Jihad is Compulsory (Fard)
"Fard" means Compulsory. Jihad is an Individual duty (لواجب الع fard al-ayn) and is also a sufficiency duty (الواجب الكفائي fard al-kifaya), for each and every Muslim. Anyone who does not participate is considered a hypocrite. There is no place for peaceful Muslims when Jihad becomes fard.
Contents
Scholars
Hanafi Fiqh
Maliki Fiqh
Ibn Khaldun (1332 - 1406) was a renowned Maliki jurist, philosopher, historian, and sociologist.
Thereafter, there were dissensions among the Christians with regard to their religion and to Christology. ... We do not think that we should blacken the pages of this book with discussion of their dogmas of unbelief. In general, they are well known. All of them are unbelief. This is clearly stated in the noble Qur'an. [To] discuss or argue those things with them is not up to us. It is [for them to choose between] conversion to Islam, payment of the poll tax, or death.[2]
Ibn Rushd (Averroes) (1126 - 1198) was a famous Andalusian-Arab master of Islamic law, philosopher, physician and mathematician. He was born in Cordoba, Spain, and he died in Marrakech, Morocco.
Scholars agree that the jihad is a collective not a personal obligation. Only 'Abd Allah Ibn al-Hasan professed it to be a recommendable act. According to the majority of scholars, the compulsory nature of the jihad is founded on [K 2:216] "Fighting is prescribed for you, though it is distasteful to you."That this obligation is a collective and not a personal one, i.e., that the obligation, when it can be properly carried out by a limited number of individuals, is canceled for the remaining Moslems, is founded on [K 9:112]: "It is not for the believers to march out all together, and, lastly, on the fact that the Prophet never went to battle without leaving some people behind. All this together implies that this activity is a collective obligation. The obligation to participate in the jihad applies to adult free men who have the means at their disposal to go to war and who are healthy, that is, not ill or suffering from chronic diseases. ...
The enemy
Scholars agree that all polytheists should be fought. This is founded on [K 8:39]: "Fight them until there is no Fitnah and the religion is entirely Allah's." ...
The damage allowed to be inflicted upon the different categories of enemies
Damage inflicted upon the enemy may consist in damage to his property, injury to his person or violation of his personal liberty, i.e., that he is made a slave and is appropriated. This may be done, according to the Consensus (idjma) to all polytheists: men, women, young and old, important and unimportant. Only with regard to monks do opinions vary; for some take it that they must be left in peace and that they must not be captured ...
Most scholars are agreed that, in his dealings with captives, carious policies are open to the Imam. He may pardon them, kill them, or release them either on ransom or as dhimmi, in which latter case the released captive is obliged to pay poll-tax." ...
It is only allowed to slay the enemy on the condition that aman [safe conduct] has not been granted. There is no dissension about this among the Moslems. There is controversy, however, concerning who is entitled to grant aman. Everyone is agreed that the Imam is entitled to this. ...
As regards injury to the person, that is, the slaying of the enemy, the Moslems agree that in times of war, all adult, able bodied, unbelieving males may be slain. ...
There is controversy about the question whether it is allowed to slay hermits who have retired from the world, the blind, the chronically ill and the insane, those who are old and unable to fight any longer, peasants, and serfs. ...
The prerequisites for warfare
According to all scholars, the prerequisite for warfare is that the enemy must have heard the summons to Islam. This implies that it is not allowed to attack them before the summons has reached them. All Moslems are agreed about this because of [K 17:15]: "We have not be accustomed to punish until We have sent a messenger." However, there is controversy about the question whether the summons should be repeated when the war is resumed. ...
The maximum number of enemies against which one is obliged to stand one's ground
The maximum number of enemies against which one is obliged to stand one's group is twice the number [of one's won troops]. About this, everybody agrees on account of [K 8:66]: "Now Allah hath made it lighter for you and knoweth that there is weakness among you." ...
The aims of warfare
The Moslems are agreed that the aim of warfare against the People of the Book, with the exception of those belonging to the Quraysh-tribe and Arab Christians, is twofold: either conversion to Islam, or payment of poll-tax (djizyah). This is based on [K 9:29]: "Fight against those who do not believe in Allah nor in the last Day, and do not make forbidden what Allah and His messenger have made forbidden, and do not practice the religion of truth, of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the jizya off-hand, being subdued." Most lawyers likewise agree that poll-tax may also be collected from Zoroastrians on the strength of the words of the Prophet: "Treat them like the People of the Book." There is, however, controversy with regard to polytheists who are not People of the Book: is it allowed to accept poll-tax from them or not? ...[3]
Shafi'i Fiqh
Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shafi'i (767 - 820) is considered by Muslims to be greatest Imam from among the Four Imams of Fiqh.
