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JIHAD or CRUSADE?
JIHAD
While both are concepts of holy war, “crusade” and “jihad” are not direct equivalents due to their distinct origins and meanings, though they share similarities in historical usage and modern rhetoric.
Jihad means “struggle” and can refer to a personal spiritual battle (called a “greater” jihad) or an armed conflict in the name of Allah (called a “lesser” jihad) whereas “crusade” originates from the Latin word for “cross” and refers specifically to the medieval Christian military expeditions to the Holy Land.
- Literal Meaning: “Struggle” or “striving”.
- Scope: It can encompass a variety of efforts, including internal spiritual struggles, intellectual pursuits, and the less common military campaigns.
- Historical Context: It has been used throughout Islamic history to justify wars, sometimes motivated by political and secular concerns, as well as by defensive or offensive religious imperatives.
CRUSADE
The Crusades (1095-1241) were a series of religious wars sanctioned by the Latin (Roman Catholic) Church in the medieval period. The most commonly known Crusades are the campaigns in the Eastern Mediterranean aimed at recovering the Holy Land from Muslim rule, but the term “Crusades” is also applied to other church-sanctioned campaigns.
The term “Crusades” are the series of campaigns that refer primarily to the attempts by Christian kingdoms from 1095 to 1303 to regain control of Jerusalem. The crusades also include any attempt by the crusaders to gain control of a city or a fortress that helped them in their cause towards gaining control of Jerusalem. You can view the timeline of the Crusades here on Oxford Reference.
Any other war or military campaign by Christian military that has nothing to do with taking over Jerusalem is not considered a crusade.
The last crusade is generally considered to be the Ninth Crusade (1271–1272), led by England’s future king Edward (Longshanks) I. However, the final military defeat of Crusader-held territory in the Middle East was the fall of the city of Acre in 1291 to the Mamluk armies, often considered the definitive end of the original crusades, marking the end of their presence in the Holy Land.
Ninth Crusade (1271-1272): This is the last expedition to the Holy Land and is sometimes called the “Last Crusade.” Also known as Lord Edward’s, found it was led by Edward Longshanks (Longshanks of Braveheart with Mel Gibson) who later became King Edward I of England, and is often seen as an extension of the Eighth Crusade. It ended with a stalemate and was followed by the decline and eventual loss of all Crusader strongholds.
Fall of Acre (1291): This event is widely regarded as the end of the Crusader States in the Levant. Although the Ninth Crusade was the last one to reach the Holy Land, the final years of the Crusader states in the region saw a series of battles. The Mamluks captured the final significant Crusader stronghold of Acre in 1291, ending the period of Crusader rule in the Levant. After Acre fell, the last remaining Christian strongholds were gone, and the permanent crusader presence in the region ended.
Role of the Catholic Church
Initiation and Leadership: Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade in 1095 at the Council of Clermont in response to a request for military aid from the Byzantine Emperor. The Pope and the papacy continued to lead and direct subsequent crusades for over two centuries.
Spiritual Motivation: The Church framed the Crusades as a sacred duty and a holy war, using propaganda to portray Muslims as enemies of Christianity. It promised spiritual rewards, such as the absolution of sins and reduced time in purgatory through indulgences indulgences, to those who fought.
Mobilization: The Church’s religious authority was used to rally a large number of volunteers, including knights, peasants, and others, to form armies. The movement expanded over time to include campaigns against other groups deemed enemies of the papacy.
Logistical and Financial Support: The Church provided financial and logistical support through resources like tithes and the creation of a military orders. These orders, like the Knights Templar, played a significant role in the military and logistical organization of the crusades.
Political influence: The Crusades demonstrated the papacy’s significant political power, as it was able to command large-scale military actions across Europe and assert authority over secular rulers. The church also used the ‘just war’ theory to provide a moral and legal framework for the campaigns.
Similarities and Differences
Differences
Jihad is an Islamic concept meaning “struggle” that can be internal (personal – Greater Jihad) or external (armed conflict, primarily defensive – Lesser Jihad), while a crusade was a series of specific, religiously sanctioned wars launched by medieval European Christians to recapture territory like Jerusalem.
The key differences lie in their scope and meaning: jihad is a broad religious obligation encompassing both spiritual and physical striving, whereas crusade refers to a particular historical series of military campaigns by the Latin (Roman) Church.
Jihad
- Meaning: “Struggle” or “striving“.
- Scope: A general obligation for all Muslims to follow Allah’s will.
