MPACUK Demanding Jihad

In a self-congratulatory article, MPACUK demands that all Muslims join the Jihad. "The Defence of Allah's people is a Fard [an obligation] on us. Jihad is Fard. The Muslim Leaders have no right in Islam to neglect it." While this article does not itself define Jihad, it does link all the words "Jihad" to this page.

The aim of this other article is to show that Jihad can be achieved through political means. It does this by quoting many Islamic sources. However, those sources serve to prove that it includes physical fighting. Here are some examples:

Sayyid Abul Ala Maudoodi: To change people's views by means of the pen and the tongue, and to bring about a revolution in their minds, is also jihad.

Maulavi Zafar Ali Khan: jihad is not simply that one should pick up a sword and dash into a battle-field, but it also includes struggle by speech and writing.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad: Many people think that jihad means only to fight.....This effort [what he calls Jihad] could be with one's life, or property, or expenditure of time, or by bearing labour and hardship, or fighting the enemy and shedding blood.

These show categorically that Jihad has many forms, one of which is to take up arms and kill the enemy. A huge number of Muslims in the world choose to fulfill Jihad in this way, including many in Britain. When MPACUK demand Jihad from their fellow Muslims, they may well have purely political activities in mind. However, they are surely aware that many will choose to follow the more violent option.

MPACUK's articles serve to arouse anger in Muslims and to then point those angry Muslims in the direction of an undefined "Jihad" is irresponsible at best. Unfortunately, it is entirely possible that while MPACUK themselves have chosen political Jihad they do not mind if others choose physical fighting. After all, neither article indicates any opposition to terrorism or fighting.