The last two decades have seen much use of and multiple references
to the expression "Jihad in Islam", and for the most part, in its
meaning of extremism and "holy war." The reason for this is that
some of Islam's political movements, which originally broke away
from the Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt and elsewhere, used the term
as a title, as a name of the organizations and as a slogan for
ideological and practical activities. In this sense, for them Jihad
was perceived as a strategy.
In the middle of the seventies, groups, active in Egypt, included
Al-Hijra W'al-Takfeer,1 the Jihad,2 and a group that was set up and
led by Salah Saraya.3 In the second half of the seventies, Usrat
Al-Jihad4 came on the Israeli Arab scene, while at the same time
the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement5 was founded in the
territories.
This trend of Jihad continued to strengthen in the Islamic Movement
under the influence of the Iranian Revolution, which for its part
reinforced the concept of the Islamic Jihad in the sense of
"extremism", both in ideology and in practice. The tendency was
accentuated under the influence of the social, political and
economic situation present in the region.
What does Jihad mean?
In the literal sense of the expression, its primary significance is
investing effort (in the sense of energy) in order to achieve a
particular aim, or to endure an.effort (in the sense of a
difficulty) caused by carrying out an action or putting a message
into practice. This expression is referred to in the Koran and the
Hadith in two senses: the more general meaning of Jihad, which is
its mental, subjective and moral one, is the ability to suffer and
endure harm and hardships (caused by the foe), to struggle with
mental cravings and passing temptations, to behave virtuously
(morally) in Islamic terms, to follow the commandments of Allah and
his prophets, and to preach (which we shall call Da'wa below) in
order to further the cause of Allah and Islam, the religion of
Allah. The Prophet (Messenger) called this Jihad "the Greater
Jihad" (AI-Jihad AI-Akbar) in order to stress its significance and
how difficult it is.
The second is the material meaning which is a willingness to make
financial and mental sacrifices in order to further the cause of
Allah and his religion on this earth, to heed God and His Prophet,
in the sense of fighting and war, and this the Prophet called "The
Lesser Jihad" (ai-Jihad ai-Asghar).
The sense of the expression has developed over time and it has
acquired two meanings in Islamic thought: the original religious
meaning on the one hand and the politico-historic meaning on the
other hand.
The meaning of Jihad in religious texts
While Muslim religious philosophers are in complete agreement about
the development in the meaning of Jihad, as described above in the
religious texts, they fail to consider the historical context of
time and location so decisive to the meaning of the text.
As-Sayeed 'Abdl Hafiz 'Abd Rabu, one of the leading contemporary
philosophers of AI-Azhar, points out that verses of the Koran make
a distinction between the use of the expression Jihad in the sense
of fighting, and its wider and more comprehensive use, but he too
like many other thinkers, makes no effort to bring out the
relationship between the expression Jihad in one of its two
meanings and the historical context of the verses.6
, Abd Rabu notes that the four main schools in Islam and most of
those learned in Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh) have used Jihad in
its sense of fighting, something which has led to the suppression
of Jihad in its moral, subjective and epistemological senses, but
he emphasizes that the jurisprudential (Fiqhi) meaning of Jihad,
i.e (fighting), is dictated by the constraints and the conditions
confronting Muslims. He adds that it is unacceptable to confuse
this meaning of Jihad with its use to achieve forcible conversion
to Islam, thereby imposing the religion by compulsion. If that is
the case, in the opinion of this commentator, the meaning of Jihad,
first and foremost, is making an effort and struggling peacefully,
and it is this which takes priority.
Al-Sayyed Sabak, the author of the book The Jurisprudence of the
Sunna (Fiqh AI-Sunaf refers to two stages in the development of the
meaning of Jihad and stresses this by proof taken from Koran and
Hadith texts. Initially, Allah commanded his Prophet to engage in
Jihad against the infidels of Mecca by means of the Koran, answers
to difficult questions, proof, tolerance, and refraining from
repaying evil with evil. During this period, Jihad was a struggle
for the soul and for education in tolerance, belief and enduring
hardships in order to spread the religion (AI-Da'wa, the Call). But
when the Prophet's enemies stepped up the siege against him and his
followers in Mecca and Medina, Allah allowed the Muslims to fight
in order to protect themselves and to undertake the Da'wa, so that
a year after the Hijra, fighting became a commandment and a duty
(Surat AI-Baqara, verse 216).
