What jihad really is

Daniel Pipes' most recent column looks to Understanding Jihad, a book by David Cook, to explain that, contrary to MSM efforts at whitewashing, jihad is not a gentle spiritual journey. Instead, it is an effort to impose the Islamic faith through violence. Having walked his readers through a quick survey of jihad's history, Pipes offers this conclusion:

Cook’s erudite and timely study has many implications, including these: * The current understanding of jihad is more extreme than at any prior time in Islamic history. * This extremism suggests that the Muslim world is going through a phase, one that must be endured and overcome, comparable to analogously horrid periods in Germany, Russia, and China. * Jihad having evolved steadily until now, doubtless will continue to do so in the future. * The excessive form of jihad currently practiced by al-Qaeda and others could, Cook semi-predicts, lead to its “decisive rejection” by a majority of Muslims. Jihad then could turn into a non-violent concept.

As to the last, we can only hope.