A Critical Exposition of the Popular ‘Jihád’

Appendix A — On the Word “Jihad” as Occurring in the Koran and Wrongly Translated “Warfare.”

Jihád or Jihd does not mean war or crusade.

1. The popular word Jihád or Jihd, occurring in several passages of the Koran, and generally construed by Christians and Moslems alike as meaning hostility or the waging of war against infidels, does not classically or literally signify war, warfare, hostility or fighting, and is never used in such a sense in the Koran. The Arabic terms for warfare or fighting are Harab and Kitál.

Classical meaning of Jihád, &c.

2. The words Jahada, and Jáhada signify that a person strove, laboured or toiled; exerted himself or his power, or efforts, or endeavours, or ability employed himself vigorously, diligently, studiously, sedulously, earnestly or with energy; was diligent or studious, took pains or extraordinary pains322; for example, the term Jáhada fil-amr signifies that a person did his utmost or used his utmost powers, or efforts, or endeavours, or ability in prosecuting an affair.323 The infinitive noun Jihádan also means difficulty or embarrassment, distress, affliction, trouble, inconvenience, fatigue, or weariness.324 Jauharce, a lexicologist of great repute, whose work is confined to classical terms and their significations, says in his Siháh that Jáhada fi Sabeelillah or Mojáhadatan and Jihádan and also Ajtahada and Tajáhada mean expending power and effort. Fayoomee, author of Misbahel Moneer, which contains a very large collection of classical words and phrases of frequent occurrence, also says that Jáhada fi Sabeelillah Jihádan and Ajtahada fil Amr mean he expended his utmost efforts and power in seeking to attain an object.

Post-classical or technical meaning of Jihád.

3. It is only a post-classical and technical meaning of Jihád to use the word as signifying fighting against an enemy. Mr. Lane says, “Jahada came to be used by the Moslems to signify generally he fought, warred or waged war against unbelievers and the like.” This signification is now given by those lexicologists who do not restrict themselves to the definition of classical terms or significations, like the author of Kámoos. Mr. Lane, the celebrated author of Maddool Kámoos an Arabic-English lexicologist, clearly shows that the definition of Jihád, as the act of waging war, is only of Moslem origin and is not classical. And I will show in sequence that the Moslem usage of Jihád, as signifying the waging of war, is a post-Koranic usage, and that in the Koran it is used classically and literally in its natural sense.

The Classical tongue and Arabian poets.

4. What is called the classical language of Arabia or the loghat, and is an authority for the genuineness of the Arabic terms and their significations, is the language which was spoken throughout the whole of the Peninsula previous to the appearance of Mohammad. After the death of Mohammad the language was rapidly corrupted by the introduction of foreign words. This was doubtless owing to the great extension of the Mohammadan power at this period. The classical poets are those who died before these great conquests were effected, and are the most reliable authorities for Arabic words and their significations, and they are called Jáhilí. Next to the classical poets are the post-classical, or Mokhadrams, Islámi and Mowallads. Mokhadram is a poet who lived partly before and partly after Mohammad, and who did not embrace Islámism during the life of the Prophet. The Islámi poets are the Mohammadan poets of the first and second centuries of the Hejira, and Mowallads, the poets of the fourth rank, followed the Islámis. The earliest classical poets date only a century before the birth of Mohammad, and the latest, about a century after his death. The period of the Islámi poets is the first and second centuries,—i.e., those who lived after the first corruption of the Arabic language, but before the corruption had become extensive.

The Mowallads co-existed with the general and rapid corruption of the language from the beginning or middle of the second century.

The conjugation and declension of Jahd and Jihád

5. The words Jahd and Jihád and their derivations, amounting to fourteen in number, occur in the following passages in the Koran:—

1.	“Jâhada”	...	Chapter	xxix, 5; ix, 19.
2.	“Jáhadáka”	...	Do.	xxxi, 14, xxix, 7.
3.	“Jáhadoo”	...	Do.	ii, 215; viii, 73, 75, 76; ix, 16, 20, 89; xlix, 15; iii, 136; xvi, 111; xxix, 69.
4.	“Yojáhido”	...	Do.	xxix, 5.
5.	“Yojáhidoona”	...	Do.	v, 59.
6.	“Yojáhidoo”	...	Do.	ix, 44, 82.
7.	“Tojáhidoona”	...	Do.	lxi, 11.
8.	“Jihád”	...	Do.	xxv, 54; xxii, 77; ix, 24; lx, 1.
8.*	“Jahd”	...	Do.	v, 58; vi, 109; xvi, 40; xxiv, 52; xxxv, 40.
9.*	“Johd”	...	Do.	ix, 80.
10.	“Jáhid”	...	Do.	ix, 74; lxvi, 9.
11.	“Jâhidhoom”	...	Do.	xxv, 54.
12.	“Mojáhidína”	...	Do.	iv, 97; bis. xlvii, 33.
13.	“Mojáhidoona”	...	Do.	iv, 97.
14.	“Jáhidoo”	...	Do.	v, 39; ix, 41, 87; xxii, 77.

