Actual Meaning of Jihad and how it is seen now a days

Submitted by Adil Javed (United Kingdom), Apr 29, 2006 at 12:30

Jihad is an Arabic word that means "striving in the way of God" it does not say anywhere violence Jihad is resistance it could be against your ownself to keep yourself away from the bad things or the things prohibitted in Islam. Striving can take a number of forms, including the daily inner struggle to be a better person. However, jihad is often used to refer to an armed struggle fought in defense of Islam. The point I wanna make here is struggle fought in "defense" of Islam, it could be an armed struggle but only when Islam is threatened, and appear to be threatened, which i think is fair enough everyone has a right to defend himself.

Some people misinterpret it for their own personal advantages, they think they are doing good to Islam but actually they are not , they have made groups supported by different foriegn countries, those countries use these Islamic Extremist groups for political pupose. Now a days Jihad is not what it is, its been misused and misinterpreted by a small group of people who is misusing the word of Islam and the passion muslims have for Islam, just to play a Nasty game of Politics.

(comments are more than welcome)

Adil Javed, London

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