An Understanding of ‘Jihad’

Abstract

Islam is the religion of peace containing the controversial concept is ‘jihad’, which requires to be understood. ‘Jihad’ is an Arabic term which means ‘striving’ or ‘struggling’ with one’s self and spending one’s money in the cause of God. Most of the explications of the term claim that there are two types of ‘jihad’ namely, ‘greater jihad’ and ‘lesser jihad’; the former is given more importance as an understanding of the Qur’anic textual occurrence of the term. But this term has been misinterpreted religiously and politically across the world as ‘Holy War’ or ‘Terrorism’ in the name of Islam to change the true meaning of ‘jihad’. This paper attempts to describe the basic concept of ‘jihad’ and focus on the ‘spiritual jihad’.