What is the Goal of Jihad?

[Jay53]

I didn’t get an answer to my questions in the other thread, so maybe if I give each question its own thread I’ll get an answer.

Jihad in Islam, I

(Imam Mohamed Baianonie at the Islamic Center of Raleigh, NC, delivered this Friday speech on December 2, 1994)

The definition of Jihad is “To struggle to the utmost of one’s ability and to make great efforts at striving to please Allah (S.W.T.), and to uphold His word.”

The struggle against the disbelievers and the hypocrites has four levels, which are: In the heart, the tongue, one’s wealth and one’s soul. When struggling with the disbelievers, more than likely, we will use our hands or physical strength. On the other hand, when struggling against the hypocrites, we will make jihad by using our tongue to preach to them. These two types of Jihad are called Fard Kifayah , which basically means if some Muslims successfully perform these two types of jihad, then it will no longer be obligatory for other Muslims to perform it. **Otherwise, it remains obligatory upon all Muslims until the goal of Jihad is achieved.” **

Here’s my questions:
Why does it say “more than likely, we will use our hands or physical strength”? To do what?

What is the goal of Jihad as bolded and underlined in the last sentence and how does one know if it has been achieved?

 

[Muslim_Woman]

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

Salaam/ Peace

Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not do aggression, for Allah loves not the aggressors.

(Al-Baqarah; 2: 190)

related links : Erin - United States

Fight My Non-Muslim Family and Friends?

Idris Tawfiq : …There are two kinds of jihad. The first is known as the lesser jihad and this is the duty incumbent upon all Muslims to fight in defense of what is right. This is defensive and it means fighting back where there is injustice or oppression.

Such jihad must be called for by the legitimate authority. In other words, it cannot be called for just by any man in the street or even any Sheikh in the street.

Also, and very importantly, there are strict rules which apply to this kind of jihad. For example, the Muslims must stop fighting as soon as their enemies call for peace. Similarly, no civilians may be hurt. Not even plants can be damaged in such fighting.

The other jihad is known as the greater jihad. This would suggest how important it is compared to the other jihad. It means that each Muslim must struggle daily and exert his utmost efforts to struggle inwardly to combat all those things in his life and in his personality which keep him from being a good Muslim

… polytheists and the Jews attacked the Muslims. On other occasions, Christian armies marched against the early Muslim community. In such particular circumstances, it was revealed that the Muslims should fight back against these groups. Therefore, the verse which reads:

Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day.
(At-Tawbah 9: 29)

refers specifically to such circumstances. It most certainly does not mean that Muslims should always be at war with Christians and Jews. It was revealed for a particular situation

Useful Links:

Fighting Verses in the Qur’an

Jihad and Justice with Non-Muslims

Fighting Non-Muslims During Peace

Jihad, not… a “Holy” War!

From Holy War to Holy Peace

Muslims/non-Muslim Relations; Peace or War?

War in Islam: A Solution to Problems?

Preemptive War

Declaration of War… Against non-Muslims?

Does the Qur’an Hate People of the Book?

Islamic Dealing with People of the Book

Do Muslims Want to Kill People of the Book?

Harming or Respecting People of the Book?

Kindness to Non-Muslim Parents

islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-AAbout_Islam/AskAboutIslamE/AskAboutIslamE&cid=1188043914402

 

[ChristIsLord]

from my understanding from what i’ve heard when the koran talks about fighting the unbelievers it is speaking primarily about the pagan arabs of muhammeds time who persecuted the muslims, and even then only to fight them if they’re fighting against you.

muslims call christians and jews people of the book and they aren’t considered like the pagans who are the unbelievers. christians and jews may be kafir, hypocrites, misguided etc… but they are still believers in the same god as muslims unlike the pagans and idolators.

 

[Jay53]

http://theislampath.com/smf/Smileys/default/salam.gif

Salaam/ Peace

Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not do aggression, for Allah loves not the aggressors.

(Al-Baqarah; 2: 190)

related links : Erin - United States

Fight My Non-Muslim Family and Friends?

Idris Tawfiq : …There are two kinds of jihad. The first is known as the lesser jihad and this is the duty incumbent upon all Muslims to fight in defense of what is right. This is defensive and it means fighting back where there is injustice or oppression.

Such jihad must be called for by the legitimate authority. In other words, it cannot be called for just by any man in the street or even any Sheikh in the street.

Also, and very importantly, there are strict rules which apply to this kind of jihad. For example, the Muslims must stop fighting as soon as their enemies call for peace. Similarly, no civilians may be hurt. Not even plants can be damaged in such fighting.

