IS THE #MYJIHAD PR CAMPAIGN DECEPTIVE?

In December, Ahmed Rehab, the Director of CAIR Chicago founded MyJihad. They claim it's an educational campaign to redefine or take-back the term jihad from Muslim extremists and those people who are often referred to as Islamophobes - you know those who call attention to the words and actions of the Muslims who concern us. CAIR Chicago manages it, sponsors it, collects the donations and the phone number and address listed on the website is CAIR Chicago. All of this is coming from a chapter of a national organization that was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest Hamas terror-funding case in US history! Do you get the sick irony here?

The campaign insists jihad is just a personal struggle. You can read some interesting tweets of these personal struggles, like getting ready for work or eating right on Twitter following the hashtag #myjihad. You can also read some nasty replies to those who call attention to the actions of countless other Muslims who concern others. Does this effort change anything about what is going in the world of Islamism? For starters the personal struggle definition is not the only definition of jihad. On the joint webpage of the Islamic Society of Oklahoma City and Tulsa the link for Jihad in Islam (find on left side of page) goes to their War and Fighting in Islam page where they write the following:

What is Jihad? What is Not Jihad?

Linguistic meaning of Jihad in Arabic:
- Striving - Struggling (or to exert oneself in order to be "right with God")
Islamic meaning:
- A. Non-violent struggling within oneself for a life of virtue.
- B. Fighting to establish justice, which is a supreme goal.

FIGHTING to establish justice is a supreme goal in Islam.

So, I tweeted about the Fighting Jihad definition for which I was called a liar (the last tweet was the first one):

This Muslim won't even acknowledge the truth and called me a liar for telling it. This is a major problem with some Muslims - particularly Muslim activists associated with CAIR. Take a look at some retweets from the official twitter account of the MYJihad campaign:

These tweets slam America and seem to show clear hatred for it - which is not uncommon with Muslims who are associated with Islamist organizations here. So, to make a long story short, the man who started the MYJihad campaign, Ahmed Rehad, works for CAIR, an organization that was started by leaders of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood's Islamic Association of Palestine (shut down by the US government). It's national leader, Nihad Awad, was one of those leaders.

There are many sources you can find about fighting jihad (armed or military is another way it's described) Quran.com tells us in verse 2:216 that jihad is holy fighting.

Jihad (holy fighting in Allah's Cause) is ordained for you (Muslims) though you dislike it, and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know.

But, CAIR's San Francisco Director Zahra Billoo told San Francisco's ABC7 on January 4th armed jihad was basically something created by Islamophobes:

"A common misconception of the word jihad is that it means armed struggle or holy war and that is something that has been perpetrated by many who've made careers out of pushing anti-Muslim sentiment."

Another CAIR colleague, Cyrus McGoldrick, in November retweeted a Hamas leader's call for accurate weapons. You know - armed jihad! Geez! The hypocrisy here is as thick as pea soup.

BBC Religion lists one of the reason allowed for military jihad is to STRENGTHEN ISLAM. Look under the heading What Can Justify Jihad? Now, you can assume if this was inaccurate an Islamic body would have sued.