Question #21961  

Does Jihad only and simply mean to kill non Muslims?.

Answer :

In Arabic, the word jihad means striving and expending one’s energy. 

In Islamic terminology, jihad means the Muslim striving to make the word of Allaah supreme and to establish His religion on earth. 

The purpose of jihad in Islam is not to kill non-Muslims, rather the purpose is to establish the religion of Allaah on earth, to establish the rule of His sharee’ah, and to bring people forth from the worship of other people to the worship of the Lord of all people, from the injustice of other religions to the justice of Islam. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and polytheism, i.e. worshipping others besides Allaah), and the religion (worship) will all be for Allaah Alone”  8:39 

Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahmaan al-Sa’di said in his commentary on this verse: 

Here Allaah states the purpose behind fighting for His sake, which is not to shed the blood of the kaafirs and take their wealth; rather the purpose is so that all religion (worship) will be for Allaah alone, and the religion of Allaah will prevail over all other religions, and everything that goes against that, whether it is shirk or anything else – which is what is meant by fitnah – will be repelled. If this purpose is achieved, there will be no killing or fighting. Tafseer Ibn Sa’di, p., 98 

The kuffaar whom we fight will themselves benefit from jihad. We strive against them and fight them so that they will enter the religion of Allaah which is acceptable to Him, which will lead to their salvation in this world and in the Hereafter. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

Compare this to the Japanese cult of Aum Shinrikyo: According to Shoko the blind leader of this cult a "poa" killing relieved victims from everyday life and the inevitable accumulation of bad karma. Thus what we call cold blooded murder was regarded "as a beautiful 'poa,' and wise people would see that both the killer and the person killed would benefit."

“You (true believers in Islamic Monotheism, and real followers of Prophet Muhammad and his Sunnah) are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind; you enjoin Al-Ma‘roof (i.e. Islamic Monotheism and all that Islam has ordained) and forbid Al‑Munkar (polytheism, disbelief and all that Islam has forbidden), and you believe in Allaah” 3:110 

al-Bukhaari (4557) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “ ‘You are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind’ means: the best of people for people, you bring them with chains around their necks until they enter Islam.” 

Question #34647: 

Why do Muslims wage jihad?.

Allaah has enjoined jihad for His sake upon the Muslims, for the great benefits that result from that and because of the harm caused by abandoning jihad, some of which are mentioned in Question no. 34830. 

Some of the reasons why jihad for the sake of Allaah is prescribed in Islam are as follows: 

1 – The main goal of jihad is to make the people worship Allaah alone and to bring them forth from servitude to people to servitude to the Lord of people. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

Ibn Jareer said:  

So fight them until there is no more shirk, and none is worshipped except Allaah alone with no partner or associate, and trials and calamities, which are disbelief and polytheism, are lifted from the slaves of Allaah on earth, and religion is all for Allaah alone, and so that obedience and worship will be devoted to Him alone and none else. 

Ibn Katheer said: Allaah commands us to fight the kuffaar so that there will be no fitnah, i.e., shirk, and the religion will all be for Allaah alone, i.e., the religion of Allaah will prevail over all other religions. 

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “"I have been commanded (by Allaah) to fight the people until they testify that there is no god but Allaah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah, and they establish regular prayer and pay zakaah, then if they do that, then they save their lives and property from me except for Islamic laws and then their reckoning will be with Allaah." Narrated by al-Bukhaari (24), Muslim (33). 

And he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “I have been sent just before the Hour with the sword, so that Allaah will be worshipped alone with no partner or associate.”

Narrated by Ahmad, 4869; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 2831. 

