In Foreign Policy (and picked up in, of all places, the Huffington Post’s World Post), an article criticizes Tariq Ramadan, Reza Aslan, and Akbar Ahmed for claiming that “Islamic teachings are not responsible for provoking young Muslims to join groups like the Taliban and al Qaeda,” and says that “these Muslim scholars still shy away from acknowledging that there actually are such religious texts that use the term jihad in the context of calls for armed struggle against non-Muslims rather than urging Muslims to observe self-restraint against various harmful impulses.”
Since not just Ramadan, Aslan, Ahmed and Hassan Abbas but the entire political class and media establishment shies away from acknowledging that there actually are such religious texts that use the term jihad in the context of calls for armed struggle against non-Muslims, and since those who have pointed this out have been smeared and marginalized as “racists” and “bigots,” this is remarkable. It will be interesting to see if Malik Siraj Akbar, despite his impressive record, is now vilified as an “Islamophobe” by the hatchet men and attack dogs who stoke the hysteria about “Islamophobia,” and if Ramadan, Aslan, or Ahmed offer any intelligent riposte to his statements here. The smart money is on the likelihood that neither will happen, as the smear merchants will understand that attacking someone like Akbar will boomerang on them more than their smears of people from non-Muslim backgrounds and open apostates from Islam, and Ramadan, Aslan, and Ahmed, knowing that Akbar is correct, will remain silent and hope that as few people as possible note what he is saying here and ponder its implications.
“The Taliban Revival,” by Malik Siraj Akbar, Foreign Policy, June 10, 2014:
…Similar to several contemporary Muslim writers, such as Oxford University professor, Dr. Tariq Ramadan; University of California associate professor, Reza Aslan; and Dr. Akbar Ahmed of American University, Abbas also unconvincingly insists that Islamic teachings are not responsible for provoking young Muslims to join groups like the Taliban and al Qaeda. He lambasts the Taliban for doing a great disservice in distorting the idea of jihad, which, he argues, actually encourages Muslims to fight against inequality and illiteracy.
“In the Islamic traditions, the word ‘jihad’ refers primarily to a spiritual struggle within oneself against sin; but its secondary meaning revolves around the idea of religious armed struggle. In daily usage, Muslims often refer to their work or intellectual efforts as ‘jihad,’ especially if those efforts are service oriented…thanks to Muslim extremists (but somewhat tragically for Islam), the term ‘jihad’ has assumed negative connotations in the Western world, where it is seen as a synonym for Islamic terrorism,” Abbas says.
But these Muslim scholars still shy away from acknowledging that there actually are such religious texts that use the term jihad in the context of calls for armed struggle against non-Muslims rather than urging Muslims to observe self-restraint against various harmful impulses. Since 9/11, some scholars from the Muslim world have passionately been advocating for the “good jihad” and endeavoring to either disown or conceal the “bad jihad.”
“Like Many Muslims, I grew up hearing my parents say that education was my jihad,” writes Abbas in support of what can be termed as “good jihad.” He continues: “I think of my role as an educationalist in the same way — but because of the widespread misuse of the word, I think twice before saying it out loud.”…