Jihad in Islam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Jihad in Islam - Essay Example In any case, as various studies show, the interpretation of jihad as a call to use violence against all non-Muslims is unfounded (Ali & Rehman 2005). The fact is that the main source of this concept is the Qur’an. In turn, the study of the Qur’an makes it possible to understand that Islam focuses primarily on the spiritual struggle with one’s own passions and vices, while physical violence is seen as an extreme measure, which may be applied only in exceptional cases. In addition, despite the conventional wisdom, Islam can be seen as a much more peaceful religion compared for example with Christianity since Christianity demonstrates very careful attention to the concept of a just war and offers a much clearer conception of it than Islam. This paper analyzes the concept of jihad and provides its comparative analysis with the concept of holy war presented in Christianity. As noted above, a number of theologians, including Muslim ones, insist that jihad involves aggressive and violent methods of struggle for the Islamic faith. In particular, Professor Roda Mushkat (cited in Ali & Rehman 2005) insists on the idea that Islamic law enjoins Moslems to maintain a State of permanent belligerence with all non-believers, collectively encompassed in the dar al-harb, the domain of war. The Muslims are, therefore, under a legal obligation to reduce non-Muslim communities to Islamic rule in order to achieve Islam’s ultimate objective, namely the enforcement of God’s law (the Sharia) over the entire world. The instrument by which the Islamic state is to carry out that objective is called the jihad (popularly known as the ‘holy war’) and is always just, if waged against the infidels and the enemies of the faith. In turn, according to other contemporary Muslim theologians, who refer to the views of their predecessors, there are several types of jihad. In particular, it is believed that the Qur’an presents the