A Critical Exposition of the Popular 'Jihád'/Chapter 12/127
[Sidenote: 127. Meaning of Jihad.]
The second verse quoted by the same author is a mere mistranslation. There is no such word in the original which admits of being rendered as "fighting." The true translation of the sentence quoted above from Sura IV, verse 97, is as follows:—
"Good promises hath he made to all. But God hath assigned to the strenuous a rich recompense above those who sit still at home."
The word rendered "strenuous" is originally "mojahid" (plural "Mojahidin," from Jihád), which in classical Arabic and throughout the Koran means to do one's utmost, to make effort, to strive, to exert, to employ one's-self diligently, studiously, sedulously, earnestly, zealously, or with energy, and does not mean fighting or warfare. It was subsequently applied to religious war, but was never used in the Koran in such a sense. (Vide Appendix A.)