is terrorism a part of islam? what does jihad means ?

JIHAD= Holy war. In traditional islam these were declared on people who invaded their land and they would use the word JIHAD to declare war on these people who were trying to take what was theirs. It is now being used out of context most people who follow Islam see it as a peaceful religion but it is like anything it depends on how you interpret it. Since 9/11 people have been scared of Islam and have not been open that it might be a few doing this and using religion as a cover and way to get more followers. I think it is rich for some people to claim they do not like countries in the west like USA and the UK when they will gladly live in these countries and take the money from the benefits so they do not have to work!

Salamun alikum. No terrorism is not the part of Islam at all. Islam is the religion of peace. I have found a nice article entitled, freedom of religion" in www.progressive-muslim.org which talks more details about this important issue. Religion is not guesswork it should be proven truth. The quran is a proven truth comes from God.

walaikum assalam ..no way Islam is not a part of terrorism Islam is a peaceful religion. jihad means:The word Jihad stems from the Arabic root word J-H-D, which means "strive." Other words derived from this root include "effort," "labor," and "fatigue." Essentially Jihad is an effort to practice religion in the face of oppression and persecution. The effort may come in fighting the evil in your own heart, or in standing up to a dictator. Military effort is included as an option, but as a last resort and not "to spread Islam by the sword" as the stereotype would have one believe...now u all understand ...

I dont know anything about Islam if i am completely honest...I never did listen in Religious studies in school...!! But as far as I am aware, Islam is not a "terrorist" religion- but some people who follow Islam DO take everything to the extreme, and misinterperet what their religion says, thinking that their God says they must blow innocent people up. That is not to say that ALL Islam followers have the same terrible attitude in the world, the same could be said about Christianity- ok so I don't know of any terrorist christian groups as such, not to the big extreme of things like 9/11 etc- but there ARE people who take everything in the Bible to the extreme- protesting against abortion and gay rights etc. ALL religions have people who take the values to the extreme and give the religion a bad name, sadly in 2010, a muslim is considered a terrorist by ALOT of people, and it will be very hard to get rid of that stereotype I am afriad, which is very sad...these terrorists- or extremists as they prefer to call themselves, are fighting for their religion and their God...but all they are doing is causing war which is killing innocent people, and giving their people a terrible reputation which means people don't want to trust them!!! But no in short, terrorism is NOT part of Islam...as the saying goes, all terrorists are Muslim...but not all Muslims are terrorists. But sadly that stereotype will stick around for a long time after these lunatics stop their extreme antics.

it is easy to claim to be a Muslim at comfort of your home and act safe and say peaceful messages. who would know Islam better? the one who studies Islam and practice islam and attends mosque or me who never go to mosque never read Koran and yet claims to be a Muslim. the reality is the type who are serious believers take terrorist activities. they must know Islam better than me, so if those type of people (majority) are tent to be aggressive it has to come from the source itself which is the Islamic faith itself. Islamic religion needs to go through the same rectification as Christianity did about few hundred years ago, then it might become less aggressive religion.