Book of Jihād
A comprehensive treatment of the foundational principles of this subject is confined to two broad headings:
- The first: identifying the essential pillars of war.
- The second: the rulings that govern the property of combatants once it has come into Muslim possession.
The First Heading
Within this heading there are seven chapters:
- The ruling of this duty—upon whom it is incumbent.
- Those who may be fought.
- The distinction, for each category of the enemy, between the forms of harm that are permissible and those that are not.
- The permissibility of stipulations concluded in the course of war.
- Determining the numerical disparity beyond which it is unlawful to flee the battlefield.
- Whether a truce (muhādana) is permissible.
- The reason for which they are fought.
Chapter One
The Legal Ruling of this Duty
With regard to the ruling of this duty, the scholars are unanimously agreed that it is a collective obligation (farḍ kifāyah), not an individual obligation (farḍ ʿayn), with the sole exception of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan, who held it to be voluntary.
The majority assert its obligatory nature on the basis of the Almighty’s words: “Fighting has been prescribed for you, though it is hateful to you” (al-Baqarah 2:216).
As for their view that it is a collective obligation—that is, if some discharge it the remainder are absolved—they cite His words, exalted is He: “The believers should not all go out at once” (al-Tawbah 9:122), and His saying: “To each, Allah has promised the best reward” (al-Nisāʾ 4:95). Moreover, never did the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—set out on an expedition without leaving a number of people behind. Taken together, these proofs establish that the duty is a collective one.
Upon whom, then, is it binding? Upon free, adult, able-bodied men who possess the means with which to go forth; not upon the sick or the infirm. There is no disagreement about this, for the Exalted says: “There is no blame upon the blind, nor any blame upon the lame, nor any blame upon the sick” (al-Fath 48:17), and: “There is no blame upon the weak, nor upon the sick, nor upon those who find nothing to spend” (al-Tawbah 9:91).