I Grew Up on Jihad Street — What “Jihad” Actually Means
jihad (noun): struggle; effort.
The meaning of jihad in a nutshell is this: one must always strive to be a better person, and, in the process, they inevitably need to exert effort and struggle with their own self, with their circumstances, with temptation.
Everything good or wholesome you can aspire to requires a certain degree of jihad to achieve. To do your best at your job every day, you have to struggle with laziness. To put others before yourself, you have to struggle with selfishness. To become kinder, you have to strive for patience. To give, you have to overcome greed. To be truly humble, you have to overcome your ego.
Greater jihad
The universal understanding of jihad described above is the true meaning of jihad in Islam. It is even known as the “greater jihad”. It is one of the major themes in the Quran.
“O you who have believed, fear Allah and seek the means [of nearness] to Him and strive in His cause that you may succeed.” Quran 5:35
“And whoever strives only strives for [the benefit of] himself. Indeed, Allah is free from need of the worlds.” Quran 29:6
“And those who strive for Us — We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good.” Quran 29:69
There are many more examples of this greater jihad in the Quran. God tells us not to follow the non-believers, and to use the Quran to refute their arguments (jihad) (Quran 25:52). He commends those who sacrifice (jihad) their material wealth for the cause of God (Quran 9:88).
Jihad applies in the physical sense as well. A person who dies defending their faith, life, family or possessions is considered a martyr, and has performed jihad by overcoming their fears in order to protect something worthy of protection in the eyes of God. Military jihad is only one example of this, but even being a victim of a crime, or being persecuted on account of race or faith or gender — all these things imply jihad.
Military jihad is understood as risking your own life in order to fight for the common good. The Quran does not talk about fighting for the sake of God; it talks about fighting for the cause of God. Jihad is about fighting for a good cause, whatever it may be. In this sense, military jihad is the same kind of spirit any modern-day army aims to cultivate in its soldiers.
All in all, 36 out of 6,236 verses in the Quran mention jihad or any of its derivatives. That’s just about half a percent. And of those verses, only 3 mention jihad in the context of war.
Jihad in the hadith
Mentions of jihad in the hadith (recorded reports of the actions and sayings of Muhammad ﷺ) are also surprisingly sparse, especially when compared to the sheer size of hadith compilations. While most of the reported hadiths on jihad are within the implied context of war, the most vocal ones refer to greater jihad — jihad in the universal sense described above.
According to the hadith, the prophet ﷺ tells us that the best type of jihad is standing up to an unjust king/ruler. In another incident, he says that the best type of jihad is pilgrimage to Mecca. He talks about “struggle (jihad) of the heart”, and “struggle (jihad) of the tongue”. He denotes looking after the widow and the poor as jihad. When a young man accepted Islam and expressed to the prophet his wish to practice jihad, the prophet told him his jihad was to take care of his parents.
I grew up on a Jihad street in Cairo. And I’ve always loved that name.
Jihad is not just a beautiful idea — it is a necessary one. In fact, jihad is exactly that which enables human beings to live together in peace.
Originally published at The Mindful Muslim on January 14, 2015.
