Jihad

Now I'm tired and don't feel like writing much more, which is a shame seeing as how I'm about to write about on one of the most popular western misconceptions of Islam: the meaning of the word, Jihad. Our instructor tells us that the world Jihad comes from the Arabic word, ja-ha-da, which she translated as meaning to do one's best/ to strive to do better. However, by the end of the lesson I understood Jihad to mean to be faced with a difficult decision but to make the right choice. People can jihad (I think she used it as a verb) by choosing to do one's homework, to clean one's room, to donate to charity, by choosing to many other small, but good things. We did discuss why Jihad is associated with war and violence today, and I now have my own understanding that I feel correctly reconciles the true meaning of Jihad and the exaggerated meaning. I think one can jihad by choosing to defend one's homeland from an outside aggressor. This makes sense to me because many people have to struggle to make the decision to go to war and defend one's land/country. I also think my understanding of the word makes sense because it explains why many people believe Jihad to mean holy war. People can believe they are taking on a Jihad by killing innocent people if they believe their homeland is being attacked or if they have no other means of fighting. Anyway, I'm done.