Stop calling them Jihadist, a more proper

[alfredo]

term for al Qaeda is "hirabis", a sinful warrior.

I heard this argument on All Things Considered. Listen to get the correct pronunciation.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6392989

UCLA law professor Khaled Abu El Fadl is a controversial figure in the Arab world for his bruising missives against Islamic extremists.

"When I write an article speaking to extremists and convincing them that they are wrong theologically and morally and legally," says Abu El Fadl, "I consider my self in a state of jihad. I expect to be rewarded by God."

Both professor Abu El Fadl and Streusand have some practical advice for those still wishing to insult terrorists: Drop the 'J' word and use the 'H' word instead.

"The term in Islamic law which best describes the activities of al Qaeda is hirabah, which originally meant brigandage, but has a more general meaning as sinful warfare," says Streusand. "If our elected officials started saying 'This is a war against hirabis,' that would be more effective. It would certainly be better than using the term jihad or jihadis which is actively harmful."

His argument made a lot of sense to me.

[sui generis]

1. who needs to split hairs

religious extremists smell no matter what you call them, and that includes our very own nutcase "moral" "majority".

[nemo137]

6. we do.

Jihad is alot like the word Crusade, it has overtones of a righteous war. Think about it, Batman is the "Caped Crusader" waging his lonely war against evil. In my hometown, Crusader Clinic provides reliable, low cost healthcare. When we say we're fighting against "jihadists" that comes over to those who have western media, or get it filtered through to them by other sources, as saying that we're fighting against those who are trying to right the world. Using a word that comes across as "brigand" might could, you know, help us out.

[sui generis]

8. well, when someone else tells you to guard your language

you are being manipulated into acknowledging not the power of the word itself, but the power of people to use it against you.

We have to own our language. While I despise the word "crusade" and "jihad" because of what they mean historically and today, they are just words. Certainly there are better words to use unless someone intends to exercise that power in reverse and be inflammatory, but other people, like us, need to learn to own language as well. A symbol and its referent are not the same thing.

I also despise code words like "family values" and "christian organization" and all that other crap, but if we can't learn to deal with "words" as symbols and not referents then we're going to forever get beaten about the head with them.

[movie_girl99]

2. I heard this too

it was very informative and interesting.

[alfredo]

5. I think it is a step in the right direction

[Hissyspit]

3. Yes, it's like when Chimp used "Crusade."

I heard that, too. Academics spend a lot of time talking about usage and context and meaning and this is often attacked pejoratively as "political correctness," but funny how often they know what the hell they are talking about, what with their scholarship and studying and open-mindedness and all that.

[alfredo]

4. I just wrote my congressman , Ben Chandler, to alert him to

this segment. I also pasted the text I used in the OP.

Our foreign policy has been willfully ignorant.

[Hatalles]

7. k/r

[SoCalDem]

9. 2 hirabis, please.. hold the guacamole

I'm sorry, but the masses can barely wrap their brains around anything more nuanced that American Idol judging...and you expect them to actually read stuff and think ??
:sarcasm:

[alfredo]

10. But the Muslims know the difference, and that is

why this is important.

[Taxloss]

11. Good idea. Rec'd. n/t