Two letters in the South China Morning Post today about "jihad", one from the venerable Elsie Tu (age 97), one from me. Ms Tu's is riddled with errors, (including my name), moral equivalence and red herrings. I'll write about them later. For now just posting, for the record.
Recalling Palestine's sad and bloody history
I regretted being unable to attend the showing of the film by Muslim scholars (Jihad on Terrorism) but was happy to read the reply of Wael Ibrahim ("People misinterpret meaning of jihad", May 8) contradicting Peter Forsyth's [sic] misunderstanding of the word jihad ("`Jihad' means war, no doubt about that", April 24).
I checked my latest Oxford Dictionary for the word jihad and it gave the meaning as "a holy war against unbelievers". I then checked my own memory of real history back to the end of the second world war.I remembered that soon after the war ended, the leaders of Britain and the United States met together and decided alone in their so-called wisdom to split the country we had always called Palestine into two, divided between Israel and the people who had always lived there. Neither side agreed.
The Palestinians wanted back all their land, as in pre-war days, but the Israelis wanted more than a share. Israelis, who had fled from Germany and other Nazi countries to the US, demanded their alleged "birthright" based on their Bible.
With US aid , the Israelis took what they wanted by ordering the Palestinians to get out of their homes or remain and be bombed along with their families. Many were killed and thousands fled for safety.
I remember reading how children, angry at this cruelty, fought back with stones and fists, calling for a "jihad", that is, to fight for their rights, as the Koran permits. The Israelis captured small children and some sustained injuries such as broken bones. Many former supporters of Israel changed, as I did, to being sympathisers of the Palestinians. I am ashamed that my country (Britain) has taken the side of the cruel Israelis.
The killing of 3,000 people in the US was terrible. The bombing of hundreds of thousands for no valid reason in the Middle East is much worse.
Elsie Tu, Kwun Tong
Why not tell jihadis they've got it wrong?
Wael Ibrahim ("People misinterpret the meaning of jihad", May 8) accuses me ("`Jihad' means war, no doubt about that", April 24) of misrepresenting the meaning of Jihad when I say that its primary meaning is "holy war" in the cause of Islam.
He and his "Serving Islam Team" recently promoted their view at the University of Hong Kong that jihad is benign and simply means to "make an extra effort". But shouldn't Mr Ibrahim direct his own efforts not at we infidels in Hong Kong, but at the many jihadis around the world who clearly "misunderstand" Islam in exactly the same way we do?
After all, no matter how much "misrepresenting" or "misquoting" we do, we're not the ones who are going to strap on a death vest.
Peter Forsythe, Discovery Bay
