Jihad

• “Be forgiving and control yourself in the face of provocation; give justice to the person who was unfair and unjust to you; give to the one who did not help you when you were in need, and keep fellowship with the one who did not care about you.”
• Jihad translates simply as the word struggle or strive
• “The person who struggles so that Allah’s Word is supreme is the one serving Allah’s cause” (hadith)
• “The believers are only those who … struggled hard with their riches and their persons in the cause of Allah.”
• This could include the struggle to: 

  • Fast during Ramadhan

  • Wear the Hijab if there is peer pressure not to

  • Complete the 5 daily prayers

  • Raise money to attend Hajj

  • Forgive someone when they have hurt you

  • Struggle to overcome selfishness, greed, lust etc
• Lesser Jihad refers to the struggles of a whole Islamic community i.e. when a whole community are facing a struggle to continue to practice their faith.  It is often linked to Holy War as when Muhammed* returned from battle he said:

  “We are finished with the lesser jihad; now we are starting the greater jihad.” (Hadith)
• Lesser jihad is concerned with battling for the faith of an entire Islamic community.
•  When a government introduces a law which affects peoples’ ability to practice their faith i.e. in France no one is allowed to cover their faces in public which may affect women who wish to wear the full face veil as part of their religious beliefs
•  Or if a country tells its people they can’t practice their faith i.e. not allowing mosques to be built

  Holy wars fall under Lesser Jihad, but remember Holy Wars have to follow a strict set of criteria which were set out by Abu Bakr; therefore terrorism should not be linked to jihad as this is not the correct use of the term.  Holy Wars are always a last resort as even Muhammed* left Mecca when his religion was at risk; he only fought back when the Meccans followed him and attacked first i.e. retaliation to protect his people.