Jihad : A Commitment to Universal Peace (Marcel A. Boisard)
Description
ISBN: 0892590734
Author: Marcel A. Boisard
Publisher: American Trust Publications (ATP)
Pages: 58 Binding: Paperback
Description from the publisher:
“The traditional Western prejudice which portrays Islam as a belligerent religion gave rise to the derogatory and permanent definition of the ‘Muslim Holy war.’ The term leads us to believe that Muslims are supposedly encouraged to take up arms in order to impose the faith by force, annihilating those who reject it. The generic term jihad means ‘effort,’ perhaps a violent one, but in no way specifically a military one. Still, in the noninformed public opinion of the West, it seems to have retained only its meaning of war”
In Jihad the Continuing Struggle, Boisard explains, in very precise terms, what Jihad really is. He discusses the fallacies and the falsities that surround the Western understanding and depiction of Jihad. The West continues to refuse to accept that principles based on religion can be brought into the “philosophy of our industrial age.” They ignore that fact that Islam is not hostility but dynamism, and that ‘adl, Ihsan, Musawat—justice, compassion, equality—are the three pillars of healthy human relations for the true believer.
-Review by Aminah Janan Assilmi
Dr. Marcel Boisard, Executive Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) since 1992, has served in several leading positions at the United Nations for almost a quarter-century. Prior to that, he held advisory positions in economic and foreign affairs for foreign governments, including Switzerland and Burundi. For over a decade, he was Delegate and Chief of Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), principally in the Arab world, including Algeria, Yemen Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. He has also led several private sector research and teaching projects, as well as diplomatic and humanitarian programs for regional organizations, in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
Born in Geneva in 1939, Dr. Boisard graduated from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He completed his postgraduate work at Hamburg, Germany, Cairo, Egypt, and at the Institute of World Affairs, USA. Dr. Boisard has authored over 40 books and articles covering international cross-cultural relations, the Arab and Muslim world, and intergovernmental organizations.