- Forms: Can be an internal, spiritual struggle to become a better person, or an external struggle.
Crusade
- Meaning: Refers to a specific set of historically defined wars.
- Scope: A series of specific military campaigns launched by medieval European Christians.
- Forms: Specifically refers to the historical Christian military expeditions. The term was later used more broadly to refer to any energetic campaign to persuade others to a particular point of view.
- Purpose: Primarily to recapture Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Islamic rule, but also to defend Christian territory and pilgrims, or to remove heretical Christian leadership.
Armed Form
- Defensive: An armed struggle against invaders or oppressors.
- Offensive: Historically, a preemptive or offensive attack to expand the Islamic state, though modern interpretations often emphasize defensive military action, according to Study.com.
- Purpose: To live a virtuous life, defend the faith, and spread it through preaching and example, or, in a military context, to defend the Islamic state.
- Superficial similarity: In modern rhetoric, they are often used interchangeably to mean “religious war,” sometimes to frame a clash of civilizations.
- Deeper differences: The underlying religious and historical contexts are different. “Jihad” is a broader concept that includes non-violent aspects, while “crusade” is a more specific historical phenomenon rooted in Christian theology and practice.
- Motivations: Both have been used to disguise secular ambitions for power and plunder, as well as to inspire acts of heroism and chivalry.
- Modern usage: Both terms are still used in modern political rhetoric. “Crusade” has been invoked in the “war on terror,” while extremists use “jihad” as a rallying cry.
More on the individual crusades can be found by clicking the below:
Mamdani’s Campaign Was Made in Pakistan
ISI/DI: This is one time I take no satisfaction in saying, “I told you so.” However …… I’ve beat the drum for a decade, with the call, “WAKE UP AMERICA!!!” Alas, she slept through the campaign right up and past the last call. Now, we are in for a wild ride with little recourse except ……… the possibility that there will be a wave midterm to impeach the Socialist or Communist or ……… let’s just call it like it is: A Muslim with radical ideas that he hopes to slam down everyone’s throat, and I do not mean just those folks in New York City. This will affect the entire nation, if not the world.
The phrase “Mamdani’s Campaign Was Made in Pakistan” likely refers to a claim circulated by Zohran Mamdani’s political opponents suggesting his campaign has foreign ties or influence, possibly specifically from Pakistan.
The controversy appears to be linked to:
- Foreign Donations: Reports indicate his campaign accepted nearly $13,000 in donations from foreign sources, which is a violation of U.S. election law. While donors included individuals from various countries, including Dubai, the claim likely uses “Pakistan” to imply a specific, potentially negative, foreign influence.
- South Asian Heritage/Support: Mamdani, born in Uganda to a family of Indian and South Asian descent, has significant support within the South Asian community in New York. His campaign has featured events where musicians sang in Urdu (a language widely spoken in Pakistan) and Hindi, and performed a poem by a Pakistani poet, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, which some critics might use to create a narrative of foreign influence.
- Attacks From the Hindu Right: After his primary win, Mamdani faced a flood of criticism, some of it from the Hindu right, which has accused him of being “anti-India” and a “jihadi.” The “Made in Pakistan” claim can be seen as part of these attacks, attempting to cast him as inherently suspect or un-American (which he is if you study his platform) by linking his campaign to a country often portrayed as an adversary in these circles.
The phrase is seen as a political attack intended to question Zohran Mamdani’s loyalties and legitimacy as a U.S. political figure, despite the fact that he moved to New York at age seven and is a U.S. citizen running for NYC mayor. In spite of this, though, he also acknowledges assimilation is not in the cards, which for me, at least, means he does not intend to become an American, but plans to replace the American culture with his own Islamic culture …… as in, “take over the world. Allahu Akbar!!!” His campaign has stated its intention to return all foreign donations, although we know of at least $13,000 he received. As to the return, I have yet to hear anything about that.
EXCLUSIVE: Dr. Mordechai Kedar Warns — ‘If America Doesn’t Stop Islamic Migration, It Will Share Europe’s Fate’
https://rairfoundation.com/exclusive-dr-mordechai-kedar-warns-if-america-doesnt
The RAIR Foundation often times runs “exclusive” items, such as this one, making it the absolute or first source.
ISI/DI: The statement, “If America Doesn’t Stop Islamic Migration, It Will Share Europe’s Fate,” is an opinion expressed by Dr. Mordechai Kedar, an Israeli scholar of Arab and Islamic culture, a former IDF Military Intelligence lieutenant colonel, and a research fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University.
