Radical Islam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Radical Islam - Essay Example This justification has severe repercussions one of which is that it implicitly states that all Muslims are required to waed the war if they are to live as true Muslims. This paper aims to discuss the role of Jihad as an instrument used by terrorist organiations in their plan of action. The focus will be on the discussion how Jihad serves as a recruitment tool of the organiations. The discussion involves that of establishing the nature of Islam as a religion, its provisions for physical struggle, the consequences of such orienations and its use as a recruitment tool of terrorist organizations. Thru the determination of relevant Quranic verses, this paper aims to provide the background and foundation of the terrorist's interpretationof the Jihad. Jihad is an Islamic term that means "to exert utmost effort, to strive or to struggle". This definition may mean anything from an inward spiritual struggle to attain perfect faith to a political or military struggle. The term Jihad is often taken into context as to describe purely physical and military struggle. The military struggles usually come in the form of religious wars. Although this maybe the case, there are actually five different forms of jihad. They are as follows: Jihad by the pen and knowledge (jihad bil qalam/ilm) is a struggle fo... pen and knowledge (jihad bil qalam/ilm) is a struggle for good against evil through an academic study of Islam, ijtihad (legal reasoning) and even through sciences (such as medical sciences). Jihad by the hand (jihad bil yad) refers to a struggle of good against evil waged by actions using one's wealth or actions that is virtous such as providing funding for jihad, advocacy campaigns for furthering the cause of Islam, undergoing the Hajj pilgrimage, taking care of the family and may even include espionage. Jihad by the sword (jihad bis saif) refers to the holy war or armed fighting in the way of God. Of all the forms of jihad, the form which pervades the social scene is the Jihad by the sword. A person who engages in jihad, whatever forms may be, are called a mujahid which means struggler. With this definition, a Muslim person engaging in fighting in a military struggle as well as those who are memorizing the Quran can be considered as a mujahid. The variety of forms of Islam gave rise to the need to classify which of them are more appropriate in terms of value creation and importance. Because of this, the five forms of jihad was classified either as al-jihd al-akbar (the greater jihad) or al-jihd al-asghar (the lesser jihad) , the struggle against one's soul (nafs), , the external, physical effort, often implying fighting. From this classification, it can be seen that the first threeare implied as the greater jihad with the remaining as the lesser jihad. The Aspirations of Islam and Jihad In this paper the word "Islam" has three meanings that have been taken in the context of which it operates. First, using the Western view of Islam, this term is primarily used to denote a religious tradition, much like Christianity, that provides fundamental