Muslim activists aim to reclaim the word 'jihad' with ad campaign
February 4, 2013 -- Updated 0228 GMT (1028 HKT)
Teaching the true meaning of 'jihad'
The MyJihad ad campaign
is using print ads and social media to educate the public about what
they say is the true meaning of the word "jihad."
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The Merriam Webster
dictionary defines the term as
"1: a holy war waged on behalf of Islam
as a religious duty; also: a personal struggle in devotion to Islam
especially involving spiritual discipline"
and "2: a crusade for a
principle or belief."
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But some religious
activists dispute the emphasis on "holy war." They say the word is often
misunderstood and has been co-opted and "misapplied" by radical Muslims
who use it to justify terrorist acts and by anti-Muslim groups who use
the word to foment fear in non-Muslims.
"The word 'jihad'
literally means struggle, struggle for a good cause," said Nihad Awad,
national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations.
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"It is a concept, a noble
concept, within Islam that emphasizes a personal struggle within
yourself to be a better person, a better husband, better wife, better
worker, better neighbor," he explained. "It is not aggression, and it
does not mean to commit harm against other people. If people commit harm
against innocent people, it will be in violation of the spirit of Islam
and a violation of the concept of jihad."
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The campaign is the
brainchild of Ahmed Rehab, an activist who is also the executive
director of CAIR in Chicago. He launched the effort in December with a
small group of activists.
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They began running ads on
25 city buses in Chicago and later expanded to buses in San Francisco.
The ads began running at four metro stations in Washington in late
January. They depict Muslims and non-Muslims sharing how they define
their personal struggles. One shows a white Jewish man and a black
Muslim man standing side by side, with the slogan "#MyJihad is to build
bridges across the aisle." Another shows a young female photographer
wearing a headscarf and holding a camera. The slogan reads "#MyJihad is
to capture the truth even when it's unpopular."
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Rehab said the
donor-funded campaign is about making sure Muslim children can grow up
in a world where they're judged on their own merits and not according to
radical stereotypes.
"I don't wake up in the morning looking for my Kalashnikov or AK-47," he said, highlighting one such stereotype.
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The group has also taken
its campaign to social media, asking supporters to post on their
Facebook pages and use #MyJihad on Twitter to share their personal
struggles. Rehab said they have received tens of thousands of
encouraging tweets, Facebook messages, letters and e-mails.
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The campaign has also attracted skeptics, especially online.
A user with the Twitter
handle @Shaqton wrote: "Al-Qaeda: #MyJihad is carrying
'earth-shattering, shocking and terrifying' attacks against 'heart of
the land of non-belief' -- U.S. and Europe."
Another user, with the
handle @PeterTownsend7,wrote: "Claiming that critics read the Quran 'out
of context' is another way of saying that you wish it did not say what
it plainly does #myjihad."
Awad said the organizers
of the campaign should expect to face resistance to their message but
believes they will be successful in starting a conversation about this
important tenet of Islam.
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"It's an uphill battle,
because you are trying to dismantle preconceived ideas about the concept
of jihad, because traditionally people have seen stereotypes and they
have seen actions by some Muslims, and the majority of Muslims did not
step in to say, 'No, this is our faith, and we are going to claim it,'"
he said.
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"It is going to be an uphill battle, because you are trying to
undo accumulation of misperception and mispractice -- misperception by
non-Muslims and mispractice by some Muslims, and I think it's important
for us to take this initiative."
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The group hopes to place
ads in more cities in the United States and around the world and to
expand to other media such as radio and television.
"The message is global. The goal is anti-radicalization," Rehab said.
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