HONOLULU -- In the flickering images on the television tube, anti-American Muslim demonstrators in Cairo, their faces contorted in anger, promised they would rush to Iraq to take up arms against the American invaders in a "jihad" to defend Islam.
"Jihad," intoned the American correspondent covering the event, "means 'holy war.' "
"Not so," say mainstream Muslims, "jihad does not mean holy war. Jihad means 'to strive,' to strive to be a better Muslim, to strive to improve as a parent, to strive for social justice." They lament that Islamic extremists have taken command of the term "jihad" to promote their causes, mostly terror.