This warning is consistent with Kedar’s broader views on the Middle East, Islam, and the integration of Muslim populations in Western societies. His perspective is considered controversial by some, with critics arguing he tends to generalize about Muslim populations and their compatibility with democratic values. However, he is an internationally recognized expert and a fluent Arabic speaker who often appears on Arabic satellite channels to defend Israeli perspectives.
This specific quote likely originates from an interview or opinion piece, as his views are often presented through alternative or conservative media outlets and in briefings.
Middle East Expert: Iran Planning Multi-Front Attack on Israel
ISI/DI: News reports from November 2025 do not mention a new claim by a “Middle East Expert” that Iran is planning an imminent multi-front attack on Israel.
However, the general potential for a multi-front conflict involving Iran and its proxies (such as Hezbollah and Iraqi militias) has been a persistent analytical topic among experts for years.
Key points from recent analyses (late 2024 and 2025) indicate:
Past Analysis: An expert in 2024 noted that Hamas’s intention with the October 7 attack was to ignite a multi-front war that thankfully did not fully materialize at that time. Other analysis in April 2024 discussed the potential for a multi-front war after an Iranian aerial attack on Israel.
Ongoing Tensions: The “cold war” between Israel and Iran has turned into a “hot war” following direct military confrontations in June 2025, with both sides bracing for further conflict.
Proxy Activity: Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Hezbollah in Lebanon remain a concern for Israel, with ongoing rearmament efforts and skirmishes.
Islamization Advances in Pennsylvania: CAIR & Emgage Host ‘Muslim Capitol Day’ in Harrisburg (Video)
https://rairfoundation.com/islamization-advances-pennsylvania-cair-emgage-host-muslim-capitol
ISI/DI: “Muslim Capitol Day” is an annual advocacy event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, co-hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Philadelphia) and Emgage Pennsylvania. The most recent event took place on Tuesday, October 28, 2025.
- Hosts: CAIR-Philadelphia and Emgage Pennsylvania.
- Location: Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex in 0Harrisburg.
- Purpose: The event is designed to help Muslim Pennsylvanians engage with state-level politics and policymakers, providing a platform for the community to meet with their elected representatives and advocate for issues important to them.
- Advocacy Issues: Attendees at the 2025 event advocated fo”r various issues, including:
- Halal meals and prayer accommodations in state institutions.
- Pro-immigration and free speech bills.
- Increased state funding for security at houses of worship.
- Immigrant rights, education equity, and an end to hate crimes and discrimination.
- Attendance: The event brings together dozens of Muslim leaders, community members, and students from across the state. State officials and, in the 2025 event, Senator Sharif Street (the first and only Muslim member of the PA Senate) participated.
The event is held to ensure that Muslim citizens are visible and active participants in the political process, exercising their constitutional rights to make their voices heard in government.
SEEING RED: Mamdani Drops Smiley Face Act and Shows True Face: ANGRY, RACIAL HATRED, DIVISION
ISI/DI: The headline “SEEING RED: Mamdani Drops Smiley Face Act and Shows True Face: ANGRY, RACIAL HATRED, DIVISION” refers to a post, critical of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani following his recent election victory.
The central claim is that after securing his election win, Mamdani’s victory speech revealed a “seething,” “radical” individual who abandoned a previously cultivated “smiling nice guy” image. Critics pointed to his “uncharitable,” “downbeat” speech that reportedly focused on class divisions (referencing landlords, bankers, and merchants as a “ruling class”) and a “socialist agenda,” rather than a message of unity.
News sources reporting on the criticism often mention that the New York Post editorial described him as having “fangs of contempt and bitter grievance.” The specific words “ANGRY, RACIAL HATRED, DIVISION” seem to be a harsh summary to characterize the behavior and content of his speech as described in those critical editorials. Mamdani’s campaign has faced accusations of Islamophobia during the campaign, which he has publicly decried.
Hours After Mamdani Win: Swastikas on Jewish Day School in NYC
ISI/DI: Swastikas were found painted on the Magen David Yeshiva, a Jewish day school in the Gravesend neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, just hours after Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City in the recent election (which occurred on November 4, 2025).
The incident, which occurred late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning (November 5, 2025), is being investigated as a hate crime by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force. Surveillance video captured a lone suspect, dressed in black and wearing a fedora, on a bicycle at the scene.
The timing of the vandalism, which also targeted other Jewish sites including a cemetery and a social services organization, heightened fears of rising antisemitism within the Jewish community, especially in the context of political tensions surrounding Mamdani’s anti-Israel positions during his campaign.
