"Jihad On Terrorism" Movie
Islamic scholar on jihad for truth on terrorism
Egyptian-born Muslim Fadel Soliman arrives in Hong Kong this week to start a jihad. But don't worry, it's not what you think.
The US-based Islamic scholar has just finished making a documentary called Jihad on Terrorism in which he argues that the media has misused the word jihad to mean holy war.
The film will be shown to the public for the first time on Thursday at the University of Hong Kong.
"Linguistically, jihad means striving and struggling in any context. In the idiomatic meanings, you can have a spiritual jihad, verbal jihad and combative/physical jihad," Soliman says.
Through the film, Soliman hopes to change people's perception of Islam and the jihad.
"I hope they take away with them a different opinion about Islam. If you want to understand something about a dish, you have to ask someone who has tasted that dish."
He said the three idiomatic definitions were helpful in understanding the linguistic meaning.
"Spiritual jihad is when you battle against your own ego, against your evil inclinations.
"Verbal jihad is when you go against a tyrant and you tell him clearly you are a tyrant and have to step down. In Egypt from January 25 until Mubarak fell, this was a verbal jihad.
"Combative jihad is when you fight and go to the battlefields for a just cause so it's a war but not any type of war. Muslims are, for example, not allowed to fight for oil."
Soliman said the combative category should not be misconstrued to mean a holy war.
"In Islam, war is not holy, life is holy. You don't have this word, holy war, anywhere in the Koran. The first people who mentioned the term were the Crusaders.
"When policemen in Hong Kong deal with criminals, they deal with them violently. Not all violence is wrong but the issue is why are they violent and against who?"
The film, which cost US$300,000 and took three years to make, was funded by several Egyptian businessmen and features interviews with Muslims and non-Muslims including Robert Pape, an American political scientist who wrote a book on suicide bombers.
After Hong Kong, the documentary will be screened in South Africa and Britain.
"It will be helpful to show it everywhere. Many non-Muslims find Islam taboo and don't understand what it is," Soliman said.
He said the misuse of jihad as a holy war was damaging for everyone.
"When you incite hatred between people and tell people the enemy is your neighbour or your colleague in school, this is damaging for the human community."
Soliman says though the media manipulated the meaning of jihad, they are not the only ones to blame.
"Some people do terrorist acts and they claim this is jihad. Some governments do terrorist acts and claim this is war on terrorism but both are terrorist acts. The media should be educating, not deceiving."
The film, which is part two in a series called The Fog is Lifting, also argues that poverty and ignorance are not the reasons for terrorism.
"Foreign occupation is the root cause of terrorism," Soliman says.
Soliman finished the documentary one week before the jasmine revolution in Egypt started in January so he postponed the release to film additional footage as the anti-government protests helped define the concept of verbal jihad.
Soliman was invited to Hong Kong by the Serving Islam Team, which promotes the religion in Hong Kong, and will give workshops and lectures for the local Muslim and non-Muslim community this week.
Shades of meaning
Jihad: struggling and striving (linguistic definition)
Spiritual jihad: when you battle against your own ego and evil inclinations.
Verbal jihad: when you oppose a tyrant and tell him he has to stand down.
Combative/physical jihad: when you fight on the battlefield for a just cause.
by Serving Islam Team - Hong Kong
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