What you said yourself is a misrepresentation of the word. There is Jihad al-nafs but there is also fighting for the sake of Allah in battle.Without looking at the references, in a nut shell, jihad is the personal quest to improve oneself. The continuous battle against the trappings of life to do God's bidding.
Mostly misrepresented by western media to mean go kill non muslims which is furthest from the truth. This misrepresentation is further distorted by plucking random verses (out of context) to support their claim.
To me, it just means a personal strife to improve oneself.
eace:
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