Surname 2
“Crimes” Jihadists Will Sentence Someone to Death”
The origins of the word ‘Jihad’ in the Quran define it as the ‘Holy War’ of Islam. It is
expressed as the inspirational source of the Islamic sense of duty for fulfilling godly and spiritual
lifestyles. In this sense, jihadist approaches involve personal strife, struggle, and perseverance to
prosper in serving God (Turner 106). However, the Islamic Dictionary and contemporary
approaches do not adopt a unified perspective in explaining and understanding Jihad. These split
the idea into two distinct non-violent and violent meanings denoted as the ‘greater jihad’ and the
‘lesser jihad’. While the former implies the original meaning, the latter expresses the physical
military perspective against the perceived enemies of Islam. This last notion has been used by
extremists to wage wars of destruction against non-Muslims and those considered as pagans
(Cook 21). With this notion, jihadists have declared death sentences on individuals who engage
in certain activities. These vary from practices of worshiping, shopping, traveling, working,
attending various occasions, eating certain foods, to merely standing outside various institutions.
Activities dubbed as ‘crimes’ by jihadists include some day to day actions of many
people’s lives. The basis for establishing these ‘crimes’ is dependent on the perception of
locations, individuals, religions, governments, and other groups of people as being enemies of
the course of Islam. Thus, locations like Nairobi, London, Madrid, New York and the United
States as a whole are in these declarations. The activities include shopping, riding a bus, riding a
train, going to work, and flying a plane respective to the listed locations. Professions affected by
these decrees comprise of journalism, publication, banking, and working in disciplined forces of
enemies. Hence, one is deemed a ‘criminal’ if they are Wall Street Journal reporters and practice
in Pakistan, publish Bibles in Turkey, work in banks in Istanbul, and participate in guarding
Canadian memorial centers. The most extreme of these involve religious practices like praying in
churches in Egypt, being Jewish and worshipping in unapproved mosques (Goldberg 1).
It is most unfortunate that jihadists establish their own law by which their faithful and
others should live. More so, it is worse to note that the only punishment available for those
considered to have broken these laws is the death sentence. According to the universal law of
human coexistence, individuals should understand, live with, and respect others and their
activities and freedoms. All those engaging in various practices are free as long as they do not
tamper with fundamental freedoms and rights of others (Gonza
́
lez 124). As further explained by
Gonza
́
lez, the Declaration of Human Rights declares the right to life as the first and most
fundamental. It brings along the essentials of security and liberty. Further, in bans subjection to
cruel, inhuman, and demeaning forms of punishment by individuals or groups to other humans
(82). Thus, the duties of all humans should be the pursuit of joy, satisfaction, and harmony.
It is worth noting that many Muslims disagree with this extreme notion of Jihad adopted
by the Jihadists. Logical and legal evaluations indicate that the activities declared ‘criminal’ are
not associated with crime in any way. If anything, most of them involve the search for
satisfaction of human needs and happiness. Hence, this unreasonable course of jihadists must not
be allowed to progress. Governments should join hands in protecting innocent civilians from
such treatments. Further, ideologists should find alternatives to permanent changes of
philosophical thoughts concerning the notions of Jihad (K
̱
h
̱
a
̄
n
̱
44).
In conclusion, the original meanings of Jihad define it the inspirational source of the
Islamic sense of duty for fulfilling spiritual lifestyles. However, modern-day interpretations
establish violent and non-violent approaches to understanding it. Using the violent approach,
jihadists have continually waged wars of destruction on non-Muslims and enemies of their
courses. They have used the approach to declare practices of worshiping, shopping, traveling,
