Apparently, the Bush Administration Hasn’t Explained the Real Meaning of Jihad to Pakistani Muslims Yet

Can you imagine the nerve of these people?  Just because they’re, like, Muslims steeped in the scriptures, we’re supposed to believe they know more about Islam than the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and the Directorate of National Intelligence?  Haven’t they heard about the internal struggle for personal betterment through good works in society?  Aren’t they concerned about offending moderates?  And how ‘bout all that self-esteem they’re giving the jiha – er, I mean, y’know, those extremist guys?

The editors of the Pakistan Daily have published a piece called “Clarifying the Meaning of Jihad” [h/t Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch].  Get this — they actually think it means fighting the unbelievers so that Islam is established universally.  Here are some of the totally nutty ideas they spout about the Religion of Peace:

It is clear in the Madani verses [i.e., the Qur’anic scriptures from the bellicose Medina period after Mohammed was driven out of Mecca] that the subject of Jihad is specifically related to fighting and what fighting entails naturally from finance, weapons and the like. Also these verses demonstrate aspects of the conditions that precede the action of fighting and are conditional for its legality i.e. propagating the invitation for non-Muslims to embrace Islam (as this is the original condition for fighting as has been mentioned in ‘Mughni al-Muhtaj) and/or accept the Islamic authority over them. From the Sunnah of Muhammad (Salalahu Alaihi Wasallam), Jihad has been mentioned also with this shariyah meaning i.e. fighting and what it entails.

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“Think not of those who are slain in Allah’s way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord.” (tmq 3:169)

From all of these shariyah texts, it is clear that the Legislator transferred the word Jihad from its general linguistic meaning to a special meaning, which is ‘al-Qitaal’ (fighting) and whatever is linked to it directly and indirectly, as has been mentioned earlier. Moreover, it relates to the words, which carry the same meaning of al-Jihad like war. From this we can see that the shariyah texts defined Jihad as fighting (qitaal) in the Way of Allah (Fi Sabeel Lillah) and this can be found in the books of fiqh, which dealt with the shariyah meaning of Jihad and laws related to it.

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In Manhul Jaleel of the Maliki Mazhab, al-Jihad is defined as the, “fighting by a Muslim against a kaafir (who does not have a treaty with the Muslims) to make the word of Allah the highest…. or for a Muslim to arrive to do Jihad or to enter the Kaafir’s land for fighting.” Ibn Arafa defined this.

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… Jihad is carried offensively to cleanse the earth from the kufr [the unbeliever], with the implementation of Islam as a system thus liberating man from the rule of man. The history of the Islamic conquests, the presence of Christians and Jews, who lived in security and prosperity under the Islamic State and the safe-haven that the Islamic authority provided for people savaged by the forefathers of the modern colonialists is sufficient proof for this.

On the horizon, as the struggle between Iman and kufr increases day by day – it is imperative for the Muslims to hold to the truth of Islam, its rules and not permit the dilution of its intellectual wealth – a wealth which soon will transform the darkness of colonial rule to the mercy and shade of the Islamic authority, Al-Khilafah, by Allah (Subhanna Wa Ta’ala’s) permission.