Mayor-elect Mamdani, who is the city’s first Muslim mayor, swiftly and unequivocally condemned the act, calling it a “disgusting and heartbreaking act of antisemitism.” New York Governor Kathy Hochul also condemned the incident, calling it “an act of terrorism” and pledging increased security funding for Jewish sites.
EXCLUSIVE With Hunted Islamic Expert Brother Rachid: ‘Muslims Will Be the Majority, They Will Govern the West’
France: Muslims screaming ‘Allahu akbar’ vandalize cars, shops, and restaurants in Paris
CAIR’s Blueprint for Islamic Power: Nihad Awad Unveils 2050 Plan to Train 100,000 Muslims to Capture Media, Law, and Government (Video)
https://rairfoundation.com/cairs-blueprint-islamic-power-nihad-awad-unveils-2050
Did You Catch the Scariest Part of Mamdani’s Victory Speech?
The Constitution Protects Faith — Not Islamic Conquest (RAIR TV)
The Islamization of Texas: When Politicians Kneel Before a Foreign Imam (Video)
Muslims arrested in three US states for buying weapons, scouting gay bars and amusement park for jihad massacre
New Yorkers Flee to Florida Amid Fears of Mamdani’s Agenda and Rising Taxes
Mamdani ‘Accountable’ To Radical Terror-Tied Extremists, Groups
Mamdani’s Confidential List of Demands From Democratic Socialists of America Is All About Purging Jewish Nation
Full Transcript of Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani’s Victory Speech
Tonight. Against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is in our hands.
My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty.
I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life — but let tonight be the final time I utter his name, as we turn the page on a politics that abandons the many and answers only to the few.
New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change — a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city we can afford, and a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that.
On January 1, I will be sworn in as the mayor of New York City. And that is because of you.
So before I say anything else, I must say this: thank you.
Thank you to the next generation of New Yorkers who refused to accept that the promise of a better future was a relic of the past. You showed that when politics speaks to you without condescension, we can usher in a new era of leadership.
We will fight for you because we are you — or as we say on Steinway, Ana minkum wa ilaykum.
Thank you to those so often forgotten by the politics of our city who made this movement their own.
I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas, Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses, Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties — yes, aunties.
To every New Yorker in Kensington and Midwood and Hunts Point — know this: this city is your city, and this democracy is yours too.
This campaign is about people like Wesley, an 1199 organizer I met outside of Elmhurst Hospital on Thursday night — a New Yorker who lives elsewhere, who commutes two hours each way from Pennsylvania because rent is too expensive in this city.
It’s about people like the woman I met on the BX33 years ago, who said to me, “I used to love New York, but now it’s just where I live.”
And it’s about people like Richard, the taxi driver I went on a 15-day hunger strike with outside of City Hall, who still has to drive his cab seven days a week.
My brother, we are in City Hall now.
This victory is for all of them, and it’s for all of you — the more than 100,000 volunteers who built this campaign into an unstoppable force. Because of you, we will make this city one that working people can love and live in again.
With every door knocked, every petition signature earned, and every hard-earned conversation, you eroded the cynicism that has come to define our politics.
Now, I know that I have asked for much from you over this last year. Time and again, you have answered my calls. But I have one final request, New York City: breathe this moment in.
We have held our breath for longer than we know. We have held it in anticipation of defeat, held it because the air has been knocked out of our lungs too many times to count, held it because we cannot afford to exhale.
Thanks to all of those who sacrificed so much, we are breathing in the air of a city that has been reborn.
To my campaign team, who believed when no one else did, and who took an electoral project and turned it into so much more — I will never be able to express the depth of my gratitude.
You can sleep now.
To my parents, Mama and Baba — you have made me into the man I am today. I am so proud to be your son.
And to my incredible wife, Rama — there is no one I would rather have by my side in this moment and in every moment.
To every New Yorker, whether you voted for me, for one of my opponents, or felt too disappointed by politics to vote at all — thank you for the opportunity to prove myself worthy of your trust.
I will wake each morning with a singular purpose: to make this city better for you than it was the day before.
There are many who thought this day would never come, who feared that we would be condemned only to a future of less, with every election consigning us simply to more of the same.
And there are others who see politics today as too cruel for the flame of hope to still burn.
New York, we have answered those fears.
Tonight, we have spoken in a clear voice: hope is alive.
Hope is a decision that tens of thousands of New Yorkers make day after day, volunteer shift after volunteer shift, despite attack ad after attack ad.
