When asked, "What is the greater jihad?," he replied, "It is the struggle against oneself.
Ibn Taymiyya recognized "the possibility of a jihad against `heretical` and `deviant` Muslims within dar al-Islam.
Muslim scholar Mahmoud Ayoub states that "The goal of true jihad is to attain a harmony between islam (submission), iman (faith), and ihsan (righteous living).
Until recently jihad did not have the high profile or global significance among Shi'a Islamist that it had among the Sunni.
The reference stated that Jabir said, "We have returned from the lesser jihad (al-jihad al-asghar) to the greater jihad (al-jihad al-akbar)."
Instead, he wanted his followers to wage a bloodless, intellectual jihad of the pen to defend Islam.
Azzam issued a fatwa calling for jihad against the Soviet occupiers of Afghanistan, declaring it an individual obligation for all able bodied Muslims because it was a defensive jihad to repel invaders.
According to Rudolph Peters and Natana J. DeLong-Bas, the new "fundamentalist" movement brought a reinterpretation of Islam and their own writings on jihad.
The Wahhabi movement which spread across the Arabian peninsula starting in the eighteenth century, emphasized jihad as armed struggle.
Azzam also argued for a broader interpretation of who it was permissible to kill in jihad, an interpretation that some think may have influenced important students of his, including Osama bin Laden.
The Qur'an also says that some of those who are damned to hell are not damned forever, but instead reside there for an indefinite period of time.
The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic defines the term as "fight, battle; jihad, holy war (against the infidels, as a religious duty).
According to a number of sources, Shi'a doctrine taught that jihad (or at least full scale jihad) can only be carried out under the leadership of the Imam.
Khomeini declared jihad on Iraq in the Iran–Iraq War, and the Shi'a bombers of Western embassies and peacekeeping troops in Lebanon called themselves, "Islamic Jihad."
Hanbali scholar Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya believed that "internal Jihad" is important but suggests those hadith which consider "Jihad of the heart/soul" to be more important than "Jihad by the sword," are weak.
Contemporary fundamentalists were often influenced by jurist Ibn Taymiyya's, and journalist Sayyid Qutb's, ideas on jihad.
The first documentation of the law of jihad was written by 'Abd al-Rahman al-Awza'i and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani.
Quranists do not believe that the word jihad means holy war.
understood jihad to be a military endeavor, after Muslim driven conquest stagnated and the caliphate broke up into smaller states the "irresistible and permanent jihad came to an end.
Jihad is often translated as "Holy War," although this term is controversial.
Political conflicts (even from a defensive stand) over independence, land and resources or reasons other than religious belief cannot be termed jihad.
The term 'jihad' has accrued both violent and non-violent meanings.
Jihad is sometimes referred to as the sixth pillar of Islam, though it occupies no such official status.
Later Muslims (in this case modernists such as Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida) emphasized the defensive aspect of jihad, which was similar to the Western concept of a "Just War.
The best Jihad is the word of Justice in front of the oppressive sultan.
Jihad was so important that to "repel" the unbelievers was was "the most important obligation after Iman .
According to other reports in Euripides' lost play about Telephus, he went to Aulis pretending to be a beggar and asked Achilles to heal his wound.
Some observers have noted evolution in the rules of jihad—from the original “classical” doctrine to that of twenty-first century Salafi jihadism.
Rather, according to Ahmadiyya belief, qit?l or military jihad is applicable, as a defensive measure in very strictly defined circumstances and those circumstances do not exist at present.
The Qur'an does refer to incidents in Muhammad's life, including both public and private circumstances, so it does contain information about him.
According to another hadith, supporting one’s parents is also an example of jihad.
Having tasted victory in Afghanistan, many of the thousands of fighters returned to their home country such as Egypt, Algeria, Kashmir or to places like Bosnia to continue jihad.
Many modern historians question whether hunger and desertification, rather than jihad, was a motivating force in the conquests.
Ibn Habbaan narrates: The Messenger of Allah was asked about the best jihad.
According to Joseph Smith, "The spirit of Elias is first, Elijah second, and Ilia (Messiah) last.
Of the 199 references to jihad in perhaps the most standard collection of hadith—Bukhari—all assume that jihad means warfare.
The primary aim of jihad as warfare is not the conversion of non-Muslims to Islam by force, but rather the expansion and defense of the Islamic state.
The relative importance of these two forms of jihad is a matter of controversy.