Jihad means striving in the way of God. There are two types of Jihad, most important to most Muslims is the inner battle inside each person to turn away from immorality and follow God. The other term is to fight to defend the Islam.

I have been told that in most Muslim philosophical systems, the “big jihad” is an internal struggle to be a better person and submit to the will of god in all things, while the “lesser jihad” is that external struggle against people and forces in the world that contradict Islam. Can anyone confirm this?

Edit: Thanks Hassan, that’s what I was trying to get at.

“jihad” is islamic for “holy war”