Jihad and Islam - True Meaning of Jihad

The word Jihad represents a concept which is much misunderstood in the
West. The concept is explained nicely by the Christian scholar Ira 6.
Zepp, Jr. in his book entitled A Muslim Primer on pages 133-135. We
adapt from his answer the following:
The essential meaning ofJihad is the spiritual, psychological, and
physical effort we exert to be close to God and thus achieve a just
and harmonious society. Jihad literally means"striving" or "struggle"
and is shorthand for Jihad fi Sabeel Allah (struggle for God's cause).
In a sense, every Muslim is a Mujahid, one who strives for God and
justice.
Al-Ghazali captured the essence of Jihad when he said: "The real Jihad
is the warfare against (one's own) passions. Dr.Ibrahim Abu-Rabi calls
Jihad "the execution of effort against evil in the self and every
manifestation of evil in society." In a way, Jihad is the Muslim's
purest sacrifice: a struggle to live a perfect life and completely
submit to God.
Another form of Jihad is the striving to translate the Word of God
into action. If one has experienced God and received guidance from the
Qur'an, one strugglesto apply that guidance in daily life. So the
larger, more prevalent meaning of Jihad is the spiritual struggle of
the soul. In this case, Jihad isalways present for the believer
whether there is an external enemy or not. We should never reduce
Jihad to violence.
A third level of Jihad is popularly known as"holy war." The classic
passage is found in the Qur'an:
Fight in the way of Allah those who fight against you, but transgress
not the limits. Truly Allah likes not the transgressors (Qur'an
2:190).
It is crucial to note here that what is condoned isdefensive warfare;
Islam cannot justify aggressivewar. Muhammad and theTradition are also
against killing non-combatants, torturing of prisoners, the
destruction of crops, animals and homes. Adapted from Ira 6. Zepp,
Jr., A Muslim Primer (1992, Wakefield Editions, US) pp.133-135.
Robert Ellwood of the University of Southern California has the
following to say about the Muslim concept of Jihad:
Out of the community ideal of Islam comes the concept of jihad, or
holy war, which is designed to defend Islam and allow its social
practice, though not to force individual conversions, which is
forbidden. Since Islam in principle isa community as well as
areligion, presumably only an absolute pacifist would be able to
reject the theory of jihad out of hand, since other communities also
fight to defend or expand their ways of life.