The Islamic World to 1600

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The Arabic word, jihad, is usually translated as "holy war" in English, but that is a limited definition of the word, since the word does not always have a military connotation. It is derived from an Arabic verb that means to strive, struggle, and work hard, and in Islamic theology it is applied to the particular struggle that all Muslims must undertake to protect and honour the Islamic faith. There are five types of jihad:

1. Jihad against oneself - the daily struggle against evil and temptation in life.
2. Jihad with knowledge - the struggle to use knowledge, particularly from the Qur'an, to fight ignorance and to gain converts to Islam not through battle, but through the power of Qur'anic knowledge.
3. Jihad with wealth - the struggle to give up material wealth for the benefit of Islam, through charitable donations.
4. Jihad with the sword - the physical struggle to defend Islam against harm from unbelievers. Muslims believe that if they give their lives in this military jihad they will be rewarded with eternal paradise.
5. Jihad through righteousness - the struggle to continuously undertake good deeds to please God and benefit humanity.

When the word, jihad, is used in a military context, as it often was in these early years of Muslim conquest of non-Muslim lands, it refers to the fourth type of jihad, in which Muslims take to the sword to defend Islam against unbelievers.

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