Greater Jihad Research Articles

JIHAD BUKAN HANYA PERANG SUCI: Telaahan Teoritik Terhadap Ayat-Ayat Jihad dalam Al-Quran

Of the 114 surahs in the Qur'an, there are 24 surahs with 164 verses that talk about jihad in various variations of words. Of the 164 verses, there are 22 verses that have the potential for acts of violence if understood literally and coupled with the dominance of qital words in these verses. The qital verses are said to have been revealed more in the Medina period, when compared to the Mecca period, which talked a lot about self-control. The dynamics of the Muslims at that time also contributed to the change in the terminology of jihad. Jihad is not only defined by war or acts of violence. The invitation of parents to polytheism, for example, as contained in chapter 29 paragraph 8 and letter 31 paragraph 15 does not have to be fought with violence. This verse even continues to recommend to continue to do good to the parents in question. In other Surahs such as Sura 45 verse 15 there is also a recommendation with wealth, not carrying weapons. This has given rise to various forms of meaning about jihad, such as greater jihad (al-jihad al-akbar)—the struggle against self and lesser jihad (al-jihad al-asghar)—fighting those who are hostile to the way of Allah. On the one hand, jihad can also be interpreted in an esoteric way—mujahadah, namely a genuine effort to draw closer to Allah, on the other hand, it can also be interpreted exoteric—the holy war.

The Posthumous Impact of Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966) on Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Global Jihadists of Al-Qa'eda

Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 43, No.2, Winter 2020 The Posthumous Impact of Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966) on Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Global Jihadists of Al-Qa‘eda Adnan A. Musallam* Introduction Islam is an Arabic word which means submission and obedience to Allah (God). More than a billion and a half persons or a fifth of mankind are Muslims. Unlike the religion of Islam, the creed and the basic set of beliefs, Islamism (Islamic fundamentalism or political Islam) is a political ideology, which insists that Islam is a way of life, which includes the religious, political, economic, social, and all other spheres of life. Islamism advocates a Shari‘ah (Islamic code) based society to replace the un-Islamic secular oriented governments and societies. On the other hand radical and revolutionary Islamism and global jihadism advocate the overthrow of infidel secular regimes by force if necessary and the establishment of Shari‘ah based Islamic societies throughout the world. Physician Ayman Al-Zawahiri, leader of Al-Qa‘eda symbolizes the radical trend in Islamism / global jihadism. The word jihad, which is derived from the trilateral Arabic root jhd (to strive, to endeavor, to exert oneself) and the verb jahada (to fight for a cause, or to wage holy war against infidels) means exertion of one’s power in Allah’s path, that is, to spread the belief in Allah and to make his word supreme over the world. Jihad by heart is concerned with combating the devil and evil things and was regarded by The Prophet Muhammad as the 1 Adnan A. Musallam earned his PhD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. His interest is Contemporary Arabic/Islamic Thought; Contemporary History of the Arab World and the Middle East; and Contemporary Arabic Literature. He is associate professor of history at Bethlehem University, Palestine and he is an active member of AlLiqa ’s Board of Trustees. 2 “greater jihad.”1 Whereas “jihad” is regarded by most Muslim jurists as a collective duty (Fard Kifaya) when the Muslim community and the faith are subject to aggression, Sayyid Qutb and Jihadist Islamists disagree. They insist that jihad is an individual obligation (Fard ‘Ayn) as well as a collective duty and the Six Pillar of Islam. The Five Pillars of Islam which are deeply held by all Muslims include 1) The Shahada 2) Daily Prayer—Salat, 3) Alms giving—Zakat 4) Fasting during Ramadan, and 5) Hajj—Pilgrimage to Mecca. Jihad the Sixth Pillar, is a central theme of ‘Abd al-Salam Faraj’s tract AlFarida al-Gha‘ibah (The Forgotten Pillar) which served as a guide to al-Jihad group in Egypt. The same group led by Faraj, Khaled Islamboli and others, carried out the assassination of President Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt in October 1981.2 The Emergence of the Islamist Sayyid Qutb The period, from 1919 to 1952 in Egypt is the formative stage of Sayyid Qutb’s life and thought and his emergence as an independent Islamist in the late 1940s. It is a period of transition from tradition to modernity. It is a colorful period full of vitality and contradictions. It is also the formative stage for contemporary thought, literature, theatre and cinema, among other things, in modern Egypt.3 Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966), a secular man of letters in 1930s and 1940s became an Islamist in the late 1940s. It was during World War II that drastic changes took place in his outlook including his focus on Qur’anic studies. The Qur’an became a refuge for his personal needs and for answers to the ills of his society. As a result, he forsook literature permanently for the Islamic cause and the Islamic way of life. Qutb’s stay in the United States, 1948–1950, reinforced his deeply held belief that Islam is man’s only valid salvation from the abyss of Godless materialism of both capitalism and communism. Qutb’s active opposition to the secular policies 1 See for example, Majid Khadduri, War and Peace in the Law of Islam, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press 1955, pp. 55-56, 60; and see Kenneth Church, “Jihad”, in Collateral Language, edited by John...

