NAME : AHMAD NAQIUDDIN MOHAMAD

MATRIX NO : 2017887122
SUBJECT : WAR, RELIGION AND SOCIETY

FINAL TEST ASSESSMENT

1) DISCUSS THE TRUE CONCEPT OF JIHAD AS CONCEIVED IN THE

QURAN AND HADITH (10MARKS)

The Arabic word "jihad" is frequently interpreted as "blessed war," however in a

simply etymological sense, the word " jihad" implies battling or striving. The Arabic
word for war is: "al-harb". In a religious sense, as portrayed by the Quran and
lessons of the Prophet Muhammad (s), "jihad" has numerous implications. It can
allude to inner and in addition outer endeavours to be a decent Muslims or devotee,
and also attempting to illuminate individuals about the confidence of Islam.

In the event that military jihad is required to secure the confidence against others, it
can be performed utilizing anything from legitimate, discretionary and financial to
political means. On the off chance that there is no quiet option, Islam additionally
permits the utilization of power, however there are strict tenets of commitment.
Innocents -, for example, ladies, kids, or invalids - should never be hurt, and any
quiet suggestions from the foe must be acknowledged.

Military activity is along these lines just a single method for jihad, and is extremely
uncommon. To feature this point, the Prophet Mohammed told his devotees coming
back from a military crusade: "This day we have come back from the minor jihad to
the real jihad," which he said implied coming back from furnished fight to the serene
fight for poise and improvement.

On the off chance that military activity seems fundamental, not every person can
pronounce jihad. The religious military battle must be proclaimed by an appropriate
specialist, exhorted by researchers, who say the religion and individuals are under
danger and savagery is basic to shield them. The idea of "simply war" is imperative.
The idea of jihad has been commandeered by numerous political and religious
gatherings over the ages in an offer to legitimize different types of brutality. Much of
the time, Islamic chip bunches conjured jihad to battle against the built up Islamic
request. Researchers say this abuse of jihad negates Islam. Cases of endorsed
military jihad incorporate the Muslims' guarded fights against the Crusaders in
medieval circumstances, and before that a few reactions by Muslims against
Byzantine and Persian assaults amid the time of the early Islamic successes.

Jihad is certainly not a fierce concept. Jihad isn't a revelation of war against different
religions. It is significant that the Koran particularly alludes to Jews and Christians as
"individuals of the book" who ought to be secured and regarded. Each of the three
religions adore a similar God. Allah is only the Arabic word for God, and is utilized by
Christian Arabs and Muslims. Military activity for the sake of Islam has not been
regular ever of. Researchers says most calls for fierce jihad are not authorized by
Islam. Warfare for the sake of God isn't special to Islam. Different beliefs all through
the world have battled with religious supports

The Koran describes three sorts of jihad (battles), and zero of them mean or allow
psychological oppression. These are: the jihad against yourself, the jihad against
Satan which are known as the more noteworthy jihads and the jihad against an open
foe known as the lesser jihad. Prophet Muhammad clarified this after coming back
from fight: "We are coming back from the lesser jihad to the more noteworthy jihad."
This jihad against yourself shows from multiple points of view. For instance, getting
your school training is the more noteworthy jihad. Stopping smoking, shedding
pounds, beating malignancy, taking in an expertise, child rearing, notwithstanding
"adulting" are for the most part types of the more noteworthy jihad. In this way, the
first and most prominent type of jihad in Islam is simply the jihad to enhance and to
enhance all humankind.

The second jihad is the jihad against Satan. This is the jihad to lecture the
expression of God through the Koran, through grant and through discourse. Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad, the Messiah and originator of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community,
instituted this as the "jihad of the pen" in the late nineteenth century. He denounced
those Muslim pastors who guaranteed Islam ought to be spread by constrain, writing
in 1902, "No obvious Muslim has ever trusted that Islam ought to be spread by the
sword." Islam, similar to Christianity and Judaism, trains that Satan deceives and
advances dread and loathe. He contorts reality to make savagery. This second jihad
pushes back with information, truth and love.

