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JIHAD: The War to Eliminate "Kufr" (unbelief) and replace by "Din" (faith)

Reader comment on item: What is Jihad?

Submitted by Kafir (United States), Sep 21, 2003 at 01:07

Quran (047:004) clearly commands Prophet to kill non-Muslims. As pointed out by the
various persons, Jihad is not a war against oppressors in the sense that the western
views it. Oppression is seen in Islam as anything that is un-Islamic. Allah's mandate
was that the whole world needs to be Islamized. Quran(005:033) states very much
unequivocally that limbs (arms and legs) from alternate sides need to be amputated
(in the least) or slaughter, for those who wage war against Allah (or his Messenger).
This is Jihad. Waging war against Allah (God) means, in pragmatic terms, to reject or
oppose the Message (Quranic revelation). So America, the abode of the Great Satan,
has formally rejected the message of Islam by separating the church and state. To that
end, as outlined in the classic work "The Clash of Civilizations", Prof. Samuel Huntington
makes the case that Islam (in its core), and the "liberal" west are at odds with each other
on a civilizational scale.
....

Jihad is not only a defensive war - i.e., the way Americans/Westerners interpret it. It
is a "defensive war" in the sense that the war is waged to defend Islam from being
defeated. (Such "defeat" could also mean ideological defeat). Amir Taheri, in his
book, HOLY TERROR: THE INSIDE STORY OF ISLAMIC TERRORISM -
has carefully articulated this view. His view has also been articulately supported
by Dr. Ibn Warraq (WHY AM I NOT A MUSLIM).

Since Islam must prevail everywhere, a divine truth that has been handed down by Allah,
the objective is to eliminate "kufr" (unbelief) from anywhere that it exists. This
motivates the basic perceptions about Jihad.

Dr. Daniel Pipes, a well-respected leading scholar, could please comment if my little
understanding makes any sense.



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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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