God has brought from the believers their selves and their possessions against [the gift of] Paradise. They fight in the way of God; they kill, and are killed; that is a promise binding upon God in the Torah and Gospel and the Qur'an; and who fulfills his covenant better than God? So rejoice in the bargain you have made with Him. That is the mightly triumph. [Q. 9:112]
And He said:
Fight those who do not believe in God nor in the Last Day, who do not forbid what God and His Apostle have made forbidden, and who do not practice the religion of truth, of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the jizya out of hand and have been humbled. [Q. 9:29]
Fight the polytheists totally as they fight you totally; and know that God is with the godfearing. [Q. 9:36]
And He said:
Slay the polytheists wherever you find them, and take them, and confine them, and lie in ambush for them everywhere. But if they repent and perform the prayer and pay the zakat, then set them free. God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate. [Q. 9:5]
And He said:
41. Abd al-Aziz b. Muhammad as-Darawardi told us from Muhammed b. Amr b. Alqama from Abu Salama [b. Abd al-Rahman] from Abu Hurayra, who said that the Apostle of God said:
I shall continue to fight the unbelievers until they say: "There is no god but God," if they make this pronouncement they shall be secured in their blood and property, unless taken for its price, and their reward shall be given by God.
And God, gloried by His praise, said:
Go forth, light and heavy! Struggle in God's way with your possessions and yourselves! That is better for you, did you but know. [Q. 9:41]
O believers, what is the matter with you, that when it is said to you: "Go forth in the way of God," you sink down to the ground? Are you so content with this present life as to neglect the Here-after? The enjoyment of this life is little in comparison with the Hereafter. If you do not go forth, He will inflict upon you a painful punishment, and instead of you He will substitute another people; and you will not hurt Him at all, for God is powerful over everything. [Q. 9:38-39]
And he said:
42. Shafi'i said: These communications mean that the jihad, and rising up in arms in particular, is obligatory for all able-bodied [believers], exempting no one, just as prayer, pilgrimage and [payment of] alms are performed, and no person is permitted to perform the duty for another, since performance by one will not fulfil the duty for another. They may also mean that the duty of [jihad] is a collective (kifaya) duty different from that of prayer: Those who perform it in the war against the polytheists will fulfill their duty and reciever the supererogatory merit, thereby preventing those who stayed behind from falling into error. But God has not put the two [categories of men] on equal footing, for He said:
Such believers who sit at home - unless they have an injury - are not the equals of those who fight in the path of God with their possessions and their selves. God has given precedence to those who fight with their possessions and their selves over those who sit at home. Hod has promised the best of things to both, and He has preferred those who fight over those who fit at home by [granting them] a might reward. [Q. 4:97]
. . .
o9.1 Jihad is a communal obligation (def: c3.2). When enough people perform it to successfully accomplish it, it is no longer obligatory upon others.
o9.8 The caliph makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians [kafirs] (N: provided he has first invited them to enter Islam in faith and practice, and if they will not, then invited them to enter the social order of Islam by paying the non-Muslim poll tax (jizya, def: o11.4) - which is the significance of their paying it, not the money itself-while remaining in their ancestral regions) (O: and the war continues) until they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax (O: in accordance with the word of Allah Most High.
(A: though if there is no caliph (def: o25), no permission is required).[5]
Hanbali Fiqh
1) If the two sides meet in battle and they approach each other.
3) If the Imam calls a people to march forward it is obligatory upon them to march forward.[1]
Ibn Qayyim (1292-1350) was a famous Islamic jurist, commentator on the Qur'an, astronomer, chemist, philosopher, psychologist, scientist and theologian.
Ibn Qudamah (1147-1223) was a noted Islamic scholar who was born in Jerusalem and died in Damascus.
The jihad becomes a strictly binding personal duty (fard-'ain) for all Muslims who are enlisted or whose country has been [invaded] by the enemy. It is obligatory only for free men who have reached puberty, are endowed with reason and capable of fighting. Jihad is the best of the works of supererogation. ...
Naval expeditions are more meritorious than campaigns on land. One must fight under every leader, whether it be a respectable man or a corrupt man. Every nation must fight the enemies that are its immediate neighbors. A full stint of service in a frontier post (ribat) is of forty days' duration. ...
No one can engage in jihad without the permission of his father and mother, if they are alive and Muslims, unless the jihad is an individual duty that strictly obliges. Only elderly women are permitted to venture into the war zone in order to replenish the water supply and to care for the wounded. No one should enlist the services of an infidel except in case of need. ...
It is permitted to surprise the infidels under cover of night, to bombard them with mangonels and to attack them without declaring battle (du'a). ...
The chief of state decides on the fate of the men who are taken prisoners; he can have them put to death, reduce them to slavery, free them in return for a ransom or grant them their freedom as a gift. ...
