in the way of god i found some material of relevance in reuven firestone's work jihad the origin of holy war in islam oxford university press related to this current dispute i wasn't actually looking for it but came across it while looking for something else anyway p the meaning of jihad the semantic meaning of the arabic term jih d has no relation to holy war or even war in general it derives rather from the root j h d the meaning of which is to strive exert oneself or take extraordinary pains jih d is a verbal noun of the third arabic form of the root jahada which is defined classically as exerting one's utmost power efforts endeavors or ability in contending with an object of disapprobation such an object is often categorized in the literature as deriving from one of three sources a visible enemy the devil and aspects of one's own self there are therefore many kinds of jih d and most have nothing to do with warfare jih d of the heart for example denotes struggle against one's own sinful inclinations while jih d of the tongue requires speaking on behalf of the good and forbidding evil removed large quote from a narration about the varying kinds of jihad muhammad is also credited with saying the best jih d is speaking a word of justice to a tyrannical ruler the qualifying phrase in the path of god fi sab l allah specifically distinguishes the activity of jih d as furthering or promoting god's kingdom on earth it can be done for example by simply striving to behave ethically and by speaking without causing harm to others or by actively defending islam and propagating the faith jih d as religiously grounded warfare sometimes referred to as jih d of the sword jih d al sayf is subsumed under the last two categories of defending islam and propagating the faith though these need not be accomplished only through war when the term is used without qualifiers such as of the heart or of the tongue however it is universally understood as war on behalf of islam equivalent to jih d of the sword and the merits of engaging in such jih d are described plentifully in the most respected religious works nevertheless muslim thinkers and particularly ascetics and mystics often differentiate between the greater jih d al jih d al akbar and the lesser jih d al jih d al asghar with the former representing the struggle against the self and only the lesser jih d referring to warring in the path of god itaqallah how was my suggested addition from britannica encyclopedia on the five types of jihad i have no problem with in the way of god since the sentence is phrased as giving jihad's meaning not its literal meaning another problem with the article is that it fails to mention the new interpretations of jihad on the behalf of some renowned scholars which disagree with usage of warfare except in defense too bad those guys weren't around during muhammad's time one can always fnd some quotes like the two above in a serious book on jihad however percent of firestone's work is about yes warfare or