What is Jihad?

TrueTube films are designed for use in a number of ways. Some ideas of where this film could link to your curriculum are below:

AQA

Component 1: The study of religions: beliefs, teaching and practices – Beliefs and teachings - Duties and festivals - Islam - Jihad: different understandings of jihad: the meaning and significance of greater and lesser Jihad; origins, influence and conditions for the declaration of lesser Jihad.

Edexcel

Area of Study 3 -Section 3: Living the Muslim Life - Jihad: the origins, meaning and significance of jihad in Islam; divergent understandings of jihad within Islam, including the difference between lesser and greater jihad; the conditions for declaration of lesser jihad, including reference to Surah 2: 190–194 and 22: 39; the importance of jihad in the life of Muslims.

OCR

Componet Group 1 - Islam - Practices - The importance of practices -The meaning of the Ten Obligatory Acts: Jihad: Struggle Jihad•The meaning and importance for different groups of Muslims of: •• Greater Jihad – the struggle of every Muslim to live according to ‘the straight path’ •• Lesser Jihad – the removal of evil from society with the goal of making the world an abode of peace • The precedence of Greater Jihad over Lesser Jihad •Conditions for the declaration and conduct of Lesser Jihad • The concepts of Munkar and Ma’ruf •Common and divergent views of different Muslim groups about if and when the holy war aspect of Lesser Jihad should be waged •Different interpretations and emphases given to sources of wisdom and authority by different Muslim groups

WJEC

2.2 Unit 2 PART A - Islam- Core beliefs, teachings and practices Beliefs –Practices - Muslim Identity and Ummah  Features of mosques in Wales and elsewhere: domes, minarets, qibla wall, mihrab, minbar  Pilgrimage to Mecca as an obligatory act: purpose and practices/rituals (Qur'an 3:18)  Clothing: hijab, niqab, burkha - diversity of attitudes and practices within Islam as seen in different Muslim communities in Wales  Lesser Jihad; the conditions for declaration of lesser jihad (Qur'an 2:190, 22:39) 2.1 Unit 1 PART A - Part A - Islam - Core beliefs, teachings and practices - Beliefs - The Nature of God  Allah as one God: Tawhid (Qur'an 3:18)  The qualities of Allah in the Qur'an; e.g. immanence, transcendence, omnipotence, beneficence, merciful (Qur'an 46:33), the 99 names of Allah  The meaning of Islam as 'submission' to Allah and how Muslims live a life in submission to the will of Allah, including the importance of Greater Jihad  Shahadah as a statement of faith in Allah, shirk as sin against Allah  Reasons for the prohibition of images of Allah or any human figure

Eduqas

Component 3 (Route A): Study of a World Faith: Option 3: Islam:Practices: Jihad ➢ Greater jihad: The daily struggle to live as a good Muslim Issues regarding living as a Muslim in Britain today and maintaining a Muslim lifestyle ➢ Origins,influence and conditions for declaration of Lesser Jihad in the Qur'an and Hadith: Qur'an 2:190, 22:39

What is Jihad?

Passer-by    It's like a holy war.

Passer-by    I'm not really sure. Not really sure at all.

Passer-by    Um.

Passer-by    Actually, no. Sorry.

Passer-by    War.

Passer-by    Um, terrorism.

Passer-by    Uh, when I hear the terms jihad, then I normally think of it in a terrorist context.

Passer-by    Um, I kind of think of the Middle East and stuff like that, I guess.

Passer-by    But then I've also heard that there are maybe multiple levels of jihad or something, that that's it's also like an inner fight for your own personal salvation and spirituality.

Imam Iftikhar Daad    My name is Iftikhar Daad. I'm an imam and I teach children basic Quranic education. Jihad is an Arabic word which means to strive and struggle. Jihad can be divided up into two different parts. So we have the greater jihad and we have a lesser jihad. And this concept has come from the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, where he returned back with his companions from a battle, and he explained to them that we have returned from a lesser jihad to a greater jihad. To fight with your own ego, meaning your temptations and your desires, to control your own self is a greater jihad than to actually fight your own enemy physically.