Greater Jihad of society and self: Religious and psychological implications in Pakistani Madrassa and University students

ABSTRACTDevelopment of a Greater Jihad Scale sought to record “jihad” as a Muslim spiritual struggle. Pakistani madrassa and university students responded to items that described Self Jihad as a struggle against corruptions within the self and Societal Jihad as an effort to bring social life into conformity with Islamic ideals. Greater Jihad factors correlated positively with Islamic Moral Values, Intrinsic and Extrinsic Social Religious Orientations, and Satisfaction with Life. Madrassa students scored higher on all these measures, but Greater Jihad factors more strongly predicted religious functioning in university students. In addition, Societal Jihad correlated negatively with the Extrinsic Personal Orientation, and madrassa students displayed lower Extrinsic Personal and Self-Esteem scores. These data supported descriptions of Muslim personality adjustment in terms of a subordination of the self and confirmed the greater jihad as an influential process within the Muslim psychology of religion.

Hizbullah’s Documents: From the 1985 Open Letter to the 2009 Manifesto by Joseph Alagha (review)

Reviewed by: Hizbullah’s Documents: From the 1985 Open Letter to the 2009 Manifesto by Joseph Alagha Katrin Jomaa Hizbullah’s Documents: From the 1985 Open Letter to the 2009 Manifesto by Joseph Alagha, 2011. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 222 pp., $24.95. isbn: 978-9-08555-037-2. In Hizbullah’s Documents: From the 1985 Open Letter to the 2009 Manifesto, Joseph Alagha not only presents an English translation of Hizbullah’s primary documents, but also analyses the content and the context of these documents in order to illustrate how the party developed its strategies and adjusted its identity accordingly over time. In doing so, Alagha shows how Hizbullah started as a socio-political Islamic protest movement (1978-1985), which later (1985-1991) developed into an experienced social movement, to ultimately join the Lebanese political system through parliamentary political representation (1992-present). That is to say, the main thrust of the book is Alagha’s presentation of the party’s identity as dynamic and adapting rather than being fixed. Through his analysis, Alagha shows how Hizbullah managed to keep its internal dynamics independent of its regional Syrian and Iranian alliances and more attuned to the specifics of Lebanese politics. The first chapter starts with a discussion of the main ideas presented in Hizbullah’s first open letter, which clarifies the party’s nascent political ideology and its local, regional, and international stance. One of its major tenets is the party’s perception of itself as an Islamic movement struggling to address the injustices suffered by the oppressed people of the world (whom Hizbullah regards as their ‘noble friends’), regardless of their colour, race, or religion. Their definition of ‘oppressed’ is based on the Qur’anic term mustad‘af, which defines oppression at an existential level and prescribes means to fend off oppressors. The party also advocates the establishment of an Islamic state in Lebanon, based on Iran’s Islamic Republic, but only when the Lebanese majority asks for it. Hizbullah accommodates the Qur’anic injunction ‘no compulsion in religion’ (Quran 2:256) in the political sphere, adapting it to the Lebanese multi-religious society: the party declares that it will not impose its views [End Page 369] on others, and instead emphasizes the need for the Lebanese to choose their system through mutual agreement between Muslims and Christians. Hence the party generally exercises tolerance towards Christians living in areas under its control; nonetheless, Hizbullah has avoided contact with political Maronism because of its alliance with Israel and colonial powers. Concerning Jews, Alagha explains that Hizbullah differentiates between Jews living under Muslim rule and Jews living in Israel. The party exercises general tolerance towards the former, similar to the Christians as they are considered ‘people of the book’, whereas it equates the latter with Zionism. Hizbullah describes Israel as ‘an aggressive, racist, expansionist, anti-humanist, cancerous gland instated by Western colonial powers in the Muslim heartland’ (19). The party’s anti-Zionist political ideology rejects any peace negotiations with Israel and advocates the complete liberation of Palestine. Hizbullah urges all Muslims of the world to support its cause by fighting colonization and oppression. Moreover, the party promotes pan-Islamism and regards political divisions between Sunnis and Shi’as to be part of a Western conspiracy aimed at colonizing Muslim lands. Hence, the party regards itself as an anti-imperialist resistance movement defending the rights of the Muslim ummah against its enemies epitomized by the United States, France, Israel, and the Phalangists. Hizbullah clarifies, however, that its enemy is not the West, represented by its people, rather its political administration. The documents included in the book also explain that, as a jihadi movement, Hizbullah distinguishes between the lesser military jihad and greater jihad. The latter represents an internal spiritual struggle against one’s destructive desires and is a prerequisite to practising the lesser, external jihad performed in the battlefield against the enemies of Islam. Hizbullah resorts to martyrdom operations as a form of defensive jihad performed against an oppressive and invading power when military jihad cannot be used to ward off oppressors. As a Shi‘i movement, its martyrdom model is embodied by the historical martyrdom of Imam Husayn in Karbala...

