Jihad, in Islam, a meritorious struggle or effort. Although in the West it is sometimes erroneously translated as ‘holy war’ and understood as referring exclusively to military combat, Islamic texts yield a broader array of meanings connected to moral and ethical struggles.
There have been Muslims in West Africa since the XIth century, if not earlier. The region that is now Mali was the center of several famous Islamic empires, notably the Ghana Empire (VIIIth-XIthcentury) (Dieterlen & Sylla, 1992) the Songhai Empire (1464-1591) (Cissoko, 1996), and states established by a succession of jihads led by various Muslim armies.
Islam was the first civilization and culture ever to balance unity and diversity. It was, indeed, the melting pot of different peoples and cultures who rallied around this monotheist religion that provides for the right to diversity and difference, without any discrimination or segregation. It is a call for mutual acquaintance and concord, as Allah says in the Quran.
In 1975, Philip Agee published his book Inside the Company: CIA Diary. In the introduction he wrote,"When I joined the CIA, I believed in the need - Rick Sterling for Antiwar.com Original
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