What shall I rant about today?
Brace yourself, I'm in a heightened political state today and someone pissed me off this morning (you know who you are).
I wanna talk about the word "jihad" today. First off, I'll start off by saying I am naiive and inexperienced in this topic but, nevertheless this highly oppinionated person is about to burst and needs to let off from what she does know.
Where to start... where to start....
Well that's easy... let's cut to the chase....Who the hell came up with the idea of "jihad" meaning solely "holy war" or "let's-go-blow-up-innocent-people-for-our-own-pathetic-vengence-reason's-and-justify-it-as-God's-word" (yea, sure... the "God made me do it" excuse always works). It's not directly about spreading Islam for those people anyway, it's about forcing Muslim political power...just about power. Now that is the root of it...and I'm talking about extremists right now, other people...many of the actual pon's that do all the work...they honestly believe in what they are doing. They're just brainwashed. They've got it drilled in their mind that your personal moral inclinations don't matter, because if God exists then he is the only arbitrary, the only being that truely knows right from wrong. That's what's in their minds...and then they're told exactly what God supposedly says is right...which just so happens to be the complete opposite of their moral values. So why do "muslims kill people in the name of Allah". The truth is, they don't. Because they're not technically Muslims. If somebody called themself a Christian and went around killing people who aren't christian, and did it in the name of Jesus Christ, then would you (By you, I mean people who are christians) consider them a Christian? No.....Of course not!
Anyway... that's not where I meant to go... I meant to say what jihad is not what it isn't.
I think jihad for a muslim could be defined in various ways (not including death in any of them). It could be best defined in this modern world as a struggle to remain humble. A stuggle against all the tempations of a materialistic society. Yes, that's it....When one lives in a secular society and has to work constantly to be able to keep/maintain one's beliefs.
For example...the wearing of Hijab. Especially in a western country. That can't be easy. But it is a deliberate display of faith, and I hold those women to the highest esteem. It takes a lot courage to do that. And the thing is, they are harassed, and treated badly, and looked at like they have "I'm-gonna-kill-you" written on their forehead. But they keep going, they continue wearing it anyway. I think that in and of itself is a jihad. That's what it means. It means following your beliefs unwaveringly, it means holding to Lehi's iron rod, it means standing up for yourself.
"If you could hie to Kolob, in the twinkling of an eye, And then continue onward, with that same speed to fly, Do you think that you could ever, Through all eternity, Find out the generation, where God's began to be..." --My favorite hymn, so uniquely mormon, If You Could Hie to Kolob.
Anyway... that's not where I meant to go... I meant to say what jihad is not what it isn't.
I think jihad for a muslim could be defined in various ways (not including death in any of them). It could be best defined in this modern world as a struggle to remain humble. A stuggle against all the tempations of a materialistic society. Yes, that's it....When one lives in a secular society and has to work constantly to be able to keep/maintain one's beliefs.
For example...the wearing of Hijab. Especially in a western country. That can't be easy. But it is a deliberate display of faith, and I hold those women to the highest esteem. It takes a lot courage to do that. And the thing is, they are harassed, and treated badly, and looked at like they have "I'm-gonna-kill-you" written on their forehead. But they keep going, they continue wearing it anyway. I think that in and of itself is a jihad. That's what it means. It means following your beliefs unwaveringly, it means holding to Lehi's iron rod, it means standing up for yourself.
"If you could hie to Kolob, in the twinkling of an eye, And then continue onward, with that same speed to fly, Do you think that you could ever, Through all eternity, Find out the generation, where God's began to be..." --My favorite hymn, so uniquely mormon, If You Could Hie to Kolob.
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