`Jihad' has become a popular term in the media and scholarly publications. Though open to many interpretations, its violence-prone connotation holds popular attention worldwide. No doubt it is associated with Islam but was it brought up to its current state of ruthless dynamism, as seen in the West, Iraq, Afghanistan or India, by Islamic nations alone? This paper digs up the past. The past shows that the West was to a significant degree responsible for not only encouraging jihad but also shaped and `directed' it. The paper scoops out little known episodes and personalities that not only nursed jihad but made sure it continued to be alive and kickingtill it started `kicking' its foreign creators. The paper aims at lending depth of understanding to the reality of present Islamic terror in the light of the past.

Jihad is a much used and perhaps abused word today. There continues to rage a controversy over its `real' meaning, even within Islam. For some its significance lies in the spiritual realm, in overcoming one's own limitations. For others, the meaning stretches from fighting only when the Islamic realm is in danger to more actively making the world safe for Islam - even if the non-Islamic world does not want to be ruled by the 7^th century precepts preached by Prophet Muhammad.

For all practical purposes however, the current literature, especially as found in the media, focus on the last connotation, i.e., spreading Islamic precepts by the sword. The Islamic terrorists have reinforced this popular perception by their acts of mindless violence worldwide. Hence, the lopsided but nevertheless popular view of jihad today is spread of terror in the name of securing the way for the only truth.

There is a tendency in the Western publications to identify jihad as Muslim irredentism. But there is hardly any popular and mainstream discussion of the role played by Europe and the US in encouraging jihad at various periods of time in the past. That history of West-induced jihad, a chapter little known outside a few initiated, forms the central theme of this paper. The latter focuses on Europe's role for about two centuries till the end of World War II and extrapolates from the obscure past record scenarios and lessons relevant to the present.

International Relations Journal, Jihad, Islamic Realm, Islamic Nations, Islamic Terrorists, Muslim Irredentism, Western Publications, Al-Qaeda, Bismarckian German Reich, European Politics, Colonial Acquisition, Dutch Imperialism Jihad, Muslim Ottoman Empire, Prisoners of War, PoW, Muslim PoW, Multi-ethnic Territories, Khilafat Movement, International Crisis, Ottoman Turkish Army, Muslim Nationalist Movements.