Lastly the third, jihad is the battle against an open foe. The Koran obviously
characterizes who is an "open foe", and I clarified in detail in a viral thread and op-
ed. The short answer is that "open foe" isn't your administration, individuals of
another confidence or your kindred subjects. Rather, the Koran grants Muslims to
battle in this lesser jihad when five strict conditions are met: self - barrier, when they
are being abused for their confidence; have fled their homes and relocated to an
alternate nation to save peace; are focused to be slaughtered for their confidence;
and to ensure general religious flexibility.
2) CRITICALLY ANALYSE THE MISCONCEPTION OF JIHAD AS BEING
PROPAGATED BY EXTREMIST. ONCE YOU IDENTIFIED THE
MISCONCEPTION, REFUTE THIS MISCONCEPTIONS BASED ON THE TRUE
CONCEPT OF JIHAD DISCUSSED EARLIER. (10 MARKS)

Islam is ranked as the fastest growing religion in the world, and is predicted to rival
Christianity in terms of global population by 2050. However, it is still misunderstood
by millions of people, including Muslims themselves. Islam, meaning peace and
submission to God, is a religion of ethics, obedience and harmony, and is based on
a faithful belief system. Conversely, in various parts of the world, Islam is broadly
represented as a religion of intolerance and killing. This portrayal, however, cannot
be further away from the truth.

Muslims believe that God’s messenger, Prophet Mohamed, was sent to the world as
a ‘mercy to mankind’. Prophet Mohamed is introduced in the Qur’an in these
words: [And We have not sent you forth but as a mercy to mankind.] (Al-Anbiyaa’:
107)
This shows that the Prophet’s distinctive quality is being a blessing incarnate in word
and deed, not to prompt killing and suffering.

Meanwhile, it is vital to delve into a common confusion and misinterpretation that

slowly, but surely adds to the negative portrayal of Islam, the word ‘Jihad’. Contrary
to the popular belief, Jihad is not a synonym for combat. In Arabic language, the
word ‘Jihad’ basically means to strive and exert your utmost effort for any given
objective. Additionally, in Islam, Jihad can be classified into several realms; Jihad by
the heart, tongue, hand and finally, by the sword.

Unfortunately, the latter is usually the level of Jihad that is most publicized and
exposed due to its wide misinterpretation and misuse by extremist Islamic groups for
their own interest. Notably, combative Jihad in Islam means “the declaration of war
against belligerent and aggressive non-Muslim powers or against fellow Muslim
transgressors”. However, according to the principles of Islamic jurisprudence, Jihad
by the sword is not a haphazard decision to be taken by anyone. “The actions of the
leader must be guided by the interests of the people and that the interests of the
collectivity has, in some cases, precedence over the interests of the individual.”
As a familiar illustration, Prophet Mohamed had only resorted to Jihad by the sword
when nonbelievers declared war against him and his message and had initiated
fight; there was no alternative except to fight back. But many years before that, he
had only employed peaceful invitations and deployed the three other forms of Jihad
to achieve his objective.There are given conditions in which combative jihad should
be regulated, such as during a military invasion of a sovereign country, for self-
defense purposes, and for fighting back against aggression.

Another form of jihad that is usually overlooked in today’s pursuit of newsworthy

headlines is jihad to alleviate religious persecution and establish freedom of religion,
which assures the importance of freedom of religion in Islam, and how religious
persecution is deemed unacceptable.

Jihad is not declaring war against other religions. It is worth noting that the Holy
Quran specifically refers to Jews and Christians as “people of the book” who should
be protected and respected. Yet, Islamic groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda have
deliberately put forth and prompted the word’s fallacy, as they intentionally tarnished
and brainwashed their followers into joining them, for their very own noble cause of
Jihad.
Such groups claim piety, yet their actions only prove infidelity. For instance, it is a
known fact that in Islam, the consumption of drugs and alcohol is prohibited.

However, according to the Russian Federal Drug Control Service, ISIS are the main
drug cartels of the Middle East. According to our estimates, IS makes up to $US 1
billion annually on Afghan heroin trafficked through its territory,” the Russian Federal
Drug Control Service stated.

