JIHĀD

“Has Islamic Shari’ah finally prevailed throughout the world, so that you can sit at home and lay down your weapons without fighting the jihād for the cause of Allāh?”

“Are there no more infidels, apostates, and polytheists in the world that you can stop fighting, leaving the jihād to lead a life devoid of zeal for religion?”

“Shayṭān lies in wait for every Muslim to prevent him, through constant whispers in his ears, from engaging in the jihād. One of these whispers is the love for the world, which keeps man away from the jihād. On the contrary, a mujāhid’s only desire is to become a shahīd to meet his Lord, Whom he loves more than his parents, wife, and children”.

“Remember, if you do not fight the jihād in the path of Allāh, choosing to live comfortably at home with your family and to only accumulate wealth, you are throwing yourself into the pit of destruction with your own hands. Be careful!”

Yes, being careful is precisely the right warning to make when faced with the “mystifications” of the Islamic concept of jihād such as those we have just read, as the result of the ideological delirium of “terrorist groups” and pseudo-shuyūkh of terror, who spread fitna and “misguidance” especially among young Muslims on the internet and social media. Shayṭān lies in wait for them to instill in their minds and hearts a set of completely distorted visions and false perspectives which overturn by 180 degrees the Quranic dictation and the prophetic method on the legitimacy of resorting to the use of force.

Literally, jihād (a word of fi‛āl form, derived from the root “j-h-d”) indicates an “effort” aimed at achieving a goal. The “effort” begins from the personal dimension of the believer, called to fight with his own soul (bi’n-nafs) on the aṣ‑Sirāṭ al-Mustaqīm (الصراط المستقيم), the “Straight Path” that leads him back to the Most High, confronting and not submitting to passions, desires, and everything of evil and negative within oneself instigated by Shayṭān. The words mujāhadah and ijtihād derive from the same root, and means respectively “the struggle to be undertaken to achieve the goal”, and “the interpretative effort of enlightened scholars dating back to the first period of Islām”, which led to the correct discernment of the word of Allāh swt in the Qur’ān and of the Sunnah of Prophet Muḥammad saw.

The internal “effort” is the prerequisite for the “effort” that must be made in the external dimension of the world. “The mujāhid is the one who fights against himself” (at-Tirmidhī, 1621) “for the cause of Allāh the Almighty” (Musnad Ahmad, 23445), explains Prophet Muḥammad saw. Therefore, the jihād for the individual salvation must be accompanied by the service of inviting to Islām (da’wa) addressed to the whole humanity, as a commitment that can materialize through the promotion of study and education aimed at acquiring knowledge (bi’l -‛ilm), and the dissemination of knowledge itself (bi’l-qalam, “with the pen”).

The “effort” in the world can also imply the necessity of fighting “with the sword” (bi’s‑sayf), up to the ultimate sacrifice in an armed conflict. However, the decree of Allāh swt in the Qur’ān legitimizes the use of weapons exclusively for self-defense. The pure and simple aggression is prohibited (sūrat al-Hajj, 22:39; sūrat al-Baqara, 2:190). The jihād “with the sword” launched preventively in the absence of an attack, often defined as “offensive”, is always contemplated within the notion of self-defense, to prevent an attack which is believed to be imminent from being carried out against Muslims, or when faced with another type of threat about to materialize.

Other key principles connected to the jihād bi’s-sayf are the proportionality in the use of force with respect to the aggression suffered (sūrat al-Baqara, 2:194), and the clear condemnation of suicide (sūrat an-Nisā’, 4:29), which denies any false association between it and “martyrdom”. Moreover, the killing of women, children, the elderly, and other categories of non-combatants is prohibited in numerous aḥādīth. As a consequence, non-Muslims who are not at war with Muslims are not legitimate targets. This is the “civilian” population, which is referred to by the international humanitarian law as well, regardless of their beliefs.

The so-called āyah of the sword (sūrat at-Tawba, 9:5) cannot be considered in isolation, separately from the specific context in which it was dictated, linked to the persecutions suffered by the first Muslims following the Medinese Hijra. Nevertheless, Muslims were required to behave “righteously” with those with whom they had made agreements (sūrat at-Tawba, 9:7), and even in combat the believer’s heart had to remain pure, free of bad feelings (sūrat al-Mā’ida, 5:8).

The “peacefulness” of Islām, and its push towards peace in situations of conflict, are overall summarized by the following āyah: “If [enemies] incline towards peace, you too incline towards it and place your trust in Allāh. He is the All-Hearer and the All-Knower” (sūrat al-‘Anfāl, 8:61).

Islām is truly a religion of peace. To clarify the concept of jihād, purifying it from the manipulations of the party (ḥezb) of the “mystifiers”, is therefore a duty and more necessary than ever, since the threat remains high and we must not lower our guard but raise it. Shayṭān’s fake mujāhidīn are always looking for new followers to achieve their sordid goals and the best antidote to neutralize those who try to poison the ‘īmān of Muslims is to spread greater knowledge and awareness, for the benefit of those brothers and sisters who, due to naivety and weakness, risk falling into their trap. “And victory comes only from Allāh, the Mighty, the Wise” (sūrat Āli ‘Imrān, 3:126).