The Nature and Development of Jihad

Jihad is at the core of the “religion of peace.” Jihad occupies most of Islam’s theology and concerns. Jihad is addressed in 9% of the Mecca Quran; 24% of the Median Quran; and in 67% of the Sira. True to form, Muslims claim that the emphasis on jihad is about the individual battling his own faults and flaws, the so-called “greater jihad,” and not that of battling others, the “lesser jihad.”

As a matter of fact, only 2% of the jihad of the Hadith refers to the greater jihad, while the other 98% is about the lesser jihad, or the jihad of the sword.

The Menace of Jihadism

Bewildered by what fanatic Muslims do, some conclude that they must be brainwashed. Otherwise, how can their totally irrational belief system and often self-destructive actions be explained? But the notion of “brainwashing” that is bandied about is the stuff of science fiction and Hollywood movies such as The Manchurian Candidate.

The human person arrives in this world with his brains already washed, in the sense of being what John Locke called the tabula rasa, blank slate — ready for experience to imprint its script on it. John Locke was only partially correct. The brain also arrives with numerous predispositions already in place. It is a combination of life’s influences and a person’s own decisions that determine which of these dispositions develop and which ones fail. It is through this process that a unique human being is formed.

Many animals come with already in-place programs that automatically run much of their lives. Birds’ migration, mating courtship and thousands of other complex behaviors are instances of this type of specific programming. A catchword for this type of behavior is “instinct.” As a rule, the higher the organism the less is its rigid pre-programing and the greater its latitude to exercise choices.

Making choices depend on what there is to choose from and to what extent a given choice appeals to that person. And the human newborn enters the arena of life without the means of being other than a passive recipient of “things” already chosen for him.

It is like the old joke by Henry Ford, who reportedly told his customers that they could have their choice of color for their new car as long as it was black. Things are almost as bleak for the new arrival. The newborn does not have any say in choosing his parents, his socioeconomic condition, his environment of birth and much more. All are already in place and he is to start in life from the context of his birth.

The development of a newborn in any family is importantly influenced by many factors, among them how hands-on the parents are; how religious they are, how severely they micromanage him in their efforts to make him not only a good person but also a person better than themselves.

Parents tend to live vicariously through their children by programming them, the best they can, so that children become or achieve much of what they themselves failed to become or to accomplish. This attitude covers all areas of life such as giving the child the education they didn’t have, helping him with fame and fortune, nurturing him to become a topnotch athlete and so forth.

It is a fact that early influences play a cardinal role in shaping the person. For this reason, for instance, the overwhelming majority of Muslims are born into Muslim families, Catholics into Catholic families, Hindus into Hindu families and so on. It is also a fact that the degree of religiosity ranges from mild to strong, with most people falling somewhere in between the two extremes.

Interestingly, two siblings raised by the same set of parents under the same influences may end up at the opposite extremes in their religious views and practices. It is here that the human dynamic of freedom of choice comes into play and steers one to one extreme and the other to the other extreme. Occasional extreme deviations notwithstanding, the great majority of siblings of a given family end up with various degrees of that family’s overall religious perceptions and other values. The same general principle of subscribing to a set of common values exists in all human groupings, in some cases with broad flexibility and inclusiveness while in others with rigidity and exclusivity.

In order to enjoy the privileges of belonging to a group, the person must also pay his membership dues.

The very young human faces, beginning the minute he can make some sense of the world, a bewildering array of mysteries, challenges, and enticements. There are questions at every step, fears, and hopes entangled with the need to survive and the hope to thrive.

Who am I? What is this world all about? What’s the purpose? What am I supposed to do and how? Where am I headed? People die. Where do they go? Endless questions with few clear and solid answers. The information booths available to him in the fairground of life provide him with answers that may help relieve his innate existential anxiety. And it is here that religion plays its critical role and holds great appeal. Religion provides a surefire answer to those who are willing to take it on faith.

And Islam is a powerful magnet for the masses that are unable to deal with the uncertainties of life and death on their own. It is from this population, many already thoroughly indoctrinated from birth, that most diehard jihadists emerge.