Moreover, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations are receiving hundreds of

millions of dollars from drug trade in Afghanistan. The American Congressional
Research Service estimates that terrorist groups in Afghanistan are receiving around
USD 70 to USD 100 million each year from the drug trade. A report by Afghanistan’s
Minister of Counter-Narcotics even said that this estimate could be higher, reaching
up to USD 400 million.
In a time when the ongoing war is one of ideologies, the winner is he whose
definition of words is adopted by the greatest number of people. To fight back,
spreading awareness and addressing the enlightened minds is the only possible
solution, where no troops or weapons can be of any good. From social media users
to media figures and even Muslim scholars and imams, the responsibility is shared
amongst us all to spread the true meaning of Islam and its unjustly misinterpreted
teachings.
3) ANALYSE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO TERRORISM (10MARKS)

The reasons for terrorism have been under much level headed discussion. There is
prove for and against each reason on this rundown be that as it may, as a rule, it is a
blend of a few that prompt terrorism.

Ethno-patriotism

The longing of a populace to split far from an administration or decision control and
make their very own condition can cause the development of fear based oppressor
gatherings. In the 20th century this was seen frequently with locales or states
endeavoring to pick up freedom from their pioneer period aces. Be that as it may, as
Bruce Hoffman brings up in Inside Terrorism, ethno-patriot terrorism had been
around decades before even the First World War. Maybe the most eminent of these
gatherings, shaped when WWII and enlivened by the debilitating of majestic forces,
was the Jewish Irgun Avai Le'umi who battled British control in Palestine in order to
accomplish the production of a Jewish state.

Today Hamas is a standout amongst the most dynamic ethno-patriot driven

gatherings completing suicide bombings and assaults against the province of Israel
with the objective of making a Palestinian state. Chechen fear based oppressor
associations are likewise ethno-patriots for their assaults against the administration
and individuals of Russia in the endeavor to shape their own particular state.

Inside numerous nations around the world minority bunches exist wishing to earn
some type of autonomy, if not their own particular state out and out. Along these
lines, ethno-patriotism will keep on being a critical wellspring of terrorism. It is vital to
perceive this and counter it with all the more politically comprehensive procedures
that can moderate the grievances of minority gatherings, however some will
unavoidably keep on employing terrorism until the point when they accomplish their
coveted free country.
Estrangement/Discrimination

A few creators on terrorism have indicated a feeling of estrangement felt by

diasporas, especially those living in Europe as a driver of terrorism. Commonly these
gatherings confront segregation in the nations they live, prompting further sentiments
of detachment. They usually move from poorer nations, especially Muslim states on
account of Europe, to wealthier ones to go to class or look for some kind of
employment. As Marc Sageman examines in his book Understanding Terror
Networks, once in these nations they start to feel distanced. The new host country is
considerably unique in relation to their own particular culture, and is typically
significantly less network situated. This makes estranged people search out
networks with societies like their nations of origin or others like themselves. These
gatherings may end up fatigued towards society around them as they don't fit in and
feel rejected. Developing opinions of segregation can lead gatherings to look to more
preservationist, and in the end, radical philosophies.

The Hamburg Cell, comprising of two of the pilots in the 9/11 fear based oppressor
assaults, is an ideal case of this. The cell incorporated various ostracize Muslims
contemplating in Germany who searched out other traditionalist Muslims to unite as
one when they felt achy to visit the family in a Western culture that was outsider to
them. This began them down the trail of radicalization as they turned out to be more
tainted with their general surroundings.

Robert Leiken likewise talks about this marvel in his paper Europe's Angry Muslims.
Leiken focuses to both "outcasts," Muslims who moved keeping in mind the end goal
to study or look for haven, and "insiders," second or third era Muslims in Europe.
These gatherings are subjected to oppressive social approaches, for example, the
headscarf law in France, that at that point make them progress toward becoming
radicalized.
The issue here, especially on account of Europe, is that a large number of these
ostracizes who move toward becoming radicalized because of distance from being in
an outside society likewise hold European international IDs and in this manner can
go inside Europe without hardly lifting a finger, and also enter the U.S. substantially
simpler than non-Europeans. Along these lines they posture a risk to Europe, as well
as to the United States.

