Let's
Rescue a Once Beautiful Word from its
Captors
By
Anisa Mehdi |
I'm picky
about words. Maybe it's because I'm the daughter
of an English teacher. Maybe because I went to
journalism school. Or maybe it's because I've
always wanted to show Henry Higgins he doesn't
have a corner on the English language.
Words
are powerful. They can save lives or destroy
them; make truth of falsehood and weave
tapestries about our society, our safety
(remember weapons of mass destruction?) and who
our enemies are.
Words
can hurt, too. Almost as badly as sticks and
stones.
I
remember in 11th grade an English teacher at the
High School of Music and Art in New York began
shouting hysterically in the hallway at a Jewish
friend and me: "She's an A-rab! An A-rab!"
The message was to my friend: Get away from her.
We both exited. Shocked. Stung. My heart hurt
for a long while after that.
| Years
later I worked on a CBS News magazine
team looking at American involvement in
Lebanon in the 1980s and the attack on
the Marine barracks in'83. One version
of the script called it a
"terrorist attack." I argued
that the attack was against soldiers,
not civilians. As journalists, it's our
job to clarify, and we must distinguish
terrorism from acts of war. Besides,
Arab- American kids had it tough enough
already, with the words
"terrorist" and Arab virtually
synonymous in our media. It wasn't fair
that an attack on the military should be
called terrorism just because Arabs
committed it. Eventually the script line
was changed to "surprise
attack." |
..Arab-
American kids
had it tough enough
already, with the words
"terrorist" and Arab
virtually synonymous
in our media.
|
But 20
years later not much else has changed. Except
now we abuse even more words, foreign words,
that we don't understand.
As a
Muslim of Arab descent, I feel the wrath of one
particularly abused word every day: jihad. News
reports about "jihad" or "holy
war," bear the unspoken insinuation that
because of my background I am connected with the
terrorism that abounds; that my way of
worshipping God is a threat to our national
security; that it's okay to go after others with
my background -- before they come after us.
So let
me clarify. I'm not. It isn't. And it's not
okay.
|
For
me growing up, "jihad" was a
beautiful word. Jihad was the effort you
made to do your best in school; your
struggle to polish the talents God gave
you; how you strived to live up to your
parents' and your own highest
expectations; to lead a life acceptable
to the Almighty.
So,
people flying planes into buildings,
beheading hostages in Iraq and fomenting
hatred against people of other religions
-- that's not jihad!
According
to the Qur'an, the holy text of Islam,
the Almighty does not reward the murder
of innocent people. Nor does the Creator
condone suicide -- as in suicide
bombings. Terrorism is sociopathic. In
secular terms, it is criminal behavior.
In religious terms, it is blasphemy to
claim cold-blooded murder in the name of
God. It is not jihad.
What's
a journalist to do? The good news is we
can call a spade a spade. There is an
Arabic word for these crimes against
individuals and crimes against humanity,
and the word is "hiraba." War
against society.
|
Jihad
was the effort..
..to lead a life acceptable
to the Almighty..
..cold-blooded
murder
in the name of God. It
is not jihad..
..There
is an Arabic
word for these crimes..
..the word is "hiraba."
War against
society.
|
People
who are following God or practicing jihad do not
join war against society. Terrorists serve
Satan, if anything. They are bad people,
criminals in a secular sense and blasphemers in
the sacred. Just because they think they're on
God's side doesn't mean the American media and
our government PR folks need concur! But by
parroting their misuse of the word
"jihad," that's just what we're doing.
There
is nothing "holy" about war. There is
no jihad in terrorism. Only hiraba.
So what
happens if we call a spade a spade? Think of the
disincentive to young, hungry, cynical Muslims
-- angry at their own governments and angry at
ours for bolstering theirs. If they heard "hiraba"
instead of "jihad," if they heard
"murder" instead of
"martyr," if they heard they were
bound for hell not heaven, they might not be so
quick to sign up to kill themselves and a
handful of so-called "infidels" along
the way.
We know
words are powerful. After all, we attacked Iraq
for a mere acronym: WMD. So those of us
concerned with accuracy should use our
mightier-than- the-sword pens and keyboards and
get the word "hiraba" out there.
Someday,
I hope, "jihad" will find its way back
into our lexicon, used properly, in sentences
like "she's on a jihad to achieve the
American dream."
In the
meantime, people like me, performing jihad in
our own ways -- being patient with our kids,
volunteering in our communities, practicing our
professions to the best of our abilities, can
walk free of guilt by association with those
engaged in hiraba.
Reprinted
with permission.
 Anisa
Mehdi is a journalist and filmmaker living in
Maplewood, New Jersey. She produced and directed
"Inside Mecca" for National Geographic
Specials in 2003 and is developing documentaries
on Muslim-Christian relations and on Muslim
women.
Anisa
Mehdi has an M.S. from the Graduate School of
Journalism at Columbia University and a B.A.
from Wellesley College.
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