Jihad Quotes

“Declare your jihad on thirteen enemies you cannot see -egoism, arrogance, conceit, selfishness, greed, lust, intolerance, anger, lying, cheating, gossiping and slandering. If you can master and destroy them, then you will be read to fight the enemy you can see.”
― Al-Ghazzali

“هل تعلمين أن الناس لا يعرفون عنا سوى نهاياتنا ؟عندما نموت ,نصبح رمزًا للجهاد والمقاومة. والرمز لا حياة شخصية لديه ولا احتياجات, لديه هدف فقط , من أجله يعيش ومن أجله يموت, بهذا المعنى نكون "مخلوقات ظل" تهفوا إلى "النور" نكون قد عبرنا إلى منطقة النور حين نستشهد. كينونتنا منذ زمن هي كينونة هذا "الرمز" كل نفس يتردد في صدورنا هو في سبيل الله. فكيف نعود إلى حياة البشر الفانين؟ نحيا لنأكل ونقرأ ونتفسح وننام .. لنعيد الكرة في اليوم التالي "التكرار" تلك الكلمة المقيتة. أليس التكرار هو طابع جهنم؟ جسد يحترق ثم يُكسَى لحمًا ليحترق مرة أخرى كأن شيئًا لم يكن؟”
― خولة حمدي, في قلبي أنثى عبرية

“Like the Nazis, the cadres of jihad have a death wish that sets the seal on their nihilism. The goal of a world run by an oligarchy in possession of Teutonic genes, who may kill or enslave other 'races' according to need, is not more unrealizable than the idea that a single state, let alone the globe itself, could be governed according to the dictates of an allegedly holy book. This mad scheme begins by denying itself the talents (and the rights) of half the population, views with superstitious horror the charging of interest, and invokes the right of Muslims to subject nonbelievers to special taxes and confiscations. Not even Afghanistan or Somalia, scenes of the furthest advances yet made by pro-caliphate forces, could be governed for long in this way without setting new standards for beggary and decline.”
― Christopher Hitchens, The Enemy

“And I'll close by saying this. Because anti-Semitism is the godfather of racism and the gateway to tyranny and fascism and war, it is to be regarded not as the enemy of the Jewish people, I learned, but as the common enemy of humanity and of civilisation, and has to be fought against very tenaciously for that reason, most especially in its current, most virulent form of Islamic Jihad. Daniel Pearl's revolting murderer was educated at the London School of Economics. Our Christmas bomber over Detroit was from a neighboring London college, the chair of the Islamic Students' Society. Many pogroms against Jewish people are being reported from all over Europe today as I'm talking, and we can only expect this to get worse, and we must make sure our own defenses are not neglected. Our task is to call this filthy thing, this plague, this—this pest, by its right name; to make unceasing resistance to it, knowing all the time that it's probably ultimately ineradicable, and bearing in mind that its hatred towards us is a compliment, and resolving (some of the time, at any rate) to do a bit more to deserve it. Thank you.”
― Christopher Hitchens

“The word 'jihad' has nowhere been used in the Qur'an to mean war in the sense of launching an offensive. It is used rather to mean 'struggle'. the action most consistently called for in the Qur'an is the exercise of patience. (p. 7-8)”
― Wahiduddin Khan, The True Jihad: The Concept of Peace, Tolerance and Non Violence in Islam

“If religions are diseases of the human psyche, as the philosopher Grintholde asserts, then religious wars must be reckoned the resultant sores and cankers infecting the aggregate corpus of the human race. Of all wars, these are the most detestable, since they are waged for no tangible gain, but only to impose a set of arbitrary credos upon another's mind.”
― Jack Vance, The Face

“We are split people. For myself, half of me wishes to sit quietly with legs crossed, letting the things that are beyond my control wash over me. But the other half wants to fight a holy war. Jihad! And certainly we could argue this out in the street, but I think, in the end, your past is not my past and your truth is not my truth and your solution---it is not my solution. So I do not know what it is you would like me to say. Truth and firmness is one suggestion, though there are many people you can ask if that answer does not satisfy. Personally, my hope lies in the last days. The prophet Muhammad---peace be upon Him!---tells us that on the Day of Resurrection everyone will be struck unconscious. Deaf and dumb. No chitchat. Tongueless. And what a bloody relief that will be.”
― Zadie Smith, White Teeth

“Now is as good a time as ever to revisit the history of the Crusades, or the sorry history of partition in Kashmir, or the woes of the Chechens and Kosovars. But the bombers of Manhattan represent fascism with an Islamic face, and there's no point in any euphemism about it. What they abominate about 'the West,' to put it in a phrase, is not what Western liberals don't like and can't defend about their own system, but what they do like about it and must defend: its emancipated women, its scientific inquiry, its separation of religion from the state. Loose talk about chickens coming home to roost is the moral equivalent of the hateful garbage emitted by Falwell and Robertson, and exhibits about the same intellectual content.”
― Christopher Hitchens

