JIHAD

So basically, someone asked me a question, that why is Islam synanymous with war. That why did the early Muslims went to war with non Muslims in the name of jihad and forced Islam on them. At that time, I didn’t know the answer to the question, and I also wondered why “jihad”?

As a poet, I came across a spoken word poetry titled “islamaphobia” by Rudy Francisco, Natasha Hooper and Amen Ra. And they actually gave me an idea about jihad and I decided to learn more. So I did my research.

The first definition of jihad I came across is the western definition, which defined it as “a holy war waged by Muslims against infidels”. Jihad in Arabic means: “struggle” or “effort”. So it basically means that jihad was all about struggling and surviving life as Muslims.

when the Prophet Muhammad(SWA) received revelations of the Qurʾān at Mecca, the emphasis was on the internal dimension of jihad, termed ṣabr, which refers to the practice of “patient forbearance” by Muslims in the face of life’s vicissitudes and toward those who wish them harm.

The Qurʾān also speaks of carrying out jihad by means of the Qurʾān against the pagan Meccans during the Meccan period, implying a verbal and discursive struggle against those who reject the message of Islam. (25:52) Meaning there was no form of aggression by Muslims

To the pegan Meccans. It was all an effort of trying to make the pegan Meccans understand Islam. However, the pagan Meccans didn’t fancy the idea, and in return decided to be aggressive on Muslims. With the sole aim of making Muslims suffer, and they achieved it.

However, during the Medinan period a new dimension of jihad emerged: fighting in self-defense against the aggression of the Meccan persecutors, termed qitāl. It was only a matter of time for the Muslims to retaliate on their aggressors, for the suffering they made them endure.

A well-known Hadith refers to four primary ways in which jihad can be carried out: by the heart, the tongue, the hand (physical action short of armed combat), and the sword. It should be noted that the Qurʾān explicitly forbids the initiation of war and permits fighting

only against actual aggressors (2:190) (60:7–8; 4:90). However, many premodern Muslim jurists went on to permit wars of expansion in order to extend Muslim rule over non-Muslim realms. Some even came to regard the refusal of non-Muslims to accept Islam as an act of aggression

in itself, which could invite military retaliation on the part of the Muslim ruler. The jurists gave special consideration to those who professed belief in a divine revelation—Christians and Jews in particular, who are described as “People of the Book” in the Qurʾān and are

therefore regarded as communities to be protected by the Muslim ruler. The jurists forbade attacks on civilians and destruction of property, citing statements by the Prophet Muhammad (saw). Throughout Islamic history, wars against non-Muslims, even when motivated by political and

and secular concerns, were termed jihads to grant them religious legitimacy.
In a nutshell, Islam is not synonymous with war, it is literally submission to the will of God. And Jihad does not mean holy war it means “struggle, survival” it means choosing to be alive

Over anything that wants to see your downfall. It’s more like the struggle to survive.
I stand to be corrected if I made any mistake in this thread. I’m human and Allah knows best. I hope you learned something from this.
Jazakallah khair