I sl a m ic F un da m e n ta l i sm (I sl a m i sm ) 105 lives or securit y. Jihad is "self-defense, meant for upholding right, ending injustice, ensuring peace and securit y and establishing mercy." Muslims cannot initiate an attack and call it a Jihad--a Jihad must be called in self-defense only. Extremists have decided that because the West continues to oppress them, they are justified in a "self-defensive" Jihad. Jihad is not a central prop of Islam, despite the Western perspective. But it was and remains a dut y for Muslims to commit themselves to a struggle on all fronts--moral, spiritual, and political--to create a just and decent societ y. (22) This doctrine is, however, open to distortion. 1 1 Isl a m ist s a nd Musli m So ciet y Islamists do not recognize any interpretations of the Qur'an made by Islamic jurists over the centuries**; they want to "sweep away the cob- webs." They want to go back to a seventh-centur y "pure" societ y as they understand it, with no regard for the realities of the modern world. Some people agree with these unfounded interpretations; most people are dis-