Fighting the Greater Jihad: Amadu Bamba and the founding of the Muridiyya of Senegal, 1853-1913, by Cheikh Anta Babou. Sufism and Jihad in Modern Senegal: the Murid Order, by John Glover

Fighting the Greater Jihad: Amadu Bamba and the founding of the Muridiyya of Senegal, 1853-1913, by Cheikh Anta Babou. Sufism and Jihad in Modern Senegal: the Murid Order, by John Glover

Power or Ideology

Power or Ideology

Power or Ideology

Power or Ideology

Travelers' Tales in the Tablighi Jamaat

The extensive Islamic missionary movement of Tablighi Jamaat, which originated in colonial India but is now worldwide, encourages participants to go out on small group tours to invite others, primarily nominal Muslims, to return to faithful adherence to Islamic teachings, above all the canonical prayer. At the conclusion of a tour, participants should report back, orally or in writing, their experiences to the mosque-based group (local, regional, or national) from which they set out. A sample of these reports, called karguzari, are the basis of this article. The reports reflect two discourses: one of jihad, in the sense of the nonmilitant “greater jihad” focused on self-discipline; and one of Sufism, embedded in the efforts of the charismatic group rather than in institutional tasawwuf.

God of Battles

This is a study of warfare fought in the name of God by Jews, Christians, andMuslims from biblical until modem times. The book is impressive in its scopeand in the wide range of authorities consulted; the author has gone out of hisway to be neutral and impartial. In his introduction, for example, Partner recognizesthat "less than half a century ago, unconscious of their own arroganceand inaccuracy. Westerners used to write confidently about something theycalled the Arab mind" (p. xix). The book's critical apparatus is nearly perfect:there is a glossary, a chronological table, and an index; and, in addition to ashort bibliography with the notes to each chapter, there is a brief reading list ondifferent topics. This means that students will find the book easy to use.Having said this, readers should be warned that, like most academicresearch, the general tone is dogmatically secular and cynical about spiritualmotives. Although the author criticizes the prejudices of earlier historians, hehimself speaks of Islam as "a program of conquest" and states that "Muslimsset themselves almost from the outset the task of Islamizing the whole worldby force of arms" (p. 38). Despite his remarks on the greater jihad, referring tothe inner spiritual struggle against evil, there is little recognition of Islam as aspiritual message; he says that Muhammad ''came to warn, perhaps also to conquer"(p. 42). Indeed, the striving denoted by the verb jahada is primarily spiritualor moral as in the admonition to the Prophet: "Strive hard against thedeniers of the truth and the hypocrites" (9:73). Other passages indicate that theQur'an itself is the instrument with which believers must strive against unbelievers(25:52; 66:9). As Seyyed Hossein Nasr says, concerning the concept ofjihad, "Its translation into 'holy war,' combined with the erroneous notion ofIslam prevalent in the West as the 'religion of the sword,' has helped to eclipseits inner and spiritual significance."1 All external forms of struggle, such asfighting ignorance and injustice, are incomplete without the inner struggle, andthe result of that struggle will be peace and love: "Repel evil with that whichis better. Then he between whom and thee there was enmity will become asthough he had always been a bosom friend" (41:34) ...