Jihad is not what you think it is

[A Vestigial Mote]

Anyone who have studied the scriptures and have cultivated their mind toward no harm, no ill will toward others will know that to harm others in any religious name is indeed a very evil deed. It is not Islam or Christianity or Catholic teaching that is wrong or evil, it is the man/woman who execute the wrong deed that is evil, so if you take all religion and say they are evil because some people misunderstood the teaching as going to war against other beliefs/religion then it is evidence of lack of understanding of the teaching.

But you cannot, in any way, discount the effect of the teachers who were also deluded enough to inform their followers that to do these evil deeds in service of God was a great and profoundly righteous thing. Those teachers are a part of "religion." Others can denounce them all they want... fine... I get it. But in the end, the ideas they were fed about God backing them up and being in their corner are very likely at least partially responsible for the rise of their arrogance, and presumption that their actions were "right" in the first place. The individual took the steps, true... but religion was the key to the door they walked through.

 

[sooda]

but it's not ok.....taking the belief and thrusting that upon your fellowman

I would agree.....the enemy is within

good luck....if you have demons to slay

Has any Muslim thrust his belief on you?
I lived around them for a couple of decades and I never knew any American who had Islam forced on them.

 

[Spirit of Light]

But you cannot, in any way, discount the effect of the teachers who were also deluded enough to inform their followers that to do these evil deeds in service of God was a great and profoundly righteous thing. Those teachers are a part of "religion." Others can denounce them all they want... fine... I get it. But in the end, the ideas they were fed about God backing them up and being in their corner are very likely at least partially responsible for the rise of their arrogance, and presumption that their actions were "right" in the first place. The individual took the steps, true... but religion was the key to the door they walked through.

An enlighten teacher would not give a false teaching or a evil path, because what the spiritual teacher/Buddha do is to give a path that let the student become enlighten too.

I have not seen the original teaching of islam except for what the quran teaches, But i am sure anything that has to do with war is not about killing others, but killing once own ego and attachments. But in time it can have been mistranslated

 

[Thief]

Has any Muslim thrust his belief on you?
I lived around them for a couple of decades and I never knew any American who had Islam forced on them.

lucky me......I have distance

but sometime back someone posted a side effect of belief

a woman was accused and beheaded
a man dressed in a white tunic
drug her out into the street and used a sword to cut her head off

the police were present
not action on their part

if they do so among their own...........................................

 

[sooda]

lucky me......I have distance

but sometime back someone posted a side effect of belief

a woman was accused and beheaded
a man dressed in a white tunic
drug her out into the street and used a sword to cut her head off

the police were present
not action on their part

if they do so among their own...........................................

Good grief.. Where do you live?

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

An enlighten teacher would not give a false teaching or a evil path, because what the spiritual teacher/Buddha do is to give a path that let the student become enlighten too.

I have not seen the original teaching of islam except for what the quran teaches, But i am sure anything that has to do with war is not about killing others, but killing once own ego and attachments. But in time it can have been mistranslated

Not all teachers are "enlightened" (whatever you think this means - it appears you think it is something positive, that makes a person "good" - so we'll go with that). Just like any profession - you have those that are true professionals, and you have those who are faking it, or who do a poor job. This is the same in religion. You have pastors/imams who use the particularly good bits of The Bible/Quran to promote peace and goodwill... and you have pastors/imams who use the particularly bad bits of The Bible/Quran to promote difference and an "us versus them" mentality.

Think Westboro Baptist Church as an obvious example. Again - people can tell others all they want that what they practice is not "true Christianity" - but that is irrelevant. They are able to utilize the make-believe in The Bible to do what they want to get done - and they do it in the name of "belief" and yes, "religion." And if anyone else wants to hold on to their own brand of make-believe they can't very well go disbanding and outlawing anyone else's make-believe, now can they?

 

[Brickjectivity]

Unless someone just learned about Islam last week, they know.... or should know.. that jihad is the spiritual struggle to submit to the will of God. To be obedient to God's will. That's not so different than Christianity or Judaism.