Imam Iftikhar Daad    Once all avenues have been exhausted, of communication, trying to promote peace, and if peace is still not being achieved, then at that point the last resort will be to, uh, have a battle. And that battle has to be declared by a government which has to be advised and sanctioned by a panel of scholars, and when it does happen, there are a list of things that the army and the generals are briefed on. They have to make sure that it's only to achieve peace, they cannot kill women, they cannot kill children, they cannot destroy places of worship, they cannot destroy plantation and crops, they cannot kill animals.

Dr Bilal Hassam           My name is Bilal Hussein, and I work with a spectrum of young Muslims looking at how we can create better leaders in the Muslim community.

Dr Bilal Hassam           To be radical is a good thing, and it's something we should be proud of. And for me, Islam offers answers of how to channel my radicalism in a good way. Radicalism means, to be, to channel all that energy and zeal and idealism and wanting to make the world a better place. Often there's a concern that, oh, Islam plus radicalism equals terrorism. I can understand where that comes from, because there are times in the past where people have used Islam as an excuse to carry out terrible things. Now, how does Islam describe this idea and this notion of jihad? Within the concept of jihad, there is an idea of violent struggle, of picking up arms, and, and we have to look at, what, what does Islam actually say about this? Islam, Islam, is not a pacifist tradition, you know, if you see someone being attacked on the street, it's your duty as a Muslim to protect that person, and that might mean being violent, and it's only, and again, and this is expressed time and time again within the tradition, it's only as a last means, as a last resort.

Dr Bilal Hassam           Jihad is about correcting injustice. Whether I'm fighting with my brother, uh, or whether I'm struggling to wake up in the morning, I'm being unjust to myself. If I don't get up, that's, that's an injustice to myself, I owe my own self, I owe my own body rights, and I owe- I have a responsibility to myself, which means I've got to get up, I've got to eat healthy, I've got to exercise, I've got to be nice to my parents, I've got, this is all struggle. And within that, within the wider struggle, it means that there are ills in society that I should be really worried about and I should pray for, and I should look to correct them as best I can.

Passer-by    I think it's something that you sometimes see titled in news lines, um, stories, blogs, uh.

Passer-by    The media, just whenever you see the TV and something bad's happening, they'll, they'll bring up words like that, and I don't even know if that's what it means, so.

Passer-by    I think the sun or whatever, just, just talking a load of rubbish about, you know. Yeah, and they're just using that word.

Passer-by    The terms jihad I normally hear through news outlets, um, especially with the 24 hour news cycle. It's just kind of a buzzword that I think when it scrolls across the ticker tape or it gets mentioned kind of in the background, then people tend to perk up and and feel like there might be some kind of danger or something happening there.

Remona Aly    The job of a journalist is to convey a message to the people. It could be on topics like faith or the environment, or on human rights. It's about reaching the people, and also to provide a voice for people who don't always have a voice.

Remona Aly    The terms that are used about Muslims within the media can be really confusing. So, you've got words like jihadists and Islamic terrorists, Islamist. So, it can be really confusing for people when they read all these different terms and they all kind of, like, blend into one meaning. Uh, but that's really worrying because obviously they think that a fifth of the world's population could be just an extremist or a terrorist. If journalists do use religious terms, they have to be very sensitive to the true meaning of those terms. So they need to understand, what, what the root word conveys, and they have a responsibility to convey that true meaning to the reader.

Remona Aly    I think it's really important to challenge the poor image of Muslims in the media. In my own work, I led a media campaign called Inspired by Muhammad and that focussed on British Muslims who are inspired by Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, we focussed on the environment, human rights and social justice.

Imam Iftikhar Daad    My personal jihad is to make sure that I can control my temper.

Remona Aly    To carry on, even when the world seems to be against me.

Imam Iftikhar Daad    That I can establish my five daily prayers.

Remona Aly    To have some kind of voice and to be as positive as possible.

Dr Bilal Hassam           I want to make the world a better place.

Imam Iftikhar Daad    To make sure that I can become a good Muslim.

Dr Bilal Hassam           And my jihad is waking up to get round to doing it.