Book of Jihad

Jihad—with the j pronounced with a kasrah—originally means “exertion and hardship.” One says, “jāhadtu jihādan,” meaning, “I strove until it was hard.”

In the terminology of the Sacred Law, it is to expend one’s utmost effort in fighting unbelievers, rebels, and highway bandits.

Its legitimacy is proven by the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the unanimous agreement of the Muslim community. The scriptural passages that command, encourage, and praise it are abundant; some of them will be mentioned below, Allah willing.

Jihad is a communal duty (farḍ kifāyah). If enough people undertake it, the obligation falls from the rest; if no one does so while they have knowledge and ability, all incur sin—except in three situations when it becomes an individual duty (farḍ ʿayn):

1. When the two armies face one another; at that point withdrawal is forbidden.
2. When the enemy descends upon a town and lays siege to it; then defending it becomes obligatory on every inhabitant.
3. When the imam issues a general call to arms, or summons a specific person, in accordance with the Almighty’s words: “O you who believe, what is the matter with you that, when you are told, ‘March forth in the path of Allah,’ you cling heavily to the earth?” (Qur’an 9:38), and the Prophet’s statement (peace and blessings be upon him): “When you are called to arms, then go forth.”

The scholars add that the term jihad is also applied to struggling against one’s own self, against Satan, and against the openly sinful:

• Striving against the self is by learning the religion, acting upon it, and then teaching it.
• Striving against Satan is by repelling the doubts he casts and the desires he beautifies.
• Striving against the unbelievers is carried out with the hand, the tongue, wealth, and physical presence.
• Striving against the sinful is first with the hand, then the tongue, and finally the heart.

The Nature of Warfare in Islam

Some Western missionaries allege that Islam was built on violence and oppression, that it spread by the sword and the shedding of blood, and that it relied on coercion and compulsion to bring people into it.

The answer is that this claim is false. It stems either from ignorance of Islam—its teachings, its conquests, its campaigns, and its texts—or from partisan bias and hostility toward the religion, whose very purpose they seek to distort and make people shun.