What is Jihad in Islam?

Some people portray the picture of Islam as a religion of violence by using the word Jihad. They say that Jihad in Islam is a holy war. But there is not concept of holy war in Islam. Jihad has nothing to do with war or violence; it actually means a struggle, a peaceful struggle. ‘And make Jihad on them, with the help of the Quran’ (25:52), says the Quran. Nowhere does it say, ‘with the help of the sword’.

Clearly, Jihad is an act to be performed by the power of ideology rather than the power of the sword; it is only another name for peaceful activism along Islamic lines.

The Quran says that on the day of the Judgement, God will say: ‘O peaceful soul, come and enter my paradise’ (89:28). And only those who have followed the path of peace in this world will be allowed an entrance into God’s Paradise.