The other jihad is known as the greater jihad. This would suggest how important it is compared to the other jihad. It means that each Muslim must struggle daily and exert his utmost efforts to struggle inwardly to combat all those things in his life and in his personality which keep him from being a good Muslim

… polytheists and the Jews attacked the Muslims. On other occasions, Christian armies marched against the early Muslim community. In such particular circumstances, it was revealed that the Muslims should fight back against these groups. Therefore, the verse which reads:

Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day.
(At-Tawbah 9: 29)

refers specifically to such circumstances. It most certainly does not mean that Muslims should always be at war with Christians and Jews. It was revealed for a particular situation

Useful Links:

Fighting Verses in the Qur’an

Jihad and Justice with Non-Muslims

Fighting Non-Muslims During Peace

Jihad, not… a “Holy” War!

From Holy War to Holy Peace

Muslims/non-Muslim Relations; Peace or War?

War in Islam: A Solution to Problems?

Preemptive War

Declaration of War… Against non-Muslims?

Does the Qur’an Hate People of the Book?

Islamic Dealing with People of the Book

Do Muslims Want to Kill People of the Book?

Harming or Respecting People of the Book?

Kindness to Non-Muslim Parents

islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-AAbout_Islam/AskAboutIslamE/AskAboutIslamE&cid=1188043914402

This is alot of information about jihad, but it doesn’t answer my questions from the speech. Especially, how does one know if the goal of jihad has been achieved? I don’t even know what the goal is to know if it’s been achieved.

 

[Sister_Amy]

I didn’t get an answer to my questions in the other thread, so maybe if I give each question its own thread I’ll get an answer.

Sorry, I took a break from the forum for a few days and haven’t been back through the threads which were active then. I’ll try to keep an eye out for your questions–please forgive me for my negligence so far.

Here’s my questions:
Why does it say “more than likely, we will use our hands or physical strength”? To do what?

He offers four means of doing jihad: the heart, the tongue, wealth, and with physical strength. In reverse, if a Muslim sees an evil, he is first supposed to try to change it with his hand–i.e., using physical strength. If he cannot do that, then he should speak against the evil. And if he cannot even do that, then he should at least hate it in his heart. Should fighting erupt, then the Muslims should be willing to fight. I think that’s what he meant. If a person cannot fight, then he should try to expend his wealth in the same cause, or to speak against it, or at least hate it.

If I may give an example–though perhaps a bad one–if we look at Gaza, and say a Muslim like myself. It isn’t possible for me to go and fight, but I can spend my wealth by giving it to charities which will help the people suffering in Gaza. Or else I could write or speak out actively against the atrocities there. There very least I could do is hate it. But what would be the best way to end it?

So anyway, I can’t be entirely sure what the sheikh meant when he said “most likely we’ll use our hands,” but I can guess that he meant if fighting is going on, then the strongest/best response is to use our hands.

What is the goal of Jihad as bolded and underlined in the last sentence and how does one know if it has been achieved?

The goal of jihad, quite simply, is to eliminate the fitnah. It’s been achieved when the fitnah is gone. So the question is, what is a fitnah, and how you know when it’s gone? A fitnah is a trial, a test, so some kind of conflict or dispute, unrest, or even oppression can be a fitnah. So the jihad is to eliminate the fitnah, and to establish justice and peace.

 

[Chancellare]

The goal of jihad, quite simply, is to eliminate the fitnah. It’s been achieved when the fitnah is gone. So the question is, what is a fitnah, and how you know when it’s gone? A fitnah is a trial, a test, so some kind of conflict or dispute, unrest, or even oppression can be a fitnah. So the jihad is to eliminate the fitnah, and to establish justice and peace.

When will the dispute, unrest, oppression end? And when will there be justice and peace?

 

[Jay53]

Sorry, I took a break from the forum for a few days and haven’t been back through the threads which were active then. I’ll try to keep an eye out for your questions–please forgive me for my negligence so far.

No problem! I noticed you hadn’t been around for awhile, but no one else would answer. Maybe in deference to you? Anyhow, welcome back!

So anyway, I can’t be entirely sure what the sheikh meant when he said “most likely we’ll use our hands,” but I can guess that he meant if fighting is going on, then the strongest/best response is to use our hands.

 

[Sister_Amy]

When will the dispute, unrest, oppression end? And when will there be justice and peace?

Maybe sometime after Jihad begins?

