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1. Meaning of Words
Greatest thinker on 'meaning of words' was Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. He has written tomes on the subject. His lifetime of research and analysis can be distilled in a single sentence: "Don't look for the meaning, look for the usage."
Greatest thinker on 'meaning of words' was Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. He has written tomes on the subject. His lifetime of research and analysis can be distilled in a single sentence: "Don't look for the meaning, look for the usage."
2. In other words, words have no meaning in and of themselves. They acquire meaning from the way they are used. Their meaning resides in the context they are used in, and they mean only what the people using the words understand them to mean, not what some faraway scholar opines.
3. The word 'jihad' is hardly ever used in the U.S. in common speech. It is only mentioned in news stories dealing with bloody conflicts in the Middle East. So the only relevant meaning the word 'jihad' currently has is what it is understood to mean by people in those countries.
4. Go ask anyone on a street in Palestine, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Pakistan, Egypt, Libya, etc. what the word 'jihad' means to him or her, and report back. That would be the meaning of 'jihad' in today's world.
5. No amount of scholarly obfuscation can change one iota what any given word means, no matter how hard you try.
The End
The End
May 20, 1994: Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel said today that Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, had harmed the peace talks with a speech in which he seemed to call for a 'jihad' to liberate Jerusalem for Muslims.
Rabin knew what that word meant. So did Arafat.
Rabin knew what that word meant. So did Arafat.
