Alsiraj Official Website

We said in our previous essay: that the pope of Vatican had said, during his lecture in the German University, that he read a book written by Professor Tudor khory in which he related a part of discussion between the Emperor and an educated Persian Muslim, and the Emperor had rudely asked the Muslim about the relation between religion and violence: and he came to final point that Islam was spread by sword. We have mentioned some realities in the previous essay which prove that Islam was spread through convince and choice not by sword or force.

In that argument which happened between the Emperor and the Muslim, the emperor mentioned also the topic of jihad in Islam, and it was legislated for fighting and aggression. In this essay we will clarify to the pope of Vatican truly and objectively the real aims of the legislation of jihad in Islam, after being ignored by many of the western writers and others.. The pope of Vatican will see that jihad in Islam was legislated to defend the religion, the soul, the money, the oppressed, the human dignity and all of that could be defended legally, reasonably and lawfully.

But it was not legislated to kill innocent people nor to terrorism.These are some of realities which prove the correctness of what we said:

The first Reality:
The word jihad in Arabic language is derived from jahad which means strive and strain and doing all the power to reach a certain matter or to get a specific need, like getting money or reaching and obtaining championship in a certain branch of knowledge.

Perhaps such hard exertion comes through the physical body as we see in sport competitions, and such hard exertion may come through an argument with antagonist trying to introduce clear proofs and right evidences which stop such antagonists. From that the saying of Allah in the Holy Qumran to his prophet Muhammad , peace of Allah be upon him, "so obey not the disbelievers , but strive against them (by preaching) with the utmost endavour'' (Sura 25, verse 52).

The meaning is : we have given you Muhammad the Holy Quran which contains proves the right and stops the false. Hence you should be guarded with, and so you should not obey the disbelievers in what they are asking you to do either of false sayings or corrupted. But you, kind Prophet, should do your best to strive in order to convey what your Lord revealed to you, and strive with this Quran against disbelievers and continue doing this by using the verses of the Holy Quran which stops their corruption and lies.

The scholars divided Jihad in Islam into three divisions: There is what is called soul striving which means to prevent the soul from doing what Allah prohibited us to do and to control it by being away from such prohibited deeds, and at the same time to perform the duties which Allah, the Almighty, ordered us to do.

Allah says : the meaning of which : Allah swears with the right of the soul and who created it and made it ready to receive what completes and corrects it , as it can differentiate good from evil as Allah swears with the right of Himself who revealed to the human soul what makes it do all that, What the person purifies himself from sins and mistakes will succeed and be happy; whereas that who failed to control his soul from doing sins and evil deeds will be lost.

There is also what is called: devil striving which means not to obey the devil completely in what he tries to decorate and make it appear to man as good things, like evil and sins.

Allah the Almighty says in the Quran: ''Verily Satan is an enemy to you, so treat him as an enemy, he only invites his adherents that they may become companions of the blazing five '' (sura 35. Verse 6).

The third striving is that against unjust and aggressive people on earth through stopping their oppression and struggling against their aggression and to end their corruption by all means which are allowed by Allah to support the light and remove the falsehood.

The Holy Quran says concerning the three divisions of jihad in shariah of Islam : ''and those who strive in our (cause) we will certainly guide them to our path for Verily Allah is with those who do right '' (Sura 29 verse 69). The meaning of the Holy verse briefly is:

The true believers who strive and do their best in our obedience and in keeping themselves away from what we do not accept and in disobeying the Satan, fighting against unjust and aggressive people, we will guide them to the straight path. That is because our rules are to care with the faithful ones and to give victory for those who are pious.

The Western Writers fell in mistakes when they interpreted the word Jihad in Islam, to be for wars and fighting only.

Seventy years ago Maulana Muhammad Ali explained Jihad in his valuable book ''The Religion OF Islam'' saying on page 413, "There is common misunderstanding for the meaning of Jihad in Islam returns back for making it a synonym to the word '' war '' and even great researchers in Europe did not try to do their best to investigate any of Arabic dictionaries and the Holy Quran in order to know the exact meaning of the word s hence the misunderstanding became common. Jihad or striving means to do all your utmost strength, and jihad is divided into three sections : the first is to strive the clear enemy, the second to strive with Satan and the third is to strive with the soul."

