Mohammed Tahir Hakim
AHMEDABAD, MAY 15— Around a month back Sudhir Chaudhary, the Editor-in-Chief of Zee News, in his prime time show ‘DNA’ fictionalised various types of Jihad perpetrated by Muslims in India. Thereby once again, he spewed venom against Islam and Muslims and also committed criminal offences against them i.e. of promoting enmity and hate against them, outraging their religious feelings and also insulting their religion and religious beliefs. Therefore, expectedly, but belatedly, FIR was registered against him. Consequently, immediately thereafter, to mitigate his criminality, he was coerced to say some good words about Islam and Jihad in Islam. He, therefore, pretended to explain and clarify the true and correct fundamentals and pillars of Islam and the true and correct meaning and concept of the term Jihad in Islam. But as is expected from him, he has again, deliberately and maliciously, misrepresented and stated, incorrect and misleading facts, and again repeated the very same criminal offences against Islam and Muslims.
Thereby, firstly Sudhir Chaudhary misrepresented and misinformed the viewers about the pillars of Islam as being six, though they are five. Secondly, he misrepresented and misinformed the meaning, connotation and concept of the term Jihad in Islam, as “Pavitra Yudh” (Holy War) and then went on to describe how, why and when Islam permits such wars.
Therefore, the said misunderstanding and misinformation, misrepresented, misinformed and propagated by Sudhir Chaudhary, is required to be dispelled.
As per the Hadith (words, actions, approvals or attributes of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)) recorded in the hadith books of Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, pillars of Islam are five, i.e.
(i) Shahadah (testifying that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad (PBUH) is the Messenger of Allah),
(ii) Salaah (establishing the salaah (prayer)),
(iii) Zakaah (paying the zakaat (obligatory charity))
(iv) Hajj (making the pilgrimage to the House of Allah in Mecca and record presence in Arafat, in Saudi Arabia) and
(v) Saum (fasting in Ramadhan).
Therefore, on the basis of this Hadith, the almost entire Muslim Ummah (Community) has the agreed upon belief, that the pillars of Islam are five, as aforesaid. However, some insignificant and small number of Muslims differ on this and believe that pillars of Islam are six and in addition to the aforesaid five pillars, Jihad is the sixth pillar.
It was therefore incumbent upon Sudhir Chaudhary to accept the majority and the agreed upon belief qua pillars of Islam and inform the same honestly and correctly to the viewers. But as his intentions are never bonafide, he maliciously and misleadingly chose to inform the viewers about the disagreed upon and insignificant minority belief. Thereby incorrectly, he informed the viewers that pillars of Islam are six and in addition to five mentioned herein above, Jihad is the sixth pillar. Thus from the said conduct, his intentions to malign, outrage and insult religion Islam and the religious beliefs of Muslims is explicit and glaringly obvious.
Similarly, Sudhir Chaudhary further and again, maliciously, misleadingly and incorrectly translated and explained the term Jihad, as “Pavitra Yudh” (Holy War).
The meaning and concept of the term Jihad in Islam and Arabic can be easily known and understood from some routine and basic search on internet. As per the same and particularly to put it correctly, Jihad in Arabic and Islamic terminology means and conveys the meaning “to strive or to struggle or to make effort”. The term Jihad is mentioned many times in Quran and Hadith, to indicate and instruct striving, struggling and making effort in the cause of Islam, pillars of Islam and for the spiritual wellbeing of man. Further as per Islamic theology based upon the Quran and the Hadith, Jihad is understood to be of four types:
(i) Jihad al-nafs (Jihad against one’s self),
(ii) Jihad al-Shaytaan (Jihad against the Shaytaan),
both the above are obligatory upon everyone who is accountable.
(iii) Jihad against the hypocrites, disbelievers and leaders of oppression and innovation, and
(iv) Physical Jihad (i.e. fighting) against the disbelievers,
both the above are obligatory upon the community as a whole and in certain circumstances may become obligatory on an individual, who is able to do it.
As regards the first two types of Jihad i.e. Jihad al Shaytaan, and Jihad al Nafs in particular, as per many Ahadith, Jihad al-Nafs is the most important, greater and difficult Jihad for a Muslim. Since for Jihad al Nafs, one has to strive and struggle within himself and against his own soul and sinful desires. Consequently Jihad al Nafs is considered to be the best and greater Jihad and better than all other Jihads, and it is obligatory upon every Muslim.
Whereas the term “to fight” in Islamic and Arabic theology and terminology is literally “Qital”. Therefore the last two Jihads and particularly, the Physical Jihad i.e. fighting against the hypocrites, disbelievers and leaders of oppression and innovation is more of “Qital”. However, since the same is also through striving, struggling and making effort in the cause of Allah and by physical fighting, Qital, it is also referred to as Jihad. However, physical fighting Jihad/Qital is permissible only if the specified stringent, specific and special conditions for it are fulfilled and further it is obligatory mostly only on the community as a whole and rarely individually.
It is therefore evident that striving, struggling and making effort by physical fighting, war, is known as “Qital” in Islamic and Arabic theology and terminology and is one of the types of Jihad. Whereas, Jihad as such is also of other types which involves striving, struggling and making effort against one’s own self and desires and otherwise, in the cause of Islam.
Though the term and concept of Jihad in Islam is as aforesaid, Jihad is maliciously and denigratingly referred to and propagated as “Holy War” by non-Muslims, particularly the western people.
Intriguingly, Sudhir Chaudhary chooses to disregard the true and correct understanding of term and concept of Jihad and mischievously and disparagingly, to mislead and misrepresent the same to people, uses the wrong, incorrect and denigrating connotation, as “Pavitra Yudh”/”Holy War”.
It is therefore obvious that under the guise of providing true and correct information about pillars of Islam and Jihad in Islam, Sudhir Chaudhary deliberately and maliciously promotes incorrect, misleading and misrepresenting misinformation. The said conduct of Sudhir Chaudhary is evident of his adamant conduct that he continues to persist with and to perpetrate the criminal acts of promoting enmity and hate and outrage and insult against religion Islam and the religious beliefs of Muslims. Therefore, the present act of Sudhir Chaudhary is nothing but merely pretence of his bonafides.
(The writer is an advocate practicing in the Gujarat High Court, Ahmedabad).
