8.72 – Surely those who have believed and emigrated, and struggled with their wealth and their lives in the way of God
The closing verses of this sūra provide a good opportunity to enquire into the meaning of jihad in the Quran.
The Arabic verb at the root of the term, jāhada , appears in verses 72, 74, and 75. The verb is here translated “struggled,” but what kind of struggle is meant? The context of this sūra is about fighting (vv. 39, 65), taking captives (v. 70), and dividing up the spoils (vv. 1, 41, 69). In such a context, it is reasonable to understand the “struggling” as physical, military, and armed.
The classical Muslim commentator al-Ṭabarī (d. 923) consistently interpreted jihād and jāhada to mean fighting, even when the context is not as suggestive as in the eighth sūra.