Religion

Maybe the most accepted way of thinking today is that terrorism is caused by
religion. In spite of the fact that it isn't the primary driver for terrorism, religion plays a
noteworthy part in driving a few types of it. As Hoffman calls attention to in  Inside
Terrorism, from the Thugs of old India that executed to threaten for the sake of the
god Kali to the Jewish Zealots who cut the throats of Romans out in the open to
battle their control of Israel, religion (in conjunction with political/ethno-patriot drivers)
has for some time been a factor of terrorism.

Today religion as a piece of terrorism has been for the most part ascribed to Islamic
fundamentalism (however different illustrations, for example, the Aum Shinrikyo
clique that did the 1995 sarin gas assaults in Tokyo, likewise exist). As Sageman
portrays: "The worldwide Salafi jihad is an overall religious evangelist development
with the objective of restoring past Muslim eminence in an awesome Islamist state
extending from Morocco to the Philippines, taking out present national limits."

As a driver of terrorism, the genuine threat that religious principle postures is its
support of assaults that are more vicious in nature than different kinds of terrorism.
By being guaranteed compensates in existence in the wake of death, fear based
oppressors will probably complete suicide bombings and other such "all in"
strategies that are harder to guard against.

Financial Status

Psychological militants may likewise be driven by a feeling of relative depravation

and absence of upward versatility inside society. Globalization and the cutting edge
media have given 'the less wealthy's an intense consciousness of their circumstance
contrasted with 'those who are well off'. As Omer Taspinar states in Fighting
Radicalism, Not "Terrorism," "Globalization makes an intense mindfulness about
circumstances accessible somewhere else. This prompts disappointment,
exploitation, and embarrassment among developing associates of urbanized,
undereducated, and jobless Muslim youth who can make correlations crosswise over
nations." Seeing the financial contrasts amongst themselves and the Western world
can goad some in immature nations, expanding strain and dangers. This enables
fear monger associations to pick up consideration and section to social orders that
have felt wronged by these apparent social treacheries.

Shockingly the main genuine approach to moderate this is through monetary

advancement of the network, nation, and district, however that requires significant
investment. For years to come there will dependably be those that are displeased by
the correlation of expectations for everyday comforts of the well off the world over
versus their own, opening the ways to disappointment and anger.  Thus, this driver is
amazingly difficult to battle as globalization takes into consideration more systems of
examination between fluctuating worldwide financial levels.

Political Grievances

An absence of political comprehensiveness in states or grievances against a specific

political request may make people join or make fear based oppressor gatherings.
Left and conservative fear mongers regularly try to a political framework. Also,
numerous in countries with tyrant administrations need roads for disagree. Baffled
articulations of political will can swing to savagery as a contrasting option to
restrictive political frameworks. While fairly like ethno-patriot/rebel causes, these
political grievances are not conceived from the craving to make another state yet to
change the request inside the present one.

In his piece, Taspinar portrays this as a political measurement to relative

depravation. In this light he sees political Islam as a response to such severe
governments and its Western supporters. With the information that other individuals
around the globe live in agent governments, the outrage just develops among the
individuals who live without such political portrayal, driving baffled people into the
arms of terrorism.

The suggestion here is that Western governments, in their help of oppressive tyrant
administrations for their own particular national intrigue, have basically made
themselves focuses of terrorism of a maddened masses inside these
administrations, carrying on fiercely as the main contrasting option to political
articulation.

The Accidental Guerrilla

At long last, there is the hypothesis set forth about the "coincidental guerrilla" by
David Kilcullen. Kilcullen portrays it all things considered: A fear based oppressor
association moves into a territory with poor government or that is struggle ridden (he
utilizes Al Qaeda particularly), at that point utilizes this place of refuge to spread their
belief systems to different territories and as a base to complete fierce acts. At the
point when outside powers at that point mediate to manage the danger postured to
them by this gathering, this makes the neighborhood populace dismiss the 'remote
trespassers' and partner with the fear monger gathering, accordingly making more
psychological oppressors and mainstream bolster for psychological oppressor
developments. The instances of U.S. mediation in Afghanistan and Iraq to counter Al
Qaeda are the conspicuous cases here.
4) THE USE OF KINETIC FORCES AGAINST TERRORISM ARE NOT
EFFECTIVE. AGREE OR DISAGREE (10 MARKS)

To make matters worse, these attacks are becoming increasingly low-tech, with
extremists often favoring vehicles as the weapon of choice. This makes it difficult to
counter terror using conventional methods, as these attacks require minimal
organization and produce a scant evidence trail. It’s therefore vital that efforts to
identify extremists focus on the elements of their behaviors that are still possible to
detect.

