Is holy war is an accurate translation of the lslamic term jihad?

Answer 1

My Dear,

'Holy War' is NOT an accurate translation of the Islamic term Jihad. because;

> the Oxford dictionary meaning of the term 'Jihad' is 'to strive' or 'to struggle' or 'to-do-your-best-efforts', or 'to try hard'

> nowhere you can find its meaning as 'War'

> in Arabic language the word 'Jihad' is derived from another Arabic word 'Juhud' which means 'continuous struggle',

> it should also be clear that Jihad has positive meaning and there is no negative meaning, e.g in all the above meanings are positive. But unfortunately, the media is propagating/using this word in a negative sense,

> therefore, if a student is striving to be a good student by studying hard, then it simply means that he is doing Jihad,

> similarly, if a social worker is continuously struggling to provide social service to humanity in the name of Allah, then he is doing Jihad,

> if a Muslim is trying to be a good Muslim by acting on the golden principles of Islam, then he is also doing Jihad,

in this sense, if someone (not necessarily the Muslims) is struggling to eradicate the antisocial elements/evils prevailing in any society (be its European society, Christan's society or Hindu society etc) then s/he is also doing Jihad.