An educational campaign led by the Council on American-Islamic Relations has put up dozens of advertisements on San Francisco Municipal Railway buses this week to reclaim connotations of the word “jihad,” according to campaign organizers.
The 35 “My Jihad” bus ads were up by the start of the new year to promote a more inclusive meaning of jihad as believed and practiced by a majority of Muslims, CAIR officials from the organization’s San Francisco Bay Area office said.
There are alternate interpretations of “jihad” that are associated with violence and uprisings, spurring the campaign to reclaim the meaning of the word, which means “the struggle” and is the central tenet of Islam.
The public ads show a diverse assortment of people sharing their struggles–from difficulties finding time to work out to exercising more tolerance.
A social media component allows people to tweet or use Facebook to share their modern interpretation of “jihad” and their struggles to get to a better place.
The education initiative kicked off in Chicago in December before starting in San Francisco.
Sasha Lekach, Bay City News
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