Jihad

Jihad ({{lang-ar|جهاد}} jihād) is an Islamic term, from the Arabic root jhd ("to exert utmost effort, to strive, struggle"), which connotes a wide range of meanings: anything from an inward spiritual struggle to attain perfect faith to a political or military struggle to further the Islamic cause. The term is frequently mistranslated to mean "holy war" in English, although jihad can apply to warfare. Mainstream Muslims consider jihad to be the most misunderstood aspect of their religion by non-Muslims. The meaning of "Islamic cause" is of course open to interpretation. The Islamic religious legitimacy of the goals or methods of various Islamist movements who adopt the terminology of jihad is often brought into question, usually by moderate and liberal Muslims.

Related Topics:
Islamic term - Faith - Holy war - Islamist - Liberal Muslims

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A person who engages in any form of jihad is called a "mujahid", meaning "striver" or "struggler", though this Islamic term is most often used to mean a person who engages in fighting. It is not limited to fighting or warfare however, a Muslim struggling to memorize the Qur'an is a mujahid, for example. The neologism jihadist is sometimes used to describe militant Islamic groups, including but not restricted to Islamist terrorism (c. f. Jihadist organizations and Rules of war in Islam).

Related Topics:
Mujahid - Qur'an - Neologism - Militant Islam - Islamist terrorism - Jihadist organizations - Rules of war in Islam

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