 

[Sister_Amy]

No problem! I noticed you hadn’t been around for awhile, but no one else would answer. Maybe in deference to you? Anyhow, welcome back!

LOL Thanks.

That could be, but it didn’t mention fighting. It just said with regard to the disbelievers. Unless he would automatically just assume that disbelievers would be aggressors and start fighting, but that doesn’t seem logical either.

Maybe. I don’t know if I mentioned it before but this speech was written by my sheikh so I can try to ask him. His views on the topic are pretty set and it’s likely that I just don’t quite understand what he was trying to say.

I had another question about fitnah, too. I couldn’t find an appropriate definition. I suppose under that definition jihad would make sense - that Muslims are struggling to establish peace everywhere and will keep struggling until that happens. A noble goal, to be sure, unless the idea of “peace” is to install Islamic law as the only way to achieve said peace and that no Muslim should rest until Islamic law is in every land and all people are either Muslim or subjected to its laws. I sure hope not!

Yeah it’s hard to find a clear definition of “fitnah” which is why I tried to sort of give a few things it might describe. And you’ve arrived at the same definition of jihad that I and many other Muslims hold–that it is noble struggling in order to establish peace. And no, that doesn’t mean installing Islamic law everywhere–i.e., over non-Muslims–but it does mean establishing Islamic law for Muslims. What is also important however is that people have the opportunity to be Muslim or choose Islam (or another religion) if they live outside the land of the Muslims.

If some country decided to start persecuting its population of Muslims, ideally, the Muslims in the Muslim state with Islamic law would stand up against that country to protect those people’s rights.

 

[planten]

**The Muslim Woman (and sis Amy) have described Jihad very well. Jihad does not have any type of aggression in it. Muslim Woman has described the lesser Jihad and the Greater (major) Jihad too very well.

But a point from me to add. The lesser Jihad not only includes the self moral improvement. It also includes peaceful preaching (tabeegh).

The conditions for Jihad do not exist in present times and cannot be fulfilled because there is no authority with any one to order Jihad now. The world is like a village now. Every one is living (working) in others country happily and there is no need to fight any one with swords and guns.

The mention of Jihad against Fitnah by sis Amy was also very well done. Fitnah is a sort of oppression, such as pressing people to have beliefs against their will. or to oppress and tease the people just for the sake of their religious beliefs.

In the end, I may say that if the worse comes to worse, for the sake of religion, one may have to resort to a fight. That would be an obligation.

**

 

[paarsurrey]

What is the Goal of Jihad?

Hi

The goal of **Jihad is to defend **those who were persecuted, were killed, were oppressed and forced into exile, leaving their homes and their native place. When they took refuge in other places, in the nearby territories; they were followed by the opressors, they were attacked.

Muhammad was not allowed by God Allah to make Jihad to spread Islam; and you know Muhammad was the most ever obedient servant of God Allah. Muhammad obeyed God Allah always in letter and spirit.

**All of this is very much mentioned in Quran.**I love Jesus and Mary as I do love Buddha and Krishna.

Thanks

 

[planten]

My mistake in my post #10. Please amend the following:

But a point from me to add. The lesser Jihad not only includes the self moral improvement. It also includes peaceful preaching (tabeegh).
to read

But a point from me to add. The Greater Jihad not only includes the self moral improvement. It also includes peaceful preaching (tabeegh).

 

[R_not]

Most of the jihad talked about in the koran and the sira is the violent jihad.

The concept of jihad developed during mohammeds’ time in Medina which were his violent years - and the violent Medina surahs of the koran are stronger than the weaker Meccan surahs.

What you should really read, or peruse, are the jihads carried out for allah since mohammed’s time. The articles on this page certainly speaks of many of mohammed’s own jihads (of which that inner struggle was not a part), but here is a website that tells of the History of jihad.

Centrality of jihad in islam

“Muslims are religiously obliged to disseminate the Islamic faith throughout the world… If non-Muslims submit to conversion or subjugation, this call can be pursued peacefully. If they do not, Muslims are obliged to wage war against them.” World peace, according to Islamic teaching, “is reached only with the conversion or submission of all mankind to Islam.”