It is the bargain the jihadist makes. He surrenders totally to the religion of surrender in exchange for a blanket security. Islam gives him all the answers he really seeks for dealing with this world and promises him a most lush and eternal paradise of Allah once he leaves it—all of course contingent on being a male. And leaving this world in perfect submission as the foot-soldier of the paradise’s creator gives the faithful unimaginably glorious sensual eternal reward in his next life, he is promised. It’s a bargain that some buy in whole, some in part, some refuse and seek other means of dealing with their questions and the unrelenting existential anxiety.

The great majority of jihadists emanate from the ranks of those born into the religion of Islam, simply because they are the ones who are most thoroughly indoctrinated and influenced by Islamic dogma in their most receptive early years. Yet there are few others who embrace Islam in adulthood, on their own, and enlist themselves as devoted jihadists for the same rewards that Islam offers them.

Islam has a great advantage of the first call on the new arrival. It is an omnipresent system with masses of believers, mosques and madrasahs, and a host of other social and economic organizations that overpower the person and steer him into the same fold; it is a sea of people who seem to know what they are all about, what life and death are all about, and what one must also do.

Within this sea of surging humanity composed of some 1.5 billion Muslims, each individual believer — a drop — through a combination of choice and forces beyond his control, ends up in one of its many waves. It is the jihadist wave that is highly attractive to the thoroughly indoctrinated and poorly adjusted in dealing rationally and independently with life. Here he finds the ironclad perfect solution to his anxieties and perplexities.

To a jihadist, death is nothing more than the casting off a shell of the worthless earthly existence and donning the suit for winging joyously to the life of bliss promised by none other than Allah’s beloved final emissary, Muhammad.

Eradication of jihadism is a daunting task. Massive education efforts, combined with resolute confrontation of all sources and people that support and promote this deadly philosophy, hold the best promise of dealing effectively with this affliction of humanity.

In addition to the family, places such as mosques and madrasahs, Islamic associations and charitable organizations, prisons, and the like are incubators of jihadists. Massive efforts are required, on the one hand, to drain the breeding swamps of the Islamic virus, while on the other hand helping Muslims adopt an alternative perspective of life that addresses their perplexities and offers a degree of comfort that religions dispense without pitting one segment of humanity against another.

In the monumental task of dealing with jihadism, every individual, group and government must combine their resources and energies to prevail.

The destiny of civilized life hangs in the balance. It is an unpardonable act of shirking responsibility for anyone to adopt the attitude of “let Trump do it.” Trump, is you. Trump is I. Trump is every enlightened human being and organization who values human liberty and dignity.

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Suresh

5 years ago

Infidels are dumb and ignorant . Jihadis are working to a 1400 plan

They are following their perfect man – Moham-mad. And if you dare expose truth about him they will keel you !

just like the jihadis in Indianapolis are doing http://bit.ly/2rVCN7E

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pennant8

5 years ago

The Muslim mindset is driven by what I like to call Islamologic. One rule of logic as we in the West understand it is that if two things are in contradiction then one must be false. Not so in Islamologic. For example, as some wag pointed out, a Muslims might say that Muslims had nothing to do with 9/11, and then turn around and say that 9/11 was a great victory for Islam, and see no contradiction. Under Islamologic defending yourself against jihadist attacks is considered an attack on Islam. Islamologic has no set rules, it is basically make it up as you go along to fit the needs of the moment.

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Laddyboy

5 years ago

Reply to  pennant8

I disagree with some of your post, Here are verses from the coran:
Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies of Allah and your enemies and others besides, whom ye may not know (8:60)
Strive hard (Jihad) against the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and be firm against them. Their abode is Hell, an evil refuge indeed. (66:9, See also 9:73)
…He whom Allah sendeth astray, for him there is no guide. For them is a penalty in the life of this world, but harder, truly, is the penalty of the Hereafter… (13:33-34)
Fight them, allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace… (9:14)
And fight them until there is no more ftna (unbelief, worshipping others beside allah), and religion is all for allah… (8:39)
We shall punish them gradually from directions they perceive not. (68:44)