It appears that is up to the scholars and politicians to decide. Also can it not be interpreted as the struggle to put aside one's personal thoughts and opinions in order to wholly swallow the opinions of one's Imam? I don't think Muslims are that much different from church goers, and the preachers have a lot of clout when it comes to interpreting. They can send you to war, or they can discourage you from going.

 

[sooda]

It appears that is up to the scholars and politicians to decide. Also can it not be interpreted as the struggle to put aside one's personal thoughts and opinions in order to wholly swallow the opinions of one's Imam? I don't think Muslims are that much different from church goers, and the preachers have a lot of clout when it comes to interpreting. They can send you to war, or they can discourage you from going.

If a preacher is a birdbrain, you can ignore him or walk out. I have. Same with Muslims although I think Shia are taught that Mullahs are infallible.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Not all teachers are "enlightened" (whatever you think this means - it appears you think it is something positive, that makes a person "good" - so we'll go with that). Just like any profession - you have those that are true professionals, and you have those who are faking it, or who do a poor job. This is the same in religion. You have pastors/imams who use the particularly good bits of The Bible/Quran to promote peace and goodwill... and you have pastors/imams who use the particularly bad bits of The Bible/Quran to promote difference and an "us versus them" mentality.

Think Westboro Baptist Church as an obvious example. Again - people can tell others all they want that what they practice is not "true Christianity" - but that is irrelevant. They are able to utilize the make-believe in The Bible to do what they want to get done - and they do it in the name of "belief" and yes, "religion." And if anyone else wants to hold on to their own brand of make-believe they can't very well go disbanding and outlawing anyone else's make-believe, now can they?

A spiritual path is a very personal path, and the enlighten teachers i talk about is Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, lao tzu and so on. And as you say many priests and pastors, monks and other spiritual teachers of today are not enlighten beings, and this make it very difficult from time to time to hear true teaching. But 99% of the spiritual path is within the mind. to develop the mind to see the truth as it actually is, and not thru delution and false view.

And since you asked Enlightenment means blowing out, directly translated ( from buddhist teaching) Blowing out th samsara or cycle of rebirth.

 

[sealchan]

It's not up to me to decide how other people should interpret their scriptures. What I can say though is how Muslims in the past interpreted it.

What happened in the past does not necessitate the same happening in the future as the world is a very different place, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.

To say 'internal struggle' has always been the predominant interpretation of the word jihad is simply untrue. IIRC, it developed later in Sufi traditions (although I'm not 100% on this).

As for Christianities' many past sins (indulgences, crusades, etc), so for Islam I suppose. Morality changes, even progresses over the years in a culture that grows in its economic power and individual freedoms and responsibilities. Unfortunately it seems that many Islamic nations are struggling with their political development. But with such things as the Arab Spring perhaps that struggle is proceeding. I've heard of various personal freedoms emerging in some predominantly Islamic nations.

 

[Shantanu]

I hope this topic is not going to offend anyone, but it is an important part of the understanding of Islam.

As soon as a person bring up the Arabic word Jihad it is seen as something very evil, But do you really know the true meaning behind the word?

It is not as bad as you think, because it does not mean Holy war only, And the war part is the very last thing in this, and it is only as defence.

In Arabic the Word Jihad means struggle or spiritual struggle, it actually is meant as a word for the internal struggle each muslim go thru in their practice. Not a call for war on everyone who is not a muslim.

So what we call terrorists today, has nothing to do with islam, because they dont understand even the most simple verse they clame to be in war for.

That is interesting: I did not know that one has to struggle for spirituality: what is the meaning of mujahideen?

 

[icehorse]

The Jihad we know today is what we see in terrorists who use the word Islam wrong too, Terrorists are not muslims they can only be terrorists because they do not follow the rightroues path in Islam, and yes those who do harm to others can not be called religious.

I think you're setting up a false dilemma here. It appears that you're saying that jihad can mean only one of two things: inner struggle OR terrorism. Clearly there are other meanings in between these two extremes.