After Muslims were forced to abandon Mecca and to migrate to
Medina, Islam's new center, Jihad aquired a different meaning, one
other than the personal, moral sense. It was a material meaning
referring to sacrificing money (property) and self to Allah. But
the Prophet, says 'Ashmawi, a renowed Egyptian jurist and scholar,
noticed that the material meaning of Jihad was overshadowing its
moral meaning during this period, and he emphasized that the
Greater Jihad was the moral-personal Jihad and that this was the
primary form. Following the victory of the Muslims in the battle of
Badr in 624 for example, the Prophet addressed his faithful,
stressing the fact that the more violent and the greater the import
of war against the foe, the more it is condemned to remain in the
realms of the Lesser Jihad: its dimensions will not reach the level
of the Greater Jihad, which involves mental struggle and exaltation
on the level of ethics and conscience.
Jihad, in its militant sense according to 'Ashmawi, is not an
unconditional and absolute holy war. He concludes that the primary
meaning of Jihad is in its moral sense, i.e the Greater Jihad which
is eternal and enduring, and in the end this is what will be
victorious. In contrast, the Lesser Jihad i.e war and fighting, is
transitory, temporary, and dependent on certain circumstances. The
time for this Jihad is during situations of external aggression,
and it is limited to reacting to this aggression. In' Ashmawi's
view, "politics, together with the Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence),
have displaced the Greater Jihad and in its stead have raised the
standard of the Lesser Jihad, because it is that Jihad which will
serve their aims and will realize their objectives; they have
turned something which is meant to be temporary only into something
enduring, at the expense of religion and humaneness".8
The Ideological sources of the "Islamic Jihad" today
Dr. Ziad Abu' Amru writes in his book The Islamic Movement in the
Territories and the Gaza Strip9 that "the Islamic Jihad has no
international organization, it is not a single central organization
throughout the Muslim world, despite the intellectual affinities
and despite the forms of cooperation and coordination between its
various organizations. 10 From Dr. Ziad Abu 'Amru's words it can be
deduced that the Islamic Jihad movement came into being and was
shaped as a result of the ideological divisions evolving in the
Muslim Brotherhood before and after the war of 1967. In the 1970's,
the Jihad Movement gave birth to a number of organizations in
various states. It was set up against the background of the
military defeat suffered by Egypt, Syria and Jordan in 1967, and
against the background of those countries' helplessness in dealing
with the consequences of that defeat and the challenge posed by the
continuation of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian
territories.
The Islamic Jihad Movement derives its ideas, first and foremost,
from the Islamic tradition which is rich in writings, stories, and
teachings extolling Jihad. These teachings inculcate the spirit of
Jihad, impart its teachings to the heart of the Muslim faithful,
and teach that God will ensure that the Mujahidin (the Jihad
warriors) will, through divine intervention, gain a place in
Paradise or will return with either reward or booty. Either victory
and booty in this world or the status of martyr (Shahada) ensure
eternal pleasantness, soaring palaces, flowing rivers, and beauties
in the world to come.
Second, the movement derives its inspiration from the ideology of
the founders of the Muslim Brotherhood movement who represent the
fundamental, classical and mainstream approach of contemporary
political Islam grounded in the Islamic tradition described above.
This provides the basis for the Movement's ideology, which rests on
the following principles: authority rests with Allah alone; Islam
is the religion and therefore Islam is the solution; all peoples,
including the Muslims, are living today in the stage of second
jahiliya (ignorance), to be distinguished from the initial
jahiliya, which was prevalent when Allah sent his Messenger
Mohammad in order to bring people out of error to truth; the first
and enduring task of believer Muslims is to use all means to
restore the glory of Islam and establish an Islamic state, at first
each in one's own country, and subsequently, in the entire world;
and finally, Islam is religion and state, religious jurisprudence
and politics, ideology and a way of life. Only Islam can ensure
that humanity makes the transition to a society able to enjoy a
life of genuine happiness and ease, justice and peace .
