The Quran does stipulate clearly that Muslims have to engage in a Jihad when
they are under attack, but the conditions for such a jihad are clearly laid out
and are strictly defined within certain ethical prerogatives. Muslims cannot
engage in conflict for the sake of mere territorial expansion for instance
(which brings into question the legal status of the early Arab conquests which
were motivated mainly by considerations of realpolitik). Muslims also cannot
engage in acts of terror and indiscriminate violence where civilians are
targeted. (In fact, numerous Muslim leaders like the early Caliphs even warned
their troops not to burn the fields of their enemies or kill their livestock). A
proper Jihad for the sake of self-defence was therefore a complicated and highly
regulated matter - and the rulers had to consult the jurists as well as their
own populations before such an enterprise was undertaken.
But Islam, it must be remembered, also happens to be a faith that does not
possess a clerical class or a supreme leader like the Pope. On the positive side
this lends the creed an egalitarian outlook which puts all Muslims on par with
each other. But on the negative side the absence of a centralised hierarchy also
means that the Muslim world is full of self-proclaimed 'leaders of the faith'
like the Taliban and their unwanted guest, Osama bin Laden.
It is this absence of a clerical order and the plasticity of religious discourse
that allows concepts like 'Jihad' to be hijacked by such self-appointed
defenders of orthodoxy. Coupled with this is the predicament of a Muslim world
that feels itself increasingly threatened and marginalised by the forces of
globalisation, leading to the defensive posture being adopted by many Muslim
leaders themselves.
'Jihad' has now been taken - by Muslims and non-Muslims alike - to refer to an
aggressive attitude that is rooted in a reactionary discourse of authenticity
and purity, giving it a militant edge that it did not possess. While it is true
that the international media has done some damage to the understanding of
'Jihad', it is also important for Muslims to realize that the term itself has
been used and abused by the very same people who have resorted to the use of
violence in their name.
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The task that lies before the Muslim community today is to reclaim the concept
of 'Jihad' and to invest it with other meanings different to those imposed by
the Mullahs and militants. Cognisant of the painful realities that stand before
the Muslim world at present, Muslim intellectuals must jump into the fray and
regain control of the discourse of Islam which has for too long been regarded as
the exclusive purview of the dogmatic Mullahs. We have to break down the rigid
pedagogical structures that have kept Islamic discourse in such a static mode by
by-passing traditional institutions of learning and indoctrination. Everything -
from the universities to the media - will have to be used as the new sites of
Islamic thought and education, in order for us to spread our message across to
the wider public.
Muslim intellectuals need to show that our struggle in the present-day has more
to do with striving for economic development, modernisation and the creation of
civil society. Rather than thinking of 'Jihad' in exclusive and defensive terms,
we need to redefine the concept in proactive terms that link it to the actual
economic, social and cultural needs of the Muslims of today. 'Jihad', we need to
show, is useless unless it brings us closer to a more prosperous, liberal and
tolerant society where Muslims are at ease with themselves and the Other. For
liberal and progressive Muslims at least, this Jihad has only just begun.
Dr. Farish A. Noor is a
Malaysian political scientist and human rights activist. He has taught at the
Centre for Civilisational Dialogue, University of Malaya and the Institute for
Islamic Studies, Frie University of Berlin. He is currently associate fellow at
the Institute for Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), Malaysia.
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