The head tax can be demanded only from the People of the Book (ahl-al-kitab) and from Zoroastrians (Magus), who pledge to pay it and submit to the laws of the community. ... It cannot be demanded from children who have not reached the age of puberty, from women, helpless old men, the sick, the blind, or slaves, nor from poor people who are unable to pay it. An infidel subject to the head tax who converts to Islam is free of this obligation. When an infidel dies, his heirs are responsible for the head tax.[7]
Other / Unknown
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Shaykh al Uyayree
Hadith
Sahih hadith, Tafsir Ibn Kathir
Quran
Fighting is good for you (2:216)
Verse
Meaning
In this Ayah, Allah made it obligatory for the Muslims to fight in Jihad against the evil of the enemy who transgress against Islam. Az-Zuhri said, "Jihad is required from every person, whether he actually joins the fighting or remains behind. Whoever remains behind is required to give support, if support is warranted; to provide aid, if aid is needed; and to march forth, if he is commanded to do so. If he is not needed, then he remains behind. It is reported in the Sahih:
(Whoever dies but neither fought (i.e., in Allah's cause), nor sincerely considered fighting, will die a death of Jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic era of ignorance).)
On the day of Al-Fath (when he conquered Makkah), the Prophet said:
(There is no Hijrah (migration from Makkah to Al-Madinah) after the victory, but only Jihad and good intention. If you were required to march forth, then march forth.)
Allah's statement:
(...though you dislike it) means, `Fighting is difficult and heavy on your hearts.' Indeed, fighting is as the Ayah describes it, as it includes being killed, wounded, striving against the enemies and enduring the hardship of travel. Allah then said:
(. ..and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you) meaning, fighting is followed by victory, dominance over the enemy, taking over their lands, money and offspring. Allah continues:
(...and that you like a thing which is bad for you.)
This Ayah is general in meaning. Hence, one might covet something, yet in reality it is not good or beneficial for him, such as refraining from joining the Jihad, for it might lead to the enemy taking over the land and the government. Then, Allah said:
(Allah knows, but you do not know.) meaning, He has better knowledge than you of how things will turn out to be in the end, and of what benefits you in this earthly life and the Hereafter. Hence, obey Him and adhere to His commands, so that you may acquire the true guidance.Tafsir Ibn Kathir
Tafsir al-Jalalayn
Go forth light and heavy (9:41)
Verse
Meaning
Sufyan Ath-Thawri narrated from his father from Abu Ad-Duha, Muslim bin Subayh, who said, "This Ayah,
(March forth, whether you are light or heavy) `Ali bin Zayd narrated that Anas said that Abu Talhah commented (on this Ayah), "Whether you are old or young, Allah did not leave an excuse for anyone. Abu Talhah marched to Ash-Sham and fought until he was killed. In another narration, Abu Talhah recited Surah Bara'ah until he reached this Ayah,
(March forth, whether you are light or heavy, and strive hard with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah.) He then said, "I see that Allah had called us to mobilize whether we are old or young. O my children! Prepare my supplies. His children said, `May Allah grant you His mercy! You conducted Jihad along with the Messenger of Allah until he died, then with Abu Bakr until he died, then with `Umar until he died. Let us perform Jihad in your place. Abu Talhah refused and he went to the sea [under the command of Mu`awiyah] where he died. They could not find an island to bury him on until nine days later, during which his body did not deteriorate or change and they buried him on the island. As-Suddi said,
(March forth, whether you are light or heavy), whether you are rich, poor, strong, or weak. A man came forward, and he was fat, complained, and asked for permission to stay behind [from Jihad], but the Prophet refused. Then this Ayah,Tafsir Ibn Kathir
Encyclopaedia of Islam Online
See Also
- Terrorism - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Terrorism
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Offensive Jihad Vs. Defensive Jihad - Islamic Emirate Online, The Fiqh Department
- ↑ Ibn Khaldun, The Muqudimmah: An Introduction to History, trans. Franz Rosenthal, vol. 1 (New York: Pantheon, 1958), pp. 60, 473, 480.
- ↑ Excerpted from Bidayat al-Mudjtahid, in Rudolph Peters, Jihad in Medieval and Modern Islam: The Chapters on Jihad from Averroes' Legal Handbook "Bidayat al-mudjtahid," trans. and annotated by Rudolph Peters (Leiden: Brill, 1977), pp. 9-25.
- ↑ Excerpted from Majid Khadduri, trans., al-Imam Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shaf'i's al-Risala fi us ul al-fiqh: Treatise on the Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1997), pp. 82-87.
- ↑ Ahmad Ibn Lulu Ibn Al-Naqib, translated by Noah Ha Mim Keller - Reliance of the Traveller: The Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law Umdat Al-Salik - Published by Amana Corporation; Revised edition (July 1, 1997), ISBN-13: 978-0915957729
- ↑ Referenced in 'The Rulings on Jihad and its Divisions', by Shaykh Yusuf al Uyayree, translated by Abu Osama
- ↑ Excerpted from Henri Laoust, trans., Le precis de droit d'Ibn Qudama, jurisconsulte musulman d'ecole hanbalite ne a Jerusalem en 541/1146, mort a Damas en 620/1123, Livre 20, "La Guerre Legale" (Beirut, 1950), pp. 273-76, 281. English translation by Michael J. Miller.
- ↑ "Encyclopaedia of Islam Online". BRILL. 2007. Retrieved October 2008.
