Let’s get one thing straight

jihad does not mean holy war. The literal

translation means struggle, but

of course no one is concerned with the

literal translation. In Islam, jihad means much more. And that

is the

meaning everyone wants to know about.

Obviously, for many people, the terms jihad terrorism, and holy war are all

the same. But for the

Muslim

jihad

eans something else

. The meaning of jihad is

not some mindless, hate-induced war

destroy all things good and

modern. Jihad in Islam is a struggle to establish justice and righteousness.

Before going any further, we Muslims need to come to terms with a few

things. First, there is no global

Islamic jihad against the West. There is

Caliph to declare jihad and no Muslim unity to successfully

wage jihad.

Second, jihad does not just mean a peaceful internal struggle, either.

Yes,

it does mean an internal

struggle but it means much more than that.

All

Muslims know the truth: when Allah and His Messenger

speak of Al

Jihad,

the implied meaning is usually armed struggle. We Muslims only

make

ourselves

look weak and pathetic by trying to pretend otherwise.

That jihad may entail warfare and self-defense is not something to be

ashamed of. And all jihad that

has been engaged in the past, was not

always in self-defense either. Sometimes it was, of course, but

very often

the Islamic empires waged war on other nations preemptively.

Whether all Muslims accept it or not, Islam and jihad go together. The

nations and peoples of Iran,

Iraq, Egypt, Syria and many others did not

come under Muslim control peacefully. They were

conquered by great

men

like Khalid ibn Waleed, Abu Bakr, Umar, Saad ibn Abi Waqqas and

Amr ibn

Al-

As, may Allah be pleased with them all.

Click here to learn more about the Caliphates that these men fought

under.

These great men waged holy jihad on these lands for the pleasure of

Allah

and hoped to die while

doing so. To better understand jihad history

should

be our guide. Muslims should study the history of

Islam and jihad.

So in

the future, if someone asks you - what is jihad? - You can give them

appropriate, well thought of answer.

But what is happening today is not jihad. It is not jihad to blow up buses

with innocent, or even guilty,

people aboard. It is not jihad to kidnap

reporters and execute them on camera. It is not jihad to blow

up train

stations and try to disrupt and destroy life. That is not jihad. That is

murder.

It is not jihad to proclaim war against your government because you don’t

like their policies. This goes

the same whether you live in a Muslim nation

or a non-Muslim nation.

For those who live in Muslim countries, there are clear statements from

Prophet Muhammad about how

to treat your leaders. Prophet

Muhammad,

may Allah be pleased with him, has stated that even if your

leader beats

you and takes your property, so long as they do not

associate partners with

Allah and

continue to make the prayer, you must

still obey them.

And for those who live in non-Muslim or secular nations, we also have a

standard to uphold. We have

a perfect example in our Prophet

Muhammad

of how to behave. Prophet Muhammad and his followers

lived

for thirteen

years in Mecca under the rule of the pagan Quraish.

The Quraish killed some of the Muslims, confiscated their property,

tortured

them, and humiliated

them. Yet, during his entire time in Mecca,

Prophet

Muhammad, never allowed his followers to fight or

harm their non-

Muslim

neighbors.

Those of us who live in non-Muslim countries should adopt the behavior

our Prophet, not self-

proclaimed Muslim leaders with delusions of

grandeur. We should strive to live in harmony with those

who are not

Muslim, and exemplify the outstanding behavior that Islam demands of us.

Let us wage a personal jihad and watch your own characters for flaws and

imperfections. Then

struggle to remove them. That should keep us all

busy for quite some time. Then our lives after jihad

will be filled with

internal peace and harmony.