european and islamic notions of struggle

8/10/2019 European and Islamic Notions of Struggle

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European and Islamic

notions of struggle:

the opportunities in a shared

history

Fr. John DAlton, PhD candidate

School of Philosophical, Historical, andInternational Studies,

Monash University


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Europe and Islam

The Arab Spring, bans on burqas, and

recent European critiques of

multiculturalism raise many questions

about the role of Islam in the West.

In debates over Islam taking place today,

no principle is invoked more often than

jihad. Bonner


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Context

The term jihad (struggle, strive, battle,

fight) has become the main Western

symbol of the Muslim response to the

West. Western media often links Muslim

with jihadi.

The trope of the inevitable clash of

civilizations has propelled the role ofviolent jihad into the forefront of global

politics.


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The concept ofjihadis often used in the

West as a proof of Islams innate

violence which allows for a representationof Islam as the essentially violent enemy.

Some recent Western academic

representations of Islam have even

describedjihadas an Islamic inventionwith no historic equivalents.


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This has enabled some non-Muslimauthors to claim that the concept ofjihadas "internal spiritual struggle" is a 9thcentury CE Muslim invention constructedto hide Islams fundamentally violentnature.

True Islam:

Rumi orOsama bin

Laden?


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Q and A

Q. Was and isjihadunique to Islam?

A. Jihad(struggle/fight/contest/strive) wasa key concept in early Islams

contemporary Syrian Christian world, and

in ancient Greece, and still is in modern

European cultures.

Metaphor: Life is struggle


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In Syriac,Agona (struggle/strive/fight), cf Jihad,and a cluster of related concepts like shahid(martyr), were in widespread use for 300 years

prior to Islam, in the Syrian Christian tradition. In

both pre-Islamic Syriac and early Sufi Islam,

jihador agonameant primarily the internalspiritual battle against the passionsrather thanthe external forms of battle. It was also applied

to political, social and other domains.

Far from being an indictment of Islam, a fullunderstanding ofjihadprovides a bridgebetween the West, Christianity and Islam.


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Cognitive Metaphor theory

My research uses cognitive metaphor theory,analysing the semantic range of key words, andtheir semantic fields.

Cognitive metaphors are more than linguistic;

they shape perceptions and actions. Jihad/Struggle used in fields of: Sport

Physical conflict/battle

Intellectual conflict Psychological

Political and social


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Cognitive Psychology

The strugglemetaphor arises from the

foundational experience of the baby under

1 year old, strugglingto sit upright,

strivingto reach an object, fightingagainst gravity and (later) siblings etc.

This experience of struggle is then

generalised into various domains eg sport,politics, intellectual debate.


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The agonin Ancient Greece

Burkhardt says that agon(struggle, fight)is the central ideain Greek culture

Sport eg 5 core Olympic events

Music contests

Physical conflict/battle

Intellectual conflict

Psychological eg Greek tragedies

Political and social eg Creon in Sophocles


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4-9thCentury CE Syrian Christians

Agona(Syriac for striving or struggle)(derived from agon) is a complex ideaintertwined with Sahda(cf. shahid)

(martyr) and other words related tospiritual struggle such as combat, victory,contests, fighting, contending etc.

Dictionaries at the time equate Syrianagonawith Arabicjihad.

Different range of meaning to q-t-l(bothSyriac and Arabic) (kill/murder/massacre)


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Previous uses of terms

Christian Martyrs 3rd-4thcentury were describedas soldiers of the arena and athletes (athloi) ofGod for their willingness to undergo strugglesand agonies(Greek agon; Syriac agona) fortheir faith.


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Jihadand agonain Arabic andSyriac Bibles

1Tim 6:12

Fightthe good fightof faith, lay hold ontothe eternal life to which you are also

called, and have professed a good

profession before many witnesses.

.verb and noun Arabic:jihad. SyrAgona (cf Greekagon)


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Jihadand agonain Arabic andSyriac Bibles

Luke 22:44 Jesus in Garden of

Gethsemane

And being in an agonyhe prayed moreearnestly: and his sweat was as it were

great drops of blood falling down to the

ground.

.Arabic:jihad. Syr agona


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Anthony, Evagrius etc.

For Evagrius, as for most early monks, the

ascetic life is a battle, a striving after

virtue, and specifically a fight with the

demons.

Daily spiritual life is a combat and an

open fight. Even anger is a tool used to

fight against the demons and strive forevery pleasure.


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Theodoret

bishop of Cyrrhus, Syria (423-457CE) Wrote A History of the Monks of Syria

In his praise of James of Cyrrestica, Theodoretlinks athletes and war in an extended metaphor.

Now that we have proceeded through thecontestsof the athletesof virtue describedabove, narrating in summary their laboriousexercises, their exertions in the contestsandtheir most glorious and splendid victories, let us

now record the way of life of those whocontendmagnificently and striveto surpass theirpredecessors in exertion. James, unceasinglyunder the eyes of spectators strivesincombatand repelsthe necessities of nature.


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Isaac: bishop of Nineveh

c. 660-680 CE - wrote an extremely popular

treatise on the spiritual life On the Ascetical life

He describes the spiritual effort as struggle,

the time of conflict, hidden attacks and asecret war. The Christian is meant to arm your

soul with the armour of fasting so as to

conquer the Adversary and not be defeated.

Better for us is death in the battle for the love ofGodthan a life of shame and debility.


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Early Sufis

Muhasibi (c. 164- 242 AH) 781-857 CE

God has appointed self-mortification forthe seeker, for the training of his soul.