“Religion is so frequently a source of confusion in political life, and so frequently dangerous to democracy, precisely because it introduces absolutes into the realm of relative values.”
― Reinhold Niebuhr

“As to the 'Left' I'll say briefly why this was the finish for me. Here is American society, attacked under open skies in broad daylight by the most reactionary and vicious force in the contemporary world, a force which treats Afghans and Algerians and Egyptians far worse than it has yet been able to treat us. The vaunted CIA and FBI are asleep, at best. The working-class heroes move, without orders and at risk to their lives, to fill the moral and political vacuum. The moral idiots, meanwhile, like Falwell and Robertson and Rabbi Lapin, announce that this clerical aggression is a punishment for our secularism. And the governments of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, hitherto considered allies on our 'national security' calculus, prove to be the most friendly to the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Here was a time for the Left to demand a top-to-bottom house-cleaning of the state and of our covert alliances, a full inquiry into the origins of the defeat, and a resolute declaration in favor of a fight to the end for secular and humanist values: a fight which would make friends of the democratic and secular forces in the Muslim world. And instead, the near-majority of 'Left' intellectuals started sounding like Falwell, and bleating that the main problem was Bush's legitimacy. So I don't even muster a hollow laugh when this pathetic faction says that I, and not they, are in bed with the forces of reaction.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left

“It’s possible to be flippant here, when Jihadists fly aircraft into buildings they shout God is Great, what do atheists shout when they do it?”
― Martin Amis, The Second Plane: September 11, 2001-2007

“It can certainly be misleading to take the attributes of a movement, or the anxieties and contradictions of a moment, and to personalize or 'objectify' them in the figure of one individual. Yet ordinary discourse would be unfeasible without the use of portmanteau terms—like 'Stalinism,' say—just as the most scrupulous insistence on historical forces will often have to concede to the sheer personality of a Napoleon or a Hitler. I thought then, and I think now, that Osama bin Laden was a near-flawless personification of the mentality of a real force: the force of Islamic jihad. And I also thought, and think now, that this force absolutely deserves to be called evil, and that the recent decapitation of its most notorious demagogue and organizer is to be welcomed without reserve. Osama bin Laden's writings and actions constitute a direct negation of human liberty, and vent an undisguised hatred and contempt for life itself.”
― Christopher Hitchens, The Enemy

“The neo-cons, or some of them, decided that they would back Clinton when he belatedly decided for Bosnia and Kosovo against Milosevic, and this even though they loathed Clinton, because the battle against religious and ethnic dictatorship in the Balkans took precedence. This, by the way, was partly a battle to save Muslims from Catholic and Christian Orthodox killers. That impressed me. The neo-cons also took the view, quite early on, that coexistence with Saddam Hussein was impossible as well as undesirable. They were dead right about that. They had furthermore been thinking about the menace of jihadism when most people were half-asleep.

And then I have to say that I was rather struck by the way that the Weekly Standard and its associated voices took the decision to get rid of Trent Lott earlier this year, thus removing an embarrassment as well as a disgrace from the political scene. And their arguments were on points of principle, not 'perception.' I liked their ruthlessness here, and their seriousness, at a time when much of the liberal Left is not even seriously wrong, but frivolously wrong, and babbles without any sense of responsibility. (I mean, have you read their sub-Brechtian stuff on Halliburton....?) And revolution from above, in some states and cases, is—as I wrote in my book A Long Short War—often preferable to the status quo, or to no revolution at all.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left

“[T]his is an enemy for life, as well as an enemy of life.”
― Christopher Hitchens

“God stipulates in the Bible that Jesus Followers are to love and serve everyone regardless of their faith or lack of it. But, this does not require us to honour and respect their Biblically-heinous cultural practises like multiculturalism does!”
― Gary F. Patton

“The United States finds itself with forces of reaction. Do I have to demonstrate this? The Taliban's annihilation of music and culture? The enslavement of women?”
― Christopher Hitchens, A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq

“The 'pre-emption' versus 'prevention' debate may be a distinction without much difference. The important thing is to have it understood that the United States is absolutely serious. The jihadists have in the past bragged that America is too feeble and corrupt to fight. A lot is involved in disproving that delusion on their part.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left

“There is no greater jihad than to help the helpless - there is no greater crusade than to bring hope to the hopeless - there is no greater advancement than to lift the fallen - there is no greater humanity than to burn oneself for others to have warmth.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkanjali: The Sufi Sermon

“In the first place, it is certain that the Turk has no right or command to begin war and to attack lands that are not his. Therefore, his war is nothing else than outrage and robbery, with which God is punishing the world, as He often does through wicked knaves, and sometimes through godly people. For he does not fight from necessity or to protect his land in peace, as the right kind of a ruler does, but like a pirate or highwayman, he seeks to rob and damage other lands, who are doing and have done nothing to him.”
― Martin Luther, On War Against the Turk

