Blog

The deterioration of security in Iraq due to the Sunni Wahhabi Islamic State is an unexpected reality given the speed of its spread. The atrocities against Christians, Yazidis and Shiite Muslims in Iraq are similar to those taking place in neighboring Syria. The power vacuum in the region does not allow the governments of these countries to protect minorities while the indifferent West is only interested in ... words. Meanwhile, the "Jihadists" are acting uncontrollably. Given that this term is non-existent in the history of Islam, the question arises: Is it right to call them "jihadists".
First of all, they are not "Jihadists" but Sunni Mujahideen - fighters for the faith - Wahhabi Islamists. These are the correct terms that characterize the active Sunni fighters in Iraq. The term "Jihadist" is wrong. And we explain:
Linguistically, it is a transatlantic and European Anglo-Saxon neologism of the media and some researchers that does not adequately represent the content and way of thinking of the identified Sunni Islamists. Etymologically, it comes from the term "Jihad" [= etc., "effort (in the way of God), holy war"]. However, the term "Jihadist" is not found in the vocabulary of any Western language, not even Arabic.
However, the ambiguity and misunderstanding of the term "Jihadist" has a conceptual dimension. If we accept that it is used as a term synonymous with the above, then the question arises: if those who represent the Islamic State in Mesopotamia, then the Taliban in
Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Islamists of Yemen and Africa who are they? Of course it is the same branch of radical Sunni Islam without any doctrinal difference. So why the differentiation of the name of Sunni Islamists in Iraq-Syria and the rest of the world by the media?
At the same time, given that political Islam and Jihad exist as a concept in the political and moral practice of not only Sunnis but also Shiite Muslims, then, for example, is not Hezbollah of Lebanon "Jihadist"? Why, then, is the term misused only for radical Sunni Islam?
Consequently, this selective and linguistically unfounded use of the term “Jihadist” by the international and domestic media and part of the research community contributes to the further confusion that the average person in the West has about Islam and the developments in the Islamic world. With this in mind, it is right to avoid using the term “Jihadist” for Islamists and to use the terms “Mujahid(in)”, or “fighter for the faith”, as well as to clarify whether it is a Sunni or Shiite Islamist. This lexical clarity helps us to have a clearer understanding of what is happening in Islam.