What the muslims on this thread are not telling you is that the world is divided into different realms - the realm of war (dar al harb) which is our non-muslim lands under man-made laws, and the realm of islam (dar al islam) which is lands under sharia law. In dar al harb - anything goes and their main objective is to convert, kill or subjugate us. They do a peaceful call to islam (well, usually - mohammed didn’t even do that all the time either) and then if we don’t accept then the jihadists feel justified in the violent jihad. And deception is all a part of it (‘war is deception’, per mohammed)

What they do is distort the word ‘peace’ and we are unaware of that - what they mean is ‘peace’ if the world is under islam’s rule. (they have so many different words with different definitions, I won’t go into it here)

To summarize our discussion so far: (1) The command to wage jihad is laid on all Muslims. (2) Jihad must be carried out until the whole world has been brought under the power of the Islamic state. (3) Even when Muslims lack the present ability to wage jihad, the hope of jihad remains alive in their hearts, enabling them to wait for generations for a new chance to spread the faith. And finally, (4) jihad is not a recent revival of the late 20th century but has periodically erupted during long ages of apparent Muslim quiescence.

And from a different article:

“moderates are using the Koran to prove the radicals to be wrong”
Anytime anyone only references the Koran when they are talking about Islam, you are dealing with a deceiver or an ignorant person. The Koran is only 16% of the Islamic canon. The Koran does not have enough in it to accomplish even one of Islam’s vaunted Five Pillars. The Sira and the Hadith compromise the 84% of Islamic canon that shows a Muslim how to be a Muslim.

The “radicals,” the Medinan Muslims, are right. The Meccan Muslims are deceivers, perhaps of themselves, but certainly deceivers without any doctrinal basis.
Let’s vet the Muslim experts. If anything they say agrees with Mohammed then they are right. If anything the Muslim says disagrees with Mohammed then they are wrong. So who needs a Muslim? Go straight to Mohammed, the Sira and the Hadith. We don’t need hearsay; we need facts, Mohammed’s facts, and not Islamic gossip.

…

So if the Muslim is actually your friend, then in that moment he is not Islamic. But there is another possibility. Mohammed repeatedly told Muslims to deceive kafirs when it would advance Islam. So the friendship may be deception. Tragic, isn’t it? (Please do not respond and say that Islam has a Golden Rule. Give me the quote from the doctrine. Islam has two sets of rules-one for Muslims and a second for kafirs. The very word for all non-Muslims, kafirs, denies the Golden Rule. Mohammed treated Muslims one way and kafirs another way. Ethical dualism is Sunna.)

The above was gotten from ‘Refuting Counterterrorism Dhimmi’

 

[Eucharisted]

And once again that old double standard pops up. Great.

Fight My Non-Muslim Family and Friends?

Idris Tawfiq : …There are two kinds of jihad. The first is known as the lesser jihad and this is the duty incumbent upon all Muslims to fight in defense of what is right. This is defensive and it means fighting back where there is injustice or oppression.

Such jihad must be called for by the legitimate authority. In other words, it cannot be called for just by any man in the street or even any Sheikh in the street.

Also, and very importantly, there are strict rules which apply to this kind of jihad. For example, the Muslims must stop fighting as soon as their enemies call for peace. Similarly, no civilians may be hurt. Not even plants can be damaged in such fighting.

The other jihad is known as the greater jihad. This would suggest how important it is compared to the other jihad. It means that each Muslim must struggle daily and exert his utmost efforts to struggle inwardly to combat all those things in his life and in his personality which keep him from being a good Muslim

**… polytheists and the Jews attacked the Muslims. On other occasions, Christian armies marched against the early Muslim community. In such particular circumstances, it was revealed that the Muslims should fight back against these groups. Therefore, the verse which reads:

Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day.
(At-Tawbah 9: 29)**

refers specifically to such circumstances. It most certainly does not mean that Muslims should always be at war with Christians and Jews. It was revealed for a particular situation

It’s the double standards of the interpretation of the Koran. First Christians and Jews are called the believers:

Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.
(The Cow 2:62)

Then they are called those who do not believe in God or the Last Day:

Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day.
(At-Tawbah 9: 29)

So which is it? Are Christians and Jews believers or not? They cannot be disbelievers only when they fight Muslims, than become believers when they don’t fight Muslims, because that would be nonsensical. Nor can the Christians and Jews only be believers when they become Muslim, for as 2:62 shows, they are indeed believers in God and the Last Day. So are Christians and Jews believers or not?

 

[R_not]

The guy is also twisting which is the greater and lesser of the jihads. The greater jihad is the one that is the violent jihad. Or else it wouldn’t be the one that is referred to in the koran, hadiths and sunni so often. It trumps the other jihads. Why else would they celebrate over their martyrs who die killing non-muslims?!

