{Ji*had", Je*had"} (?), n. [Ar. jihād.] (Moham.) A religious war against infidels or Mohammedan heretics; also, any bitter war or crusade for a principle or belief.

[Their] courage in war . . . had not, like that of the Mohammedan dervishes of the Sudan, or of Mohammedans anywhere engaged in a jehad, a religious motive and the promise of future bliss behind it.

{Ji*had", Je*had"} (?), n. [Ar. jihād.] (Moham.) A religious war against infidels or Mohammedan heretics; also, any bitter war or crusade for a principle or belief.

[Their] courage in war . . . had not, like that of the Mohammedan dervishes of the Sudan, or of Mohammedans anywhere engaged in a jehad, a religious motive and the promise of future bliss behind it.

• (Theology) a personal spiritual struggle for self-improvement and against evil
  
• (Islam) a holy war;a war ordained by God -undertaken as a sacred duty by Muslims against unbelievers
  
• any vigorous, emotional crusade for an idea or principle