O ye who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you, and know that Allah is with those who keep their duty. (9:123)
The Jews call Ezra a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. allahs curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth! (9:30)
Listen not to the unbelievers, but strive (Jihad) against them with the utmost strenuousness. (25:52)

O ye who believe! Take not for friends unbelievers rather than believers: Do ye wish to offer Allah an open proof against yourselves? (4:144)
O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for friends. They are friends one to another. He among you who taketh them for friends is (one) of them. Lo! Allah guideth not Here are verses from the coran:wrongdoing folk. (5:51)
For the Unbelievers are unto you open enemies (4:101)

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rambler

5 years ago

islam was designed to attract warriors for world conquest by justifying the distribution of the spoils of war, capturing women and getting massive rewards in the afterlife. It wasn’t created to make the follower a better, more spiritual person. It’s goal is world tyranny.

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Dajjal

5 years ago

Reply to  rambler

The real goal is accrual of spoils. Establishing Islam and caliphate are secondary. See: “Islam’s Mercenary Mission”.

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R. Arandas

5 years ago

Prophet Muhammad wanted world conquest, though his followers did destroy many other nations and cultures, they did not fully succeed (as of yet). But as can be seen today, they are still trying in every way possible.

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Dennis

5 years ago

This psychological analysis of Islam’s jihad is probably as accurate a presentation as one could make when referring to the impact and motivation that makes those who I refer to as “the crazies,” do the kind of horrible acts of destruction and murder that we have seen over these many years. Clearly, this problem, as outlined in this article, is a monumental challenge to all of us who prefer to be good neighbors, who practice equal treatment and provide due process to all its citizens. Although the author proposes methods that might be considered to bring about a reform of what I now believe is a satanic belief system, I see no real possibility that anything can provide the kind of reformation that it will take to move these believers away from their satanic approach that results in heinous conduct. We are kidding ourselves if we believe that we can. Though I would agree with the psychological aspect of this report that not all who are born into this religion will adopt the belief system that they promote that guarantees a favored hereafter, which they must come to by acts of murder; I do not believe that can be accomplished without first controlling our borders with a requirement that these believers must be truly running from the nation that they come from because their lives are in danger, and then determine where their belief system might be accepted of them as a more appropriate place for them to go, and then if they are to be considered for entry here, that they be the type of person who knows up front that they need to be industrious, productive and accept being an American, as first and foremost. I also believe, as this author has stated, that we must carefully watch their temples of worship and all other places and rid them of those who would promote Jihad in any manner, deporting them accordingly. That, to me, is the only real fix for the dangers represented by these believers.

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IzlamDownpressesHumanity

5 years ago

Reply to  Dennis

“who would promote Jihad in any matter”. Gee, people of what religious faith would tend to do that? Jihad is a central tenet of the islamic death cult and no one kafir is going to be expunging it.

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Alleged-Comment

5 years ago

Their DNA (Do Not Approach) was altered to become the WILD MAN. You can read it yourself in the very first book of the Bible.

Their Koran reflects that and cannot be changed environmentally or culturally for the part that says he will be unable to get along with any other human.

Their fate was sealed by his DNA alteration by the most High.

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Dajjal

5 years ago

Reply to  Alleged-Comment

See Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah, pg. 199.

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Patriotliz

5 years ago

“Eradication of jihadism is a daunting task. Massive education efforts, combined with resolute confrontation of all sources and people that support and promote this deadly philosophy, hold the best promise of dealing effectively with this affliction of humanity.”
Islam can’t be reformed and please stop implying that it can be severed from “jihadism” or terrorism. Pretending that “Jihadism” is a separate “philosophy from the philosophy of Islam is taqiyya. Islam is a “fake” religion invented by a “fake” perverted and ruthless “prophet.”

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Laddyboy

5 years ago

I-slam is not a “religion of peace” – – I-slam IS a CULT of PIECES. Why? If you do not SURRENDER to them, your body will end up on the ground or on pikes in PIECES. It has been PROVEN time and time again!

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Dajjal

5 years ago

Amil, please tell us where to find that 2% of Jihad an-Nafs hadith. Book, volume & page, please. I do not recall ever seeing one!

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