*I know its a bit long, but trust me its worth the read*
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JIHAD & THE MIDDLE WAY
al-Habib as-Sayyid Ali al-Jifri
Anyone who makes the claim that he wants to serve the Deen yet is not
thinking about jihad in the way of Allah, either has no understanding or he
is not a truthful and sincere person. However, concerning the issue of
jihad, people have gone to two extremes, both of which are mistaken. One
group understood from the concept of jihad that it is necessary to view all
the kuffar as those whom we must raise the sword or rifle to kill. The other
group understands from the concept of jihad that we must be gentle,
affectionate, and love all of them, and by doing such we would be
“struggling” (i.e. making “jihad”) with them to bring them back to Allah and
His Deen. Obviously, both groups have fallen into error. In reality, we are
not a people whose mission is to kill the kuffar, nor are we a people who
love the kuffar unrestrictedly. When it is time for fighting, we do not
fight except those who, by doing so, we would be serving Allah alone (not
our passions or personal agendas).
Sayyidina Ali (may Allah honor his face) was fighting a kafir in one of the
battles. During the battle Sayyidna Ali knocked him down and raised his
sword to kill him. As soon as the kafir knew that he was going to be killed
he spat in Sayyidna Ali’s face, so immediately Sayyidna Ali left him and
went on his way. He was later asked, “Why did you leave him when Allah
clearly gave you power over him?!” Sayyidna Ali replied, “I was fighting
him for the sake of Allah, and when he spat in my face I feared that if I
killed him it would have been out of personal revenge and spite.”
From this we understand that it is obligatory that we differentiate between
fighting people who are our own personal enemies and others whom we fight
because they are the enemies of Allah. If a believer is forced to fight a
kafir, he fights him not because the kafir hates him, because the kafir is
conspiring against him, because the kafir wants to overcome him, rather, he
fights him only because he is an enemy to Allah, the time to fight has come,
and the command from Allah has been given.
On the other hand, we have those who say, “We must love the kuffar, be kind
with them, and esteem them. They are nice people and they have a lot of good
in them.” People who say this have mixed truth with falsehood, just as those
who say they want to kill all the kuffar, without understanding or
differentiation, have also mixed truth with falsehood.
It is impossible for a true believer to love a kafir: “You will not find
people who believe in Allah and the Last Day having love for anyone who
opposes Allah and His Messenger” (Qur’an 58-21). With this said, we do love
goodness for them. There is a clear difference between loving them and
loving goodness for them. If you say you love them then you are claiming
that you love their essence (thaat) that you interact with in front of you,
yet the believer doesn’t love any essence except the essence of Allah
(Thaatul-llah), the Mighty and Majestic. If you love the good qualities in
them while desiring that the possessor of these qualities is saved from the
fire, and uses them in the service of Allah, while looking at them with the
eye of mercy and the eye of desiring salvation for them, because you know
that this pleases Allah, then in this case you have understood how to
interact with them.
So we view all the kuffar as being, firstly, the creation of Allah. And as
Muslims, we love Allah’s creation. Therefore, we do not love the kafir,
rather, we love Allah’s creation (suna’ Allah). We view them as being a
means for our spiritual transaction with Allah; a means for our drawing
nearer to Allah. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “For
Allah to guide one person (to Islam) through you is greater than the whole
world and all that is in it.”
Hence, through this balance do we interact with them upon the foundation of
having mercy for them, compassion for them, and a desire to try to save them
from the fire. This is the only way we should view our interaction with
them. We do not esteem the influential one amongst them because he can
benefit us in our da’wah (as a kafir), nor are we generous with the needy
amongst them because we love them in themselves, rather, we deal with the
influential, the poor, the sick, and the young amongst them with mercy, and
through mercy, because this is the way that Allah loves.
The way we enter discourse with them should be in ways that their intellects
can understand, using means that they like and are familiar with, as long as
it is not prohibited in the Sacred Law. This is not because those means are
the only means, but rather, because they are means that Allah loves. So if
the time comes that it is more pleasing to Allah that we use another type of
means, with some of them, then we do not hesitate for even one second to
abandon the old method and to use the new method. The principle is that we
are expansive and inclusive of everyone, merciful with everyone, loving and
wanting goodness for everyone, from societies to leaders, from Muslims to
kafirs. Then if a situation arose that calls us to deal with sternness, even
if it reached the level of fighting, then we do not allow our previous ways
of mercy and gentleness to delay that which Allah has commanded.
