Why the word “jihad” does mean “strive”—and why that makes it even more dangerous.
One of the longest standing apologias for Islam is that the Arabic word jihad does not mean “holy war,” as earlier scholars (mostly Orientalists) often translated it. Rather, we are repeatedly reminded—especially by those notorious for whitewashing Islam—that jihad simply means to “strive” for something, with no necessary connotation of violence.
While this is absolutely true, rather ironically, it also only underscores just how dangerous, multifaceted, and subversive the jihad truly is.
Let us go to the beginning, etymology. Here is how the authoritative Hans-Wehr’s Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic translates the triconsonantal root j-h-d (from which the word jihad is derived): “to strive, endeavor, labor, take pains, and exhaust on behalf or for the sake of something [namely Islam].”
Published in 1961, that is, before the age of political correctness, the academically rigorous dictionary also makes it a point to place under j-h-d and translate the proper word jihad as “fight, battle; jihad, holy war against the infidels, as a religious duty.”
There is a very good reason for this subcategorized entry. Historically, jihad certainly manifested itself as a “holy war against infidels”; it revolved around expanding (occasionally, as during the Crusades, defending) the borders of Islam.
Century after century, the only way for Muslim empires to expand into non-Muslim territory was through offensive warfare. Non-Muslims, zealous over their faith and heritage, were not about to submit to Islam without a struggle; force—Islamic invasion and conquest—was the only way.
Times have changed. With the modern, meteoric rise of the West—economically, militarily, and scientifically—a lax if not gullible attitude has come to prevail, allowing some Muslims to exercise the root meaning of jihad. If they can no longer subjugate the infidel through conventional war, they can at least, to quote from the aforementioned definition, “strive, endeavor, labor, take pains, and exhaust on behalf or for the sake of something”—namely empowering Islam over the West.
