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Muslim Scholars: It’s Not “Jihad”, It’s “Hirabah”
Calling a spade a spade, Muslim scholars are promoting the use the word hirabah as a more accurate Muslim description of terrorism.
By Shahed Amanullah, July 24, 2002
As part of the ideological "war on terrorism", Muslim scholars are seeking to engage in an ideological battle within Islam to replace the word jihad with a term that labels terrorists as cowardly pirates who kill women and children, which in Islam is the crime of hirabah. Because the word jihad roughly means "religious effort," the West can come off as attacking the daily life of ordinary Muslims, while terrorists get away with wrapping their crimes in religious phraseology. Muslim scholars are meeting in Washington with US officials to change this. "When people carelessly dump on jihad, it has an immediate polarizing effect," said Khaled Abou el Fadl, a professor of Islamic law at UCLA who will attend the meeting. "It may not change much, but it allows Muslims and non-Muslims to say something about terrorists without appearing to malign Islamic theology." "We should use language to move moderates toward the West and quarantine the extremists," added Muqtedar A. Khan, director of international studies at Adrian College.
Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.
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"I think we must drive Islam to have a Reformation, which is what Salman Rushdie is saying, that Islam unreformed will be brutal and barbaric," the Rev. Patrick Sookhdeo of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity in London said in a talk here earlier this year.
This sure gets thrown around a lot. Wait a minute, though. What are the Wahhabis if not the Protestants of Islam? Rejection of established tradition, condemnation of sainthood, rebellion against religiously sanctioned political authority (I'm thinking of the Ottoman Khalifa); it matches up pretty well. Christian analogies will only get you so far, but if anything, Islam needs a counter-reformation.
- Posted by bingregory (Malaysia) on July 25, 2002 at 07:50 AM
Khalid Abou el Fadl and Muqtedar Khan are no scholars of Islam. How do you come off even suggesting that??!!
They get media time because they say what pleases their masters, the Bush government.
Even if they were "scholars", how can two liberals like them decide to change Islamic terminology without the involvement of the other Muslim scholars of the uslim ummah?
Thanks for your opinion, MC. Ain't it great to welcome differing opinions? I certainly welcome yours!
- Posted by groov-e (earth) on August 5, 2002 at 11:57 AM
Thanks for your kind words Groov-e !!
Interestingly, both Mr. Khan and Mr. El Fadl are not educated or employed as Islamic scholars, one is a lawyer and the other a teacher of international affairs. Yet they claim to be authorities on Islam....or are being portrayed as such.....by the "Bush People".
- Posted by bingregory (Malaysia) on August 6, 2002 at 09:02 AM
As-salaamu alaykum warahmatu'llah
Dear people, for a very (mash'Allah) concise yet in depth discussion of "jihad" from the viewpoint of traditional Islamic scholarship, kindly visit
http://www.zaytuna.org/specials/specials.html
-speech 1: Sh. Hamza Yusuf
-speech 2: Sh. Habib 'Ali
-speech 3: Wagdi Al'Arabi
and feast your ears on the illuminating words that Allah the Exalted has blessed our brothers with, insha Allah. That would be my suggestion, and Allah knows best. - Posted by octagon on October 3, 2002 at 04:54 PM
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altmuslim this week - august 23, 2010 - This week, is there a connection between the heated rhetoric over Park51 and increased hate crimes against Muslims? Also, parallel struggles against anti-Muslim protests in Bradford, England and the innovation (and integration) on display in the 30 Mosques, 30 States and 30 Nights, 30 Grants projects. 
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altmuslim review 033 - We're baaaaack! We speak about the ongoing controversy over Park51 and what means for the future of lower Manhattan. Also, a discussion with Farhad Chowdhury of the M100 Foundation, which seeks to change the way Muslims pay zakat (August 13, 2010)
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Children of Dust (published by HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins), the first book by longtime altmuslim.com contributor Ali Eteraz, is released in the US, Canada, and the UK on October 13, 2009.
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State-sponsored Sufism, Ali Eteraz, Foreign Policy, June 10, 2009.
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Media appearances and analysis featuring altmuslim editors
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