The second Reality:
The essence of Islamic Shariah is peace, but Jihad to mean fighting is something exceptional which should not be done unless at the time to resist aggression or to stop unjustness and corruption. The proof for choosing "Islam'' as the accepted religion for Allah is the verse 19 in sura 3 ''the religion before Allah is Islam ''.

The word Islam is derived from the word (salam) which means peace and the two words Islam and salam meet together at the meaning of giving peace, safety and cooperation for goodness and piety among people and human-kind who return back to one origin (Adam & Eve), as Allah said : ''O Mankind revered your Guardian lord who created you from a single person, created of like nature his mate : and from them twain scattered men and women '' (sura 4 verse 1).

And this word ''lslam'' was repeated more than thirty times in the holy Quran. Such repeating of this word in many ways attracts the attention to this wise principle and makes the hearts, the minds and the feelings aware, and plants the virtue of brotherhood among human being, as to exchange all goodness and interests which are accepted by Allah and urges spreading the spirit of safety and peace among individuals and communities.

a- The blessing word (AL Salam) is mentioned as one of the best names attributed to Allah in the holy Quran : ''He is Allah The Creator, Initiator The Supreme Fashioner. To Him ( belong ) the Fairest Names What So ever is in the heavens and the earth hymen to Him, and He is The Ever-Mighty, the Ever wise". (Sura 59 verse 23).

b- The greetings among believers is: ''peace be upon you'' which is said by Muslim to others. And in the tradition of the prophet, he says : ''Allah made peace a greeting for our nation and a safety for the non Muslim people living among us.

c- The Muslim in his prayer recites the Fatiha and something from the holy Quran, then he says the greetings for the prophet, peace be upon him, for himself and for the pious creatures of Allah, once he finishes his prayer he says peace be upon you once on his right side and another on his left.

d- The greeting which is said to the believers in paradise is the peace , Allah says: ''Their salutation on the day they meet him will be ''peace'' and he has prepared for them a generous Reward'' (sura 33 verse 44 )

e- And the salutation of the angels to the believers on their way to paradise is ''peace'' as it is in the holy Quran : ''(namely) those whose lives the angels take in a state of purity, saying (to them) ''peace be upon you; enter the garden because of (the good) which you did (in the world) (sura 16 verse 32). and also : ''and these who feared their lord will be let to the Garden in crowds until, they arrive there; its gates will be opened and its keepers will say: peace be upon you: well have ye done: Enter ye here to dwelt there in ( sura 39 verse 73)

And also: "and the angels shall enter to them from every gate peace be upon you, for that you endured Patiently, so Favorable is the (ultimate) Out-come of the Home'' ( sura 13 verse 23, 24 )

f- The praying of believers in paradise is Glorifying Allah and the salutation of Allah and the angels is ''peace'' as it is mentioned in the Quran : ''this will be their cry there in ''Glory to thee, O Allah and '' peace '' will be their greeting therein and the close of their cry will be to Allah, the cherisher and sustainer of the worlds '' (sura 10 , verse 10)

g- And the talking among believers in paradise is peace Allah says : ''they will not there hear any vain discourse but only salutations of peace and they will have there in their sustenance, morning and evening '' (sura 19 verse 62) and Allah says :'' No frivolity will they hear therein. nor any taint of ill - * only the saying '' peace ! peace . '' (sura 56 verse 25 , 26), that means that the people of paradise will not hear false sayings but they will hear only right and correct saying and greet themselves.

h- The night of power which is better than thousand months is : '' peace it is, till the rising of the dawn''.

i- And Dar al salam which means the house of peace is called for paradise : '' But Allah doth call to the home of peace, he doth guide whom he pleaseth to a way that is straight . '' (sura 10 verse 25).

j- The repeated calling of the prophet to Allah was : '' O my lord you are the peace and the peace is from you, greet us Our Lord with peace'' from all that it is clear for every wise person that the shariah of Islam considers peace among people is the origin upon which the human relations are based. As for jihad had to mean fighting is an extraordinary which is not used except When necessity obliges for that.

The third Reality :
All the battles which occurred during the prophet's life were to stop injustice and remove aggression, and they were not for oppression or aggression or shedding blood or terrifying innocent people, there are many proofs for that:

a- In the battle of Badr, the first Battle in Islam , the polytheists of Quraish were the first to begin the fighting and were the reason for it, but the Muslims had to defend themselves .

