BASICS OF ISLAM :
Jihad.Part2
Jihad is the legacy of the Prophets, and Prophethood is the mission of elevating people to God's favor by purifying them. This Prophetic mission is known as jihad, for it has the same meaning as bearing witness to the truth. Those who perform jihad bear witness to God's Existence and Unity by striving in His way:
God bears witness that there is no god but He and so do the angels and the people of learning, maintaining justice: there is no god save He, the All-Mighty, the Wise (3:18).
Such people also bear witness to the same truth in the heavenly court, where the case of unbelievers will be settled.
God bears witness to His own Existence and Unity, and those who have acquired a high level of perception can grasp the reality of this testimony. Angels bear witness to this, as they are absolutely pure in nature, as do those endowed with knowledge. Even if everybody were to deny God's Existence and Unity, the testimony of these groups is enough to establish this truth.
Those who bear witness to this truth should travel throughout the world to spread it. This was the duty of the Prophets, and it should be our duty as well:
Messengers who brought good news to humanity and who admonished them, so that they might have no argument against God after their coming. God is the All-Mighty and the All-Wise. God Himself bears witness by what He has revealed to you that it has been revealed with His knowledge; and so do the angels. There is no better witness than God. (4:165–66)
God chose a man from each nation and appointed him a Prophet. From the time of Prophet Adam, each dark era of human history was enlightened by a Prophet's message. This continued until the time of Muhammad, who was sent to enlighten all people's intellectual and spiritual horizons:
We have sent you (Muhammad) as a witness and a bearer of good tidings and a warner (48:8).
Prophet Muhammad is mentioned in the Qur'an as "the Prophet". The use of the definite article distinguishes him from all other Prophets and indicates that he is the Prophet par excellence. He has been sent as a blessing all creation, including animals, plants, and inanimate things.
God directly addresses Muhammad in many Qur'anic verses and says: We have sent you… This means that he is the Prophet sent by God to bear witness to His Existence and Unity. He carried out this task during a time of ignorance, when almost everyone denied this truth. Gradually, his followers increased until they became the global flag bearers of this truth. Prophet Muhammad conveyed the good news of happiness in this world and the next for those who do good, and warnings for those who do evil. In so doing, he performed jihad.
God has sent a Prophet to each people, which means that everyone has some idea of Prophethood. As the term used to describe the activity of Prophethood, jihad is so deeply engraved on the heart of every believer that they all feel a profound responsibility to spread the truth and thereby guide others to the Straight Path.
The lesser jihad, usually understood as fighting for God's cause, does not refer only to actual fighting on the battlefield. Rather it is comprehensive, for it includes every action from speaking out to actual fighting, provided that the action is done for the sake of God. Every individual or communal action, no matter how great or small, taken to benefit humanity is included in the meaning of the lesser jihad.
While the lesser jihad depends on mobilizing all material facilities and is performed in the outer world, the greater jihad is our personal fight against our carnal selves.
These two forms of jihad cannot be separated from each other, for only those who conquer their carnal selves can perform the lesser jihad, which, in turn helps us succeed in the greater jihad.
The Messenger taught us how to perform both types of jihad, and established the principles of preaching the truth that we are to follow until the Day of Judgment. His method of acting was very systematic. This is actually another proof of his Prophethood, and a wonderful example of following the way of God in behavior.
The Messenger used to pray at the Ka'ba during the first years of his Prophethood. In addition to hoping for increased rewards from God for doing so, his foremost intention was to preach the truth to young people. But it was impossible to approach them because of their haughtiness. Knowing that actions speak louder than words, he started praying at the Ka'ba. With their curiosity aroused, they asked him what he was doing and so gave him a good opportunity to preach to them.
The Prophet was attacked several times while praying. Once, Abu Jahl planned to kill him with a big stone during his prostration. Abu Jahl held the stone aloft, ready to bring it down on the Prophet, but then began to tremble, grew pale with fear, and held his hands motionless above his head. When asked what had happened, he answered that an awful monster had come between him and the Prophet, and that it almost swallowed him. ( Muslim, Munafiq, 38. )
On another occasion when the Prophet was praying, 'Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ait wound his turban round the Prophet's neck in an attempt to strangle him. On hearing of this, Abu Bakr hurried to the scene to save the Prophet and shouted: "Would you kill a man merely because he says: 'My Lord is God'?" This was an echo of the words spoken in the time of Moses by a believer who had hurried to save him from those who wished to kill him.
The Prophet might have been martyred in any of those assaults if God had not protected him. He publicly demonstrated the importance of preaching the truth even at the risk of one's life. Abu Bakr used to recite the Qur'an loudly by the window of his house. Those who heard him started to gather around him. His recitation attracted so many people that the Makkan chiefs warned him to stop. Ibn Daghinnah, who had extended his protection to Abu Bakr, was forced to revoke it. However, Abu Bakr was determined to continue his recitation. ( Bukhari, Kafala, 4. )
Whether by words or actions, the Companions never stopped performing jihad, because they believed firmly that their personal and communal integrity depended on their active participation in jihad. Furthermore, they understood that a Muslim can secure the protection of God only by supporting His religion:
Believers: if you help (the religion of) God, God will help you and make you strong (47:7).
In other words, Muslims who seek protection from going astray must make struggling in the cause of God their sole goal in life.
To understand how this is done, recall how the Prophet and his Companions conducted themselves. When conditions became unbearable, some Muslims were allowed to migrate to Abyssinia. This migration was a kind of jihad to be carried out at that time. After a second migration, all Muslims who remained or had returned to Makka then emigrated to Madina.
There, the foundations were laid for both the first Islamic city-state and a new kind of jihad, one that had to take existing realities into account. Sometimes the Muslims would run and at other times they would go slowly. In other words, jihad needs its own strategy. The Muslims did not retaliate against their tormenters until God gave them permission to do so by revealing the following verse in Madina:
Permission (to take up arms) is hereby given to those who are attacked because they have been wronged; and God is able to give them victory. They are those who have been driven from their homes unjustly only because they said: "Our Lord is God." Had it not been for God's repelling some men by means of others, cloisters and churches and oratories and mosques wherein the name of God is often mentioned, would have been pulled down. God helps one who helps His religion. God is Powerful, Mighty (22:39–40).