Sanitizing Jihad: Ideological Clarity Is Crucial, Not Political Correctness

• The article argues that the term "jihad" has been dangerously sanitized, reinterpreted as a benign struggle, which deviates from its historical and textual militant meaning.
• This reinterpretation, driven by political correctness, creates ambiguity that allows various groups to exploit the term for their agendas, blurring the lines of its true, often violent, implications.
• The author criticizes the tendency to ignore the religio-ideological foundations of Islamist violence, citing Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Christopher Hitchens on Western predispositions to sugar-coat or evade doctrinal issues.
• The sanitization of jihad fosters deceptions, such as solely blaming external entities like Pakistan for terrorism and creating a false sense of security by portraying jihad as a harmless, internal struggle.
• The article concludes that ideological clarity about jihad's historical and current meaning is essential to confront extremist violence, as reluctance to acknowledge its true nature has significant societal costs.

Why It Matters: Sanitizing 'jihad' obscures its true meaning, hindering the fight against extremism.