O SIGNIFICADO DE "JIHAD" a respeito de um post da Rute sobre esta questão, encontrei o seguinte artigo no Islam Glossary:

"What exactly does Jihad mean?

One of the commonest terms known of Islam, it is often misunderstood. The term Jihad comes from the Arabic root 'jahada' meaning 'to struggle'. The most famous use of the word Jihad is as 'Holy War', and Islamic guerrillas fighting state authority in various Muslim countries use it freely to describe their struggles. The fighter who fights a Jihad - a Mujahid - is believed to go straight to Paradise if he dies and his enemy will go straight to Hell.

But Muslims point out that the term has a much wider significance, meaning any kind of struggle which has spiritual significance. Giving up smoking can count as Jihad, for example, or controlling one's temper. In Islamic theology, these struggles inside the personality are termed 'the Greater Jihad' and struggles with outside forces such as state power or tyrannical armies 'the lesser Jihad'."