Is Bin Laden's Concept of 'Jihad' Correct?

J E R U S A L E M, June 5 -- For most Americans the word "jihad" is inseparable from Osama bin Laden and images of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Americans think: holy war, religious fanaticism — terrorism.

And it's very clear that bin Laden's view of jihad is inseparable from America.

But when Osama bin Laden says, "I tell Muslims to believe in the victory of God and in jihad against the infidels. The killing of Jews and Americans is one of the greatest duties," is he wrongly manipulating a concept that lies at the heart of the Islamic faith?

Some university students in the Islamic world suggest that he is.

A student in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital city, described jihad as a personal "struggle and strife against the evils of society, against anything." He said "it has nothing to do with killing innocent people."

Students at the Islamic al Ashar University in Gaza agree. A few of the definitions they offered were "to do your best"' and "to fight against evil and for charity."

The word jihad appears more than 200 times in the Koran and in the sayings of the prophet Mohammad. Islamic scholars insist that for most Muslims, the most important interpretation is: an individual struggle for personal moral behavior.

Dr. Mustafa Abu Sway of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem says, "We talk about a very beautiful concept which is deep in the area of spirituality." Sway says the word is what the prophet Mohammad called greater jihad, but he acknowledges there is another, darker interpretation.

"We have to admit that at one point it is permitted for Muslims to have self-defense and this is the equivalent of a 'Just War' in Christian theology," Sway said.

It is that definition of jihad — used by militant Muslims to justify everything from the battles against the crusaders to the mujahideens' first Afghanistan war against the Soviets — that scares so many in the West and divides today's young Muslims.

When it comes to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, a student in Islamabad adopts a more militaristic view of the term. "Jihad I think is holy war, a war to wage against, uh, to resist your country against any rebel force," he said.