Jihad :
Principles of Leadership in War and Peace,
New,
*[A5+] Glossy Paperback - 135 pages,
by Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani,
Published by I.S.C.A.
Institute for Spiritual & Cultural Advancement.
Description :
Jihad is a term that has become universally known today. What is meant
by this word, which invokes frightening images of men in masks, wearing
suicide vests, brandishing automatic weapons in one hand while holding
the Holy Qur'an in the other.
Is
Jihad an ongoing war directed at
converting non-Muslims to Islam at the edge of the sword? Or is it an
ideological movement to establish an Islamic empire stretching from the
Far East to the Far West? From what we see in the nightly news, it
appears humanity is headed for the sort of clash of civilisations that
Samuel Huntington feared. In reality, this is no clash between Islam and
the West, or between Islam and Christianity. Were it the case, Muslims
would be attacking the Christian communities in their own nations. While
isolated conflicts along these lines occur, they have never been the
prime focus of the
Jihadist movement.
What we are witnessing instead is a
clash between people with power and those without. It is a conflict
rooted in the history of colonialism and perceptions of present-day
imperialism. It is a conflict in which religion is simply a means to an
end. We must recognise this if we are to understand the true nature of
the so-called "
Jihad" the militant Islamists invoke and its increasingly
global character.
In this book we would like to shed light on the
meaning of
Jihad in the traditional understanding of Islam. The concept
of "holy war" does not occur in the term
Jihad. Rather the meaning of
combative
Jihad expressed in Qur'an or
hadith is simply war. That said,
we will show in this presentation, that
Jihad in the classical sense
does not simply mean war.
In fact
Jihad is a comprehensive term which
traditionally has been defined as composed of fourteen different
aspects, only one of which involves warfare. We will also show that the
best thing Muslim moderates could do today to counter the
Jihadist
global strategy would be a "
Jihad" of charity and good works designed
for the rich Muslim nations to raise the standard of living of the poor
ones.
More books by the
Author,
Also see
Current Affairs.
*Dimensions : 22.2 x 15.2cm.