The meaning of Jihad for the Muslim Brotherhood:
Hassan AI-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement in
Egypt, defined the Movement's concept of Islam, clarified the
working methods and goals, and determined the Movement's position
in respect to the authorities. At the Brotherhood's Fifth Congress,
held in Cairo in 1938, he made an explicit, clearly worded
statement:
It is our belief that the laws and rules of Islam are generally
valid, that they govern the affairs of human beings in this world
as in the next... Islam is ideology and the worship of God, native
country and nationality, religion and state, spirituality and
action ... Islam is the complete and comprehensive meaning, and it
must have hegemony over all aspects of life, which will receive an
Islamic character ... and its principles and rules must be
introduced as long as the people wish to be genuinely Islamic.
II
AI-Banna also gave the following definition of the Brotherhood's
aims: first, to liberate the Islamic homeland from all foreign
rule, and second, to establish the Islamic state in the liberated
homeland which will be governed in accordance with the laws of
Islam and will impliment its social systems .... 12
While the Muslim Brothers conceive of Islam in these terms, and
this defines their attitude to government and their goal, Jihad is
one of the three basic pillars on which the Muslim Brotherhood's
Da'wa (the Call) rests, the other two being knowledge and
education.
By the Muslim Brotherhood's Third Congress, Jihad was already an
integral part of the movement's ideology. In his "Letter on Jihad",
AI-Banna was extremely forthright in the messages he broadcast to
his supporters ... "This religion [Islam] was founded by the Jihad
of those who preceded us, who steadfastly drew their strength from
belief in Allah, temperance in the face of life's fleeting
temptations, a preference for eternal life and a willingness to
sacrifice their blood, their life and their possessions for the
sake of support for the truth, and a love of death for the sake of
the Almighty."13
There is no doubt that this is an explicit call to Jihad, with its
glorification of the status of martyrs and its urging of
solidarity, and thus we see how the movement's founder, Al- Banna
is striving to mentally prepare his supporters so as to confer
total legitimation on Jihad, which requires the Muslim to fight
anyone who tries to foil the Da'wa.
However, the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, led by Hassan AI-Banna
until his assassination, changed its position on Jihad and
violence. The change came about for tactical reasons, but it is
possible that with time, it became a qualitative one. The movement
began to adopt an equivocal attitude to the term, in accord with
the original view of the expression, an attitude which was based on
education and understanding, not on violence. Because of this, at
the time the Movement ignored the call after the 1948 war to take
part in the armed struggle "to liberate Palestine". Indeed, Dr.
Ziad Abu 'Amru writes that it is the Palestinian problem and the
very absence of satisfactory answers among the Muslim Brotherhood,
who had not participated actively in the armed struggle against the
Israeli occupation, which impelled Gaza youths who were close to
the Muslim Brothers in Egypt to leave this movement.14 Whereas Ziad
Abu Jinima, while confirming the lack of involvement of the
movement in the armed struggle, provides an apologetic explanation:
"it was not of their own free will that the Muslim Brothers were
absent from the theaters of Jihad: they were kept away under
duress, for they were imprisoned and detained in prisons in Egypt
and in Syria, and they were therefore prevented from taking part in
the struggle against the Israeli occupation." 15
Be that as it may, the new compromise direction was rejected by the
movement's main thinker and one of its principal leaders, Sa'id
Kuttab. In his book Ma'lam fil-Tariq (Milestones) he stressed that
"there is an acute contradiction between two ideas, two ideologies,
two societies, two conflicting forms of government and truth ... no
one side can exist unless it destroys the other, and there is no
possibility of compromise or of mediation between them." Change can
come about only by overthrowing the government, liquidating the
leading infidels and replacing them with religious leaders, and the
process offers no place for a staggered or gradual approach. Ziad
Abu 'Amru sees in Kuttab's book an ideological revolution
"embodying a forhtright call to follow a new path radically
different from that adopted by the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, and
thus "Kuttab has become the ideologue of the Jihad movement, as
well as the guide of the movement's leader - Syria's Sa'id
Hawa."16
Sheikh Sa'id Hawa: the five varieties of Jihad
Sa'id Hawa 17 has enriched the Muslim Brotherhood ideology in Syria
as well as elsewhere through a collection of Islamic political and
jurisprudential essays and studies. His writings have made a
contribution to the understanding of Jihad and the Brotherhood's
attitude to the subject, particularly in Syria. He summarizes his
ideas in a book entitled (Junud Allah, Thaqafaten Wa-Akhlakan (The
Warriors of God: Education and Ethics), where he distinguishes five
varieties of Jihad, all of which are mentioned in the Koran and the
Hadith: Jihad through language, Jihad through learning, Jihad
through body and mind, political Jihad, and financial Jihad. 18
Hawa distinguishes between Jihad on Muslim soil and elsewhere; in
the former case it is called preaching for the support of the pious
and refraining from evil, while in non-Muslim locations it is
called Jihad.
