Did the Crusades intensify the Jihad?

One of the more pernicious and prevalent post-9/11 myths is that one of Islam’s most fundamental concepts, jihad, has been distorted by “violent extremists” who have “hijacked the religion.” In this fairy-tale view, jihad is above all a struggle for self-betterment that al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, Boku Haram, and others have twisted and deformed.

Mourad of Smith College and Lindsay of Colorado State University provide an excellent antidote to this ahistorical nonsense by offering a serious primer on the historical codification of jihad and its subsequent application in response to the Crusaders.

The hadiths, and the worldview they have engendered, speak for themselves: “Lining up for battle in the path of God [jihad] is worthier than 60 years of worship.”

“If he dies or is killed, all his sins are forgiven … He will be wedded to the virgins of paradise, and the crown of dignity will be placed on his head.”Considering that the Muslim world is even more vulnerable to non-Muslim influence today than during the Crusades, it is unsurprising that in its most recent Islamic State manifestation, jihad continues to intensify, its fury directed against whatever is in its path—Jews, Christians, Yazidis, and, of course, Shiites. Read it all here..................

HT : BCF