It never ends

The first constant on the path of jihad, is that it never ends. The situation of the world now, is that every major or minor power of the world is mobilising their efforts and capabilities to stop one ritual in islam and that is jihad. Most of them are using their religious strength, political strength, economical strength and social strength. We recall how Bush told Abu Mazen that god ordered him to invade Afghanistan. And the case of demolishing al-Aqsa, we see that religion is being used to justify their acts and infiltrations.

In terms of political strength, we see that the UN, NATO, EU, governments of all nations, are united to stop islam. We see how they discuss and put their every attentions in the matter of so called islamic terrorism, islamic fundamentalism, the diplomacy of nations etc.

On the media, we find them doing a good job in forwarding the distorted image of islam, deceiving the masses. The cultural fronts, popular fronts and many social strengths are being used to diverge the understanding of islam and creating ‘new’ views towards islam that are not correct especially about jihad.

2:216 Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.

This ayah says that qital, is an instruction from Allah. A lot of people say that jihad is not possible without tarbiyah, and they are referring back to this ayah. That tarbiyah is a prerequisite of jihad. Some said that we are in the Meccan period, so we don’t need jihad, no fighting. Is this justified? Is there  justification for delaying jihad?

Now let us ponder about this, if somebody reverts to islam, would you tell them that you have to have tarbiyah before you start fasting. You have 15 years, like the Prophet s.a.w and sahabah went through, until after hijrah, 2 years after hijrah, only then fasting was prescribed. So take your time, then when you’re fit enough, you can start fasting. It’s funny, nobody would say that.

Now see that the prescription of fasting and fighting were revealed in the same surah. No different in terms of the ayat. And fasting came two years after the order of fighting. So why do we treat them differently? How come we require tarbiyah to start jihad when Rasulullah s.a.w didn’t do that? Did Rasulullah s.a.w. sent the sahabah to any learned ones and tell them to study from them, go to certain places and get ready there, or go to learn from a particular syeikh etc. before you can do jihad?

A musyrikin, al-Usayrin, from Madinah who returned from his travelling got back to Madinah. When he reached Madinah, he went looking for people but they weren’t present. When asked from those whoe were there, they would say so and so are in Uhud with Rasulullah s.a.w. Then he would say to himself “Shame on me, while all of my relatives are in Uhud with Rasulullah s.a.w, I’m sitting here in Madinah.” So he went to Rasulullah s.a.w in the battlefield said the syahadah. Did Rasulullah s.a.w. told him to back and study or get ready?  No but he told him to be ready for jihad until he was among the syahid. Later on, Abu Hurairah would ask his students, “Tell me about a man who did very little but rewarded a lot.” and when they would not know the answer, he would tell them about al-Usayrin who never even prayed to Allah but he got a lot of rewards.

Now who would need more tarbiyah than a jew? A jew, Mukhairiq, came to Rasulullah s.a.w and offered to join in the battle of Uhud, and Rasulullah s.a.w told him to join the battle, and he was a syahid as well. Rasulullah s.a.w. said, “Mukhairiq is the best of jews.”

So what’s the reason we require tarbiyah for jihad? The reason is that people dislike it. They would find a bail to reason for not doing jihad. It is all due to our fitrah that we do not like fighting. Allah mentioned it that it is something we don’t like. The reality of war is horrible. So people don’t like it.

In the time of Salahuddin al-Ayyubi, when he called upon for volunteers to join his army, some of the ulama’, the syuyukh and their students came joining. When they heard about the army of the crusaders, led by Richard the Lion Heart, Frederick Barbarossa, Phillip of France came from all over Europe, some of these ulama’ turned back, as mentioned by Ibn Athir. These are the people that Allah mentioned in surah al-’Araf,

7:175 Relate to them the story of the man to whom We sent Our signs, but he passed them by: so Satan followed him up, and he went astray. 176 If it had been Our will, We should have elevated him with Our signs; but he inclined to the earth, and followed his own vain desires. His similitude is that of a dog: if you attack him, he lolls out his tongue, or if you leave him alone, he (still) lolls out his tongue. That is the similitude of those who reject Our signs; So relate the story; perchance they may reflect.

they have the ayah of Allah s.w.t. but they gave them up, for following their desires and attached to the worldly life. And Allah says they are like dogs. So if you know the truth, whether from scholars or not, you have to follow it.

So this ibadah of jihad that the kuffar, is trying to cover, where they are branding and labelling those involved with names of different terms deceiving us, and the munafiqin are helping them, by saying that jihad is defensive, not offensive, jihad is only allowed to free muslims’ land, that jihad is only to be performed by the instructions of the leader, that jihad has ended at the time of Rasulullah s.a.w, that jihad is not appropriate for our time, this is the time for dialogue, global peace etc. But whatever the justifications are, the ummah has known what jihad means, the wajibat, the sunan and the rules from the Quran and Sunnah, the sahabah and righteous generations very clearly. We have the right heritage to clearly clarify what jihad means, and we don’t need to borrow or consult from anyone not from this ummah.

Jihad will carry on until the day of judgement. And we must have faith in this according to the proves from Allah and Rasulllah s.a.w,

5:54 O ye who believe! if any from among you turn back from his Faith, soon will Allah produce a people whom He will love as they will love Him,- lowly with the believers, mighty against the rejecters, fighting in the way of Allah, and never afraid of the reproaches of such as find fault. That is the grace of Allah, which He will bestow on whom He pleaseth. And Allah encompasseth all, and He knoweth all things.

The ayah above explains to us the basis to find the true jamaah that we should be with. There is a victorious group as mentioned by Rasulullah s.a.w, the tho-ifah mansurah. It is as clear as the sun at noon and their characteristics are,

1.) Allah loves them

2.) They love Allah

3.) They are humble with the muslims, they care about the muslims all around the world, despite of what race they are, fast in response towards the muslims, willing to give everything for the muslims

4.) They are stern towards the disbelievers, willing to stand up against the kuffar

5.) They fight in the path of Allah

6.) They don’t fear the blame of the blamers, no matter where it came form, as long as it pleases Allah, and this can be learned from the rulings of Saad bin Muaz towards Banu Qurayzah, “It’s about time for Saad to not fear the blames of the blamers in the sake of Allah s.w.t.” and the men were executed, the women and children be taken and their properties be part of the ghanimah. Rasulullah s.a.w said, “Your ruling is the same of that from on top of the seven heavens.” and the reason is due to treason by them.

7.) They work collectively in jamaah

8.) It doesn’t harm them if they are betrayed or diasgreed upon by even the whole world

The ayah above also mentions a sunnah of Allah s.w.t., the law of replacement. If you give up the responsibility, you will be replaced, no matter who you are. And this was told to the sahabah, and to us. This shows that Allah does not have any special relationship with anyone, but for as long as you serve this responsibility, Allah will keep you and not be replaced. It’s a life long journey, until you die.

8:39 And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah altogether and everywhere; but if they cease, verily Allah doth see all that they do.

Fight them until there are no more disbelief, and we know from Rasulullah s.a.w. that disbelief will continue until the day of judgement, so this induced that jihad will also carry on until the day of judgement. For as long as kufr exist in this world, there is going to be jihad fi sabilillah. But it would actually end right before qiyamah. Jihad will end at the time of Isa, as he will fight jihad until there is no more kufr. After Isa, there would be no more jihad as Allah will take away the soul of the believers, and what are left are the kuffar. While with Ya’juj and Ma’juj, there will be no jihad against them as there are no capabilities to destroy them and only a miracle from Allah will do so.