Islamic jihad: concepts, history, and interpretations

Islamic Jihad and Homeland Security

The United States of America is recognized as the world's only superpower. There is no other country, which can match its military might. The United States of America's history changed forever after the events of September 11, 2001. Two aircraft crashed into the world trade center in New York 3000 Americans were killed in the 9-11 attacks. No one expected an event of such a huge scale to take place in the United States of America.

This event stunned the entire world. America declared a war on terrorism and declared several measures to safeguard the country from further terrorist attacks. The FBI had warned the president and his national security advisor about potential attacks. However the president and his NSA didn't take any action. A homeland security department was created to safeguard the American public from further attacks. All these attacks have been blamed on Islamic militants seeking jihad.

There can be many reasons why America was the target of a terrorist attack. America is known as the world's policeman. They have the power to influence countries around the world. There have been some policies, which have infuriated people of certain nations. People from the Arab countries are one of the bitterest opponents of biased American policies. A lot Arab countries oppose United States for supporting Israel. One of the main reasons is the occupation of Palestine by the Israeli army. Countries such as Iraq, Sudan Iran, Libya, and Syria were declared terrorist states. These moves didn't win them any fans. The U.S. supported the mujahideen during the afghan war. They supplied them with weapons and all sorts of logistic support during the afghan war. However the U.S. abandoned them soon after they won the war. This led to a lot of bitterness amongst the mujahideen who felt that the Americans did not care about their problem anymore. British and American jets bombed people in Iraq. Thousands of lives were lost due to those attacks. The United States has a very biased foreign policy, which has led it to the target of terrorist attacks.

These events led to the phenomenon of Islamic extremism. Muslims who were infuriated by the policies of the United States of America took this action. Therefore they declared a holy war or "Jihad" against the United States of America. Jihad is basically derived from the word "jahd" which means exertion or power. A "mujahida" is the exertion of power in repelling an enemy. Jihad can be done against a visible enemy or against the devil. There is a great misconception which links jihad with war. Islam is a religion of peace. Jihad is only done when one's homeland is under attack from the enemy. Then they have the right to defend themselves. However jihad does not mean the killing of innocent people. This is not the true meaning of jihad.

The United States of America fears more attacks from Islamic extremists belong to terrorist organizations such as al qaeda. The homeland department has issued a colored warning system, which can warn citizens of an impending attack. If the threat of an attack is high, the color is changed. The greater the intensity is the higher the color. This is one reason why security has been drastically increased at all points of entry across the country. There is a general misconception that all Muslims are terrorists and can strike the United States of America. This is not entirely true. There may be a small number of terrorists who are Muslim. One should not identify a terrorist by his religion. They should be tagged for the cause they stand for and not by their religion.

The United States has invited further fury when it started profiling all Muslim citizens (male) and all foreign Muslim visitors. This gives the impression that the United States believes that all terrorists are Muslims.

According to Robert Marquand, (Christian Science Monitor2001) The clerics of the 21st century tend to look at Islam through the lens of a violent jihad. They tend to forget the true meaning of jihad in the Islamic point-of-view. Muslim scholars feel that the western media uses "jihad" as a term to show Islam in a negative point-of-view.