Tuesday, October 7, 2008

What Does Quran say on Jihad !!


I was going through one of the writings of Mr Asghar Ali Engineer about most discussed topic JIHAD. I found it very interesting and so like to share few interesting points. 1. Jihad does not mean war in Quran as there are other words for it like qital and harb.
2. Jihad has been used in the Quran in its root meaning i.e. to strive and to strive for betterment of society, to spread goodness (maruf) and contain evil (munkar).
3. The word Jihad occurs in the Quran 41 times though not a single verse uses it in the sense of war.
4. There are four most fundamental values in the Quran i.e. justice, benevolence, compassion and wisdom. The words compassion and mercy in their various forms occur in the Quran 335 times as against only 41 for Jihad.
5. There is no word like Jihadi in the Arabic Language. It is infact 'Mujahid' and it is used in a laudatory sense-one who devotes himself to a good cause like fighting against social evils.
The Prophet said that the " ink of a scholar is superior to the blood of the martyr" !!