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Portrayals of Jihad: A Cause of Islamophobia
Abstract
When the first Muslims arrived in America in the 16th century, Americans were faced with something that was unknown to them: Islam. At the time, many Americans were afraid that Islam would impose its own values and ideals, thereby threatening their Protestant Christian tradition. For this reason, Islamophobia has been in America as long as Islam has been in America; it is not a new phenomenon. This fear of Islam penetrating a nation built on Protestant Christian values is still present today, but why? There are many causes of Islamophobia, but a popular explanation that every American who watches the news probably knows is jihad. Jihad has come to be perceived as “holy war” in American media and by many Americans. It sounds like a petrifying notion, but it does not carry the definitions and implications that many Americans, especially Islamophobes, claim it does. Jihad is highly misrepresented in America, thereby distorting Americans' understanding of Islam as a religion. Furthermore, the misrepresentation of jihad in American media and by Islamophobes as well as cherry-picked verses in the Qur'an and ahādīth (sayings and actions of Muhammad—the founder of Islam) contribute greatly to the construction of Islamophobia. Furthermore, these misrepresentations of jihad are used to define Islam as a whole and spread Islamophobia.
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ENDNOTES
“Jihad.” Dictionary.com, n.d., https://www.dictionary.com/browse/jihad.
United States Department of Justice, 2005, 2.
Pew Research Center, 2017, 81.
Ibid, 130.
John Esposito, 2002, 64.
Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyah, 1998, 3:9.
Brendon Tagg, 2009, 320.
Esposito, 65.
The Qur'an 9:14 (Translated by Yusuf Ali).
The Qur'an 9:111 (Translated by Yusuf Ali).
Tafsir Ibn Kathir, 2009.
Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi, Tafhim al-Qur'an.
Mujiburrahman, 1992, 342.
Esposito, 67–68.
The Qur'an 2:256.
The Qur'an 5:69 and 2:62.
Esposito, 69.
The Qur'an 3:157–158 (Translated by Yusuf Ali).
SITE Intelligence Group, 2014.
Mohammad Hassan Khalil, 2018, 80.
The Qur'an 85:8 (Translated by Yusuf Ali).
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, 2015, 1497 (commentary on the Qur'an 85:4–9).
Esposito, 66.
Ibid, 66.
Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, Sahih Muslim, no. 1767.
Al-Tirmidhi, Sunan, no. 1671, after which he graded the hadith as hasan sahih. However, he narrates it without the final phrase, “fi ta'ati'lLah: in obedience to Allah.” This hadith is also recorded in Ibn Hibban, Sahih, no. 4707; and Ibn Hanbal, al-Musnad, no. 1234, and it is sahih.
Tagg, 320.
Todd Green, 2015, 235.
Ibid, 235–236.
Kimberly A. Powell, 2011, 96–97.
Ibid, 98–99.
Ibid, 98–99.
Islam Watch Admin, 2017.
Abul Kasem, 2005.
Saranac Hale Spencer, 2019.
The Qur'an 9:30 (Translated by Yusuf Ali).
Saranac Hale Spencer, 2017.
Green, 251.
Jack G. Shaheen, 2009, 8.
Jack G. Shaheen, 2008, xiv.
Shaheen, 2009, 435.
Green, 257.
Ibid, 264.
Quoted in Shaheen, 2008, xx.
Green, 264.
In July 2018, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College in London reported the number of ISIS fighters as 41,490 from 80 different countries. In April 2017, the Pew Research Center reported the worldwide Muslim population to be 1.8 billion.
Robert Spencer, 2005, 199–200.
Matthew 5:44.
The Qur'an 8:60.
Robert Spencer, 26.
Daniel Pipes, 2002.
Asma Barlas, 2003, 46.
Daniel Pipes, 2004.
Mucahit Bilici, 2005, 60.
Steven Emerson, 2003, iii.
Ibid, 6.
Bilici, 59.
Ibid, 59.
Ibid, 60.
Rudolph Peters, 1996, 116.
Ibid, 123.
Ibid, 124–125.
Ibid, 132.
Ibid, 130–131.
Ibid, 130–131.
Green, 233.
Ibid, 233.