Jihad: struggle or war?
Jihad is much abused term now. Jihad has been translated as 'Holy War' little realizing that it is oxymoronic. Muslims have long been arguing that 'jihad' also means struggle or striving and one such example of that usage I found in Surah Hajj, verse 78.
Beginning of the verse 78 reads:
وَجَـٰهِدُواْ فِى ٱللَّهِ حَقَّ جِهَادِهِۦۚ
Shaikhul Hind Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan translates it into Urdu as such:
English translation of this Urdu translation will go something like this:
"and labour for Allah as it should be laboured for Him. "
Now, the interesting thing to remember here is that Shaikhul Hind wrote this translation when he was imprisoned for three years in Malta during WWI. But still he didn't let his condition cloud the translation and still translated "jihad" as labour.
Beginning of the verse 78 reads:
وَجَـٰهِدُواْ فِى ٱللَّهِ حَقَّ جِهَادِهِۦۚ
Shaikhul Hind Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan translates it into Urdu as such:
aur mehnat karo Allah ke vaaste jaisi ki chaahiye usske vaaste mehnat.
اور محنت کرو اللہ کے واسطے جیسی کہ چاہیے اسکے واسطے محنت
English translation of this Urdu translation will go something like this:
"and labour for Allah as it should be laboured for Him. "
Now, the interesting thing to remember here is that Shaikhul Hind wrote this translation when he was imprisoned for three years in Malta during WWI. But still he didn't let his condition cloud the translation and still translated "jihad" as labour.
Comments
something like the 'labour' that Allah mentions in Surah Hajj