A Conceptual Comparison on Terrorism and Jihad

Especially the concepts of Islamic/ Islamist/ jihadist terror which gained an important place on the world agenda after the 9/11 attack can be regarded as concrete indicators of the link between Islam and terrorism. However, jihad, translated as “Holy War” and considered as a legitimizing element of terrorism in Islam in most orientalist sources, is a legitimate defense tool in accordance with today's international law when evaluated in the context of Islamic religion. This study intends to examine politically that whether Islam and its jihad element genuinely support terrorism, or not? It does not include the analysis of the literature on jihad and terrorism. In this study, the concept of jihad has been studied only in its own resources and historical context and then the results compared with the conceptual content of terrorism. The point to be reached thus is to establish the existence or absence of a link between jihad and terrorism, if there is one. The concepts of jihad and terrorism in this paper have been examined in terms of content, cause, element and type. At the same time, differences between them are listed in ten points. It has been claimed that it doesn’t make terrorism jihad when terrorists are labeled as Muslims or being Muslims; also it doesn’t make terrorists “champions of Islam / mujahid”