The Afghan insurgency in the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan were referred to globally, and celebrated, as mujahideen. It is used in lowercase when using the Arabic term; capitalised if it is part of the legitimate name of a group. Though spelling varies, the most accurate spelling is mujahideen, but if a recognised group is referenced use the spelling of the official name, The singular for the term is mujahid. Use sparingly, and in particular when for example, a number of Muslim-majority countries, and the OIC, have recognised those as being legitimately engaged in jihad, or there has been global popular recognition of the group as such, like in the mujahideen in Afghanistan during the anti-Soviet war.
Reuters: A term for Islamic militant groups, meaning “holy warriors”. Lowercase when using the Arabic for holy warriors; uppercase if it is part of the name of a group. Spelling in English varies. Reuters uses mujahideen. AP uses mujahedeen, but if a recognized group is referenced use the spelling of the official name. The Iranian opposition group is Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, while Jaysh al-Mujahedeen is a coalition of Islamist rebel groups which formed in order to fight the Islamic State group. See also Islamic State.