The nafs(lower soul) is the enemy within,the pleasures and lusts which must befought and overcome.

Also, the enemy of God, Iblis, (God)has commanded you to fight him, and tostriveagainst him.


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Ghazali (d.1111CE 505AH)

Quotes al-Razi: Fightyour soul with the

swords of self-discipline.

Quotes Prophet Mohammed: Make war

on your soulswith hunger and thirst, for

the reward which this brings is that of

participation in the jihad.

His work in summary: Struggle (jihad)

against the lower soul (nafs)


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Modern European usage

The metaphor of struggle is similarly used

in many languages in the domains of:

Sport

Physical conflict/Battle

Intellectual conflict

Psychological Political and social


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French

lutter, la lutte

struggle, fight, battle, contend, wrestle

Sometimes overlaps with efforant(effort) News articles from Le Monde online


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Sport

Le Gorgien parle trs fort, mais sur leterrain il est trs rude ; avant d'trerugbyman, il a souvent prat iq ula lu tte

Gorgien speaks very extremely, but on

the ground it is very hard; before being a

rugby player, he often practised the fight


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Political/Social

M. Hunt doit annoncer ce soir un nouveauplan de lut tecontre le tlchargementillgal

Mr. Hunt will announce tonight a new plantocombatillegal downloading

In relation to education: de lu t teet pour

l'galit contre les discriminations combat for equalityagainstdiscrimination


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Psychological

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Ce fut pour moi une lut tefatigante contre toutessortes dedifficults.

It was for me a tiring fight/struggleagainst allkinds of difficulties

j'aurais eu un moment une lut te douloureuse

contre la jalousie et le dsespoir I should have had one vital struggle (fight)withtwo tigers--jealousy and despair


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She hasvie incertaine et pleinedeluttes

uncertain struggling life

But Je dsiraisle combat I desiredthe combat

il fallait lut ter encore, m'efforcer de vivre

I must struggleon: striveto live

Ie Life is struggle


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German

kampfstruggle, fight, contend, battle,combat conflict; streben- strive, struggle

Alles ist ein Kampf - Wichtig ist wofr man

kmpft! Life is always a fight - Important is what

you fight for!

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Das leben ist ein kampf. Alles ist Kampf. Living is a struggle. All is struggle.


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Psychological

Die Leiden des jungen Werther:The Sorrowsof Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang vonGoethe

...brachte die widrigsten Wirkungen hervor und

lie ihm zuletzt nur eine Ermattung brig, ausder er noch ngstlicher empor strebte, produced the saddest effects upon him, and

rendered him at length the victim of an

exhaustion against which he struggledwith stillmore painful efforts than he had displayed, als er mit allen beln bisher gekmpfthatte. even in contendingwith his other misfortunes.


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Sport

FC Bayern zu rechnen sein im Kampfum

den Titel

fight for the title

Intellectual/Cultural:

Kampfder Kulturen Clash of Civilisations


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Political/Social

Kampfgegen Korruption

Fightagainst corruption

EU Commision president Jos Manuel Barroso

Dies sei ein Kampfum Arbeitspltze undWohlstand, um die wirtschaftliche und politischeZukunft Europas, ein Kampfum die europischeIntegration selbst.

This is a fight for jobs and prosperity, for the

economic and political future of Europe, afight

for European integration.


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Political/Social

"Titanenkampf"gegen den Staatsbankrott

Titanic fight against the nationalbankruptcy

Als Motiv gab der Rechtsextremist seinenKampf gegen Multikulturalismus und die"muslimische Invasion" an.

As motive the right-wing extremist gave hisfight against multiculturalismand "MuslimInvasion"


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Spanish

Lucha(n), luchar (v) - fight, struggle .

Sport:

lucha libre: free-style wrestling Luchapor la ventaja de campo en

playoffs en la Superliga de voley

Fightfor the advantage of the field inplayoffs in Volleyball Superleague


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Political/Social

lucha de clases : class struggle

l uchacontra la contaminacin atmosfrica

fight against the air pollution la lucha jud ic ialde Espaa contra los

yihadistas

thejudicial fightof Spain against thejihadists.

Also lucha mentalintellectual struggle


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Finnish

Taistelu. Struggle, fight

Sport: motorcycle World Championships

Seuraavista sijoista kytiin tiukempitaistelu

A tighter battle was fought from the

following places


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Political/Social

taistelubyrokratiaa vastaan

battle against bureaucracy. .

TaisteluPeltomen seuraajasta alkoi

The fight for the successor of Peltomki began

War on Drugs: Tamaulipasin taisteluon ennenkaikkea taisteluhiljaisuutta vastaan

Tamaulipas is a struggle, above all, the battleagainst the silence


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Conclusions

Many cultures have similar conceptions oflife as struggle, and histories of struggle.

Jihad is not a unique Islamic invention.

Jihad/struggle is historically primarilyinternal, intellectual, political or social, andonly secondarily violent.

Thus, rather than being an indictment of

Islam, the notion ofjihadin fact has thepotential to be a bridging concept betweenIslam and Europe.


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A deeper understanding of the

commonality of the life is a struggle

metaphor and the similarities in the words

jihad/ struggle/ agon/ lutter/ kampf/ lucha/taisteluetc. is an opportunity for culturesto appreciate each other and their

common worldview, to foster a morematurely multicultural Europe, and to be

better united in diversity.

european and islamic notions of struggle

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