More than a million of us stood in our churches, in gymnasiums, in community centers, as we filled in the ledger of democracy.
And while we cast our ballots alone, we chose hope together — hope over tyranny, hope over big money and small ideas, hope over despair.
We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible, and we won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us. Now, it is something that we do.
Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru: “A moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance.”
Tonight, we have stepped out from the old into the new.
So let us speak now in clarity and conviction that cannot be misunderstood about what this new age will deliver, and for whom.
This will be an age where New Yorkers expect from their leaders a bold vision of what we will achieve, rather than a list of excuses for what we are too timid to attempt.
Central to that vision will be the most ambitious agenda to tackle the cost of living crisis that this city has seen since the days of Fiorello La Guardia — an agenda that will freeze the rents for more than two million rent-stabilized tenants, make buses fast and free, and deliver universal childcare across our city.
Years from now, may our only regret be that this day took so long to come.
This new age will be one of relentless improvement. We will hire thousands more teachers. We will cut waste from a bloated bureaucracy. We will work tirelessly to make lights shine again in the hallways of NYCHA developments where they have long flickered.
Safety and justice will go hand in hand as we work with police officers to reduce crime and create a Department of Community Safety that tackles the mental health crisis and homelessness crises head on.
Excellence will become the expectation across government, not the exception.
In this new age we make for ourselves, we will refuse to allow those who traffic in division and hate to pit us against one another.
In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light.
Here, we believe in standing up for those we love — whether you are an immigrant, a member of the trans community, one of the many Black women that Donald Trump has fired from a federal job, a single mom still waiting for the cost of groceries to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall — your struggle is ours too.
And we will build a City Hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers, and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism; where the more than one million Muslims know that they belong — not just in the five boroughs of this city, but in the halls of power.
No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election.
This new age will be defined by a competence and a compassion that have too long been placed at odds with one another.
We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.
For years, those in City Hall have only helped those who can help them — but on January 1, we will usher in a city government that helps everyone.
Now, I know that many have heard our message only through the prism of misinformation. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent to redefine reality and to convince our neighbors that this new age is something that should frighten them.
As has so often occurred, the billionaire class has sought to convince those making $30 an hour that their enemies are those earning $20 an hour.
They want the people to fight amongst ourselves so that we remain distracted from the work of remaking a long-broken system.
We refuse to let them dictate the rules of the game anymore. They can play by the same rules as the rest of us.
Together, we will usher in a generation of change. And if we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.
After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.
And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.
This is not only how we stop Trump — it’s how we stop the next one.
So Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up.
We will hold bad landlords to account, because the Donald Trumps of our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of their tenants.
We will put an end to the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks.
We will stand alongside unions and expand labor protections, because we know, just as Donald Trump does, that when working people have ironclad rights, the bosses who seek to extort them become very small indeed.
New York will remain a city of immigrants — a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant.
So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.
When we enter City Hall in 58 days, expectations will be high. We will meet them.
A great New Yorker once said that while you campaign in poetry, you govern in prose. If that must be true, let the prose we write still rhyme, and let us build a shining city for all.
And we must chart a new path as bold as the one we have already traveled.
After all, the conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate. I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a Democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.
And yet, if tonight teaches us anything, it is that convention has held us back. We have bowed at the altar of caution, and we have paid a mighty price.
Too many working people cannot recognize themselves in our party, and too many among us have turned to the right for answers to why they have been left behind.
We will leave mediocrity in our past. No longer will we have to open a history book for proof that Democrats can dare to be great.
Our greatness will be anything but abstract. It will be felt by every rent-stabilized tenant who wakes up on the first of every month knowing the amount they’re going to pay hasn’t soared since the month before.
It will be felt by each grandparent who can afford to stay in the home they have worked for, and whose grandchildren live nearby because the cost of childcare didn’t send them to Long Island.
It will be felt by the single mother who is safe on her commute and whose bus runs fast enough that she doesn’t have to rush school drop-off to make it to work on time.
And it will be felt when New Yorkers open their newspapers in the morning and read headlines of success, not scandal.
Most of all, it will be felt by each New Yorker when the city they love finally loves them back.
Together, New York, we’re going to freeze rent. Together, New York, we’re going to make buses fast. And together, New York, we’re going to deliver universal childcare.
Let the words we’ve spoken together — the dreams we’ve dreamt together — become the agenda we deliver together.
New York, this power — it’s yours. This city belongs to you.
Thank you.
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