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CNN Live At Daybreak

Ask CNN: What is the Difference Between a War and a Holy War?

Aired October 29, 2001 - 07:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Patricia Katrencik from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania asks: What's the difference between a war and a holy war?

AKBAR AHMED, CHAIR OF ISLAMIC STUDIES, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Patricia, that's a very good question. It's asked a lot in the media. War is simply war, and in Islam there is no war which is an aggressive war. So a Muslim cannot commit acts of aggression.

A holy war is simply a reaction, a defensive war. So if someone is attacked, his children, his family are threatened, he must then fight to defend them. He cannot be involved in an act of aggression in any case. That is very clear.

And jihad, which means war, in the mass media in the west, in fact, is only a word for striving -- striving to improve yourselves to elevate ourselves to the divine mission for which we have been created. It does not mean an act of physical violence.

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