It's like a holy war.
I'm not really sure.
Not sure at all.
Um...
I don't know, I'm sorry.
War.
Terrorism.
When I hear the term Jihad, I think of it in a terrorist context.
I think of the Middle East.
But then I’ve also heard that there are multiple levels of Jihad?
That it's also like an inner fight for your own personal salvation and spirituality.
My name is Iftikhar Daad.
I'm an Imam and I teach children basic Qur'anic education.
Jihad is an Arabic word which means to strive and struggle.
Jihad can be divided into two different parts;
We have the Greater Jihad and a Lesser Jihad.
This concept has come from the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him,
where he returned with his companions from a battle
and he explained to them that we have returned from a Lesser Jihad to a Greater Jihad.
To fight with your own ego, meaning your temptations and desires
and to control your own self is a Greater Jihad
than to actually fight your own enemy, physically.
Once all avenues have been exhausted
of communication of trying to promote peace and if peace is still not being achieved,
then at that point, the last resort will be to have a battle.
The battle has to be declared by a government,
which has to be advised and sanctioned by a panel of scholars,
and when it does happen, there are a list of things
that the army and the generals are briefed on.
They have to make sure that it is only to achieve peace.
They cannot kill women, they cannot kill children,
they cannot destroy places of worship.
They cannot destroy plantations and crops, they cannot kill animals.
My name is Bilal Hassam.
I work with a spectrum of young Muslims,
looking at how we can create better leaders in the Muslim community.
To be radical is a good thing.
It is something we should be proud of.
For me, Islam offers answers on how to channel my radicalism in a good way.
Radicalism means to channel all that energy, zeal and idealism
in wanting to make the world a better place.
Often there's a concern that Islam plus radicalism equals terrorism.
I can understand where that comes from because there were times in the past
where people have used Islam as an excuse to carry out terrible things.
How does Islam describe the notion and idea of Jihad?
Within the concept of Jihad, there is an idea of violent struggle, of picking up arms.
We have to look at what Islam says about this.
Islam is not a pacifist tradition.
If you see someone being attacked on the street, it's your duty as a Muslim to protect that person
and that might mean being violent
and this is expressed time and time again within the tradition,
it's only as a last means, a last resort.
Jihad is about correcting injustice.
Whether I'm fighting with my brother, or whether I'm struggling to wake up in the morning,
I'm being unjust to myself. If I don't get up, that's an injustice to myself.
I owe my own self, I owe my own body rights, I have a responsibility to myself
which means I've got to get up, I've got to eat healthy,
I've got to exercise, I’ve got to be nice to my parents.
This is all struggle and within the wider struggle,
it means there are ills in society I should be worried about,
that I should pray for and look to correct them as best I can.
I think it's something you see titled in news lines...
Stories, blogs...
The media, whenever you see the TV and something bad is happening,
they'll bring up words like that.
I don't even know if that's what it means.
The Sun or whatever, just talking rubbish about...
but it's using that word.
The term Jihad, I normally hear through news outlets,
especially the 24 hour news cycle, it's a buzzword,
that when it scrolls across the ticker tape or it gets mentioned in the background,
people tend to perk up and feel like there
might be some kind of danger or something happening.
The job of a journalist is to convey a message to the people.
It could be on topics like faith, the environment, human rights.
It's about reaching the people and to provide a voice for people who don’t always have a voice.
Terms that are used about Muslims within the media can be really confusing.
You've got words like Jihadists, Islamic terrorists, Islamist,
so it can be confusing for people when they read all these different terms
and they all blend into one meaning.
But that's worrying because they think that
a fifth of the world's population could be extremists or terrorists.
If journalists do use religious terms,
they have to be sensitive to the true meaning of those terms.
They need to understand what the root word conveys
and they have a responsibility to convey that true meaning to the reader.
I think it's important to challenge the poor image of Muslims in the media.
In my own work, I led a media campaign called "Inspired by Muhammad",
and that focussed on British Muslims who are inspired by Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him,
to be focussed on the environment, human rights and social justice.
My personal jihad is to make sure that I can control my temper.
To carry on, even when the world seems to be against me.
That I can establish my five daily prayers
To have a voice and to be as positive as possible.
I want to make the world a better place.
To make sure I can become a good Muslim.
My jihad is waking up to get around to doing it.