IT CAN BE stated without a doubt that “Jihad” is the most misunderstood concept about Islam in this day and age. Despite our efforts to explain what Jihad truly is, and despite numerous publications and flyers that explain this concept, it is persistently assumed by Islamophobes that Jihad is a bloody “holy war” meant to eradicate everything un-Islamic and purely used for conquest and political dominance. Even the extremists and terrorists exploit this popular misunderstanding of Jihad and vehemently abuse un-Islamic definitions of Jihad to attempt to bring legitimacy to their unjust causes.

The word Jihad comes from the root letters “jīm-ha-dāl” (J-H-D) which, according to Lane’s lexicon, means, “he strove, laboured, or toiled; exerted himself or his power or efforts or endeavours or ability”. At the most basic level, all that Jihad means is “to endeavour or to strive” and to suggest that the only meaning of Jihad is military action is a gross distortion of facts.

This is why when the Holy Quran states “wa Jāhidū fillāhi haqqa Jihadihī”, it is clearly translated as, “And strive in the cause of Allah as it behoves you to strive for it”.57 In fact, there is no advocacy for violence in the term “Jihad”. It is only in the parlance of religious extremists that this term came to be used perversely in reference to religious wars.