The story is a bit more complicated

Submitted by Jonathan Weitsman (United States), Jun 3, 2005 at 15:36

I have not yet read the book. However, I believe there are important
exceptions even in modern times. For example, the hadith "afdal
ul-jihad kalimat 'adl fi hadrat sultan ja'iz" (the finest form of jihad
is a word of justice in the presence of a tyrant) is said to have been
often quoted by Musa Sadr, the founder of Amal in Lebanon. (The
hadith is not in Bukhari or Muslim but can be found in Ghazzali,
Ihyaa 'Ulum ad-Din, Kitab al-amr bil-ma'aruf wannahi 'an al-munkar,
chapter 4). I would have thought that this form of jihad fits in well
with Bernard Lewis' thesis about ideas in Islamic tradition that may be conducive
to democracy. I cannot resist adding that I am not aware of such a
saying in German or Japanese.

There is no doubt however that the term "jihad" when used by Hizbullah
or Islamic Jihad effectively terrorism---or that a type of bait-and-switch
is used by apologists for Islamists in an attempt to confuse what is a very
clear issue.

J.W.

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