The number of instances in which they occur in the Koran.

6. There are altogether 36 verses in the Koran containing the words noted above, in the following chapters and verses:—

Chapter ii, 215.
Do. iii, 136.
Do. iv, 97.
Do. v, 39, 58, 59.
Do. vi, 109.
Do. viii, 73, 75, 76.
Do. ix, 16, 19, 20, 24, 41, 44, 74, 80, 82, 87, 89.
Do. xvi, 40, 111.
Do. xxii, 77.
Do. xxiv, 52.
Do. xxv, 54.
Do. xxix, 5, 7, 69.
Do. xxxi, 14.
Do. xxxv, 40.
Do. xlvii, 33.
Do. xlix, 15.
Do. xl, 1.
Do. xli, 11.
Do. xlvi, 9.

In what sense they are used in the Koran.

7. Out of the above, the verses containing the words “Jahd” and “Johd,”—i.e., v, 58; vi, 109; xvi, 40; xxiv, 52; xxxv, 40; and ix, 80, marked *, are altogether out of dispute, as in all the former passages, except the last one, its obvious meaning is most or utmost solemn oaths,325 or most energetic oaths or strongest or most forcible oaths,326 and the latter signifies small provisions upon which a man possessing a little property can live with difficulty. The rest are of two kinds—first, the verses occurring in the Meccan Suras. As then the Moslems had not resorted to arms in their defence, though suffering from persecutions, Mohammadan commentators and jurists and Christian writers are unanimous in construing Jihád in its natural sense of exertion, effort, energy, and painstaking. Secondly, the verses containing the same words occurring in the Medina Suras, which were revealed or published when the Moslems had taken arms in their defence. As regards this period, the words are considered to have an entirely new and an altogether fortuitous meaning, viz., a religious war of aggression. Even some verses of this period are rendered by Mohammadans and Christians in the literal sense of the word.

Conventional significations of Jihád .

8. I fully admit that in the post-classical language of the Arabs,—i.e., that in use subsequent to the time of Mohammad, when the language was rapidly corrupted, the word “Jihád” was used to signify “warfare” or fighting, but this was in a military sense. Since that period the word has come to be used as meaning the waging of a war or a crusade only in military tactics, and more recently it found its way in the same sense into the Mohammadan law-books and lexicons of later dates. But the subsequent corrupt or post-classical language cannot be accepted as a final or even a satisfactory authority upon the point.

“It was decided by common consent,” says Mr. Edward William Lane, in his Arabic-English Lexicon (Preface, pp. viii and ix), “that no poet, nor any other person, should be taken as an absolute and unquestionable authority with respect to the words or their significations, the grammar, or the prosody of the classical language, unless he were one who had died before the promulgation of El-Islám, or who had lived partly before and partly after that event; or, as they term it, unless he were a ‘Jáhilee’ or a ‘Mukhadram,’ or (as some pronounce it) ‘Mukhadrim,’ or ‘Muhadram’ or ‘Muhadrim.’ A poet of the class next after the Mukhadrams is termed an ‘Islámee:’ and as the corruption of the language had become considerable in his time, even among those who aimed at chasteness of speech, he is not cited as an authority absolutely and unquestionably like the two preceding classes. A poet of the next class, which is the last, is termed ‘Muwelled;’ he is absolutely post-classical; and is cited as an unquestionable authority with respect only to the rhetorical sciences. The commencement of the period of the Muwelleds is not distinctly stated: but it must have preceded the middle of the second century of the Flight; for the classical age may be correctly defined as having nearly ended with the first century, when very few persons born before the establishment of El-Islám through Arabia were living. Thus the best of the Islámi poets may be regarded, and are generally regarded, as holding classical rank, though not as being absolute authorities with respect to the words and the significations, the grammar, and the prosody of the classical language.”

