WASHINGTON, 5 December 2002 — Funny how some things — which some may view as quite significant — just don”t make a blip on the national news radar screen.

At a time when both Americans and Muslims say they feel an ever-widening rift between their countries, a poll published earlier this week questions the Islamic world on their interpretation of “jihad”; a word often used by US commentators to mean a “holy war” against the West.

“Not so,” says Richard Burkholder, Director of International Research for Gallup Polls, “the poll came after speaking with a number of writers and journalists whose coverage I admired and who specialize in Islam and/or the Middle East. I asked each writer, “If you had the opportunity to ask a representative cross section of all the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims a single question, what would that question be?”

Burkholder says Chris Hedges of The New York Times, told him: “If I could, I would simply ask each one of them what the concept of jihad means to them.”

The results, according to Burkholder, “was one, enormous Rorschach test.”

To his credit, Burkholder goes to great length to describe the origin of the word jihad before giving the results of the poll: “(It comes from) the Arabic jahada, which is perhaps best translated as “struggle,” “effort,” or “striving.” In its theological context, however, jihad’s meanings can easily encompass “... any kind of struggle which has spiritual significance. Giving up smoking can count as jihad, for example, or controlling one’s temper.”

“Current interpreters of Islam are often at pains to distance jihad from its most common meaning in the eyes of the West,” says Burkholder.

“Many have also argued that the phrase “holy war” is itself originally grounded in Christendom, tracing its lineage (ironically) back to the Crusades.”

Burkholder says one reference, www.quran.org, defines jihad as: “In its primary sense it is an inner thing, within self, to rid it from debased actions and inclinations, and exercise constancy and perseverance in achieving a higher moral standard.”

Of the 10,004 adults surveyed by the Gallup poll in nine Islamic countries, all were Muslims. Burkholder says “we received an overwhelming number of descriptions from Muslims in response to the request, “Please tell me in one word (or a very few words) what “jihad” means to you.”

A significant minority did include some reference to “sacrificing one’s life for the sake of Islam/God/a just cause,” or “fighting against the opponents of Islam,” said Burkholder.

Four of the eight countries polled on this question — Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and Indonesia.

“This was the single most identifiable pattern within the verbatim responses received, though in none of these countries, except Indonesia, was it expressed by an outright majority. It is interesting to note that none of these four countries is ethnically Arab,” says Burkholder.

“In the four Arab nations in which the question was asked, Lebanon, Kuwait, Jordan, and Morocco, the most frequent descriptions of jihad included references to one’s “duty toward God,” a “divine duty,” or a “worship of God” — with no explicit militaristic connotation at all.”

“I think it will blindside most Americans to discover that this “holy war” interpretation of jihad is not its sole meaning, but also not even the core meaning of the word,” said Burkholder.

In addition to the two broader groupings mentioned above, personal definitions also included (in roughly decreasing order of frequency) references to:

• “A commitment to hard work” and “achieving one’s goals in life.”

• “Struggling to achieve a noble cause.”

—”Promoting peace, harmony or cooperation, and assisting others” (interesting, in light of jihad’s more frequently ascribed meaning) and to simply “live the principles of Islam.” “One thing is clear, however,” notes Burkholder, “across the Ummah — Islam’s global community of believers — the concept of jihad is considerably more nuanced than the single sense in which Western commentators invariably invoke the term.”

The total sample sizes for each of the countries in the survey are as follows:

Out of 9,250 polled on this question — 2,043 were from Pakistan; 1,501 were from Iran; 1,050 were from Indonesia; 1,019 were from Turkey; 1,050 were from Lebanon, 1,000 were from Morocco; 790 were from Kuwait; 797 were from Jordan.

All 10,000 interviews taken by Gallup in the Islamic world were conducted in-person, and in the home. The interview, according to Gallup, consisted of approximately 120 questions and required one hour to administer.

For further information about this poll, log onto: www.gallup.com.