One of the sons of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, did
not become a Muslim while they were in Mecca, and as you know, the affection
of a father to his son is much greater then the affection of a son to his
father. In Mecca, Sayyidina Abu Bakr tried with love and gentleness to
convince his son as to the veracity of Islam. He used the best and loftiest
means to try to bring him over to Islam, yet Allah had not decreed for him
to become a Muslim just yet. Sayyidina Abu Bakr made Hijrah and later went
to fight in the battle of Badr. This son of his also went out on the day of
Badr, yet he was with the kuffar. The son was trying his best to avoid his
father so they would not have to fight each other. Later, when his son
accepted Islam, he said to his father, “Oh my father, on the day of Badr
(when I was a kafir) I was avoiding you so we wouldn’t have to fight.”
Sayyidina Abu Bakr replied to him, “As for me, if I met you on that day I
would have killed you.”
What is the reason behind this? This intricate point is necessary for us to
understand. When the action of the son wasn’t based on servitude to Allah,
but rather, was based on compassion (for his father), and his going out to
battle was only for glory, honor, and nationalistic goals, this was how he
acted. His actions were a slave to his emotions. On the other hand, the
actions of Sayyidina Abu Bakr (in Mecca) and his love and compassion were
not for himself, but for the sake of his Lord. So when the time came that he
had to serve Allah by fighting against his son, he didn’t waiver, even if it
meant his own son’s death. We are in need of this criterion in establishing
the correct concept of jihad with the kuffar.
Therefore, the understanding of jihad is to establish the means for the
guidance and salvation of the kuffar, not merely to just fight them.
Fighting them happens in a few cases, and the goal behind it is to save
others from the oppression of the ones who are preventing the guidance from
spreading. We do not fight out of revenge and spite. The Muslim doesn’t
fight because the kafir is my (personal) enemy, because the kafir is
conspiring against me, because the kafir has killed and slaughtered other
Muslims. The Muslim fights the kafir because he has prevented and has become
a barrier for the guidance to reach others. Again, the Muslim doesn’t fight
out of revenge and only because the enemy has killed other Muslims. Think
about what is being said deeply!
The Prophet, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, when he
entered Mecca, didn’t avenge for the killings of the Muslims on the day of
Uhud., even though Allah established him over the kuffar on that day of the
great Conquest (the Fath). These disbelievers in Mecca were the same ones
who killed his companions and members of his own family! These were the same
people who barred the guidance from reaching others. These were the same
people who ripped open the chest and stomach of Sayyidina Hamza (the uncle
and companion of the Blessed Prophet, peace be upon him). These were the
same people who ate from the liver of Sayyidina Hamza, may Allah be blessed
with him. And what is more amazing is that those who actually conspired to
kill Hamza (Hind and Wahshi), their Islam was accepted by the Prophet, peace
and blessing be upon him, and he didn’t kill either of them even after their
accepting of the faith.
If we were to understand that the purpose of fighting against the kuffar is
to avenge for spilt Muslim blood then it would have been befitting for the
Prophet, peace be upon him, to command the killing of Wahshi and Hind right
when he entered Mecca. But the issue with the Muslims is not one of revenge,
it is an issue of guidance and the spreading of its light. The Muslim is the
“letter of guidance” sent to humanity from Allah (al-Muslim bareed
hidayat-illah ila al-khalq). So when the Prophet, peace and blessings be
upon him, saw that there was hope in them being guided he said, “Go, for
verily you are free.” And this is how our interaction must be. The day I
meet with an enemy soldier off the battle field, who killed Muslims in
Afghanistan, and I sense that he may want guidance, then I will treat him
with the utmost of mercy. This is what we MUST understand. So our ultimate
and primary mission in jihad is their guidance, even while we might be
(physically) fighting them!
