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.