They are called God’s warriors, young men and women who are driven to rid the world of its evil ways and restore it once again to the divine state it was meant to be. Such warriors are seen in western media taking hostages by the bus load, shooting into crowds of people and becoming walking bombs… all for a complex issue which each religiously minded young Muslim person struggles to fulfill… all for jihad. –Or do they?
The term jihad in the late part of the 20th century and the early part of the 21st century is a term that has been altogether hijacked. It has as many different definitions as there are people. Jihad according to the BBC Team under their religion & Ethics page is defined as:
- A struggle or effort
- A believer’s internal struggle to live out the Muslim faith as well as possible
- The struggle to build a good Muslim society
- Holy war: the struggle to defend Islam, with force if necessary
With so many different definitions out there it is no wonder the word has become associated with the less desirable aspects of a supposed holy war.
Even John L. Esposito, professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies and the director of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal center for Muslim-Christian understanding at Georgetown University, would have to agree. Esposito who earned his PhD at Temple University, Pennsylvania in 1974, by specializing in Islam, political Islam from North Africa to Southeast Asia, and Religion and International Affairs is editor-in-chief of the four-volume The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, The Oxford History of Islam, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam and The Islamic World: Past and Present. In addition to his editorial work has written more than 30 books about Islam.
In fact, his 160 page book “Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam” deals with the topic oh Jihad and the less desirable effects of a hijacked “holy war”.
“Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam” was written post 9/11 in an attempt to explain to the western world why the unforeseen events of that day happened as well as to put those events into its global context. Instead of dwelling on the attacks that brought down the twin towers and subsequently killed 2,979 people from numerous countries around the world, Esposito decidedly focuses on the question that perplexed many American minds- “Why do they hate us?” For Esposito, the only way to answer that question is to take a look at the underlying reasons as to why grown men would be compelled to commit such acts; in other words he decided to venture into the origins of “Islamic rage”.
In order to inform the West about these origins, Esposito divided his book into 4 fairly condensed sections, Making of a Modern Terrorist, Jihad and the Struggle for Islam, The Armies of God, and Where Do We Go from Here? Each of these sections provides the basic information needed for…. yet for simplification purposes of this paper, combining ‘making of a terrorist’ and ‘the struggle for Islam’ would seem to make more sense as both aspects play into one another.
Making of a terrorist and a hijacked religion
Ask any typical American to describe a terrorist and the response most likely will sound like this:
· A young man, mostly uneducated, who wears a somewhat long beard, a long garment, a pair of dirty sandals, and a small knit cap or scarf.
· One who will do what he is told and will adhere to fundamental principles.
· One who trains in the desert for months on end in order to follow an extreme fundamental form of Islam.
And these are only a few of the stereo-typical images drummed up. The list goes on. Esposito, on the other hand hopes to drum up new images of what a terrorist looks like. According to him the typical terrorist is well educated, highly skilled, comes from an upper middle class to lower upper class background, he (more than she) is often disillusioned with how the government, society, or both is handling itself and in that same spirit, has resorted to a utopian view of reformation that can only come about through combative means. He tends to use those around him, especially those who are less well off than he is to do his dirty work. Often to get them to cooperate he chooses less educated, and economically depressed cronies. He provides the basic necessities for them when the government wont and therefore requires them to submit to any jurisdiction or teachings he, himself, can compose (whether or not they be of correct context).
The armies of god.
The United States and the rest of the western world are not the only ones dealing with these extreme leaders and the following they have build, often the governments in which these people have lived are their first targets. Often fighting ensues because the government is not taking care of the people both economically and religiously. Once the masses are disillusioned, they are much more willing to wreak havoc on their homelands, regardless if their homeland is considered a Muslim nation or not. Esposito points this out when he talks about the politics and policies of the fundamental Jihad in places such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Palestine, and Algeria. Each of these places were condemned morally, and lacked the proper finances to encourage people along the moderate root. When these countries carried out massive sweeps to try and forcefully keep the movements under control, the movements broke into underground cells- functioning independently of each other for a common goal. More and more people secretly became radical and the armies of “God” grew.
Then what…
With disillusionment and the growth of these armies, Esposito dares to ask the next most important question- Then what? What will the future be like if we continue on the path that is already set? What can we do to change the outcomes? In essence, where do we go from here? He offers a few suggestions.
First, he encourages the west to learn more about Islam and the principles it caries. He reminds everyone all that Islam is the world’s second largest religion and that everyone needs to progress in the knowledge of it. Just knowing what the headlines say or the very least that “it has a scripture called the Quran and a prophet named Muhammad” (Esposito 118 ) is not enough. America and the West need to become as intimately familiar with it as they are with Judaism or Christianity.
Second, that religion, modernization and development have led to identity crises, in many areas of the world. These developing countries are having a hard time reconciling the dichotomies of a traditional past with a modern future view. The struggle to place religion where it belongs is still at the heart of matters today. Many places are still trying to decide whether it is better to live secularly or religiously.
Third, Esposito acknowledges with the advancement of technology that the world is inevitably shrinking in distance, thereby providing a greater opportunity for a culture clash. The west and the Islamic world which at times are fundamentally different have to learn to cope and deal with each other in a respectable manor. He also acknowledges that in order for these to succeed both sides require reform in different areas. For the west it is in their foreign policy. For the Islamic world, he says that reform needs to come in the sense of moderating the fundamentalist, sanitizing relations with the west (ie. No more satanization of the west), and learning that Islam and democracy can coexist.
Lastly, Esposito points out that it is both the West and the Islamic world’s duties to counteract fundamentalist terrorism in their own communities and restore the meaning of Jihad to a more gentle use.
authored by: SMamdani
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