All this is clearly understood in the beautiful story where our Blessed
Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, got upset with Usamah ibn Zaid,
the beloved, the son of the beloved (he was named this because the Prophet,
peace be upon him, loved him greatly). Usamah was out on the battle field
fighting the enemy. During the heat of the battle one of the enemies slipped
and fell, so Usamah lifted his sword to strike him. Immediately the enemy
shouted out “La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasul-lullah,” yet, Usamah struck
and killed the man anyway. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him,
heard of this and began to greatly blame and censure Usamah saying, “Did you
kill him after he said it (the Shahadah)!?” Usamah replied, “Oh Messenger
of Allah, he only said it our of fear of the sword.” “Did you look into his
heart?! Oh Usamah,” replied the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him.
This same kafir may have killed many Muslims on that day, and he was in the
act of fighting against the Muslims, yet, as soon as he said the Shahadah,
even if it was in hypocrisy, and Usamah didn’t refrain himself and killed
him, the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, became very upset. The
Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, continued to blame Usamah about
what he did for the rest of the day, until Usamah said, “I wish that I
became a Muslim after this day” (meaning that he wished that the event never
even happened and that he could have a fresh start in Islam).
This incident is not mentioned to put blame on Sayyidina Usamah, may Allah
be pleased with him. Rather, there is an important principle that we must
understand here. The mishaps of the individual companion of the Prophet,
peace be upon him, are looked at as a further perfection in the society of
the companions. This is so because the goal behind the community of the
companions is that we may emulate them, so if no mishaps occurred by
individual companions, then we would not know how to deal with a person who
falls into error in our time and the times to come. Therefore, the mishap of
one of the companions is in reality a perfection on the societal level. All
this was so that the realities of what it really means to learn may fully
manifest themselves for us.
In this incident, the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, made firm in
our hearts the understanding that even while fighting, our goal is their
guidance. So if the enemy shows the signs of being guided, then the fighting
between us and them ceases, even if it was an outward form without any true
reality. That is why the meaning of the statement, “Did you kill him after
he said it, Oh Usamah?!” is that we should not let our drive to fight blind
us from the real cause of fighting, which is their guidance.
This is why they mention about our master Al-Hussein, the son of Ali (may
Allah be pleased with them both), when his army met the army of the mistaken
and fugitive Muslims who wanted to kill him, he looked at them and began to
weep. The number of Al-Hussein’s men, including the women (non-combatants),
did not exceed 80, while the number of the opposition was greater then
3,000. Remember, Al-Hussein is the son of the daughter of the Messenger of
Allah, peace and blessing be upon him, the beautiful scent of the Messenger
(rayhanat Rasulillah, a title given to him by the Messenger himself, peace
be upon him), the master of the youth of paradise, the one whom the
Messenger made supplication to Allah for saying, “Oh Allah, love the one who
loves him (Al-Hussein).”
The army had risen against Al-Hussein after pledging allegiance to him. They
gathered 17,000 signatures from the people of their land and called
Al-Hussein out to them saying “come and lead us to goodness.” So when he
went to them they met him with an army of 3,000 men wanting to kill him,
most of them being from amongst those who signed the allegiance. These were
people who wanted to commit one of the greatest crimes on the face of the
earth: killing a member of the family of the Prophet, peace and blessing be
upon him!
As Al-Hussein stood looking at his deceptive opponents he began to weep. His
sister, Zaiynab, saw him weeping so she asked him, “What is it that makes
you weep, Oh Hussein? Are you afraid of death? For verily you are heading
for your martyred brother Al-Hasan, your martyred father Ali, your mother
Fatima, and your grandfather the Messenger of Allah!” Al-Hussein turned to
her and said “Woe to you, Oh Zaynab! Al-Hussein is not one to be afraid of
death!” “Then what is this that I see upon your face?” she asked. He
replied, “Oh Zaynab, I looked at these men who were treacherous to the
covenant of Allah that we made, and I see that they will kill me and enter
the fire if they have no right for doing so, while I wish that they will go
to paradise instead.”
This is the meaning that is incumbent upon you to understand concerning
jihad. If you understand this while removing from your hearts the delusional
power of “physical means,” and “people of means” (ahlul-asbab), while adding
to this the realities of da’wah and seeking sacred knowledge, and you take
these as means to the foundational purpose of your creation, which is your
worship of Allah, you will be from amongst those chosen and elevated by
Allah, to the levels of closeness, in this age that we live in. And this is
the mission that you came for, if you but understood. This is what you must
ask Allah for in these days that end Ramadan, and for the rest of your
lives.
Allah's Blessings & Peace on Prophet, his Family, and his Companions
