BBC News Online: World: South Asia

The language of conflict

Muslims in the US fear they are targets of the "crusade"

To many in the West, "jihad" is the Muslim word for war.

It is not. Jihad means struggle - for example the struggle for self-improvement - and only occasionally in Muslim history has it meant doing battle with non-believers.

Radical Muslim groups have politicised the word in order to legitimise their actions.

Jihad is not the only word being used and misused in the emotionally charged atmosphere created by the attacks against the United States last week.

Muslims in several American cities have protested at President Bush's - apparently unthinking - use of the word "crusade" on Sunday.

He seems to have used the word in its everyday sense of a campaign - without intending to conjure up the Crusades fought between Christians and Muslims in the Middle Ages.

Misunderstood

Also troublesome is the word "fatwa" - which many in the West think means a death sentence.

It does not. It is simply a religious ruling - and in order to be binding, a fatwa must be issued by a Muslim who is qualified to do so.

Some thoughtful Muslims believe part of the problem is that in the world of Islam there is no single unchallenged source of authority.

Even Al Azhar in Cairo, the revered centre of Muslim learning for many Sunni Muslims, does not have the same authority that the Vatican has for Catholics.

This means individual Muslims with their own agendas can stand up to issue a fatwa - or declare a jihad - even when they lack the standing to do so.