hold the fairs of ʿUkāẓ, Majinnah, and Dhū al-Majāz in the pre-Islamic period, and therefore regarded it a sin to trade during the pilgrimage seasons. Then the verse was revealed: “There is no blame upon you for seeking bounty from your Lord” (Al-Baqarah 198) concerning the seasons of Ḥajj.
The intended meaning is that when the primary aim is jihad and the exaltation of Allah’s word, the presence of subordinate objectives does no harm.
- Part of striving in Allah’s cause is to repel the unbelievers from Muslim lands and territories—especially the sanctified places such as Jerusalem and al-Masjid al-Aqṣā—and to drive out communist regimes from Muslim countries, as occurred in Afghanistan and elsewhere that remain under enemy control. Abu Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī relate, through the ḥadith of Saʿīd ibn Zayd, that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever is killed defending his religion is a martyr; whoever is killed defending his family is a martyr; whoever is killed defending his life is a martyr; and whoever is killed defending his property is a martyr.”
The point of evidence here is that by declaring him a martyr, the Prophet implicitly affirmed the permissibility of fighting and being killed in such a cause; hence the combat itself is legislated. Allah knows best.
- Sunan Abī Dāwūd records that ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ said: “Messenger of Allah, tell me about jihad.” He replied: “O ʿAbdullāh, if you fight with patience and seeking reward, Allah will resurrect you patient and seeking reward; but if you fight for show and vainglory, Allah will resurrect you displaying and vainglorious. O ʿAbdullāh, in whatever state you fight or are killed, Allah will raise you in that very state.”
I say: The difference in intention and purpose affects every deed, in light of the ḥadith, “Actions are but by intentions, and each person shall have only what he intended.”
- From this ḥadith and others like it we learn a lofty principle: the supreme goal is to exalt the word of Allah Most High—and who is more entitled to have His word exalted than Allah, glorious and exalted is He? Accordingly, Islam does not permit warfare for aggressive ambitions or material aims.