The historians did not mention the reason for that battle which was: "the polytheists attacked and caused harms to the weak Muslims who were still in Mekkah after Hegra, since they were not able to stop migration to Madina. That attack and oppression increased daily till those oppressed muslins cried to Allah saying : ''Our Lord rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors and set for us from Thee One Who will protect; and set for us from Thee One Who will help" (Sura 4 verse 75).

Allah the Almighty responded to the cry of the oppressed Muslims in Mecca and ordered his Prophet Muhammad, peace of Allah be upon him, and his companions to hurry to help their weak brothers urging them to assist and support the oppressed: ''and why should you not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who , being weak, ill treated (and oppressed) men, women and children.'' (sura 4 verse 75 )

At that moment, the Prophet, peace be upon him responded to the order and hurried to help their weak brother's men, women and children, and in that battle the right conquered the false and the justice conquered injustice and faith conquered evil and corruption. That was clear that the first battle in Islam (Badr) was to help Oppressed Muslim people who could not immigrate to madina and faced the aggression of people of Mecca.

c- In the Battle of Auhud the Muslims did not go out for fighting, but after one year the battle of Badr the polytheists of Mecca gathered together in more than three thousand fighters with their leaders and women insisting to revenge and punish the Muslims, they reached the borders of Madina. The Muslims had a meeting with the Prophet, peace be upon him, to discuss what were they going to do; would they go out to fight their enemies who became near Madina? Or wait to bring them gradually to the narrow streets of Madina and then attack them there? The prophet, peace of Allah be upon him, preferred the second opinion where as the young Muslims preferred to get out to fight them outside Medina.

They insisted to do that until the Prophet agreed and what happened was a great number of Muslims were killed.

c- In AL Ahzab battle more than ten thousands men from different tribes gathered and moved towards Madina to get rid of Islam and Muslims, supported by some leaders of the Jews. The prophet knew that, and asked his companions what they were going to do in front of that aggressive armies? Salman Al Faresy suggested to dig a ditch around Madina and the Muslims began to realize that idea in the places that the unbelievers may invade from .

The unbelievers reached Madina and the fighting began. The battle ended by conquering and defeating the aggressors who resumed back and Allah described them in the Holy Quran : "and Allah drove back those who disbelieved in their rage; they gained no advantage'' Allah was a Sufficient (Protector) to the believers from fighting, and Allah has been Ever Powerful Ever-Mighty '' (sura 33, verse 25). Hence all the battles the Prophet shared were either to support and help oppressed Muslims, or to defend the religion, the soul or the human dignity, but they were not for the sake of injustice or aggression.

The Fourth Realty:
Islamic Shariah had set conditions must be followed by believers and should apply them. These conditions were mentioned in the Holy Quran: ''And fight in the way of Allah those who fight you, but transgress not the limits. Truly Allah likes not the transgressors '' (sura 2 verse 190).

The word fight means the trying of someone to kill that who tries to kill him, and fighting means the attempt of everybody of the warriors to kill the other. The transgressing means the attempt to go for beyond the limit that Allah ordered or prohibited. Imam Ibn Kathir said in interpreting this verse: For that in Sahih Muslim, Borida told that the Prophet, peace of Allah be upon him, said to his companions: '' fight for the sake of Allah and do not flee nor disfigure a body, nor kill a child nor a worshipper in his place of worship ''

In Al-Sahihain *lbn Omar said:'' in some battles I found a killed woman, the Prophet peace of Allah be upon him: rejected killing women or children''.

When Abu Bakr sent Osama Ibn Zaid to Syria to fight the aggressors, he said to him: '' Do not betray nor flee, nor disfigure a body, nor kill a child, nor an old man, nor kill a woman and do not cut palm trees nor a fruitful tree. You will pass by peoples who dedicated themselves for worship, they are monksleave them to what they dedicated themselves to.''

From the verses which deal with such conditions: ''Truly Allah defends those who believe, verily Allah likes not any treacherous ingrate to Allah. Permission to fight back is given to those who have been oppressed, and surely, Allah is Most powerful to bring their victory. Those who have been expelled from their homes unjustly only because they said; ''Our lord is Allah'' for. Had it not been that Allah checks one of people by means of another monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, wherein the name of Allah is mentioned much would surely have been pulled down, Verily Allah will help those help his (cause) truly Allah is All-strong , Almighty '' (sura 22, verse 38 – 40) .

