Terrorism and Jihad: Differences and Similarities
<p>What many Westerners call criminal <em>terrorism</em> is, in the eyes of many Islamists, legitimate <em>jihad</em>. They say they are opposed to terrorism but by this they mean certain uses of force against one target but not again another. Are we talking about diffe...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Massachusetts Lowell
2014-06-01
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| Series: | Perspectives on Terrorism |
| Online Access: | http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/352 |
| Summary: | <p>What many Westerners call criminal <em>terrorism</em> is, in the eyes of many Islamists, legitimate <em>jihad</em>. They say they are opposed to terrorism but by this they mean certain uses of force against one target but not again another. Are we talking about different phenomena when we talk about terrorism and jihad or are these basically the same? Jihad is sometimes translated as <em>holy war</em>, i.e. religiously sanctioned warfare. In Islam, jihad has been around for more than 1300 years. Terrorism as we know it is, as a doctrine, little more than 200 years old when we take the <em>Terreur</em> phase of the French revolution (1793-1974) as point of departure, or little more than 140 years old when we look at non-state propaganda-by-the-deed type terrorism of the anarchist sort. In the meantime, both terrorism and jihad have evolved, at least to some extent.</p> |
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| ISSN: | 2334-3745 2334-3745 |