The Misbegotten Lexicon

The Misbegotten Lexicon

By: M. Burhanuddin Qasmi
Editor: Eastern Crescent

Behold, the lamentable chronicle of a noble word debased—Jihad, an Arabic term of lofty aspiration, signifying the ardent struggle for virtue and goodness in this mortal coil. Yet, in the vibrant tapestry of India, this word has been snatched from its pious moorings, twisted into a cudgel by certain political demagogues who, with a curious fondness, wield it as a prefix to “name” their Muslim brethren. One might jest that these rhetoricians secretly admire the term’s sonorous cadence, so eagerly do they sprinkle it upon every perceived slight, as if to laud, with bitter irony, the honest toil of Muslim citizens who enrich this Nation’s soul. Alas, like weeds choking a verdant garden, these phrases—each more absurd than the last—proliferate in our discourse, seeding division where unity should bloom.

Behold, the ignoble litany of the past fifteen years, a veritable lexicon of venom, coined by those whose tongues seem to dance with malice:

1. Love Jihad (2009–10): A fevered fantasy that love itself conspires against the state.
2. Land Jihad (2013): As if earth could be claimed by faith rather than sweat.
3. Economic Jihad (2014): Where thrift and trade are branded treachery.
4. Population Jihad (2015): A crude caricature of families thriving in hope.
5. Corona Jihad (2020): Blaming a plague on piety—what base cowardice!
6. UPSC Jihad (2020): Ambition in exams, now a crime? Fie upon such nonsense!
7. Thook Jihad (2020–21): Spittle as sabotage—surely the nadir of wit.
8. Education Jihad (2022–23): Knowledge itself slandered by the ignorant.
9. Vote Jihad (2024): Democracy defamed by those who dread its power.
10. Sharbat Jihad (2025): Sweet refreshment turned sinister—O, the absurdity!

What wretched alchemy transforms a word of striving into a slur? These hate-mongers, cloaked in white or saffron halloween, reveal their poverty of spirit, for only a heart shriveled by fear could so pervert language’s grace. Their ardor for Jihad as a prefix betrays not love, but a craven obsession to demonize, to divide, to degrade. Let them be named for what they are: architects of discord, whose venomous coinages poison the well of our shared humanity. Shame upon their tongues, and may their words wither, unheeded, in the light of truth.