In the context of the present article, what is particularly
relevant is Hawa's analysis of what he calls political Jihad. His
concept is based on the approach that "it is the duty of Muslims to
ensure that the world submits to the rule of Allah," and everything
that is needed for this process of the world's submission is,
essentially, the duty of the people," and this can only be done by
means of a Jihad through the mind, on Islamic soil first of
all.
The submission of the entire world to the rule of Allah is
expressed in the establishment of an Islamic state in every single
country where Muslims live, and setting up such a state is a
religious precept incumbent on every Muslim in every state.
19
Hawa also draws a distinction between three kinds of states in the
world today. The first is the genuine Muslim state, support for
which he is .preaching. The second is the wayward Muslim state,
which he calls upon to take steps to mend its ways, first of all in
men's hearts and language, and by action where such improvement of
the situation does not corne about. He does not rule out of the
idea that an Islamic state in which an Islamic justice prevails
should interfere in a deviant one in order to support justice
there, to amend the situation and to wipe out the aberration. The
third is the infidel state in which Muslims live. In this context
Hawa makes the following comment:
When Muslims are subjected to a situation where they are ruled by
infidels who are both corrupt and imperialist, the only option
available to them is to fight these infidels in order to extirpate
the infidel government; if they cannot fight, they must prepare
themselves (for war) with all the implications arising, and if they
are not, they are committing sin upon sin.20
Conclusion
It will by now be clear that Jihad has a variety of meanings and
that the meaning of the word is of major importance and influence
in Islamic thought. It has developed in the period of the Prophet
and subsequently throughout Islamic history up to our modem era, in
such a way as to acquire two meanings: a religious one which is the
original one, and a politico-historic one.
In its religious and political sense, Jihad has become a strategy
of the political movements in Islam today. These movements add a
religious hue to the political conflicts and base themselves on the
saying that Islam is both religion and state, religious
jurisprudence and politics. Thus whether intentionally or not, a
confusion has set in between religion and politics, between what is
religious and what is social, between the religious and the
national, so that defense of the homeland and mental sacrifices for
its defense have turned into defending the religion and acquiring
the title of martyr through Allah's path.
The addition of the religious nuance to political conflicts gives
rise to extremism both in ideological positions and in practice.
The tendency to political extremism grows under crisis conditions,
and in the absence of any obvious way out of such crises. It is
obvious that the orthodox fundamental Islamic movements are trying
to impart this meaning of the expression to Muslim minds, so as to
prepare them mentally and spiritually to carry out the mission that
they will be given. In this way, death becomes more elevated than
life because it is a sure and certain way to Paradise.
When these movements make use of religious texts (the Koran and the
Hadith) they use generalizations, treating the text in isolation
from its historical setting and taking it out of its chronological
and geographical context. It thus becomes available for use at any
time or in any place, and it can neither be critiqued nor debated.