Mr. Thomas Chenry, M.A., writes:327—

“Within a century of Mohammad’s flight from Mecca, the Moslem empire stretched from Kashgar and Mooltan to Morocco and the Pyrenees, and the Arab man of letters was exposed to the corrupting propinquity of men of very different races. Only a poet of Ignorance, that is, one who died before the preaching of Islam, or a Mokhadram, that is, who was contemporary with it, was looked upon as of paramount and unquestionable authority. An Islámi, that is, one who was born after the rise of Islam, was of least consideration, and after the first century, the poets are called Muwalladún and are only quoted for their literary beauties, and not as authorities for the Arab tongue.”

Mohammadan commentators, &c., quoted.

9. All commentators, paraphrasts, and jurisconsults admit that the primary and original signification of the words “Jahad” and “Jihád” is power, ability, and toil, and that its use, as making wars or crusades, is conventional and figurative. Ibn Attiah says regarding verse 69, Chapter XXIX, that it is Meccan, and was revealed before the enjoining of the Orfee or conventional Jihád (vide Fat-hul bayan fi maquasidil Koran, Vol. II, page 517, by Siddik Hussan). Khateeb Koostlane, in his Irshadussari, a paraphrase of Bokhari, says that “Jihád is derived from Jahd, which means toil and labour, or from Johd, which means power. And in technical language it means fighting with infidels to assist Islam” (Vol. V, page 26). Mohammad Allauddin Al Haskafi (died 1088 A.H.), the author of Dur-ral-Mukhtár, a commentary on Tanviral Absár, by Sheikh Mohammad Al Tamartáshi (died 1004), says in the chapter on Jihád, that “in the classical language it is the infinitive noun of Jáhada fi Sabil-Allah, and in the language of the law it means inviting the infidels to the true faith and fighting with him who does not accept it.” And Ibn Ábidin Shámi, in his annotation on the above work, says:

“The infinitive noun of Jáhada means to do one’s utmost, and that it is general, and includes any person who supports all that is reasonable and forbids what is wrong.”

When the word Jihád was diverted from its original signification to its figurative meaning of waging religious war?

10. It is admitted by all lexicologists, commentators, and jurisconsults that Jihád in classical Arabic means to labour, strive earnestly, and that the change of its meaning or the technical signification occurred only in the post-classical period, i.e., long after the publication of the Koran. It is obviously improper, therefore, to apply the post-classical meaning of the word where it occurs in the Koran. This fact is further admitted by all the Mohammadan commentators and English translators of the Koran, who render the word in its original and literal meaning in all the Meccan and in the early Medinite Suras or Chapters of the Koran.328

It is only in a few of the latest chapters of the Koran published at later dates at Medina, that they (the commentators and translators) deviate from the original meaning, and prefer the subsequent unclassical and technical signification of waging war or crusade.

All verses of the Koran containing the word Jihád and its derivation quoted and explained.

11. I herein place in juxtaposition the several English translations of the word “Jihád,” together with its etymological derivation and several grammatical forms, to show, in the first place, that Mr. George Sale and the Rev. J.M. Rodwell and other European authors generally give the literal, original, and classical meaning; and in the second place, to show how they differ in giving various meanings, literal and technical, in some passages to the same word in the same verses.

It will be observed from a perusal of the statement, that the Rev. Mr. Rodwell, M.A., is more correct than the earliest English translator of the Koran, Mr. George Sale, and the latest, Mr. W.H. Palmer. The latter is the most unsatisfactory of all in this respect, as everywhere, except in six places—XXIX, 7; V, 39, 59; IV, 97; and IX, 74, 89—he translates Jihád as meaning fighting—a circumstance which not unnaturally leads to the supposition that he had paid but slight heed to the context.

