What is a “Jihadist” anyway?

By Nesreen | March 30th, 2008 | No Comments

If you visit sites on the Internet about Jihadists, you are probably visiting ones supported by the American far-right rather than the radical extremists who use Islam as justification for violent, indiscriminate killings.

The former group–the far-right ideologues–think they are defining a form of radical Islam. The latter group, who would not use the term “jihadist” at all, think they are defending a form of radical Islam. Both are wrong. Islam does not condone the mad bloodshed that is happening in Iraq and elsewhere. Those people are not Muslims. They are mercenaries. As for the American far-right, the term “jihadist” doesn’t exist in Islam at all, although the term “mujahid” does. You have no doubt heard the term “mujahideen” referred to those in Afghanistan who fought against the Soviets during the 1980s. Those “muhahideen” were the friends of US Conservatives in the 1980s. Today, the fighters in Afghanistan are remnants of the Taliban–who are friends of nobody. They are also among today’s “terrorists,” a term whose definition is as slippery as “jihadist,” though in defense of the word “terrorist,” at least it is a real word.

If after reading this, you are a bit confused, then I have served my purpose. My point in writing this is to complicate this topic for you. Questions like “who is a terrorist,” or “what is Islam?” are not going to be answered definitively in this entry. All good questions deserve not just answers, but ongoing inquiry. How do you respond when asked “What is Christianity?” Maybe once the question is asked, you think to yourself, well maybe I should investigate to really understand what Christianity is. You wouldn’t accept a boilerplate answer to that question because it is part of your tradition, it is something that is dear to you, whether you are secular or practicing. So why should any of us accept the representations on our television screens as those of “Islam” or “Arabs” or “Muslims” or the “Middle East.” Why should any of us accept that “jihadist” is a real word with real meaning that speaks the intent of real people when it is a word fabricated by right-wing ideologues in the United States who want to decide for you what a Muslim is?