 

[sooda]

As for Christianities' many past sins (indulgences, crusades, etc), so for Islam I suppose. Morality changes, even progresses over the years in a culture that grows in its economic power and individual freedoms and responsibilities. Unfortunately it seems that many Islamic nations are struggling with their political development. But with such things as the Arab Spring perhaps that struggle is proceeding. I've heard of various personal freedoms emerging in some predominantly Islamic nations.

Look at the Arab Spring.. Gaddafi was a terrible leader who threw out the Idris constitution, nearly killed the Libyan oil business and was a prancing peacock on the world stage. Mubarak stayed way too long and promoted corruption especially if he benefitted.. Assad is a butcher just like his father who simply squashed the life out of the Syrian people..

 

[Spirit of Light]

That is interesting: I did not know that one has to struggle for spirituality: what is the meaning of mujahideen?

In its broadest sense, those Muslims who proclaim themselves warriors for the faith is called mujahideens, But again worrior in this sense means those who cultivate the teaching, as far as my knowledge go about this topic

 

[Ellen Brown]

I hope this topic is not going to offend anyone, but it is an important part of the understanding of Islam.

As soon as a person bring up the Arabic word Jihad it is seen as something very evil, But do you really know the true meaning behind the word?

It is not as bad as you think, because it does not mean Holy war only, And the war part is the very last thing in this, and it is only as defence.

In Arabic the Word Jihad means struggle or spiritual struggle, it actually is meant as a word for the internal struggle each muslim go thru in their practice. Not a call for war on everyone who is not a muslim.

So what we call terrorists today, has nothing to do with islam, because they dont understand even the most simple verse they clame to be in war for.

Muslims I know would say that the terrorists do not pray, and have no Qurans, therefore are not Muslims.

 

[Spirit of Light]

I think you're setting up a false dilemma here. It appears that you're saying that jihad can mean only one of two things: inner struggle OR terrorism. Clearly there are other meanings in between these two extremes.

Jihad do means more then two things that is true, but in the OP it is meant to explain that Jihad is not physical war as in terrorism as we see it today, it is a fight within our self to become true to the teaching,

 

[Shantanu]

Jihad do means more then two things that is true, but in the OP it is meant to explain that Jihad is not physical war as in terrorism as we see it today, it is a fight within our self to become true to the teaching,

Are there also Buddhist jihadists?

 

[Spirit of Light]

Are there also Buddhist jihadists?

Buddhist who cultiavate the dhamma is called cultivators of dhamma, and should never use any force upon others, only seek within

 

[Shantanu]

Buddhist who cultiavate the dhamma is called cultivators of dhamma, and should never use any force upon others, only seek within

I understand.

 

[oldbadger]

I hope this topic is not going to offend anyone, but it is an important part of the understanding of Islam.

As soon as a person bring up the Arabic word Jihad it is seen as something very evil, But do you really know the true meaning behind the word?

It is not as bad as you think, because it does not mean Holy war only, And the war part is the very last thing in this, and it is only as defence.

In Arabic the Word Jihad means struggle or spiritual struggle, it actually is meant as a word for the internal struggle each muslim go thru in their practice. Not a call for war on everyone who is not a muslim.

So what we call terrorists today, has nothing to do with islam, because they dont understand even the most simple verse they clame to be in war for.

It's important to be up-to-date and in-the-right-place if you want to stay in touch with folks and communicate accurately and well. If you don't then you can lose touch, and sometimes it's important for safety and peace to communicate quickly and clearly.

Around here the word 'Jihad' means trouble in varying degrees from terrorism to outright war. It can even mean 'domination through sexual activity' or something very close to that.

And so if you were to tell our media here how wrong it is, and what the word 'Jihad' meant before Chaucer was born (or whenever) you wouldn't get much attention, because your point could only cause confusion.

Languages move in meaning, and in fashions.......... at this time a group of our local kids (that's children to you, and not very young lambs) might describe a powerful car zooming past them as 'Well sick!', meaning 'Fantastic', but to you both 'well-sick' and 'fantastic' have different meanings, I mean that powerful car was not a fantasy.

Keep in touch with the 'Now' wherever you happen to be.