What is Jihad?

What is Jihad? that all human beings do. It is a human characteristic. There are words in every language to denote such effort, and the word for this in Arabic is ‘jihad’. It is the basic meaning of the word ‘jihad’. There is one difference, though, we must note in this regard. The term ‘effort’ or ‘struggle’ ordinarily does not connote divine reward or worship. However, these are implied when the term jihad is used in the Islamic context. Thus, jihad refers to a particular effort or struggle, that is also a form of worship and earns Divine reward for the person who engages in it. As the Quran says: Jahidu fillahi haqqa jihadihi. (22:78) It means: “Strive for the cause of God as it behoves you to strive for it.” In some situations, the act of jihad or struggle might take the form of facing one’s opponents. On such occasions, in terms of usage, and not in the literal sense, jihad can also take on the sense of war. Hence, Imam al-Raghib al-Isfahani, an eleventh-century Muslim scholar of Quranic exegesis and the Arabic language, mentions three types of jihad: a. Fighting one’s external antagonists. b. Fighting Satan. c. Fighting one’s self. (Al-Mufradat fi-Gharib el-Quran, p. 208)