Jihad (Jurisprudential Senses)
An Arabic term meaning "struggle" or "effort." Classical Islamic scholarship distinguishes the "greater jihad" (internal, spiritual struggle against one's own moral failing, understood as the more religiously central sense) from the "lesser jihad" (external armed struggle), which classical jurisprudence bounds with specific conditions including legitimate authority, just cause, proportionality, and protections for noncombatants.