What is the Jihad that has been mentioned in Quran?

About Jihad,

Firstly, we have to know the exact meaning of Jihad. The word Jihad is derived from the root J-H-D meaning endeavor and effort. so all difficult actions can be name as Jihad. For example, in the narrations mentioned that fasting in the summer is Jihad, trying to support family is Jihad, when mother breastfeed her child is Jihad, when man go out to work for family is Jihad, being kind with wife is Jihad and so many other good deeds are consider as Jihad..

Secondly, according to authentic hadith from Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) there are two types of Jihad; Minor Jihad and Major Jihad. Minor Jihad is known in the world as Jihad, meaning battling with enemies. And major Jihad which is so important is self-purification. The major Jihad means to purify our soul and try to be the person Allah wants you to be, rather than what you want to be.

Thirdly, the minor Jihad, which is known as Jihad for most of the people, is divided into two parts; Starting Jihad (war) and defending Jihad (war).

•        Starting Jihad means Muslim start a war against enemies.
•       Defending Jihad means Muslims defend after the war has been started by enemies.

This is important point to know, Although the doctrine of starting war have been proved in Islam (somehow), never Prophet start a war. By investigating and scrutinizing the history we can realize that Prophet Muhammad Never start a war. All of the Jihads (wars) of Prophet Muhammad was defending one; for defending Islam or Muslim.

I do not defend what has happened during the Caliphate as they started wars to expand the borders of Islam.

All in all, from the teachings of the Holy Qur’an, Islamic traditions and lifestyle of Prophet Muhammad we can find out that we are not allowed to start a war.

In fact, we are not in the position to force people to change their religions and convert to Islam. We have to present genuine Islam (3:20) (5:92) (13:40) (16:82) (24:54) (36:17) and so many other verses which explicitly mention that our duty is to present truth, after that people have free will to choose what they want.