Islam comes from the root word ‘salaam’, which means peace. It also means submitting one’s will to Allah (swt). Thus Islam is a religion of peace, which is acquired by submitting one’s will to the will of the Supreme Creator, Allah (swt).
a. One of the greatest misconceptions about Islam, not only amongst the non-Muslims but even amongst the Muslims, is that concerning the concept of Jihad. Non-Muslims as well as Muslims think that any war fought by any Muslim for whatever purpose, be it good or bad, is Jihad.
‘Jihad’ is an Arabic word derived from ‘Jahada’, which means to strive or to struggle. For example. if a student strives to pass in the examination he is doing jihad.
In the Islamic context, ‘Jihad’ means to strive against one’s own evil inclination. It also means to strive to make the society better. It also includes the right to fight in self-defence or to fight in the battlefield against oppression and against aggression.
1. Jihad is not holy war
Not only non-Muslim scholars, but even some Muslim scholars mistranslate the word ‘Jihad’ as holy war. The Arabic word for ‘holy war’ is ‘harabum muqaddasah’ and this word is not to be found anywhere in the Qur’an or in any hadith. The word ‘holy war’ was first used to describe the crusades of the Christians who killed thousands of people in the name of Christianity. Today, this term ‘holy war’ is used to falsely describe Jihad, which me
