al-Jihad n 1: an Islamic extremist group active since the late 1970s; seeks to overthrow the Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic state; works in small underground cells; "the original Jihad was responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981" [syn: {al-Jihad}, {Egyptian Islamic Jihad}, {Islamic Jihad}, {Vanguards of Conquest}]