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Dalai Lama Defends Islam’s True Jihad
9-24-2014
DELHI – Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has condemned violence in the name of religion, clearing misconceptions about Islam’s Jihad as misinterpreted by extremists..
"Killing in the name of faith is unacceptable," the Nobel Pease prize winner told a meeting of India's religious leaders representing as many as nine different faiths including Islam, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.
Jihad or holy war should be a fight "to combat our inner destructive emotions", the 79-year-old spiritual leader said.
"It (jihad) does not mean harming other people."
The Dalai Lama was referring to the atrocities committed by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The opinion of the Dalai Lama reflected a growing anger with the militant group, especially after the killing of three British and American hostages.
"If we remain indifferent to what is happening around us, it is wrong," the Dalai Lama said.
"The spiritual people can show the world that it can be a happy family (despite) the different faiths."
A senior Muslim scholar, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Bombay and the head of the Jewish community in Delhi were among those who attended the two-day conference.
The inter-faith meeting was initially slated to be a three-day affair. But it was cut short to "accommodate" a request from the Indian authorities due to a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the country which ended Friday.
Jihad is often stereotyped by Western media as meaning “holy war”.
But Muslim scholars have repeatedly affirmed that the word Jihad, which is mentioned in the Noble Qur'an, means "struggle" to do good and to remove injustice, oppression and evil from society.
Karen Armstrong, the prominent and prolific British writer on all three monotheistic religions, has criticized stereotyping the Arabic word "jihad" as merely meaning holy war.
Militants from ISIL have been widely condemned by Muslims worldwide who staged several protests to express anger against the terrorist group.
Earlier this month, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, has condemned ISIL, accusing it of serving a “Zionist” plot to “destroy the Arab World”.
A few weeks ago, Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh condemned Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State jihadists as “enemy number one” of Islam, urging Muslims to take up arms against the militant group’s members.
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