What Does Jihad Mean?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
by <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Kerby Anderson
 
 
            What is the meaning of the word "jihad"? Most of us assume that it describes a Muslim obligation to be involved in a "holy war." Yet there are many Muslims who do not believe that is what it means and argue that Christians have misinterpreted the intent of jihad within the Qur'an.
 
            That is what one person who wrote to our website claimed. He said that jihad "is a struggle to attain nearness to God, by struggling to overcome your bad desires, and to stick to Islam under difficult circumstances, such as when facing persecution and other problems."
 
            So which is it? Does jihad mean holy war or does jihad mean a struggle to conform a Muslim's desires to the will of Allah? Here are the basic facts.
 
The word jihad is actually the noun of the Arabic verb jahidi, which means to "strive hard." This verse is an example: "O Prophet! Strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and be firm against them. Their abode is Hell, and evil refuge indeed" (Sura 9:73).
 
Although many Muslims understand this striving to be merely intellectual and philosophical, the usual translation of jihad involves a holy war. That has been the traditional interpretation since the time of Muhammad.
 
But don't take my word for it. Consider this statement by Bernard Lewis (who is professor emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University). He acknowledges that the term jihad has been used in the sense of "striving in the path of God. Some Muslims, particularly in modern times, have interpreted the duty of jihad in a spiritual and moral sense. The more common interpretation, and that of the overwhelming majority of the classical jurists and commentators, presents jihad as armed struggle for Islam against infidels and apostates."
 
            Bernard Lewis is perhaps the leading scholar on Islam in America and does admit that jihad can mean a striving the path of God. But he points out that the more common interpretation is armed struggle.
 
            If you read the Qur'an you will quickly see that jihad was to be waged on the battlefield. Sura 47:4 says, "When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield, strike off their heads and, when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly." Sura 9:5 says, "Fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them, and seize them, beleager them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem."
 
Consider some of these other passages concerning jihad. Faithful Muslims wage jihad against unbelievers: "O ye who believe! Fight the unbelievers who gird you about, and let them find firmness in you; and know that Allah is with those who fear Him" (Sura 9:123).
 
Muslims are also to wage jihad not only against unbelievers but against those who have strayed from the faith: "Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: and evil fate" (Sura 9:73).
 
Another way to understand the term "jihad" is to look at the historical context. After Muhammad's success in the Battle of Badr, he set forth various principles of warfare. For example, according to Sura 9:29, jihad is a religious duty. He taught in Sura 9:111 that martyrdom in jihad is the highest good and guarantees salvation. Sura 9:5 says that Muslims engaged in jihad should not show tolerance toward unbelievers. And acts of terrorism are justified in Sura 8:2.
 
            There are millions of peaceful Muslims who interpret jihad in the sense of striving in the path of God. But it is also true that there are millions of other Muslims that accept a literal interpretation of jihad which is to be waged against infidels and apostates. How they interpret the word jihad will determine which group they will join.