Editing Islam — Jihad Is Not a “Holy War”

Editing Islam: Jihad Is Not a “Holy War”

My Tip of the Week posts are designed for editors and writers—and normally deal with issues of grammar, punctuation, spelling and the use of stylebooks. But writing and editing go beyond these prosaic issues every day. We are constantly making decisions and judgment calls about the treatment of difficult issues—such as writing and editing material dealing with Islam.

Editors must make these decisions every day: What do you call groups like ISIS or al Queda? Islamic fundamentalists, radical Islamists, Islamic terrorists, jihadists, Islamic jihadists, Islamists, Muslim fundamentalists, Islamic-inspired terrorists, Muslim terrorists, radical Muslims—this list is never ending.

And why have these super-violent organizations hijacked the word jihad?

And what about the vast majority of Muslims who do not think that a suicide vest is the fashion of the day? Who are horrified about what people do in the name of their religion? They are routinely killed for speaking out. Can we speak out for them?

Today’s subject is the difference between the terms jihad and holy war.

Before attempting to define jihad, we need to do battle with some of the stereotypes and put the word jihad in its historical and religious context. (If you are hungering for more info between posts, please check out my last post listing recommended books on Islam.)

I hope to give writers and editors a better understanding of this word and its historical and religious meanings.

As any good copyeditor, my first source of information about everything fit to print is the AP Stylebook.

“Jihad. Arabic noun used to refer to the Islamic concept of the struggle to do good. In particular situations, that can include holy war, the meaning extremist Muslims commonly use.”

Here, the AP Stylebook both helps us and fails us. While the first sentence is fairly correct, second sentence is problematic. It does not mention that Christians, not Muslims, invented the phrase holy war. It is true that “some extremist Muslims” translate the word jihad into holy war. What is really sad is that these young jihadis are more familiar with an AK-47 that with the Quran.

Reza Aslan in his book No god But God, writes: “‘Holy War’ was not a term used by Muslim conquers, and it is in no way a proper definition of the word jihad. There are a host of words in Arabic that can be definitely translated as “war”: jihad is not one of them.”

Gabriel Mandel Khân, in Muhammad, makes this clear when he writes: “The word for holy is quds and the word for war is harb.”

Aslan continues:”The deep-rooted stereotype of Islam as a warrior religion has its origins in the papal propaganda of the Crusades, when Muslims were depicted as the soldiers of the Antichrist in blasphemous occupation of the Holy Lands (and, far more importantly, of the Silk Route to China).”

I also would recommend the film Kingdom of Heaven, which portrays this time period of the Crusades well; although it is not totally historically accurate. It also stars Norman Reedus, that hot guy Daryl from The Walking Dead.

So how does an editor at a news publication deal with the words holy war (if used as a synonym for jihad)? Do not use the term holy war unless it is in a quotation. If you must use it, briefly discuss the two terms and let your readers know why holy war is not appropriate.

jennifer orff

editor's corner

Editing Islam — Jihad Is Not a “Holy War”