“God is love,” says the Christian scripture (1 John 4:8). In Judaism, Ahavat Hashem — love of God — is commanded and cultivated with blessing: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). The love of God is a bond between man and heaven built on compassion, holiness, and peace.

But in far too many places across the Global South, another phrase is being taught: “The love of Jihad.”

It’s neither metaphorical nor poetic. It is proudly literal — sung by schoolchildren, broadcast on TV, etched into educational curricula, printed on flags held by terrorists. “We love death like our enemies love life” was a chilling Hamas slogan even before October 7, 2023. It isn’t a chant of a lone errant radical but a core tenet of Islamist extremism: to define one’s identity by war, death, and the annihilation of the other.

Two Loves. Two Worlds.

There is a love that sanctifies hospitals, schools, and synagogues. There is another love that sanctifies suicide belts and the murderers of civilians.

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, love flows downward from a Creator who gives life and asks for holiness in return. Morality is measured by how one treats the stranger, the widow, the orphan. The spiritual path is about elevating the self — resisting the urge to dominate, to hate, to take vengeance. I call it “Humble Faith.”

But in radical Islamist ideology, compassion is redirected from the divine to the destructive. Martyrdom is romanticized. The afterlife is promised not to those who love their neighbor, but to those who murder them. Jihad isn’t just war — it’s the highest expression of spiritual devotion.

People have attempted to sanitize “jihad” and “intifada” in Western media. We are told jihad means “inner struggle” and intifada means “shake off.” Perhaps it does for some Muslims. But the jihad of Hamas, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards is unmistakably violent. It’s the jihad of Kalashnikovs, tunnels under kindergartens, and paragliders into music festivals. It’s identical to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” which similarly means “My Struggle.”

"Jihad means the fighting of the unbelievers and involves all possible efforts that are necessary to dismantle the power of the enemies of Islam, including beating them, plundering their wealth, destroying their places of worship, and smashing their idols."
- Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood

And yet, around the world, there is a growing refusal to admit this unvarnished truth.

The West’s Romanticization of Jihad

Academics and activists in the West have twisted themselves into knots to justify the “rage” of jihadists. Excuses of “occupation,” “imperialism” and “colonialism” are concocted. New definition of “apartheid” and “genocide” are contrived. The love of jihad is recast as a legitimate cry for justice, while Israel’s efforts to protect its citizens is painted as cruel, racist, even genocidal.

When Hamas terrorists butchered entire Israeli families, raped women, and burned children alive, some depraved people in the West saw “resistance.” When Israel responded, the cries of “Ceasefire now!” emerged to protect Hamas, but not for Israel, which had been dragged into battle.

A World Turned Upside Down

Imagine a child in Gaza, raised on songs about martyrdom and vengeance, told that killing Jews is a way to please Allah. Compare him to a Jewish child reciting “Oseh shalom bimromav” — “May He who makes peace in His heavens bring peace upon us.”

Imagine a Christian child learning to “turn the other cheek,” and then hearing protesters on Western campuses chant “Intifada until victory” — a call for permanent war.

There are two radically different spiritual trajectories here. One aims upward, toward love, life, and sanctity. The other plunges downward into hatred, death, and hell.

It is no coincidence that the Islamic Republic of Iran calls Israel “Little Satan” and the United States “Big Satan.” The philosophy of radical Islamism is not oriented towards love and God but directed to violence and the underworld.

Choose Your Love

The West must stop pretending. To love God is to abhor the love of jihad. To defend life is not to disrespect culture; it is to preserve culture that can sustain a free and peaceful society.

Jihadism — like Nazism before it — dresses hatred in the garb of purpose. It seduces the young, exploits the poor, and destroys the innocent. And like Nazism, it will not stop until it is confronted with clarity, courage, and conviction.

We must stop asking why terrorists hate and start asking why we excuse it.

The love of God builds nations. The love of jihad destroys them.

So it happened. So it happens again in our time.

Related:

The UN Has Joined The Jihadi Fray (February 2024)

When Founding Fathers Are Psychopaths And Cowards (January 2024)

Jihadi Coexistence (October 2023)

Mother’s Day And Ahlam Al-Tamimi (May 2022)

The Insidious Jihad in America (July 2019)

Considering Nazis and Radical Islam on the 75th Anniversary of D-Day (June 2019)

I’m Offended, You’re Dead (February 2015)

Why the Media Ignores Jihadists in Israel (January 2015)