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Jihad is holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one's community.

Look at the newborn baby. It struggles to breathe after living in the womb. And yet, growth comes as a result of struggle. Even when we talk about jihad. We need to attach consciousness to struggle. This struggle has to be both individual and collective.

'Jihad' can mean holy war to extremists, but it means struggle to the average Muslim.

The goal of isolating extremists and making them unwelcome in Muslim communities has been abandoned.

Many American Muslims are peaceful and define jihad primarily as an internal struggle to improve.

Terrorism is a real despair. These are people for whom life has been so negative that they're willing to die if they can take down some of their enemies.

Many young Muslims see no opportunities for themselves and do not feel they have control over their lives or a stake in their nation's future. Such pessimism leads to disengagement. We risk losing a generation of young Muslims to apathy and extremism.

For many, embracing the ideology of Osama bin Laden or ISIS allowed them to become the heroes of their own story as well as actors in a cosmic crusade. For others, a 'cognitive opening' to militant Islam was often precipitated by a personal disappointment or loss.

The jihadists come from many European countries, Russia included, and some even from the United States; hundreds of them - if you take Europe, Russia and the U.S. - are fighting in the ranks of extremist groups.

If any fall by the hand of violence, others will continue the blessed work.