The media and law enforcement are asking the wrong questions about the San Bernadino terrorists. Here’s why they fight! Here’s why they kill. The media can’t report on a motive of the killers. Here’s the motive. Jihad! They and the administration should be questioning the motivation of an ideology that drove them to kill. Then we’ll have the answer.
Muslim spokespersons who have access to the news media are misleading the public about jihad.
The Council on American Muslim Relations (CAIR) says the following about jihad at the time this present article was posted:
“Jihad” does not mean “holy war.” Literally, jihad means to strive, struggle and exert effort. It is a central and broad Islamic concept that includes struggle against evil inclinations within oneself, struggle to improve the quality of life in society, struggle in the battlefield for self-defense (e.g., – having a standing army for national defense), or fighting against tyranny or oppression.
In reply, however, while it is true that a Muslim may wage jihad on the excess in his soul or on unbelief by non-violent means like argumentation, jihad must also include a military, violent war.
Also, the clauses that say that jihad means the struggle to improve “the quality of life” or the fight against “tyranny and oppression” are ambiguous. Islam expresses the will of Allah, and jihad battles anything that stands in its way.
By any clear reading of the Quran, the hadith (reports of Muhammad’s words and actions outside of the Quran), the histories, the biographies and the law books on early Islam, jihad cannot exclude military warfare in the cause of Allah in order to expand Islam.
Here is how jihad was done in early Islam.
The Quran
The Quran is the ultimate source for later legal opinions. It is considered completely reliable and inerrant. What does it say about jihad?
What is the purpose or goal of jihad?
A complicated policy like jihad can have multiple goals or purposes, but this one comes late in Muhammad’s life in Medina and best summarizes the goal and purpose. He wants to make Islam prevail over every religion.
Read more at: Jihad: The truth about the rules of Islamic warfare