And strive your hardest to win the pleasure of Allâh, as hard a striving as is possible and as it behoves you. He has chosen you and has imposed no hardship upon you in the matter of your faith, (so follow) the creed of your father Abraham. He named you Muslims (both) before this and (again) in this (Qur’ân) (22:78) .
A great misconception prevails, particularly among many Christians, propagated by their zealous missionaries, with regard to the duty of Jihâd in Islam. Even the greatest research scholars in the West have not taken pains to consult any dictionary on Arabic, or to refer to the Qur’ân to find out the meaning of the word. The word Jihâd according to the Arabic-English Lexicon of E. W. Lane and the great scholar of Islam Râ gh îb means: The use of or exerting of one’s utmost powers, efforts, endeavors or abili
The duty of Jihâd is far from being synonymous with that of war, and the meaning of Jihâd, ‘the Holy war’ as supposed by the western writers is unknown equally to Arabic and the fundamental teachings of the Holy Qur’ân. Even in the Traditions of the Prophet, peace be upon him (pbuh) ( H adî th ), this word was never synonymous with ‘the Holy war’. The Prophet of Islam (pbuh) called the greater Pilgrimage to Makkah ( H ajj ) as Jihâd (Bu kh ârî 25:4). The permission to fight (22:40) under certain circumstanc