"Jihad" vs "Hirabah"

[TEA]

Heard an interesting article on the radio on the way home from work yesterday.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6406405

I think Douglas Streusand has a pretty good point with regards to using language to delegitimize terrorists. Even if you go with the somewhat innacurate translation of "jihad" as "holy war," I don't think it makes sense to call terrorists "holy warriors" on one hand, and then try and say that their actions and beliefs are a perversion of Islam on the other.

A couple of other links:

http://www.altmuslim.com/perm.php?id=613_0_26_0_C30

http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_301_350/hirabah_versus_jihad.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jihad

[Erik]

I heard this, too, and I like the idea of switching terms.

Finally, some vocab with some meaning behind it!

[Erik]

This is what I have been trying to get at, arguing that Islamist terrorists are the KKK or neo-Nazi version of Islam.

[Maro]

This is what I have been trying to get at, arguing that Islamist terrorists are the KKK or neo-Nazi version of Islam.

That's what most sensible people think.

[Erik]

That's what most sensible people think.
I wish/hope that's true.

[Maro]

I wish/hope that's true.

Indeed :wink2:

[AllanJGAnderson]

This is what I have been trying to get at, arguing that Islamist terrorists are the KKK or neo-Nazi version of Islam.
For the sake of playing Devil's advocate. If most Muslim people are against radicals and exremeists, why do they harbor them and not do all in their power to stop/capture/dispose of them. I understand that most Muslims in Muslim nations want to seperate themselves from the terrorists, but it seems that the only do in words. Why else would the terrorists even be able to function?

[Erik]

Great question, Allen. Quick answer (I should be working).

I believe it varies case-by-case. I wouldn't say that Muslims harbor terrorists. I would argue that in some cases there are communities that are more tolerant and that they make the rest of the people look bad.

I know that in Algeria, after the French were kicked out, the Islamists enjoyed a lot of respect at first but then turned into real bad guys. Many were from Egypt and Palestine. My mother-in-law was a school principal and when they hired Palestinian and Egyptian teachers (there was a huge shortage after the war) they brought attitude with them. This grew into an effective political group and they terrorized the rest of the Algerians in a way that would have horrified even Milosevich.

The population hated the terrorists (the Hirabah) passionately. My bro-in-law tells of a time he was taking the bus to elementary school and they passed decapitated heads on poles. So, the locals, despite hating the hirabah, were scared out of their gourds, as well.

The gov't had an insurgency mixed with an ideological movement (like our anti-communism purges during McCarthy's time) filtering its way through peoples' minds and into the gov't. Not easy to deal with, not easy to kick out, not easy to even identify as these people don't wear uniforms.

It's hard to identify which angry youth or which Mosque is criminal. Think of your own family and the mischief you, your kids, cousins, neighbors, etc., may have gotten into. Killing people is not the same as stealing candy bars, but the point is, that same nice kid you like to play baseball with may be doing other stuff you didn't realize.

Hard to tell who is a hirabah and even harder to do something about it without getting oneself or family killed.

Not a great post, sorry, but I've gotta go back to work now. More later.

[TEA]

Good answer, Erik. I was going to draw a parellel between the Hirabah and the VC in RVN, but I think your explanation is much better.

[AllanJGAnderson]

Indeed, food for thought