Of course, they omit a lot when talking about islam:

• dar al harb/dar al islam (they forget to tell us that we are in the land of war (dar al harb) and while in that - anything goes - deception, killing, violence of any kind.
• Meccan vs Medina surahs - basically that the Medina (violent, stronger) surahs trump the Meccan (weaker, or more peaceful) surahs.
• that the ‘peaceful’ ones could be deceiving us when they appear as our friends, OR they are just not following islam that closely (that day - because you never know if the next day they ‘get religion’)
• they have different definitions for words - such as ‘peace’ which only means peace if under the domination of islam whether we be converted or subjugated (something tells me that life still wouldn’t be that peaceful in islam - a guy can only beat his wife up so many times!)
• all muslims are obliged to wage jihad with the end goal being islam is the dominant religion.

 

[Eucharisted]

The guy is also twisting which is the greater and lesser of the jihads. The greater jihad is the one that is the violent jihad. Or else it wouldn’t be the one that is referred to in the koran, hadiths and sunni so often. It trumps the other jihads. Why else would they celebrate over their martyrs who die killing non-muslims?!

Of course, they omit a lot when talking about islam:

• dar al harb/dar al islam (they forget to tell us that we are in the land of war (dar al harb) and while in that - anything goes - deception, killing, violence of any kind.
• Meccan vs Medina surahs - basically that the Medina (violent, stronger) surahs trump the Meccan (weaker, or more peaceful) surahs.
• that the ‘peaceful’ ones could be deceiving us when they appear as our friends, OR they are just not following islam that closely (that day - because you never know if the next day they ‘get religion’)
• they have different definitions for words - such as ‘peace’ which only means peace if under the domination of islam whether we be converted or subjugated (something tells me that life still wouldn’t be that peaceful in islam - a guy can only beat his wife up so many times!)
• all muslims are obliged to wage jihad with the end goal being islam is the dominant religion.

You should read his other answers too (here). I’m beginning to think that a number of Muslims are brainwashed into believing lies and misconceptions about other religions, and a number of other things too. And I mean that with no disrespect.

 

[ferdie]

You should read his other answers too (here). I’m beginning to think that a number of Muslims are brainwashed into believing lies and misconceptions about other religions, and a number of other things too. And I mean that with no disrespect.

Do you know how the radical muslims educate (brainwash) their children?

 

[Sam_777]

What is the Goal of Jihad

The main goal (Islamicly) is to spread Islam.
However, Jihad can be summarized into these three categories:
- Jihad by hand.
if not possible then:
- Jihad by tongue.
if not possible then:
- Jihad by heart.

Per this authentic hadith:
Sahih Muslim, Book 001, Number 0079:
“…I heard the Messenger of Allah as saying: He who amongst you sees something abominable should modify it with the help of his hand; and if he has not strength enough to do it, then he should do it with his tongue, and if he has not strength enough to do it, (even) then he should (abhor it) from his heart, and that is the least of faith.”

صحيح مسلم
أول من بدأ بالخطبة يوم العيد قبل الصلاة ‏ ‏مروان ‏ ‏فقام إليه رجل فقال الصلاة قبل الخطبة فقال قد ترك ما هنالك فقال ‏ ‏أبو سعيد ‏ ‏أما هذا فقد قضى ما عليه سمعت رسول الله ‏ ‏صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ ‏يقول ‏ ‏من رأى منكم منكرا فليغيره بيده فإن لم يستطع فبلسانه فإن لم يستطع فبقلبه وذلك أضعف الإيمان ‏
​

(E) (A)

 

[paarsurrey]

The main goal is to spread Islam.
However, Jihad can be summarized into these three categories:
- Jihad by hand.
if not possible then:
- Jihad by tongue.
if not possible then:
- Jihad by heart.

Hi

Kindly quote from Quran the first and foremost source of guidance for all Muslims.

I love Jesus and Mary as I do love Buddha and Krishna

Thanks

 

[Jay53]

Sam_777;4622338]The main goal (Islamicly) is to spread Islam.

Per this authentic hadith:
Sahih Muslim, Book 001, Number 0079:
“…I heard the Messenger of Allah as saying: He who amongst you **sees something abominable should modify it with the help of his hand; **and if he has not strength enough to do it, then he should do it with his tongue, and if he has not strength enough to do it, (even) then he should (abhor it) from his heart, and that is the least of faith.”

I would think this would be a noble cause if I didn’t think that Muslims view the fact that everyone is not living under Islamic law either as a Muslim or 2nd class citizen as the “something abominable”.