Also jahad. [Arab. jihād struggle, contest, spec. one for the propagation of Islam.] A religious war of Mohammedans against unbelievers in Islam, inculcated as a duty by the Koran and traditions.
[1718. Ockley, Saracens, I. 188. All the Musslemans … ask’d Abu Obeidah, why he sat still, and did not lead them forth to fight the [margin, Arab. Jehâd. Bellum Sacrum] Battles of the Lord?]
1817. M. Wilks, Hist. Sk. S. India, III. xlviii. 462. Having perpetually on his tongue the projects of jehâd—holy war.
1875. J. W. Kaye, Sepoy War, III. iv. 167. To collect money and preach the Moslem Jehad.
1880. Gen. Roberts, in Daily News, 14 Feb., 2/4. The Mollahs have been preaching a jehad or religious war.
b. transf. A war or crusade for or against some doctrine, opinion or principle; war to the death.
1880. J. Cowen, in Daily News, 2 Feb., 6/5. The political jehad that was being preached against doctrines which he believed had right and justice to sustain them.
1880. Sat. Rev., 6 March, 305/2. His [Gladstone’s] last attempt to stir up a kind of moral jehad against the Government is useless.
1886. G. Lascelles, in 19th Century, XX. 505. An economical government … bargained to abolish the deer [in the New Forest]…. So the edict went forth, and a ‘Jihad’ against the deer was proclaimed.
