Jihad spans warfare, inner struggle, defending the oppressed, and serving parents

Evidence

When we consider the etymology of jihad, the argument becomes very complex because the word “jihad” is incorporative of many different things including warfare, struggling with one’s ego, defending the oppressed, and even serving one’s parents. Therefore, to cherry-pick verses of the Qur’an and ahādīth to create a single, normative definition of jihad is irresponsible and inaccurate. Then, to use that definition to define Islam as a religion and spread Islamophobia based on that oversimplified/inaccurate definition, as Islamophobes (and to some extent, the American media and politicians) do, is to misunderstand the religion and to do injustice to the 1.8 billion adherents to this faith worldwide. — Asena Karipek, Portrayals of Jihad, 76

Categorization

• DEFINE: Gives a concrete, multi-sense definition of jihad from its etymology.
• XREF: Connects to the larger scholarly debate over defining religious terms, similar to the definitional contestation around terms like ‘holy war’ or ‘crusade.’ — connects to: Jihad means struggle and carries a contested internal and external history — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 285