What is Jihad?
Toward a Theory of Jihad in Political Discourse
Summary
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Table of Contents
- Chapter 1 The relation of the original meaning of Jihad with the rich image of journey
- 1. Verses where the original meaning of Jihad, is more salient
- 2. Verses where the contextual meaning of Jihad, is more salient
- Chapter 2 The conceptual network of Jihad
- 1. Frames of religion and journey
- 1.1. The frame of religion in Qur’an
- 1.2. The frame of journey
- 2. The blending operation and its realizations
- 2.1. Religion is a journey: The nest of Jihad
- 2.2. Connection of Jihad with Qur’anic lexical network: The expansion of Jihad
- 2.3. Religion is balance: Jihad as a component of a schematic projection
- Chapter 3 Jihad between theory and tradition: Compatibility or opposition
- 1. Presentation of the main conceptual metaphors found in Obama’s discourse
- 1.1. The projection of the journey’s frame
- Politics is a journey
- War is a journey
- 1.2. The projection of the commerce’s frame
- Politics is a commerce
- War is a commerce
- 1.3. The projection of the balance schema
- Politics is balance
- War is balance
- 2. Illustration of the conceptual blending network that is behind Obama’s discourse
- 3. A comparison between Jihad’s network in Qur’an, and war’s network in political discourse
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter 1 The relation of the original meaning of Jihad with the rich image of journey
All utterances where Jihad is mentioned in Qur’an (concordance book of Qur’an. pp.182–183), show two major meanings of Jihad: the first, is the literal meaning, the second is the contextual meaning. And, while the first one represents the original meaning that relates Jihad with the frame of journey, the second one is the cultural meaning that relates Jihad with the tradition of war.
And, here are the verses realizing both kinds of meanings: each verse will be followed by my own translation to its explanation as cited in the Arabic book التحرير والتنوير “Liberation and enlightnment” by the exegetist Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur
1. Verses where the original meaning of Jihad, is more salient
The original meaning of Jihad is related to the frame of journey; literally “Jihad means making very big effort to walk in the way leading to one’s target, and the translation of this term into English, may reflect the same meaning: “to strive is to try very hard to do or get something: to strive for perfection”. In the following verses, Qur’an uses the term “jihad” in its original meaning, and this use, as we will notice, evokes other terms related to journey, such as “way”, “right”, and guidance.
53. And those who believe will say: “Are these the men who swore their strongest oaths by Allah, that they were with you?” All that they do will be in vain, and they will fall into (nothing but) ruin. (Maida).
The expression “strongest oaths” is expressed in Arabic by a term derived from the same root of Jihad, which is “Jahd” "جهد أيمانهم", and we find in the explanation that Ibn Achour provides for this term, a tight relation with the travel frame: “the “jahd” of oaths is the strongest and firmest ones, and “jahd” in its literal meaning, is tiredness and hardship and the extreme energy (..) and I have never noticed such a use of the word “jahd” before Qur’an.” (Liberation and Enlightenment. التحر ير و التنوير Vol.4. p. 233.).
19. Do ye make the giving of drink to pilgrims, or the maintenance of the Sacred Mosque, equal to [the pious service of] those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and strive with might and main in the way of Allah? They are not comparable in the sight of Allah: and Allah guides not those who do wrong(Tauba).
6. And if any strive [with might and main], they do so for their own souls: for Allah is free of all needs from all creation. The Spider.
Details
- Pages
- 76
- Year
- 2023
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783631898307
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9783631898314
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9783631896839
- DOI
- 10.3726/b20633
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2023 (July)
- Keywords
- Jihad religion Islam
- Published
- Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2023. 76 pp., 8 fig. b/w, 1 tables.
