“Hirabah,” not “jihad”
An outstanding editorial by Deroy Murdock on the War on Islamofascism, from Sunday, December 19th:
THE LONG, twilight struggle against Islamo-fascism requires civilization to deploy numerous weapons against this implacable foe. As usual, these will include intelligence, covert operations, and high-tech armaments. But another vital tool is language. How Americans and our allies speak and write about this conflict will influence when and how victory will come.
Here are five ways language can underscore the dangers of Islamic terrorism:
Murdock ticks them off succinctly; in summation:
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1. Victims of terrorists don’t “die,” nor are they “lost.” They are MURDERED.
People “die” in hospitals, often surrounded by their loved ones while doctors and nurses offer them aid and comfort. In contrast, innocent people were killed on September 11 at the World Trade Center, the Defense Department, and that field in Shanksville, Penn. in a carefully choreographed act of mass murder.
2. Be specific when referring to the numbers of murdered victims:
“3,000” killed on 9-11 is an amorphous blob. The actual number — 2,977 — forces people to regard these individuals as men and women with faces, stories, and loved ones who miss them very much.
3. Rather than talking about Islamofascists’ intent, let them do the talking:
As Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri said in their 1998 declaration of war on the United States: “The ruling to kill all Americans and their allies — civilian and military — is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it.”
4. Call this war what it is, a war on radical islam or Islamofascism, not a “War on Terror.”
Calling today’s conflict “a ‘War on Terror’ is like America in 1941, after Pearl Harbor, declaring a ‘War on Surprise Attacks.’
5. “Jihad” refers to “holy war.” This is NOT a holy war, but an unholy war, or “hirabah“.
Why, for instance, do we inadvertently praise our enemies by agreeing that they fight a jihad or “holy war?” Instead, we correctly should describe them as soldiers in a hirabah or “unholy war.”
Most of us who see this war for what it is already call it a War on Islamofascism (or radical Islam), as referred to in point #4. However, I hadn’t considered point #5 until now, but from this point on you won’t see me referring to a “jihad.” “Hirabah” defines it perfectly:
The term hirabah refers to public terrorism in a war against society and civilization. In legal terminology it is defined as “spreading mischief in the land,” but its precise meaning, as defined by Professor Khalid Abou el Fadl, is “killing by stealth and targeting a defenseless victim in a way intended to cause terror in society.” This is the Islamic definition of terrorism. It is the very opposite of jihad.
Murdock finishes with these words:
Civilization can and must win this showdown against these sadistic cavemen. We can and will crush them — through espionage, high-tech force, statecraft, and public diplomacy. We can and will vanquish them at home through eternal vigilance.
A key weapon should be something readily available to everyone who reads these words: The English language.
Remember this.
We can’t all be on the front lines of the fight, but we CAN fight them with the facts.
[Santa hat-tip to my brother for the article, also published yesterday in the local paper--but I couldn't find it online.]
The Orphan says:
Shoot…I thought it was just plain murder. But, I don’t think educating these animals in the definition of terms is going to have much effect. Now….a double-barreled Hell-Gun loaded with the end of time is another matter entirely.
d.
patrickafir says:
We fight the ideology, Beth. And we defend with words the honor of our fighting men and women. We also show how great America is. We do our part in our own way!
Jim Guirard says:
Imagine how difficult it will become for al Qaeda and its ilk to recruit suicide mass murderers once these religiously motivated young Muslims begin to hear and eventually to perceive (a)that they are being enticed not into an Allah-approved “Jihad” (holy war) but into an un-Godly “Hirabah” (unholy war, forbidden “war against society”), instead; (b)that they will become not “mujahiddin” (holy warriors)and “shahiddin” (martyrs) destined for Paradise but blasphemous “mufsidoon” (evildoers), instead; and (c) that they will be destined on Judgment Day not to Allah’s Paradise but to Shaitan’s Shaitan’s “Jahannam” (eternal Hellfire), instead. Thus a powerful, even frightening, DISINCENTIVE to suicide mass murder by these young Muslims — in their own language, their own culture and their own religion.
Anonymous says:
Somewhat cynically, I suspect some people purposely violate #5. Jihad, as far as I understand it, is central to the Muslim faith. That is, jihad
as “intellectual effort to apply divine revelation in promoting peace through justice” as in mainstream Islam, rather than the “holy war” definition of the radicals. So by framing the conflict as a fight against jihad, an extremist on the other side sets it up as a fight not only against terrorists and warmongers but against all Muslims. There are people who want this…