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No to Crusade! No to Jihad! --- Yes to liberty!

Reader comment on item: Jihad: The Fight Over Meaning

Submitted by Yehudit Hirsch (United States), Jun 8, 2002 at 03:10

As an ex-citizen of an ex-Communist state, I have a deep aversion to censorship. Garry Prior’s comments regarding the dangers of censorship and propaganda are certainly appealing to me.

Also I am sympathetic to Prior’s compelling duty to defend his country, England, when it is being attacked. Unleashing a verbal Crusade against the Jihad is definitely going to turn the entire Islamic world into our enemy. We should be very careful with words, so as not to offend millions of good people.

But we should not obscure the meaning of current events by fudging the history.

Dr. Pipes is right: "Jihad has historically meant, almost always one thing-which is expanding the territories ruled by Muslims through armed warfare." To claim otherwise will be a politically correct but meaningless assertion. The result of this sort of fudging in academia is that the American people were astonished by the September 11th attack. While the Middle Eastern study in the US was dominated by academics preoccupied by their personal jihads, the State Department came to believe its own propaganda.

PS

For a glimpse into the Middle Eastern academia, see http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/pal2.html.

The article, "Al Aqsa of God and the Prophets", is written by Sheikh Jamil Abdul Rahim Hamami, a lecturer at Al Quds University in Jerusalem.

That is the real world, not the world according to Harvard U.


Submitting....

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Reader comments (51) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Hathout's position on the word Jihad [169 words]L. H. EbrahimMay 25, 2005 16:5422421
Hate gets us no where [111 words]Melanie MayJan 20, 2003 08:015863
Jihad distortion [265 words]DemosthenesDec 5, 2002 20:194443
FIGHT FOR PEACE [44 words]SAJID.QADRISep 9, 2002 04:442355
Reflect on what you just said, sir. [142 words]Fizza AhmedApr 30, 2011 03:572355
Islam and islamic imperialism [60 words]dhimmi no moreMay 1, 2011 06:322355
re: Quranic Verses [235 words]EdSep 7, 2002 12:022329
Hey Ed You hav a nice way of misrepresenting the message of Holy Quran [303 words]tariqJan 1, 2006 14:022329
Doublespeak [13 words]Melvin A. FechterJun 17, 2002 22:14827
About claim of Pipes casting aspersion on credentials [77 words]lila imasJun 14, 2002 05:26768
Parallel from India [139 words]Bhuvan ChaturvediJun 12, 2002 02:58694
Some consistency needed [150 words]Irfan KhawajaJun 11, 2002 12:53669
Reply to M. Hanna: "Dr Hathout's lies" [166 words]Arthur HutchinsonJun 9, 2002 15:46616
Jjihad in theory or jihad in practice? [46 words]ScotJun 8, 2002 17:29611
Spiritual Jihad [52 words]Albert SouedJun 8, 2002 10:02608
DrPipes is defending Israel more than the Israeli PM is [212 words]Jeff BercovitchJun 8, 2002 08:38607
No to Crusade! No to Jihad! --- Yes to liberty! [220 words]Yehudit HirschJun 8, 2002 03:10606
Turkey's Jihad [104 words]Gerald GerjekianJun 8, 2002 00:13605
Old World Thinking [390 words]John HadjiskyJun 7, 2002 23:58604
Go Tell it to the Jihadists [143 words]FigJun 7, 2002 22:45603
Muslims you are not my brothers [64 words]MuslimMar 31, 2007 17:13603
using the wrong name of jihad. [72 words]Abdul JalalFeb 25, 2009 01:28603
His Master's Voice [82 words]Abd El-Massih El MasryJun 7, 2002 21:04601
Whose Homeland? [301 words]Nick WiesenfeldJun 7, 2002 19:55600
The fight over meaning [232 words]Jamal KhanJun 7, 2002 18:30599
My "Crusade" [138 words]B KostynuikJun 7, 2002 11:59594
Listener's Ear [103 words]Carson KochJun 7, 2002 11:43593
Reply to M.Hanna: "Dr Hathout's lies" [162 words]William J. SturmJun 7, 2002 06:37590
Fairy Tales [92 words]Philip PlatcowJun 7, 2002 00:37587
Proper etiquette on "Nightline" [68 words]Irving D. CohenJun 7, 2002 00:07586
From the Meaning of Jihad to its Application [66 words]RG FultonJun 6, 2002 23:33585
Jihad by Moslems [84 words]F. ShawkiJun 6, 2002 23:08584
Quranic Verses? [23 words]C.D.Jun 6, 2002 22:55583
jihad at harvard [292 words]robert fusfeldJun 6, 2002 22:23582
YAY Daniel Pipes! Well said! (throwing hat up in air)!~ [269 words]Jen T StaysJun 6, 2002 18:48581
The earliest example of radical Islam / Jihad in America [166 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Howard HymanJun 6, 2002 17:35578
The Other Side of the Coin [42 words]D AllenJun 6, 2002 14:14575
Why the spite? [411 words]Amjad M. KhanJun 6, 2002 13:00574
Jihad and the Crusades [82 words]Harold RichmanJun 6, 2002 12:11572
I disagree with you on this one [716 words]Garry PriorJun 6, 2002 11:50570
All is Not Right in Cambridge [399 words]Sharon EpsonJun 6, 2002 11:26569
Radical Chic at Harvard [119 words]Laina Farhat-HolzmanJun 6, 2002 11:22568
Excellent Work [49 words]Mike SaweresJun 6, 2002 10:25567
Right on, Dr. Pipes! [27 words]Mildred MallekJun 6, 2002 10:21566
What is the truth of the matter? [96 words]Mark TylerJun 6, 2002 10:01565
No complaint from ACLU and Americans United For Separation of Church and State? [100 words]Debbie WallsJun 6, 2002 09:48564
Dr. Hathout's Lies [103 words]M HannaJun 6, 2002 09:26563
Hippocratic or Hypocritical [229 words]S. DingfelderJun 6, 2002 09:20562
The credentials of a cardiologist [198 words]Dr. Eric SchnipperJun 6, 2002 07:35559
The Poet Game [52 words]Stanley N. FuttermanJun 4, 2002 10:37537
Let's value and spread the common good - love, peace, and tolerance [72 words]ibn qamarOct 31, 2007 06:53537

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