Patrick Sookhdeo in his valuable recent book, "Global Jihad", has a
paragraph which clarifies the issue between those who translate "jihad" as
holy war and Muslims who insist that it is to be understood as meaning
spiritual struggle:
"It is worth noting here that the term "holy war", so often used as an
English translation of "jihad", did not exist in classical Arabic usage.
There is a word for war ("harb") and a word for holy ("muqaddas") which
are
sometimes put together in modern Arabic, but were never combined in
classical Arabic. However the use of the term "holy war" in the sense of
"war ordained by God" can be sup****ted by the fact that the word "jihad"
in
the Islamic source texts is commonly followed by the phrase "in the way
[ie
path] of God and by the fact that the military meaning of "jihad" was
predominant in the understanding of the classical Islamic theologians and
jusrists." (p52).
I use the word to mean armed struggle against the infidel in the way of
God.
