Islamic Jihad

Jihad is a fact of life. What in English is called ‘struggle’ is what is meant by the word ‘jihad’ in Arabic. Jihad is no mysterious thing. Nor is it synonymous with violence. It is simply a word that conveys the notion of making efforts to the maximum possible extent. And so, one can speak about engaging in the jihad or struggle of life, about engaging in a jihad or struggle against prejudice. And so on.

It is a general human tendency to make efforts to achieve one’s objectives. Just as this phenomenon is denoted by different words in different languages, there are words for it in the Arabic language, too. The word ‘jihad’ also has this essential meaning. The word sa‘ee is a general word for ‘effort’ in Arabic, and the word ‘jihad’ indicates making great effort.

However, there is one difference to be noted here. When we ordinarily use the terms ‘effort’ or ‘struggle’, the sense of divine reward or worship is absent. But when the word ‘jihad’ became an Islamic term, this understanding of divine reward (sawab) or worship (ibadat) was also included. In other words, jihad is no ordinary effort, but, rather, an effort that is a form of worship, engaging in which one obtains divine reward. As the Quran says:

Strive for the cause of God as it behoves you to strive for it. (22:78)

The Meaning of Jihad

The root of the word jihad is juhd, which connotes effort of considerable intensity. (see, Ibn Manzoor, Lisan al Arab, vol 3, p. 135) The words jihad and mujahid, one who engages in jihad, are expressed in a related way in the Quran.

Sometimes, depending on the prevailing conditions, this action of jihad or struggle can go to the extent of contending with one’s enemy. At such times, the aspect of war is also included in the understanding of the word ‘jihad’—in the sense in which the word is used in that particular context, and not in the literal or dictionary sense. In this regard, Imam Raghib al-Isfahani mentions three senses in which the word jihad is used: jihad against external foes, jihad against Satan, and jihad against one’s base self, or nafs. (Al Mufradat fi Gharib el Quran, p. 208)

Jihad in the Quran

The word ‘jihad’ and related terms are used in the same sense in the Quran as in Arabic dictionaries—that is, to indicate much effort for a certain cause or purpose. The word ‘jihad’ appears four times in the Quran, and on each of these occasions it is used in this very sense of effort and struggle, and not directly in the sense of war or qital.

In this regard, the first Quranic verse reads as follows:

Say, ‘If your fathers and your sons and your brothers and your spouses and your tribe, and the worldly goods which you have acquired, and the commerce which you fear will decline, and the homes you love are dearer to you than God and His Messenger and the struggle for His cause, then wait until God fulfills His decree. God does not guide the disobedient people.’ (9:24)

In this verse, the followers of Islam have been commanded to go to the extent of making sacrifices in joining the Prophet in Islam’s dawah mission, even if this might appear to harm their personal interests or cause economic loss or entail physical difficulty. They must, under all circumstances, remain with the Prophet in this mission. In this verse, the phrase jihad fi sabil Allah, or struggling in the way of God, essentially indicates the Prophet’s dawah mission, and not war.

A second Quranic verse gives the following commandment:

Do not yield to those who deny the truth, but strive with the utmost strenuousness by means of this [Quran].(25:52)

In this verse, jihad very clearly indicates the jihad of dawah, because there can be no other meaning of doing jihad through the Quran.

The word jihad appears in a third Quranic verse in the following way:

If you have left your homes to strive for My cause and out of a desire to seek My goodwill, how can you secretly offer them (God’s opponents) friendship? (60:1)

This verse was revealed before the Prophet’s victory over Makkah. The Prophet did not journey from Madinah to Makkah in order to engage in war. Rather, it was actually a peaceful march, undertaken to obtain the peaceful results of the Treaty of Hudaybiya. And so, on this occasion, when the Prophet heard a Muslim say, ‘Today is the day of fighting’ (al-yauma yaumul malhama), he remarked that this was not the case, and that it was, as he put it, the ‘day of mercy’ (al-yauma yaumul marhamah).  (Al-Waqidi, Kitab Al-Maghazi, vol. 2, pp. 821-22)

The fourth occasion on which the word jihad appears in the Quran is in the form expressed in the following verse:

Strive for the cause of God as it behoves you to strive for it. . (22:78)

In this verse, the word jihad refers to the jihad of dawah, as is clear from the context in which it is used here.