This purpose of jihad was present in the minds of the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them) during their battles with the enemies of Allaah. Al-Bukhaari (2925) narrated that Jubayr ibn Hayyah said: ‘Umar sent people to all the regions to fight the mushrikeen… so ‘Umar recruited us and appointed al-Nu’maan ibn Muqarrin to lead us. When we were in the land of the enemy, the representative of Chosroes came out to us with forty thousand troops. An interpreter stood up and said: “Let one of you speak to me.” Al-Mugheerah said: “Ask whatever you want.” He asked, “Who are you?” He (al-Mugheerah) said: “We are some people from among the Arabs. We used to lead a harsh and miserable life, sucking on animal skins and date stones because of hunger, wearing clothes made of camel and goat hair, worshipping trees and rocks. While we were in this state, the Lord of the heavens and the earth, exalted be His name and glorified be His greatness, sent to us a Prophet from amongst ourselves, whose father and mother we know. Our Prophet, the Messenger of our Lord, (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), commanded us to fight you until you worship Allaah alone or pay the jizyah. Our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us the message from our Lord, that whoever among us is killed will go to Paradise to enjoy delights such as no one has ever seen, and whoever among us is left will become your master.” 

2 – Repelling the aggression of those who attack the Muslims. 

The scholars are unanimously agreed that repelling the aggression of those who attack the Muslims is fard ‘ayn (an individual obligation) upon those who are able to do that. 

3 – Removing fitnah (tribulation) 

Fitnah is of different types: 

(i)        That which is caused by the kuffaar who persecute the Muslims or apply pressure to them to make them give up their religion. Allaah has commanded the Muslims to fight in jihad in order to save those who are weak and oppressed. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“And what is wrong with you that you fight not in the Cause of Allaah, and for those weak, ill-treated and oppressed among men, women, and children, whose cry is: “Our Lord! Rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from You one who will protect, and raise for us from You one who will help”  4:75 

By this definition Muslims living in non-Islamic countries where the rulers are not Muslims feel "oppressed" even though they have exact the same rights that others have and their religion is protected. Upon them is incumbent to kill their non-Muslim hosts until fitnah (disbelief) is removed and Islam become dominant.  

(ii)        The fitnah of the kuffaar themselves and their preventing others from hearing and accepting the truth. That is because the kaafir systems corrupt the innate nature and reason of people, and make them get used to worshipping and submitting to things other than Allaah, getting addicted to alcohol, wallowing in the mire of sexual licence, and losing all characteristics of virtue. Whoever is like that can rarely tell truth from falsehood, good from evil, right from wrong. So jihad is prescribed in order to remove those obstacles that prevent people from hearing and accepting the truth and getting to know it. 

 

4 – Protecting the Islamic state from the evil of the kuffaar. 

Hence the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) ordered that the leaders of the kuffaar be killed, those who incited the enemies against the Muslims, such as the Jews Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf and Ibn Abi’l-Haqeeq. 

Another aspect of jihad is to protect the borders against the kuffaar. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) encouraged that as he said: “Guarding the border for one day for the sake of Allaah is better than this world and everything in it.” Al-Bukhaari, 2678. 

5 – Frightening the kuffaar, humiliating them and putting them to shame. 

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“Fight against them so that Allaah will punish them by your hands and disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the breasts of a believing people,

 And remove the anger of their (believers’) hearts. Allaah accepts the repentance of whom He wills. Allaah is All-Knowing, All-Wise”  9:14-15 

“And make ready against them all you can of power, including steeds of war (tanks, planes, missiles, artillery) to threaten the enemy of Allaah and your enemy” 8:60 

Hence it is prescribed to fight in a manner that will strike terror into the heart of the enemy. 

6 – Exposing the hypocrites 

Allaah says: 

“But when a decisive Soorah (explaining and ordering things) is sent down, and fighting (Jihaad — holy fighting in Allaah’s Cause) is mentioned (i.e. ordained) therein, you will see those in whose hearts is a disease (of hypocrisy) looking at you with a look of one fainting to death” 47:20 

At times of ease and plenty, the Muslims may be joined by those who seek to make worldly gains, and they do not want to make the word of Allaah prevail over the word of kufr. These people may conceal their real nature from many of the Muslims, and the most effective means of exposing them is jihad, because jihad means sacrificing oneself but these hypocrites are only indulging in hypocrisy in order to save themselves.  

Exposing the hypocrites was one of the major purposes that Allaah wanted the believers to achieve on the day of Uhud. 

Allaah says: 

“Allaah will not leave the believers in the state in which you are now, until He distinguishes the wicked from the good” 3:179 

This means the true believers are those who rise to do jihad, the rest are hypocrites and killing them is permissible. This is the reason in Iraq, Muslims kill other Muslims. 

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