CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE In this chapter, the writer would like to put some theories related to this research problems to support this thesis. It covers the discussion about the history of Jihad, lexical meaning, contextual meaning, and surah At Taubah. 1.1 The History of Jihad Jihad is derived from the Arabic word juhd and it means to exert, strive, and struggle. In Islamic tradition, there are two main kinds of jihad: greater and lesser jihad. Greater jihad is a process of self-purification, whilst lesser jihad signifies a struggle for self-defense a struggle which can be carried out by tongue, pen or sword (Shah, 2013). Based on her perspective, there are two theories of jihad on the use of force: a) Defensive theory Surah Al Hajj verse 39 and surah An Nisa verse 75 are examples of theory which allow the use of force in self-defense. In these two verses, it indicates that permission is given when Muslims are attacked or compelled to leave their homes, for instance, genocide or torture (Shah, 2013). In conclusion, it has a clear basis that using force is allowed in self-defense; defending Muslims who are oppressed but unable to defend themselves. 6
b) Offensive theory Muslims have an obligation to spread Islam to the rest of mankind. If their way to spread Islam is obstructed, those obstructions are to be removed peacefully or by sword if necessary and if Muslims are capable of doing so (Shah, 2013). Therefore, it is called the offensive theory of jihad. All the verses relating to offensive theory were written in Qur an, for examples in Surah At Taubah verse 5 and 29. The Qur an said to fight and kill polytheists, but to spare them if they embraced Islam. Shah (2013) proposes that verse 9:5 was addressed to Quraysh who broke the terms of Hudaybiyya. Another case is explained in verse 9:29, the People of the Book were to be fought and killed, but they could be spared if they agreed to pay jizya (protection tax) after being subdued. However, Elahi argues that verse 9:29 is not about spreading Islam and eliminating the People of the Book if they do not embrace Islam. It is about jizya, a symbol of political dominance and sovereignty. Verse 9:29 is addressed to the Muslims of 7th-century Arab society notto the Muslims of the 21st century. Verse 9:5 is about fighting those polytheists Quraysh who broke their covenants with the Muslims which are not addressed to Muslim today (as cited in Saha, 2013). From the above analysis it becomes clear that Islamic law allows the use of force in self-defense, defending those who are oppressed and are unable to defend themselves. It also allows a Muslim ruler to use force against rebels. 7
1.2 Lexical Meaning All the way through history, the English language has expanded extremely in vocabulary aspect. For instance is lexical change which is a part of language change (Rababah, 2015). This process involves the creation of new lexical items (neologisms), borrowing of new foreign ones, and the revival of old ones, a change in the use or meaning of an item, lexical loss and replacement (Grezega & Schoner, 2007, p. 23 cited in Rababah, 2015). A lot of new lexical items were added to English and others acquired new meanings and connotations. For example, the words jihad and Islamist were resurrected and given new meanings and connotations after War on Terror happened. From the phenomena above, it can be said that some words may develop a new meaning which is called semantic change. Hence, to distinguish it, there are two types of meaning; a) Denotative or conceptual meaning, it refers to a word that stands for in the real world, the word's referents or dictionary meaning of a word. b) Connotative or associative meaning, it constitutes the emotional implications and associations that a word may suggest in addition to its denotative meaning (Beard, 2004, p.94). This type of meaning can be subdivided into collocative meaning which arises through environment with words that tend to occur in the environment of another word (Rababah, 2015). In other words, a collocative meaning is a word based on its vicinity. Rababah (2015) proposes that there are a lot of types of semantic changes; an extension occurs when a word acquires a new additional meaning or its 8
