Jihad Vs Terrorism

WHAT IS JIHAAD:
Islam is a beautiful religion that does not promote violence in any state or for and it is far from
being not a just way of living. Islam has always taught how to live in this world and how one can
move about with their daily lives. Islam promotes “Jihad” that translates to ‘Struggle’, there are
2 types of Jihads: The inner struggle that one has with oneself, an inner spiritual struggle to
follow the path of God and to live morally, as well as to improve oneself is called ‘Jihad-e-
Akbar’, it is the greater jihad. Whereas the other outer Jihad, external struggle, is where
individuals do jihad with tongue, pen and/or with war. This struggle can vary from defending
your religion is as a discussion to taking up arms against people who are attacking the believers
known as ‘Jihad-e-Asghar’.

JIHAD AND ISLAMOPHOBIA:

The physical struggle for Jihad is the type where the controversies began where islamophobia
enters to tarnish the reputation of Muslims and with it the act of Jihad and then is portrayed in
such a light that it is forced under the labels of extremists and that of terrorism. However,
when a Muslim does Jihad in the act of war is to simply protect Islam from the non-believers
who are attacking or actively being a threat towards Islam and its principals. Jihad is a way to
seek Allah’s blessing and not at all used to instill fear and uphold acts of violence just to gain
some ulterior motive. Jihad in the shape of war has always been the last resort for Muslims, as
our Holy Prophet (SAAW) when sending his cousin Ali (RA) to the battlefield said:

…. you must first invite people to Islam…if at your invitation, even one person embraces
Islam; this is better for you than the wealth of entire world. [BUKHARI]

WHAT IS TERRORISM:

Terrorism is the use of violence to instill fear in people against common man to achieve various
goals whether it be for political gains or for personal. Mainly used to oppress people and
promote tyranny, cruelty, and injustice for gains under false pretense.
ISLAM ABOUT TERRORISM:

A Muslim mujahid when pure in his intentions while preparing for Jihad has in his heart and his
mind only the thought of Allah till the point of using a weapon and striking the opponent, is on
the path of Allah and therefore is giving his life and his heart in the way of Allah for the sake of
Islam and the only intention is to protect Islam and for gaining the reward from Allah. Islam
instructs its followers to eradicate terrorism and not to uphold it or actively pursue terrorism
under the false pretense of Jihad but Allah commands:

“…And kill them until there is no terrorism left and all that remains is the deen (religion) of
Allah, but if they refrain, then certainly Allah is watchful of what they do. [Quran 8:39]”

Islam does not promote killing and promote the unjust deaths of people. Killing is a huge crime
against humanity and the above-mentioned verse is applied in certain conditions where the
only option left is to take up arms and then yet the killing of innocent women and children
under the name of Jihad is still a huge wrongdoing.

As Allah said in Quran:

“…he who kills anyone except as punishment for murder or for terrorist acts on earth, it is as
if he killed all people. And whoever saves one life from dying, it is as if he kept alive all
people… [Quran 5:32]”

JIHAD-FI-SABILILLAH:

Whoever unjustly killed someone and got away in this world will surely be trailed upon his acts
in the hereafter and thus the people who carry out the acts of Jihad-fi-Sabililah (jihad in the way
of Allah) have a fear of Allah in their hearts and hold themselves accountable for their actions.
They carry out jihad only to please Allah and to seek reward from Allah without having ulterior
motives. As Allah says in the Quran:
Certainly, those who brought faith and those who migrated and did jihad in the way of Allah,
they should hope for Allah’s mercy, and Allah is All-forgiving. All-Compassionate. [Quran
2:218]

And our Holy Prophet (SAAW) said:

Anyone who hands around in a marketplace with weapons to terrorize people, tomorrow on
the Judgement Day, fear will overcome him. Because Allah does not like to terrorize his
creations for no reason. For him is a dreadful torment of the Hellfire. However, anyone who
makes jihad will enjoy the bounties of Heaven. [BUKHARI]

WHAT SEPARATES JIHAAD FROM TERRORISM:

Jihad is the opposite of terrorism in every way possible where jihad is used to remove
oppression, tyranny, cruelty, and unjust means that are embedded within people of various
societies and on the other hand terrorism is used to instill fear and carry out all the practices
that jihad eradicates. Terrorism always has an agenda to promote violence and more violence
against innocents and civilians without major cause. Jihad is devised to help weak men, women,
and children defend themselves against the oppressors who are adamant on being unjust and
are ignorant. Jihad impowers those who are helpless, and terrorism induces helplessness by its
cruelty and tyranny against the common man.

TERM JIHAAD WRONGLY USED

Various groups all around us have falsely used the term ‘Jihad’ to gain some sort of upper hand
against the other party in the grand scheme of things. Extremist groups who have used the
term jihad to promote terrorism are of manly 2 types: the group that have a manifesto that use
Islam and Jihad to bring back khilafat by tarnishing the good name of Islam and thus are found
globally. A group amongst them is ISIS that consist of ex-Military Iraqi soldiers who use the
word Jihad to gain control over people and land and embed tyranny. The other group of people
who use Jihad under terrorism use it for political gains. America and the west have been grossly
indulged in the act of terrorism under the name of Jihad.
FOREIGN PROPAGANDA:

In 1980, America created the AFGHAN TALIBAN to instill fear and oppression to gain controls
politically and to ensure their own safety and trained these individuals to act under Jihad by
carrying out terrorist attacks against people. In 1990, after PAKISTAN had to deal with the
Afghan refugees saw the increase in terrorist attacks under the name of jihad and then later
used these Afghan Taliban against India for their own political gain to acquire KASHMIR from
India. In 2000, the incident of 9/11 happened that shook the world to its core by portraying
Muslims under the light of terrorist extremist because of the people who used the name of
jihad to carry out gross injustice against the common man. Time and time again people all
around the world, mainly western population have used Islam and Jihad to gain the upper hand
and justify the acts of terrorism and their crime against humanity by painting Islam and jihad
and those who are on the right path as the bad guy.

It is because of these malpractices of people globally that people upon hearing about Islam and
Jihad confuse it with extremist terrorist groups who are oppressive whereas Islam is far from
oppression and does not follow the ideology of the terrorists who are unlawful and immoral.
Allah commands the mujahideen:

O you who brought faith! When you come out to fight and strike in the way of Allah,
continuously carry on the process of verifying (with whom you are fighting, so no injustice is
done) …. [Quran 4:94]

CONCLUSION:

This clearly shows how different the real Jihad is from those who do malpractice under the
name of jihad by commonly spreading terrorism for the sake of personal gains without
accountability and without being bound by law and morality.

REFRENCES:

https://kgn-sanjari.com/difference-between-jihad-and-terrorism/

http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-jihad-and-terrorism/
https://qz.com/india/316516/jihad-is-not-terrorism-terrorism-is-not-jihad