What is real Jihad ?

It was only after America got hit on September 11, the whole world’s attention turned to the Islamic communities and countries. People started adding new Arabic words to their vocabulary. One of the most important of those words is JIHAD.

But what really is JIHAD? 

According to Prophet Muhammad, real Jihad is the internal Jihad which he called “The greater Jihad”.

The greater jihad stands for the great efforts made by the Islamic believer to live their life as Allah has taught them. That means they have to live following the set of rules set by Allah and do everything they can to help other people.

The Jihad is applicable to all other religions too as religious people have to live in a way that is acceptable to their God. But most of the times it is nearly impossible to live pleasing God, setting aside the selfish human desires.

According to Qur’an 'greater Jihad' of Muslims is to be accomplished by doing the following duties:

• Forgiving someone who has hurt them
• Learning the Qur'an by heart, or engage in other religious study
• Overcoming things such as anger, greed, hatred, pride, or malice
• Giving up smoking
• Cleaning the floor of the mosque
• Taking part in Muslim community activities
• Working for social justice

So the violence in the name of Jihad that is happening around the world is not as per their Great Prophet taught them. This violence will end only when they understand the real meaning of Jihad. Then only they will be able to know and let others know the true meaning of ISLAM.

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