Hiraba, Not "Jihad"
Jul. 8th, 2005 05:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
libertangoIn response to the London bombings, I've been seeing the word "jihadists" a lot.
This reminds me of a commentary I heard on NPR, back in January, by Anisa Mehdi, a television producer. (Note: the NPR link goes to a front page for an audio file, with your choice of Windows Media or Real Player. You can also read a more fully fleshed out version of Ms. Mehdi's thoughts, with many phrases that later went into the NPR commentary.)
Here are some key quotes (from various places in the text, though I'll stay sequential):
"As a Muslim of Arab descent, I feel the wrath of one particularly abused word every day: jihad.
For me growing up, "jihad" was a beautiful word. Jihad was the effort you made to do your best in school; your struggle to polish the talents God gave you; how you strived to live up to your parents' and your own highest expectations; to lead a life acceptable to the Almighty.
So, people flying planes into buildings, beheading hostages in Iraq and fomenting hatred against people of other religions -- that's not jihad!
According to the Qur'an, the holy text of Islam, the Almighty does not reward the murder of innocent people. Nor does the Creator condone suicide -- as in suicide bombings. Terrorism is sociopathic. In secular terms, it is criminal behavior. In religious terms, it is blasphemy to claim cold-blooded murder in the name of God. It is not jihad.
*^*^*
There is an Arabic word for these crimes against individuals and crimes against humanity, and the word is "hiraba." War against society.
There is nothing "holy" about war. There is no jihad in terrorism. Only hiraba.
Think of the disincentive to young, hungry, cynical Muslims -- angry at their own governments and angry at ours for bolstering theirs. If they heard "hiraba" instead of "jihad," if they heard "murder" instead of "martyr," if they heard they were bound for hell not heaven, they might not be so quick to sign up to kill themselves and a handful of so-called "infidels" along the way.
Someday, I hope, "jihad" will find its way back into our lexicon, used properly, in sentences like "she's on a jihad to achieve the American dream."
*^*^*
So I, for one, will try to stick to referring to "hiraba" and "hirabists".
War against society, indeed.
=================================
UPDATE: You'll also find the word romanized as "harabah", as in this post, "Bin Laden's Fatwa: A Call to Harabah".
This reminds me of T.E. Lawrence's correspondence to his editor, regarding spelling of Arabic words in Revolt In the Desert:
Q. Jedha, the she-camel, was Jedhah on Slip 40.
A. She was a splendid beast.
This reminds me of a commentary I heard on NPR, back in January, by Anisa Mehdi, a television producer. (Note: the NPR link goes to a front page for an audio file, with your choice of Windows Media or Real Player. You can also read a more fully fleshed out version of Ms. Mehdi's thoughts, with many phrases that later went into the NPR commentary.)
Here are some key quotes (from various places in the text, though I'll stay sequential):
"As a Muslim of Arab descent, I feel the wrath of one particularly abused word every day: jihad.
For me growing up, "jihad" was a beautiful word. Jihad was the effort you made to do your best in school; your struggle to polish the talents God gave you; how you strived to live up to your parents' and your own highest expectations; to lead a life acceptable to the Almighty.
So, people flying planes into buildings, beheading hostages in Iraq and fomenting hatred against people of other religions -- that's not jihad!
According to the Qur'an, the holy text of Islam, the Almighty does not reward the murder of innocent people. Nor does the Creator condone suicide -- as in suicide bombings. Terrorism is sociopathic. In secular terms, it is criminal behavior. In religious terms, it is blasphemy to claim cold-blooded murder in the name of God. It is not jihad.
*^*^*
There is an Arabic word for these crimes against individuals and crimes against humanity, and the word is "hiraba." War against society.
There is nothing "holy" about war. There is no jihad in terrorism. Only hiraba.
Think of the disincentive to young, hungry, cynical Muslims -- angry at their own governments and angry at ours for bolstering theirs. If they heard "hiraba" instead of "jihad," if they heard "murder" instead of "martyr," if they heard they were bound for hell not heaven, they might not be so quick to sign up to kill themselves and a handful of so-called "infidels" along the way.
Someday, I hope, "jihad" will find its way back into our lexicon, used properly, in sentences like "she's on a jihad to achieve the American dream."
*^*^*
So I, for one, will try to stick to referring to "hiraba" and "hirabists".
War against society, indeed.
=================================
UPDATE: You'll also find the word romanized as "harabah", as in this post, "Bin Laden's Fatwa: A Call to Harabah".
This reminds me of T.E. Lawrence's correspondence to his editor, regarding spelling of Arabic words in Revolt In the Desert:
Q. Jedha, the she-camel, was Jedhah on Slip 40.
A. She was a splendid beast.
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no subject
Date: 2005-07-09 12:29 am (UTC)for myself, I have been thinking that the actions of terrorists is much like that of despair schoolchildren shooting up their classmates, on a much larger and more scary scale.
Reframe, and rehang
Date: 2005-07-09 01:32 am (UTC)This is one of those times where persistence has a chance to win out over intelligence and compassion, yes. That doesn't mean that intelligent people should give up in the face of less intelligent persistence.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-09 03:54 am (UTC)The use of the word, to describe violent, external to the self, physical struggle is at least as old as the Crusades.
More to the point, the Qu'ran does allow for this sort of thing, against those who, "kill people or destroy the public order," (I am paraphrasing from something I heard on NPR today, as well as from my memory. I wish I knew where to look, in my copy of the Qu'ran, for a more accurate quotation) which is the justification.
Is it just? No, the people in London, or New York, or Madrid, or Jakarta, are not to blame, specifically, for the things going on in Iraq. The Qu'ran does not condone the killing of innocents to avenge the deeds of the guilty.
But then again, we have the Millenialists, so it isn't as if we don't have our own nuts to try and crack too.
I appreciate the difference you are trying to make, I'm just not certain it's a valid distinction.
TK