The meaning is: Allah the Al-Mighty - by his favor and merit defends his believing servants against the atheist and cruel aggressors, because He is the Almighty does not like that who betrays oath and loyalty.

Then Allah permitted for believers to defend themselves and fight their enemies who were unjust to them. He gave them good tidings that He will grant them victory. Because He set the rule that the good future would be for His sincere believing servants.

Then Allah cleared the reasons for the legal jihad to support the right, he said: ''Those who have been expelled from their homes unjustly and for nothing except to say our lord and creator is Allah only. and unless Allah the Al-mighty sends those who fight the tyrants and stop them , those tyrants have done evil and cruelty on earth and destroyed the places of warship: churches, mosques, and temples, Allah will give victory to that who supports the religion of Allah and his constant obeyers , Allah is All-Strong, Al-Mighty.

These verses made it clear and in a good method that Allah defends his believing servants, and He permitted for them to Fight the cruel tyrants who oppressed the people of faith and expelled them from their homes, and unless Allah set the just rules to defeat the people of evil and cruelty; the earth would have been corrupted.

The fifth reality:
The Shriah of Islam likes, to its followers, to be peaceful people, and asks them to accept ending and stopping the war, once the enemies ask for that if that ending or stopping will not cause any harms for believers.

Allah says: ''But if they incline to peace, you also incline to it, and trust in Allah. Verity, He is the All-Hearer, the All-knower. And if they intend to deceive you, then verily, Allah is All-sufficient for you. He is Who has supported you with His help and with the believers '' (sura 8, verse 61 , 62).

The Holy verse encourages the Prophet, peace of Allah be upon him, to have the path of reconciliation if it was for the goodness of Muslims, as it gives good tidings for him that he will realize victory, even if the enemies pretended falsely to have peace.

The sixth Reality:
The Shariah of Islam sets some morals which should be attached in case of war. Such morals like fulfillment of promises and covenants. So if the Muslims promised some people for certain matter, they should fulfill it completely.

The Prophet, peace of Allah be upon him, gave us the best example of fulfillment of the promise; from the conditions and bonds of Hudaibia Agreement which were : ''If someone from Quraish came to Muslims, the Muslims should derive him back, whereas if someone from Muslims went to Quraish, Quraish should not derive him back'' hence Quraish sent Abu Rafei to the Messenger of Allah, peace of Allah be upon him , Abu Rafei felt faith in his heart, he said to the prophet : O messenger of Allah I will not get back to Quraish and stay with you as a Muslim. The prophet, peace be upon him, said to him that : I do not break a promise , get back to them. and if you find, after that, what you are finding in your heart now get back to us.

From these morals, preventing to kill those who do not fight against you, prohibiting to disfigure the body, nor to kill an injured man, prohibiting cutting fruitful trees, spoiling wells, destructing homes, to treat war prisoners politely. If some one from the side of the enemy asked for security you should respond to his request and he should not be violated, that is because Allah says: '' And if any one of the polytheists (disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) seeks your protection then grant him protection so that he may hear the words of Allah "The Quran" and then escort him to where he can feel secure, that is because they are men who know not '' (sura 9 , verse 6)

The meaning is if someone from the disbelievers seeks your protection you should respond to his request to listen to the Quran and think of it, if he believed, he would be one of your followers, and if still on his disbelieving and wished to get back to his home land you have to keep him safe until he gets back to his place.

Finally Jihad in Islam was legislated to defend the Right, to support the oppressed ones, to spread security and peace on land and to punish the cruel ones, since if they were neglected without punishment, the earth will be corrupted. And those who say something else we respond to them by the saying of Allah: ''Mighty is the word that comes out of their mouths. They utter nothing but a lie'' (sura 1 5, verse 5). Hence it become clear for every wise person that war in shariah of Islam is not the essence, but it is an exception from that essence which is the peace and safety among humankind.

War is a necessity which is measured by its causes, and a punishment to be ended by the end of the crime, and it is limited by the bonds of the legal defense not to go before nor beyond.

Islam is a religion of benevolence and betterment which does not contradict justice nor encourage crime. As Islam does not leave the right to be aggressed and violated by the falsehood. It is a religion of wide mercy and kindness, but activates its force against criminals, It is a religion of Justice and benevolence.

For any feedback or suggestions please contact us at.

• feedback@alsiraj.net

For any Questions please contact us at.

• questions@alsiraj.net