Serial No.	No. of the Chapter and the Verse of the Koran.	Original Words.	English Translations.
			George Sale’s Translation.	Rev. Rodwell’s Translation.	Henry Palmer’s Translation.
1	XXXI. 14	“Jáhadáka”	“Strive”	“Endeavour to prevail”	“Strive.”
2	XXV. 54	“Jáhid,” “Jihádan.”	“Oppose them herewith with strong opposition.”	“By means of the Koran strive against them with a mighty strife.”	“Fight strenuously; strenuous fight.”
3	XXII. 77	“Jáhidoo”	“Fight in the defence of God’s religion.”	“Do valiantly”	“Fight strenuously.”
4	XVI. 111	“Jáhadoo”	“Have since sought in the defence of the true religion.”	“Fought”	“Fought strenuously.”
5	XXIX. 5	“Jáhada”	“Striveth”	“Maketh efforts”	“Fight strenuously; fight strenuously.”
6	XXIX. 7	“Jáhadáka”	“Endeavour”	“Strive”	“Strive.”
7	XXIX. 69	“Jáhadoo”	“Utmost endeavour”	“Made efforts”	“Fight strenuously.”
8	XVI. 40	“Jahd”	“Most solemnly”	“Most sacred”	“Most strenuous.”
9	XXXV. 40	“Jahd”	“Most solemn”	“Mightiest”	“Most strenuous.”
10	II. 215	“Jáhadoo”	“Fight in God’s cause”	“Fight”	“Wage war.”
11	III. 136	“Jáhadoo”	“Those who fought strenuously.”	“Did valiantly”	“Fought well.”
12	VIII. 73	“Jáhadoo be-am- walhim-w-anfosa-him.”	“Employed their substance and their persons in fight for the religion of God.”	“Spent their substance and themselves for the cause of God.”	“Fought strenuously with their wealth and person.”
13	VIII. 75	“Jáhadoo”	“Have fought for God’s true religion.”	“Fought”	“Fought strenuously.”
14	VIII. 76	“Jáhadoo”	“Have fought with you.”	“Fought”	“Fought strenuously.”
15	VI. 109	“Jahd”	“Most solemn”	“Most binding”	“Most strenuous”
16	XLVII. 33	“Mojáhidína”	“Who fight valiantly”	“Valiant”	“Fought strenuously.”
17	LXI. 11	“Jáhidoo”	“Defend God’s true religion with your substance and in your person.”	“Do valiantly”	“To fight strenuously.”
18	IV. 97	1st. “Mojáhidína”	1st. “Those who employ their fortune and their persons for the religion of God.”	1. “Defend God’s true religion valiantly.”	1. “Strenuous.”
		2nd. “Mojáhidina.”	2nd. “Those who employ their fortune and persons.”	2. “Contend earnestly.”	2. “Strenuous.”
		3rd. “Mojáhidina.”	3rd. “Those who fight”	3. “Strenuous”	3. “Strenuous.”
19	XXIV. 52	“Jahd”	“Most solemn”	“Most solemn”	“Most strenuous.”
20	LXVI. 9	“Jáhid”	“Attack the hypocrites with arguments.”	“Make war”	“Fight strenuously.”
21	IX. 74	“Jáhid”	“Wage war”	“Contend”	“Strive strenuously.”
22	LXI. 1	“Jihadan”	“To fight in the defence of my religion.”	“To fight”	“Fighting strenuously.”
23	XLIX. 5	“Jáhadoo”	“Who employ their substance and their person in the defence of God’s true religion.”	“Contend with their substance and their person.”	“Fight strenuously with their wealth and their persons.”
24	IX. 16	“Jáhadoo”	“Those among you who sought for his religion.”	“Valiantly”	“Fought strenuously.”
25	IX. 19	“Jáhada”	“Fighteth”	“Fighteth”	“Strenuous.”
26	IX. 20	“Jáhadoo”	“Fought for his religion.”	“Do valiantly”	“Fought strenuously.”
27	IX. 24	“Jihádan”	“Advancement”	“Efforts”	“Fighting strenuously.”
28	IX. 41	“Jáhidoo”	“Employ your substance and your person for the advancement of God’s religion.”	“Contend with your substance and with your person.”	“Fight strenuously with your wealth and your persons.”
29	IX. 44	“Yojáhidoo”	“Employing their substance and their persons for the advancement of God’s true religion.”	“Contending with your substance and your person.”	“Fighting strenuously.”
30	IX. 82	“Yojáhidoo”	“Employ their substance and their persons for the advancement of God’s true religion.”	“Contending with their riches and their persons.”	“Fighting strenuously with their wealth and their persons.”
31	IX. 87	“Jáhidoo”	“Go forth to war”	“Contend”	“Fight strenuously.”
32	IX. 89	“Jáhidoo”	“Expose their fortunes and their lives.”	“Contend with purse and persons.”	“Strenuous with their wealth and with their person.”
33	V. 39	“Jáhidoo”	“Fight for his religion.”	“Contend earnestly”	“Be strenuous.”
34	V. 58	“Jáhd”	“Most firm”	“Most solemn”	“Most strenuous.”
35	V. 59	“Yojahidoona”	“They shall fight for the religion of God.”	“Will they contend”	“Strenuous.”

12. The above verses quoted with remarks. I will now proceed to give a correct translation of all the verses of the Koran referred to above, in the chronological order of the chapters of the Koran as far as it is ascertained together with my observations and remarks on them, and quotations from Mohammadan commentators when necessary.