On the term jihad
The root of the term jihad is j-h-d and means to make an effort, to strive, and to struggle. Ijtihad, a term that is central to Islamic legal discourse, is an eighth form verbal noun from the same root.
It refers to the effort, striving, and studiousness of a scholar to arrive at independent formulations of opinion concerning religious questions.[274] [275] [276] [277] [278] [279] If we examine the use of the term jihad in religious contexts (concerning Islamic duties for example), and in religious scripture (Qur’an and hadith)/'1 these efforts are always connected to God and the spiritual cause, as illustrated in the following example of a Qur’anic verse: “And strive for Allah with the striving due to him.,,i5 At the same time, in most cases there is also a warlike or conflictual aspect that accompanies personal efforts. The use of the term in the Qur’an is almost exclusively connected with this aspect, as is shown in the following verse: “The ones who have believed, emigrated and striven in the cause of Allah, with their wealth and their lives are greater in rank in the sight of Allah.”i6 The one leading a jihad, a mujahid, is someone who is committed to the cause of God, someone who seeks to undertake deeds that are deserving in religious terms, and such a person is valued more than one who stays at home: “Allah has preferred the mujtahidun those who strive for the cause of God/ on the path of God with their wealth and their lives over those who remain behind/ remain in the home, by degrees.”i?This combative aspect of jihad also dominates the legal texts and in the ha- dith compendia. Usually, classical legal and hadith-studies contain a separate chapter under the heading of jihad or siyar (singular, sira; in the sense of sunna, tradition, custom, way of conduct)/8 or jihad wa siyar (jihad and conduct),19 discussing the normative details of war.
These sections include questions raised in the just war discourse: What conditions must pertain in order to justify going to war, and to what factors must one pay attention during the conduct of war? On the whole, jihad is taken to compromise a legal category within sharia that cuts across schools of thought and belief and is understood to mean fighting against non-believers.20There have been numerous recent attempts, especially within the European diaspora, to strip jihad of its militant associations and motivations, promoting a translation of the term as committing oneself to the faith, that is, to Islam. If texts or history reveal cases in which the term comprises indisputably concrete warlike actions, these are presented as particular modes of this more general effort of self-improvement. The more important and more valuable jihad is proclaimed to be that against one’s own ego and against ‘the evil forces of the soul’.21 Scholars base this analysis on a disputed hadith wherein the prophet is supposed to have said, following a battle, “Good, this battle has been won. It is only the lesser Jihad, however, the greater Jihad lies ahead of us.”22 By greater jihad he allegedly meant the inner jihad, the mental battle and battling against one’s ego (jihad uZ-nα∕⅛).23
Surely, the meaning of terms and their use in varying contexts can change over time, for historical and other reasons. History bears out countless examples of terms with differing interpretations at varying points in time. The term tolerance (Latin: tolerantia), for example, today signifies a recognition of the Other, or at least putting up with them. In Antiquity however, the term denoted the endurance of pain, torture, misfortune, or military defeat. The same word was then claimed in scholasticism to express the toleration of sinful behaviour in order
their treatment of polytheists as the parties of war (ahl al-harb) and as parties to a contract (ahl al-'ahd).’ [al-Sarakhsi, al-Mabsut, 10/2].
19 The well-known hadith-collector Muslim, for example, chose for the chapter the title, kitab al-jihad wa al-sira (The Book of Jihad and Conduct), See Muslim b.
al-Hajjaj, al-Sahih, 5 vols. (Damascus: Dar ihya‘ al-kitab al-‘arabi, 1955), 3/1356.20 See ‘Abdallah bin Ahmad al-Qadiri, al-Jihad fi sabil Allah: Haqlqatuhu wa ghayatuhu, 2 vols. (Jeddah: Dar al-manara, 1992), 49.
21 Albrecht Noth, ‘Der Dschihad: Sich muhen fur Gott’, in Die Welten des Islam: Neunundzwan- zig Vorschldge, das Unvertraute zu verstehen, ed. Gernot Rotter (Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1993), 23.
22 Patrick Franke, ‘Ruckkehr des Heiligen Krieges? Moderne Dschihad-Theorien im modernen Islam’, in Religion und Gewalt: Der Islam nach dem 11. September, ed. A. Stanisavljevic and R. Zwengel (Potsdam: Mostar Friedensprojekt e.V., 2002), 48.
23 On this interpretation of jihad, see Muhammad Moghaddam, “Jihad” — nicht “Heiliger Krieg” (Hamburg: Islamisches Zentrum Hamburg, 1984).
to avoid greater evil. It was only during the sixteenth century in the context of religious conflicts within Christianity that the term gradually gained entry into European political and philosophical debates and took on the meaning of a peaceful acknowledgment and recognition of the worldviews and practices of others.[280] With the term jihad, however, the violent aspect is not only dominant in the context of the Qur’an and the classical legal and hadith literature. Contemporary use of the term is also generally understood to be associated with acts of war or violence that are, however, held to be favourable to the cause of Islam, and thus, meritorious and just.2[281] Expressions such as jihad al-nafs (in the sense of fighting against one’s inner ego) or jihad al-shaytan (in the sense of fighting the evil forces within one’s soul) do come up in classical legal literature?[282] At times they are also ascribed to the prophet?[283] These cases do not represent the dominant use of the term, however. Rather, the inner jihad, as Noth observes, is in all likelihood a later image derived from the concrete war-related jihad: to suppress the sinful desires of the soul requires strong effort and motivation in the same way as armed battle against a dangerous and tenacious enemy?[284]
There are two other Arabic terms that are used in the sense of ‘war’, namely harb and qital.
Both also appear in the Qur’an?[285] The roots of the nouns harb and qital, as also in the case of jihad, are used as active verbs in the third form with the meaning of battling or fighting. In terms of the roots of both words: in harb the root implies an aspect of fighting and war; in qital the aspect of killing and slaughter is inherent. This distinction is most clear in the expression qatιl al-harb (someone killed in war, a war victim, war dead). In the Qur’an also, the varying nuances in the meaning of the terms can be observed.[286] The apparent differentiation between jihad on the one hand, and harb or qital on the other indicates that jihad happens exclusively as a force for good, in the name of God (fl sabιl allah), while harb and qital can be carried out for God and for good (God)[287] [288] [289] [290] as well as against God and for evil (idols).32When the intended meaning is war in a general sense, then the terms harb or qital are used rather than jihad. If, however, within the warring context a war is being discussed that is legitimated by the cause of religion, and is by extension a justified war, then the term jihad is used. In the following section, the term is employed in this sense and examined via a selection of classical and modern legal works.