“Some indeed have invented outrageous lies about the Turks in order to stir up us Germans against them, but there is no need for lies; the truth is all too great.”
― Martin Luther, On War Against the Turk

“All Christian doctrine and life are gone, and there is left, instead of Christ, nothing more than Mohammed with his doctrine of works and especially of the sword. That is the chief doctrine of the Turkish faith in which all abominations, all errors, all devils are piled up in one heap.”
― Martin Luther, On War Against the Turk

“Maybe. But you are different. You don’t fight others. You fight the Great Jihad. The Prophet said that the fight inside a man, the fight for his soul, is the greatest struggle of all, yes? The fight between the white brown man and the brown white man. The fight between the good bad man and the bad good man. I see it in you all the time.”
― Syed M. Masood, The Bad Muslim Discount

“Of all the terms used in the world's religions, none is as controversial as jihad. Jihad literally means "struggle," and Muslims have traditionally understood it to point to two kinds of struggles: the spiritual struggle against pride and self-sufficiency; and the physical struggle against the "house of war," namely, the enemies of Islam. The second of these struggles calls for a variety of tactics, including preaching, teaching, and working for social justice. It may also include war.

Some apologists for Islam have tried to minimize the importance of jihad, and to insulate Islam from its extremists, by arguing that, of these two struggles, the spiritual struggle is higher. A Muslim merchant I met in Jerusalem took this argument further, contending that jihad has nothing whatsoever to do with war because jihad is nothing more than the personal struggle to be good. "Treating me with respect is jihad," he said. "Not ripping me off is jihad." The Quran, he added, never even mentions war.

But the Quran does mention war, and it does so repeatedly. One Quranic passage commands Muslims to "fight," "slay," and "expel" in the course of just two sentences (2:190–191), while another says that fighting is "prescribed . . . though it be hateful to you" (2:216). Whether it is better for a religion to largely ignore war (as the Christian New Testament does) or to carefully regulate war (as does the Quran) is an open question, but there is no debating the importance of the themes of fighting and killing in both the Quran and Islamic law. So while it is incorrect to translate jihad as "holy war," the plain sense of this struggle in both the Quran and contemporary Islamic practice is both spiritual and military.”
― Stephen Prothero, God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter

“The grating cry of the muezzin from the mosques at sunrise wakes people from their sleep and puts them on edge for the rest of the day.”
― Clifford Thurlow, Operation Jihadi Bride: The Covert Mission to Rescue Young Women from ISIS

“Not all the young women recruited to holy war had their feet caned by the moral police. There were those who held the canes.”
― Clifford Thurlow, Operation Jihadi Bride: My Covert Mission to Rescue Young Women from ISIS - The Incredible True Story

“Each community lives by its own rules in a disconnected, parallel universe. Integration is like a ghost people speak of but no one ever sees.”
― Clifford Thurlow, Operation Jihadi Bride: My Covert Mission to Rescue Young Women from ISIS - The Incredible True Story

“There is no greater jihad than to help the helpless.”
― Abhijit Naskar

“It comes from the same root as jihad, ’to struggle,’ but unlike violent struggle, ijtihad is about struggling to understand our world by using our minds. Which implies exercising the freedom to ask questions—sometimes uncomfortable ones. I spoke about why all of us, Muslim and not, need ijtihad.”
― Irshad Manji, Allah, Liberty and Love: The Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom

“Pure Fire Spirit

Are we really being crushed by adversity? When leaders are throwing agitations and motions of no confidence at each other. Who is right and who is not? Who should we follow?

We cannot look out and then proclaim ourselves a warrior or rebel. We don't become heroes that way. We cannot do so without trying to look within.

Have we looked in the mirror without cracking the glass? Are we really standing on our own accord or on the will of others? Are we fighting in the spirit of pure fire?

Have we been able to detach ourselves from the motives that keep us shackled to self-interest? Are we ready for jihad and martyrdom?”
― Titon Rahmawan

“Semangat Api Murni

Apakah kita sungguh-sungguh sedang terhimpit oleh kesulitan? Ketika para pemimpin saling melemparkan agitasi dan mosi tidak percaya. Siapa yang benar dan tidak? Siapa yang harus kita ikuti?

Kita tidak bisa melihat keluar dan lalu memproklamirkan diri sebagai seorang pejuang atau pemberontak. Kita tidak menjadi pahlawan dengan cara seperti itu. Kita tidak bisa melakukannya tanpa berusaha melihat ke dalam diri.

Apakah kita sudah bercermin tanpa membuat kacanya retak? Apakah kita sungguh berdiri atas kemauan kita sendiri atau atas kehendak orang lain? Apakah kita berjuang dalam semangat api yang murni?

Apakah kita sudah mampu melepaskan diri dari motif-motif yang membuat kita terbelenggu oleh kepentingan diri sendiri? Apakah kita telah siap untuk berjihad dan menjadi syuhada?”
― Titon Rahmawan