the great need for a discussion of jihad that explores its various dimensions without fear-mongering or sensationalism. Here it is examined from multiple perspectives: scriptural, theological, moral and ethical, legal and socio-political. Asma Afsaruddin looks at the key questions about jihad and provides concise yet thorough answers. Jihad: What Everyone Needs to Know? provides a historically-grounded, scholarly yet accessible treatment of the meanings of jihad from the formative period of Islam until the contemporary period.
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Person
Asma Afsaruddin is Professor of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. She is the author and editor of eight books, including Contemporary Issues in Islam (2015); the award-winning Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought (2013); and The First Muslims: History and Memory (2008). She was named a Carnegie Scholar in 2005 and inducted into the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars in 2019.
Content
- Cover
- Jihad
- Copyright
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Jihad in the Quran and Commentary Literature
- What is the basic meaning of jihad?
- How often does the word "jihad" occur in the Quran?
- Does the Quran refer to different forms of jihad?
- Does the Quran refer to the spiritual jihad?
- What does jihad mean in the Meccan period?
- Did jihad have a military meaning in the Meccan period?
- What does jihad mean in the Medinan period?
- Is only defensive fighting allowed in the Quran?
- Is jihad in the Quran holy war?
- Can Muslims continue to fight when the enemy stops fighting and seeks peace?
- Are the peaceful verses in the Quran abrogated by the "sword verse?"
- Are Christians and Jews singled out for fighting in the Quran?
- Does the Quran tell Muslims not to be friends with Jews and Christians?
- Does the Quran support offensive military activity to spread Islam?
- Is the military jihad a permanent religious obligation in the Quran?
- What motivated the military conquests that took place after the death of Muhammad?
- What does the Quran say about martyrdom?
- Is the religious status of a military martyr higher than that of other Muslims?
- Is suicide permitted in the Quran?
- Is terrorism condoned in the Quran?
- 2 Jihad in the Hadith Literature
- What does "jihad" mean in the hadith literature?
- Do hadiths describe how a military jihad should be carried out?
- How should we understand the hadith that commands Muslims to fight non-?Muslims until they accept Islam?
- What does the hadith literature say about martyrdom?
- How can one know for sure that someone has attained martyrdom?
- Are there certain hadiths that appear to contradict the Quran on martyrdom?
- Is there a hadith that promises the reward of seventy-?two virgins to battlefield martyrs?
- Does the hadith literature encourage seeking martyrdom?
- Are there distinctly Shii views on martyrdom?
- What does the hadith literature say about suicide and terrorism?
- What are the greater and lesser jihads?
- Do standard collections list hadiths that describe nonmilitary aspects of jihad?
- 3 Jihad in the Legal Literature
- How did Muslim jurists understand jihad?
- How is war declared and by whom according to jurists?
- Can civilians ever be targeted during a military attack?
- How did jurists view martyrdom?
- How are prisoners of war to be treated?
- Can Muslims fight under corrupt rulers?
- Did jurists allow offensive military jihad?
- Did jurists consider the military jihad to be holy war?
- Can women take part in the military jihad?
- Can Jews, Christians, and other non-?Muslims take part in the military jihad?
- Why did the medieval jurists divide the world into the Abode of Islam and Abode of War?
- Does the division of the world into the Abode of Islam and Abode of War still apply in the modern period?
- Did jurists permit suicide attacks?
- What are the views of jurists on terrorism?
- 4 Jihad in Morally Edifying, Ethical, and Mystical Literature
- What does jihad mean in the daily life of the average believer?
- Is the military jihad deemed to be the highest form of human struggle?
- What is the greater struggle?
- Why do some people resist the idea that the spiritual jihad is a genuine part of jihad?
- Is the spiritual struggle carried out mainly by mystics?
- Are there references to nonmilitary forms of jihad in early Islamic writings?
- How do Muslim mystics practice the internal, greater jihad?
- Did jurists refer to the spiritual jihad in their writings?
- 5 Jihad as Conceived by Modern Political Revolutionaries and Militants
- How do modern militants in the Islamic world understand jihad?
- Which early thinkers influenced modern political revolutionaries and militants?
- Who are other influential sources for modern militant groups?
- What is the Jahiliyya?
- How do militant Islamists justify their violent attacks on other Muslims and non-?Muslims?
- Have Shii thinkers called for political revolution as a form of jihad in the twentieth century?
- What were Usama bin Laden's views on jihad?
- What are "martyrdom operations" and when did they start?
- How do militant Islamists justify suicide attacks?
- How does ISIS justify its violent actions as jihad?
- Where are the "moderate" Muslims and why do they not denounce extremism?
- 6 Jihad in the Thought of Modern and Contemporary Mainstream Scholars
- How do modern Muslim scholars understand the military jihad?
- What do modern Muslim scholars say about abrogation in the Quran?
- Are there Muslim scholars who have challenged the views of Islamist militants?
- Are there Muslim scholars who have denounced the views of Usama bin Laden and his followers after the September 11 attacks?
- Are there Muslim scholars speaking out against suicide bombings?
- Why don't Muslim scholars collectively denounce terrorism?
- Have Muslim scholars denounced ISIS and its militant views?
- What are the main differences between militants and mainstream scholars of Islam today on the issue of violence?
- 7 Jihad as Nonviolent Struggle and Peacemaking
- Is there pacifism in Islam?
- Can jihad be understood as nonviolent struggle and peacemaking?
- Which Muslim thinkers understand jihad as nonviolent struggle?
- What caused the modern turn toward thinking of jihad as nonviolent struggle?
- Is there a theological basis in Islam for promoting peace?
- Do Muslim peace activists reject the military jihad?
- 8 Jihad and Its Perceptions in the West
- Is there a Western equivalent of the military jihad?
- Is there an Islamic influence on the development of modern international law?
- Is classical Islamic international law compatible with modern international law?
- Are there modern Muslim critics of the concepts of the Abodes of War and Peace?
- How does the Western media portray jihad?
- Does the American media cover violent acts carried out by Muslims differently than those carried out by non-?Muslims?
- How does Hollywood portray jihad and Muslims?
- How does the internet affect public perceptions of jihad in the West?
- Are there Western militants who are influenced by Islamophobic rhetoric on jihad?
- How can one challenge anti-?Islamic discourses that distort the meanings of jihad?
- Can educational institutions play a role in providing balanced information about jihad?
- Glossary: Important Names, Places, Events, and Terms
- Bibliography
- Index
