Dżihad. Wszystko, co warto wiedzieć

by Asma Afsaruddin, Agnieszka Adamczyk-Karwowska (Translator)

Słowo „dżihad” jest wszędzie w światowych mediach. Zwykle pojawia się w kontekście przemocy stosowanej wobec Zachodu przez bojowników w społeczeństwach z większością muzułmańską lub pochodzących ze społeczeństw z większością muzułmańską.

Dla większości muzułmanów dżihad oznacza ciągłą ludzką walkę o promowanie i wdrażanie tego, co jest moralnie dobre i szlachetne we wszystkich dziedzinach życia, a także przeciwstawienie się temu, co jest moralnie złe i niesprawiedliwe, i zapobieganie temu.

W tej wyjątkowej publikacji, zatytułowanej po prostu: DŻIHAD. Wszystko, co warto wiedzieć, będzie można znaleźć odpowiedź m.in. na następujące kwestie:
- jakie jest podstawowe znaczenie słowa „dżihad”,
- czy w Koranie dozwolona jest wyłącznie walka defensywna,
- czy Koran nakazuje walkę zchrześcijanami i Żydami,
- czy Koran dopuszcza samobójstwo,
- czy Koran akceptuje terroryzm,
- czy kobiety mogą brać udział w dżihadzie militarnym,
- na czym polega wielka walka,
- w jaki sposób współcześni bojownicy świata islamu rozumieją dżihad,
- jakie były poglądy Osamy bin Ladena na temat dżihadu,
- czy w islamie istnieje pacyfizm,
- jak Hollywood portretuje dżihad i muzułmanów,
- jak Internet wpływa na społeczne postrzeganie dżihadu na Zachodzie?

Autorką książki jest Asma Afsaruddin, profesor studiów islamskich na Uniwersytecie Indiana w Bloomington.

Genres: Islam

220 pages, Paperback

First published March 3, 2022

Reviews

[Dr. Mansur · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive discussion of the topic from all the historical angles. I enjoyed the discussion at the end about the political and media misuse of the word Jihad. I also enjoyed the question and answer format.

Although I have the print version of the book, I went through the audiobook format of the book.
The book publishers should have instructed the narrator to skip parenthetical information as they are a distraction in audiobooks. Additional editing to remove repetition and redundancies would have shortened the length.

The audiobook is 11 sections but could easily have been a lot more sections. Each question and answer could have been a section. That would make skipping a section or coming back to one easier.
The narrator has an excellent voice and did a great job with cadence and pace of narration. However, the pronunciation of Arabic names and words were a problem. For example, Ibn is ibne and not ibin.
Overall, this is a very important book that everyone should read or listen to instead of being misguided by the media and political pundits or politicians. I learned an incredible amount about the topic through this audiobook.

[Pramble · Rating 1 out of 5]

Must one be nice about such educational books ?
I certainly did learn a bit. I had no idea about the different schools of interpretation of islamic teaching. Unfortunately, there was too little honest opinion. It reads too much like a list of references, without aiming at any coherent story. It is a matter of taste, but straightforward impartiality is not as interesting in well-argued bias.

[Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m shocked this doesn’t have a higher rating! Well written and the authors goal of writing an educational yet easily accessible book was achieved! I saw a few comments about the author not putting her opinion in it and that was just fully missing the point of this book. It was meant to be an objective educational book.

[Rickey McKown · Rating 5 out of 5]

On page xi Professor Afsaruddin states that "[t]his book is intended for a broad readership. Its style is meant to be accessible, without being weighed down by the usual scholarly apparatus of sense and copious footnotes." Although not myself a professional academic, I have read several of her scholarly works, including "Striving in the Path of God", and, comparing "Jihad: What Everyone Needs to Know" with her scholarly works, I believe that she achieved her objective here: "Jihad" is clearly written (although I find her scholarly writing clear as well), keeps use of Arabic terms to a necessary minimum, and for the most part covers the ground thoroughly.

Chapters 1, 2, and 4 of "Jihad" cover most of the main points found in the chapters from "Striving" that deal with jihad, shahid, and sabr as they appear in the Qur'an, ahadith, and ethical literature. Although "Jihad" does largely omit the argument (and supporting evidence) in "Striving" that sees the ideological shift to giving primacy to combative jihad and military martyrdom originating with scholars who were close to the Umayyads and supportive of their aggressive military adventurism (a shift opposed by scholars in the Hijaz and Iraq who did not support the Umayyads), it expands on the sabr material in the ethical literature, pointing to some works of additional early scholars that would be interesting to explore. In Chapter 3, "Jihad" adds material regarding jihad and shahid from the legal literature, an area that was intentionally omitted from "Striving". In Chapters 5-7, "Jihad" expands upon the material presented in those chapters of "Striving" that deal with the perspectives of modern Islamists, mainstream Muslim scholars, and Muslim advocates of non-violent struggle, especially expanding the coverage of the latter two groups, providing additional personalities and more detail about their views. In Chapter 8, "Jihad" breaks new ground, adding an examination of the biased treatment of jihad in the Western media that includes a discussion of the underlying issue of the well-funded "Islamophobia industry".

I recommend "Jihad: What Everyone Needs to Know" as a good starting point, but would suggest that readers follow up by digging deeper into the list of Professor Afsaruddin's works found in the Bibliography.