Anyone conversant with the media should be well acquainted with the fact that the West is really trying to rob Muslims off anything good about Islam then define what they think is bad in Islam, give it their own Islamic title just to give a sense of Islamic association. No wonder that a non-Muslim will appreciate the humanity in you when you do good but when reverse is the case, they will give it a theme of ‘Islam’. It is in this spirit that despite the numerous contributions of Muslims to the world, an average non-Muslim does not see anything good in Islam other than Muslims have almost killed everybody on earth in an attempt to dominate the world making us wonder how rational it is to preach a religion by killing those you want to practice it. Absurd!
I think that if care is not taken, generations coming after us might not be able to differentiate what stems from Islam and what was forced on Muslims. An example is the use of cleric. We do not have any problem with using this title for our religious leaders because many of us think it is just a title for any religious leader but No! A Muslim that calls the Mufti, Imam, Mu’allim a Cleric is synonymous to a Christian in Palestine referring to his Pastor as Imam, Mufit or their equivalent. He is not just speaking a language, the title has a defined or exclusive religious association. Let us take a look at the meaning of Cleric;
“cleric
1620s (also in early use as an adjective), from Church Latin clericus“clergyman, priest,” noun use of adjective meaning “priestly, belonging tothe clerus ;” from Ecclesiastical Greek klerikos “pertaining to an inheritance,” but in Greek Christian jargon by 2c., “of the clergy, belonging to the clergy,” as opposed to the laity; from kleros “a lot, allotment; pieceof land; heritage, inheritance,” originally “a shard or wood chip used incasting lots,” related to klan “to break”
Kleros was used by early Greek Christians for matters relating to ministry,based on Deut. xviii:2 reference to Levites as temple assistants:“Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the Lordis their inheritance,” kleros being used as a translation of Hebrew nahalah“inheritance, lot.” Or else it is from the use of the word in Acts i:17. A word taken up in English after clerk(n.) shifted to its modern meaning.
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the spiritual struggle within oneself against sin.noun: greater jihad; plural noun: greater jihads; noun: greater jehad; plural noun: greater jehads
With the above definition of Jihad and Crusade, if we were to go by their definition, is a jihadist not a crusader and vice-versa?
It is really important that we Muslims pay attention to the languages we use in matters relating to the deen but have no basis or root in Islam. Heritages are meant to be preserved not discarded. My Sheikh, Ustadh, Imam, Mufti is not a Cleric and we can all try to take this submission into cognizance. This is not extremism, tolerance cannot just defined by accepting brainwash, imposition. Those who take stating the obvious backed up with vivid, glaring and axiomatic evidences as intolerance should be taught the art of tolerance.
Bashir Lucas Samson Lukman (inspired by Sulaiman Aledeh)
English 