meaning becomes more general while a restriction of meaning takes place when its meaning becomes less general. Pejoration occurs as a word develops negative meanings or loses positive ones. Amelioration, on the other hand, gains positive ones (Heller et al., 1984, p. 20). As for semantic shift, it takes place when a word loses an old meaning and develops a new one. In short, such a change in word meaning, whether it is denotative or connotative, it can be related to the context or the circumstances. 1.3 Contextual Meaning Word in a text usually denotes only one meaning out of a lot of meaning which naturally carries. The context that determines which meaning of the word should be considered by identifying the context of the text depends on the intuitive ability of language users. In case language user cannot take out the information which relevant to the meaning of word in the linguistic environment, they might consider the topic discussion as information (Dash, 2005). The meaning of a word is determined through its contextual use; the words in the sentence that surround the word will give contextual clues to define the word s meaning. A word is defined within the context of a sentence. If we cannot extract the information of the surrounding then Dash (2005) put it into four broad types to identify the true meaning; a. Local context, it refers to the immediate environment of the keyword in a sentence where it has occurred. 9
b. Sentential context, it supplies syntactic information to know if the keyword has any explicit or implicit relation with the other words used in the sentence. c. Topical context, it refers to the topic of discussion and focuses on the content of a piece of text. d. Global context, this context is all about the extra linguistic, understanding the contextual meaning of the keyword depends on the general use of language, metaphoric use of words, and pragmatic knowledge of the users. Another aspect that should be considered to identify the contextual meaning is the historical event and context used. For instance, verse 9:29 is addressed to the Muslims of 7th-century Arab society not to the Muslims of the 21st century. Verse 9:5 is about fighting those polytheists Quraysh who broke their covenants with the Muslims which are not addressed to Muslim today. For the context used it can be seen in the kill them language, a linguistic analysis indicates that the Qur an did not use the kill them language for the first time in verses 9:5 and 9:29. Verse 2:191 is about expelling non-muslims from where they had expelled Muslims. In verse 4:89, the killing is contingent on if they turn away, whereas in verse 4:91 it is conditional upon if they do not stay away from you (Shah, 2013). 10
1.4 Surah At Taubah On the verse 5, it is often referred to as the sword verse and is written in reference to those who break Hudaybiyya treaties (DuBosar, 2013). It also abrogates about fighting and the order for the war that results from Jihadis expressly given to the people (DuBosar, 2013). Firestone (2001) brings to light that this should be viewed in four parts; First, the meaning of Sacred Months, Ibn Kathir and Tabari discuss the differences of opinion with regard to the Sacred Months. The question centers on whether these sacred months are the four honored in the pre-islamic period, or whether they represent a special period of non belligerency established by Muhammad with the Declaration of Dissociation, in addition to, all peace treaties conducted before Bara'ah was revealed and announced had ended by the tenth of the month of Rabi` Al-Akhir.(Ibn Kathir, op cit, 9:5) Second, Whether or not unbelieving prisoners must be killed. Third, why only three of the five pillars of Islam may be construed from this verse and the last is the purpose of fighting. On the verse 29, Al-Jalalayn explains that this ayah is to be taken literally. The nonbelievers that are referenced here are namely the Jews and the Christians, but the same rebuke that is to be given to them is to be given to any nonbeliever. These people are to be fought immediately, not delegated to a lower warrior, because they are not submissive and compliant to the authority of Islam (DuBosar, 2013). 11
Ibn Kathir provides further background to the timing of this declaration. He explains that this original declaration occurred during a time of intense heat and drought, and that the people were in despair. Muhammad was organizing to fight the Romans on a journey to Ash-Sham but his people were weak. Allah said that these people had not yet paid the Jizyah and they need to do so in order to fully embrace Islam (DuBosar, 2013). On the verse 73, Dubosar (2013) interpretes that this verse is important to the overall development of this paper because it outlines the clear command of Jihad that Allah gives down to Muhammad. It serves as a firmly guided reminder to the Muslims that they have a duty to fulfill and that there are penalties for those who do not want to conform. It also has the potential to serve as yet another reminder to Muslims that if they so choose to not follow in the ways of Muhammad and Islam, then hell is imminent for them. On the verse 123, Dubosar (2013) interpretes the verse that it was a further commands for the Muslims to let their opponents find harshness in them. Ibn Kathir furthers that this is a commandment from Allah to be relentless. He explains in the words of Allah that the complete believer is he who is kind to his believing brother, and harsh with his disbelieving enemy. 12