JHD

Arabic, much like Hebrew, does not have letters for vowels when written. They are added in by the reader based on context, etc. For instance, Islam, 'submission', has the same three letters as salom, 'peace'.

JHD was as my professor said not only 'holy war', but a word you would use for the struggle within or even the word for the struggle to open a lid screwed down too tight.

Sandro Magister's review of The Legacy of Jihad by Andrew G. Bostom wants to show us how such revisionist views of the concept of 'jihad' are inaccurate as well as naive.

Other factors encouraging the general silence over the holy wars of yesterday and today – and also over slavery, which is still practiced by Muslims in some regions, over assaults on churches and the killing of Christians – are the effort to establish a good relationship with the increasing numbers of Muslim immigrants in Europe, fear of terrorist attacks, and the desire to create distance from the outlook of the “clash of civilizations.”

But the Muslim victims of this reticence and silence on the part of the West are precisely those who are courageously fighting to reform the Islamic faith and reconcile it with democracy and modernity.

It’s a good thing that, with books like the one by Andrew G. Bostom, they aren’t being left entirely alone.

Read the complete article Holy War: The Year the Muslims Took Rome from www.chiesa.