the way of Allah the Exalted, and to equip themselves for it with every means of power they can muster against the enemies of Islam. Power, however, differs with changing times and places, so the verse was left unrestricted, to be interpreted in every age according to what suits it.

2 – Shaykh Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā said: Allah the Exalted commanded His believing servants to make preparations for the war they know to be unavoidable in repelling aggression and evil, safeguarding life, and upholding justice and virtue, by assembling every possible means of strength for it, to the extent of their ability.

It is self-evident that preparing whatever one is capable of in terms of power varies with the differing degrees of capability in each time and place.

3 – Ustadh Sayyid Qutb said: Islam must possess a force in the field of daʿwah that secures for those who choose this creed their freedom to choose it, so that they are neither turned away from it nor persecuted after embracing it.

Islam is not a mere theological system whose task is complete once it has settled as a belief in hearts and organised acts of worship. Rather, Islam is a practical, realistic programme for life that confronts other programmes sustained by authorities and backed by material power. Consequently, Islam has no alternative, if it is to establish its God-given way, but to smash those material forces and destroy the authorities that implement those other programmes and resist the divine one. A Muslim should therefore feel no embarrassment when he proclaims this great truth.

When Islam advances across the earth, it does so only to announce the liberation of humankind by affirming the exclusive divinity of Allah and demolishing the supposed divinity of His servants. It does not advance with a man-made programme, nor to establish the dominance of a leader, state, class, or race that would enslave people, nor to exploit markets and capitalist raw materials, nor to impose an ideology