The True Jihad
Non-Violence and Islam
~ 48 ~
Both the Qur’an and the Hadith have attached great
importance to
jihad
. What is
jihad? Jihad
means
struggle, to struggle one’s utmost. It must be
appreciated at the outset that this word is used for
non-violent struggle as opposed to violent struggle.
One clear proof of this is the verse of the Qur’an
(25:52) which says: ‘Perform
jihad
with this (i.e. the
words of the Qur’an) most strenuously.’
The Qur’an is a book of ideology.
In such a case performing
jihad
with the Qur’an would mean an
ideological struggle to conquer
peoples’ hearts and minds through
Islam’s superior philosophy.
In the light of this verse of the
Qur’an,
jihad
in actual fact is
another name for peaceful activism
or non-violent activism. Where
qital
is violent activism,
jihad
is non-violent activism.
PEACEFUL BEGINNING
When the Qur’an began to be revealed, the first
verse of the revelation conveyed the injunction:
Jihad with the
Quran means
an ideological
struggle to
conquer
peoples’
hearts and
minds.
