Through Force or Faith? — Page 117
Chapter 2 — Islamic Teachings about Jihad 117 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for holy war; rouse out the warriors; let all the men of war advance and attack! Hammer your ploughshares into swords and your pruning knives into spears. Let even weakling say: I am a warrior. ( Joel 3: 9–10, Holy Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible) (Note: In Urdu translations of the Bible, the translation of Holy War has been changed. ) Thus, the term of ‘Holy War’ has been mentioned in the Bible for hundreds of years before the advent of Islam. It has indeed been used for ‘Religious War’. Moreover, a predecessor of the current Pope, Benedict XVI, Pope Urban II (1088-1099) used this term for the first crusade in 1095. ( The First Crusade, by August. C. Krey, pp. 36–40, published in 1921, Princeton) Usage of the Term Jihad in Early Islam As far as the original and primary meaning of the term jihad is concerned, it has been present and used in Islamic teachings from its early days. In support of this claim, some Quranic verses are pre- sented from which the concept of jihad in Islam is elicited on one hand, and on the other, it refutes this allegation of the opponents that Muslims maintained a conciliatory posture in their weakness but raised the war flag on gaining strength, because the verses that are presented next are all of Meccan period when Muslims were weak and ‘jihad (defence) with sword,’ that is, active fighting, had not yet begun. Instead, these verses clearly show that jihad was being waged even then, that is, during the ‘period of weakness’.