What Jihad Questions Do Muslims Ask?

Abstract

Using digital humanities tools and methods, we extract, classify, and analyze 1,006 jihad fatwas from a corpus of 164,000 online fatwas. We use the questions and page hits to rank clusters of fatwas in order to discover what jihad questions Muslims ask, what jihad issues interest Muslims the most, and what the targets of jihad may be. We focus more on the questions than the answers, since it is the questions that give us a window into what may be called the "Muslim collective mind." The results show that jihad questions are interwoven with several key topics, from performance of prayers to expiation for homosexuality. While the Prophet Muhammad's military expeditions were the most asked about and most viewed category, since they provide a model of what jihad is, the second most important category was concubinage. When there was a specific target, Jews were found in 73% of the questions.