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jihad - Khadijah Mosque

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Jihadalready, with the words “terrorist” and Arabvirtually synonymous in our media. It wasn’tfair that an attack on the military should becalled terrorism just because Arabs committedit. Eventually the script line was changed to“surprise attack.” But 20 years later not muchelse has changed. Except now we abuse evenmore words, foreign words, that we don’tunderstand.As a Muslim of Arab descent, I feel the wrathof one particularly abused word every day: <strong>jihad</strong>.News reports about “<strong>jihad</strong>” or “holy war,” bearthe unspoken insinuation that because of mybackground I am connected with the terrorismthat abounds; that my way of worshipping Godis a threat to our national security; that it’s okayto go after others with my background — beforethey come after us. So let me clarify. I’m not. Itisn’t. And it’s not okay. For me growing up,“<strong>jihad</strong>” was a beautiful word. Jihad was the effortyou made to do your best in school; yourstruggle to polish the talents God gave you;how you strived to live up to your parents andyour own highest expectations; to lead a lifeacceptable to the Almighty.Someday, I hope, “<strong>jihad</strong>” willfind its way back into ourlexicon, used properly, insentences like “she’s on a<strong>jihad</strong> to achieve theAmerican dream.”In the meantime, peoplelike me, performing <strong>jihad</strong> inour own ways — beingpatient with our kids,volunteering in ourcommunities, practising ourprofessions to the best ofour abilities, can walk freeof guilt by association withthose engaged in hiraba.So, people flying planes into buildings,beheading hostages in Iraq and fomentinghatred against people of other religions — that’snot <strong>jihad</strong>!According to the Quran, the holy text of Islam,the Almighty does not reward the murder ofinnocent people. Nor does the Creator condonesuicide — as in suicide bombings. Terrorism issociopathic. In secular terms, it is criminalbehavior. In religious terms, it is blasphemy toclaim cold-blooded murder in the name of God.It is not <strong>jihad</strong>.What’s a journalist to do? The good news iswe can call a spade a spade. There is an Arabicword for these crimes against individuals andcrimes against humanity, and the word is“hiraba.” War against society.People who are following God or practising<strong>jihad</strong> do not join war against society. Terroristsserve Satan, if anything. They are bad people,criminals in a secular sense and blasphemersin the sacred. Just because they think they’reon God’s side doesn’t mean the American mediaand our government PR folks need to concur!But by parroting their misuse of the word“<strong>jihad</strong>,” that’s just what we’re doing.There is nothing “holy” about war. There isno <strong>jihad</strong> in terrorism. Only hiraba.So what happens if we call a spade a spade?Think of the disincentive to young, hungry,cynical Muslims — angry at their owngovernments and angry at ours for bolsteringtheirs. If they heard “hiraba” instead of “<strong>jihad</strong>,”if they heard “murder” instead of “martyr,” ifthey heard they were bound for hell not heaven,they might not be so quick to sign up to killthemselves and a handful of so-called “infidels”along the way.We know words are powerful. After all, weattacked Iraq for a mere acronym: WMD. Sothose of us concerned with accuracy shoulduse our mightier-than- the-sword pens andkeyboards and get the word “hiraba” out there.Someday, I hope, “<strong>jihad</strong>” will find its way backinto our lexicon, used properly, in sentenceslike “she’s on a <strong>jihad</strong> to achieve the Americandream.”In the meantime, people like me, performing<strong>jihad</strong> in our own ways — being patient with ourkids, volunteering in our communities,practising our professions to the best of ourabilities, can walk free of guilt by associationwith those engaged in hiraba.Masjid <strong>Khadijah</strong> 61

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