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Lesser and Greater Jihad: Difference between revisions
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{{QualityScore|Lead=1|Structure=3|Content=4|Language=3|References=4}} | {{QualityScore|Lead=1|Structure=3|Content=4|Language=3|References=4}}Within the Islamic tradition, the word "jihad" or "struggle" has two specialized meanings: either a personal struggle of self-improvement and following the law of Allah, or as a military struggle or holy war to expand the domain of Islamic political control or to defend Islamic territories and believers from infidel aggressors. The former definition, though designated as the "greater jihad", in fact stems from the latter definition, which is the earlier, more primordial meaning of the word in Islamic religious literature. In fact, this "lesser jihad" seems to have been a fundamental aspect of religious devotion from the earliest times of the [[Believers' movement|believers' movement]], and the earliest material in the Islamic canon refers solely to this aspect of jihad. The former definition was highly influenced by Christian polemic against Islam, which cast it as a "religion of the sword" against the foible of Christianity as preached by Jesus as a religion of "turning the other cheek" to aggressors. | ||
==Claim== | ==Claim== | ||
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It is claimed that this "inner Jihad" essentially refers to all the struggles that a Muslim may go through, in adhering to the religion. For example, a scholarly study of Islam can be an intellectual struggle that some allegedly may refer to as "jihad." | It is claimed that this "inner Jihad" essentially refers to all the struggles that a Muslim may go through, in adhering to the religion. For example, a scholarly study of Islam can be an intellectual struggle that some allegedly may refer to as "jihad." | ||
Adam J. Silverstein, professor of Islamic studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, provides the following summary of the dispute:{{Quote|{{citation|title=Islamic History|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=73-74|author=Adam J. Silverstein|ISBN=978–0–19–954572–8}}|From the 9th and especially the 10th centuries, many Muslims – influenced by quietist trends (e.g. Twelver Shiites), by spiritual ones (Sufis), and by Christian attacks against Islam’s claim to be a religion of peace – came to divide ''jihad'' into two types. The first was what they termed the ‘lesser ''jihad''’, which is the familiar obligation to spread Islam at the expense of other religions, but which is only to be undertaken as a defensive measure. The second is the ‘greater ''jihad''’, a general obligation on all Muslims actively to ward off their own evil inclinations. Though this distinction was retroactively attributed to Muhammad himself, it is clear from the historical record that most rulers (and many Muslims) disagreed with such interpretations. The important point, though, is that they were there to be adopted by those who abhor even defensive violence, and – latterly – by Muslim apologists who claim that ''jihad'' has been defensive or an inner struggle all along.}} | |||
===Origins=== | ===Origins=== | ||