Financial information has informed a number of previous counterterrorism

investigations by providing a better understanding of people’s movements and
activities, as well as highlighting vital links between individual extremists. This
information is often the key to agencies identifying and arresting additional members
of a terror cell post-attack, after quickly revealing to investigators that they’re dealing
with more than just an individual terrorist. Financial data relating to individuals and
their transactions, if used properly, can significantly increase the intelligence
landscape, and as such should be regarded as a highly valuable commodity in the
fight against terror.

But if you think the task of identifying terrorist activity is the sole responsibility of the
government or security services, think again. Banking organizations have a huge
role to play because unlike law enforcement and security services, they have direct
access to a rich data set for a large portion of the population. Financial institutions
should understand the power of their data to help identify terrorist cells and
extremists and use it wherever possible to counter terror.

Despite facing increasing pressure from regulators to report suspected links to

terrorism, financial institutions are focusing much of their current efforts on
counterterrorism financing (CTF) and other approaches that dominate anti-money
laundering discussions, such as transaction monitoring and sanctions screening.
While these efforts can help to identify certain risks, they tend to be reactive in
nature and therefore offer little in the way of prevention. They are also limited to only
finding individuals who are either on sanctions lists or whose transactional activity
hits certain markers or thresholds. What about those who don’t appear on the lists or
pass the transactional activity thresholds?

Despite wanting to improve detection, many investigative teams are understaffed,

with little understanding of where to look or exactly what to look for. Even if they do
find something of interest, interpreting it correctly is not always straightforward.
Although data is key to threat identification, poor data quality and complex data silos
often hinder organizations, making detection time-consuming, confusing and
perhaps even unachievable.

The use of kinetic forces against terrorism are not effective anymore. To counter
terror, it’s time for investigative teams to discover what they can do with the data
they already have – just by applying a slightly different approach or a fresh
perspective. Your organization can take several steps to quickly change to proactive
detection to counter terror:

First, Train investigators. Investigators must know how to identify signs of increasing

individual risk levels. Changing risk profile indications are clear – you just need to
know what to look for. Second, broaden the focus. Organizations must widen efforts
to look at individual terrorists rather than purely concentrating on CTF and the
movement of money in and out of high-risk countries or jurisdictions. You can’t link
all extremists to a flow of money, and the task of identifying these individuals cannot
be ignored.

Third, Improve access to data. Invest in a system that helps investigators access and
combine data from disparate sources into a single platform. One that facilitates
analysis and provides powerful visualizations for better understanding the links
between different individuals and their transactional activities.Fourth, Increase the
potential for detection. Couple advanced analytics with deep domain knowledge and
automated alerts to become more efficient at identifying threats while also having
more time for actual investigation. Organizations already have access to the relevant
information, but are weighed down by manual processes, so implementing a solution
that finds the threats for you would be the logical next step.

As the attacks and fatalities continue to mount, it’s inevitable that governments will
increase regulations and ask financial institutions to do more with their data to fight
terrorism. Fortunately, some organizations already understand that they hold
valuable information that can help authorities to better understand the current threat
level. After all, this data could provide the vital piece of missing intelligence that
identifies and prevents the next attack – and saves innocent lives.
5) DAESH’S MAJOR STRENGTH IS ITS PROPAGANDA MACHINE.
DISCUSS (10 MARKS)

Daesh or Islamic State's utilization of web-based social networking to spread its

purposeful publicity is for the most part surely knew. What gets far less consideration
is the way the gathering likewise utilizes the Western prevailing press to spread its
key messages. Islamic State tailors the generation and arrival of its material to the
requirements of predominant press outlets and to the media cycle. The risk engaged
with sending Western columnists to Syria and Iraq has made the media more
dependent on material delivered by Islamic State. The gathering's purposeful
publicity is frequently accidentally utilized by the prevailing press in ways that serve
Islamic State's goals.

