Mujahid/Mujahideen

Mujahid is the Arabic term for someone undertaking jihad. Many Islamist extremists will refer to themselves as the mujahideen (the plural of mujahid) to evoke religious meaning to their violence. In particular, this term is used to refer to the Afghans who fought against the Soviets during the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Afghan mujahideen are now legendary figures, and many of the most prominent Islamist terrorist group leaders originally became involved in jihad by traveling to Afghanistan to fight with them.