In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, many in the Western world have struggled to correctly identify acts of terrorism and their perpetrators. Often, people reading newspapers and watching TV news conclude that such acts were committed in the name of jihad, the Islamic concept commonly, and incorrectly, defined as “holy war. Many Westerners (and others) equate the two, developing misconceptions about Islam and the Muslim community. This misunderstanding is detrimental to relations between the United States and the Arab world, and it can only be mitigated by recognizing the distinct definitions of both terrorism and jihad.
The US State Department, according to the official National Strategy for Combating Terrorism policy document, defines terrorism as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience. It is an act condemned by all religions that aims to shake the stability of major world powers and seeks to undermine their capabilities and threaten their futures.
The events of 9/11 clearly fit this description. However, the fact that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were committed by a group of people acting in the name of Islam has led to prejudice against Muslims in the US and around the world. This is evidenced by a March 2006 Washington Post-ABC News poll, which reported that 33 percent of Americans believed Islam condoned violence against non-Muslims (up from 14 percent in 2002). Even Americans who said they understood Islam and were more likely to see the religion overall as peaceful and respectful were no less likely to say it harbored harmful extremists; they were also no less likely to have prejudiced feelings against Muslims.
What is the definition of jihad that Muslims feel is accurate and want the Western world to understand? The word “jihad is derived from an Arabic root that means to make good use of your virtues, good nature, and God’s gifts to help please yourself and others. More specifically, one could say that to practice jihad is to make every effort to worship and obey God, to gain knowledge, to advise others how to be good and true believers in God, and to work hard to spread peace, freedom, love, and tolerance.
The events of 9/11 and terrorism acts committed since then cannot, when the true meaning of ‘jihad’ is considered, be seen as acts of jihad. Rather, they were planned and executed by those who chose to use their religion as a sort of cloak. A comparison can be made to the Crusades: the Crusaders of Europe acted in the name of Christianity, but the tenets of Christianity (both then and now) do not allow for what were sometimes horrible, even “terrorist actions. The Islamic extremists who commit acts of terrorism are somewhat similar to the Crusaders; they have misunderstood, misinterpreted, and grown accustomed to distortions of Islam, and they have used these misrepresentations as a basis for action.
Those Muslims who have been involved in terrorism have been acting on their own personal beliefs which do not accurately represent the tenets of the faith or the convictions of the majority of the world’s Muslim population. Rather, the Quran teaches that “anyone who murders any person who had not committed murder or horrendous crimes, it shall be as if he murdered all people. And anyone who spares a life, it shall be as if he spared the lives of all people .
The basic truths about the concept of jihad have not been widely disseminated in the West. The resulting dearth of information is not only a disappointing disconnect between two cultures, but also a major cause of further terrorist acts. The fact that many Americans and other Westerners fail to make an effort to understand Islam and, as revealed by the poll described above, are suspicious of Muslims they meet, can only serve to drive Muslims under the “cloak of Islamic extremism.
This cycle of misperception leading to further violence can only be stopped through education. With proper definitions and through mutual understanding, the “cloak can be removed from those who have engaged in acts of terrorism in the past, and future acts can be prevented. Laura McAleeris a student at Georgetown University and Hala Ali attends South Valley University of Cairo. THE DAILY STAR publishes this commentary in collaboration with the Common Ground News Service.
