How is jihad misunderstood?

Answer 1

Every concept, or word for a concept, has two meanings: what the user wishes it to mean and what it means to the listener, based on his or her experience. Jihad means "struggle" and some wish to use it to mean "interior effort to reach self-perfection" kind of struggle. Many people however heard it to mean "holy war" based on the number of Muslims who have committed atrocities while claiming they were on jihad (the Arabic word for "jihad-ers" is "mujahideen").

Some Muslims wish "jihad" to mean the latter (i.e., killing people). Others think Western interpretation of this sort is unfair to them.

It's something of a problem to say which version is "correct" without being able to read the speaker's mind. A perfectly analogous situation surrounds the word "crusade": to a Westerner, "crusade" means a dedicated effort to correct something, as in "Crusade against Illiteracy" or "Crusade for Clean Water." To Muslims, however, the term only means "military action against Muslims."

Answer 2

Jihad is misunerstood in many ways by many people. Jihad does not mean'holy war'. Jihad means 'struggle, striving'. Any action done in the way of Almighty Allah, by mouth (preaching Islam), spending money, or by physical means is Jihad in Islam. The greatest Jihad is fighting against one's own evil passions, being honest and just in daily routine matters is Jihad. Anyhow, if some force unjustly attacks Islam and tries to uproot it, the Muslim states must wage Jihad till peace is resored. It will be a holy war. Declaring Jihad in this situation is the responsibility of Muslim States. No individual or a group of Muslims is authorised to declare Jihad. These are the insane and mad people who kill innocent people in the name of Islam. They have nothing to do with Islam. Islam means 'peace', not war or killing. According to Islam, Killing of one innocent human is like killing the whole humans.

Answer 3

Jihad is generally misunderstood to be exclusively about holy war which because it has direct political ramifications and often comes to light and receives a higher amount of coverage. This is not to say that jihad does not have a holy war component (Lesser Jihad), but that most Muslims who engage in Jihad are performing the Greater Jihad. The Greater Jihad is an introspective journey to conquer your internal demons and follow the Divine Laws more closely than previously; this kind of jihad should be entirely peaceful.

Answer 4

Because people are afraid of speaking out ,they only concentrate on the inner jihad