jihad

Jihad (; ) is an Arabic word that means , , or , particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God's guidance, such as an internal struggle against evil in oneself, efforts to build a good Muslim community (ummah), and struggle to defend Islam. For its literal translation 'struggle', the term is frequently associated with warfare.

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Jihad is an Arabic word meaning "struggle" or "effort," used in Islam to describe various forms of striving to live according to God's guidance, including internal spiritual battles against one's own evil impulses and efforts to build a virtuous Muslim community. The term matters because it encompasses a wide range of meanings in Islamic practice, though it is often misunderstood in Western contexts as referring primarily to warfare.

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Commons category: Jihad

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Article

31 sections

Contents

Etymology and literary origins
Quran
Hadith
Greater and lesser ''jihad''
Defensive and offensive lesser ''jihad''
Rules of warfare
History
Classical
Early Muslim conquests
Post-classical usage
Colonialism and modernism
Ottoman Jihad in World War One
Post-colonialism
Terrorism
Abdullah Azzam
Shia
Islamic jurisprudence
Usage
Muslim public opinion
Other struggles
Usage by some non-Muslims
Other groups
Ahmadiyya
Quranist
See also
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
External links

Jihad is classified into inner ("greater") jihad, which involves a struggle against one's own passions and impulses, and outer ("lesser") jihad, which is further subdivided into jihad of the pen/tongue (debate or persuasion) and jihad of the sword (warfare). Much of Muslim opinion considers inner jihad to have primacy over outer jihad. The analysis of a large survey from 2002 reveals considerable nuance in the conceptions of jihad held by Muslims around the world, ranging from righteous living and promoting peace to fighting against the opponents of Islam.