Here is what Jihad actually means in Islam and what the media Interprets itas

The term ‘Jihad’ in Islam refers to ‘struggle’ and is widely interpreted as ‘war’. And according
to Islamic interpretation, jihad is majorly categorized into two categories.
Internal Jihad vs External Jihad.
Islam focuses on individuals as well as society. There is not a single segment of life that Islam
has not guided its preachers about.
Internal Jihad is the type of jihad that one does against his own will. It is basically self control.
As humans we are bound to make mistakes. And we have the inclination towards sins. Islam
gives us a complete code to follow and whenever a Muslim goes against his temptation to sin,
he is doing Internal Jihad.
External Jihad, on the other hand, is the struggle against the outer world. According to Islam, if
a person has the power to compete against an evil by pen, tongue or sword and he does not, he
is going against his deen and shariah. It is ‘obligatory’ for a Muslim having power and means, to
respond against any propaganda that can hurt Muslims.
The primary reason in Islam to promote jihad, is to ensure a state of peace and balance among
the Muslim and non-Muslim communities.
Islam never allows the killing of innocent, neither women nor children. But for those who hurt
fellow Muslims or innocents.
A person having the power to just fight against evil by using tongue (by spreading awareness or
persuasion) is only expected to do that much in Islam. Those having the power to spread the
word by pen (such as: people in the media) are supposed to do so. And every healthy man,
having the power and capability to fight against evil by hand or sword are obligated to do so.

The Western world and non-Muslims in general are convinced about Muslims being violent and
aggressive. But here are some examples why this thinking is totally irrational.
In Gaza, which has been under Israeli attack, people only stood up for themselves, and did not
cross the Islamic definition of Jihad, yet they are blamed to this day that they started the war.
Interpreting it as a third person, imagine yourself being forced out of your homeland by a third
party who thinks that it owns the land you are living in. And when you don’t evacuate, you are
bombarded upon, killed, shot and starved. In between all of this, you stand up for yourself and
fight back. And now you are being blamed for attacking first. Doesn’t that sound horrible?
In the case of the incident of 11th September, the extremists of Al Qaeda are blamed for
carrying out the act of terrorism. There is not a single point in the Quran or Islam that would
have allowed it. And Muslims will never consider it Jihad, still the incident marked the whole

Muslim community, terrorist and spreaded Islamophobia in the world. And because of the
Islamophobic comments and mindsets of people, every act of self defense from Muslims is
straight away marked as violence and terrorism.
Jihad only allows killing as a revenge of killing and aims to create peace and productivity in
Muslim communities.