Jihad. Usually translated as “holy war” from Arabic, but is literally translated as “ones struggle, or strife”. Today in American society any common American would tell you that it is a Muslim’s practice of a war against infidels. In actuality a Muslim who doesn’t belong to a radical faction wouldn’t try to kill infidels based on religious doctrine. Extremists in religious factions have perverted the idea of Jihad. Despite scholarly translation, many extremists have used Jihad as a means to accomplish military goals. This controversial topic precedes modern politics, and almost was an invention of the crusades.
Crusade. Some dictionaries would have the definition “any war carried on under papal sanction”. Is this any different from a holy war? It isn’t, in fact, both “Jihad”(religious extremists definition) and Crusade reflect my definition of “warfare based of religious intentions”. The crusades were military campaigns sanctioned by the papacy to establish religious influence in the east. Once the armies of the first crusade arrived in Jerusalem they slaughtered everyone in the city. This massacre didn’t even exclude women or children. This event was considered justified to the crusading armies as invoking god’s will. Some eyewitness accounts claim the slaughter to be very brutal. No religion embraces such violence.
I cannot define the Qur’an’s definition of Jihad, I don’t think that the papacy’s crusades were just, but I do know that both can be considered evil tools in the hands of the religious extremists. Both of these words can almost be considered pious deceptions. To be promised religious salvation for violent military actions is contradictory. Almost all religions have a foundation of peace and tranquility. The crusades are just another example of how religion can be manipulated and used to start a war.
Sources:
Alfred J. Andrea. "Encyclopedia of the Crusades". Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2003
Helen Nicholson. "The Crusades". Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004
Corliss K. Slack. "Historical Dictionary of the Crusades". Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, 2003
2 comments:
Muslim's seem to have an interesting look on war. When I think of war, the last thing I think of is holy. It's interesting to see how other societies look at things differently. You seem to describe everything really well. I am not familiar with this topic, but am getting a good idea of what it's all about.
Tim,
This is great the way you connected the crusades with the idea of jihad. I didn’t think there was really much you could do to connect it to more modern ideas but you did it very well. Yet another interesting post!
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