Daesh's purposeful publicity exertion is integral to its capacity to enroll new

individuals, scare its adversaries, and advance its authenticity as a state. Countering
that exertion implies something other than combatting it on the web and dropping
Twitter accounts. Counter-informing endeavours need to occur through the
predominant press and in addition web based life. The predominant press likewise
has an obligation to treat Islamic State's material all the more basically, including by
giving more logical scope of the contention in Syria and Iraq, and utilizing less
dramatist or polarizing talk when it examines terrorism. The reception of better norms
and practices can help the prevailing press to constrain the interest of Islamic State
promulgation in ways that don't bring down media autonomy and people in general's
entitlement to know.

It is imperative that we comprehend the part of Western media in Daesh's enlistment

and purposeful publicity procedure keeping in mind the end goal to restrain the
spread of its messages. Islamic State can't be vanquished utilizing military means
alone. Conventional media outlets have a duty and a chance to outline people in
general's understanding of Islamic State all the more equitably, to uncover the
shortcomings of its accounts, and to take a more basic perspective of its military and
other asserted triumphs. Conventional media can likewise be outfit as a viable stage
for counter-informing.

Daesh's media exertion has various points that objective both thoughtful and
antagonistic gatherings of people. One objective is to enrol supporters. This
incorporates people who may go to Iraq and Syria to battle for Islamic State, and in
addition the individuals who stay in their nations of origin and bolster the
development by raising assets or completing demonstrations of terrorism. A second
objective is to produce fear among its adversaries, which has quite certain focal
points on the war zone. A third objective is to declare its authenticity and pick up
acknowledgment of its status as a state. None of these goals can be accomplished
without across the board attention.

Daesh sends different types of showcasing procedures to enrol individuals and

sympathizers. Enrolment and promulgation recordings commonly centre around
three principle stories: abuse, utopianism, and mercilessness. Frequently the
publicity recordings fuse every one of the three accounts.

Another classification of promulgation recordings centres around Daesh's

accomplishments on the war zone and exhibits an overstated feeling of its quality
and achievement. Pictures of dead Syrian troopers and minute men, military
processions, preparing camps, cannons, and war zone scenes work to raise the
confidence of sympathizers, energize adventurists, and threaten rivals. The goal is to
introduce a picture of an arranged and imposing state with effective military, political,
social, and financial foundations.

To accomplish its goals of drawing in initiates, imparting dread, and affirming its
authenticity as a state, Daesh needs reputation. Its ruthlessness and viciousness are
attached to this end. The demonstration of terrorism is most importantly a
demonstration of communication. But while Daesh has built up its own methods for
imparting its purposeful publicity, it depends on Western media answering to open
up its message.

Stories on Daesh and Islamic State reliably rank very on arrangements of the most
read and most saw news things. Islamic State regularly inclines on worldwide web
crawlers. The emotional and regularly fierce nature of the recording that the
gathering distributes, the persona encompassing the youthful Western people it has
possessed the capacity to draw into its positions, the sensational advances and
redrawing of outskirts, alongside the depiction of the gathering by some Western
pioneers as the 'number one malice of our opportunity' interests crowds. The Islamic
State gather has turned out to be unavoidable for even an easy-going news
customer.

Daesh has an obviously characterized procedure to control the Western media to

serve its promulgation destinations. It tries to enrol the media to enable it to scatter
its key messages. In light of the threats of sending its own columnists into Syria and
Iraq, the media has turned out to be subject to Daesh material. The newsworthiness
and stun estimation of Islamic State's demonstrations mean it will keep on
commanding scope and consideration. Political pioneers, network delegates, and
media outlets that discussion up the risk postured by Islamic State additionally assist
the gathering with achieving its publicity objectives. Specifically, incendiary
announcing about the Muslim people group with regards to terrorism has likewise
had a polarizing impact, strengthening Islamic State's messages.

There are various things that should be possible, nonetheless, to restrict the
adequacy of Islamic State's publicity battles. This incorporates more keen and
mindful utilization of Islamic State distributions and recordings by the media and the
utilization of less dramatist and disruptive talk by political pioneers and media
agents. More prominent exertion likewise should be put into counter-informing. In
such manner, utilizing deserters or frustrated returnees to convey the truth of life in
Islamic State's supposed Caliphate holds specific guarantee offering Islamic State
genuine rivalry in the forming of its picture.