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Akademik Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, Yıl: 4, Sayı: 30, Eylül 2016, s. 220-247
Yayın Geliş Tarihi / Article Arrival Date Yayınlanma Tarihi / The Published Date
03.07.2016 10.09.2016
Yrd. Doç. Dr. İsmail ACAR
Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi, İlahiyat Fakültesi, İslam Hukuku
JIHAD AND WAR:
DELVING INTO CONNECTIONS AND DISTINCTIONS IN THE
PRIMARY SOURCES OF ISLAM
The purpose of this article is to explore definitional and hermeneutic connections
between jihad and war in the primary sources of Islam, and to shed light at some
developments related to later contestations on the subject. To begin with I shall
examine the term jihad as an independent concept operating as a singular theory in
its own right, then I will relate it to the doctrine of warfare in Islam. By paying a
close attention to the foundational framework of jihad, I aim to uncover the extent
to which jihad exhibits clear connections or distinctions definitional and
theological circumscriptions of war. How do the primary sources of Islam, then,
delimit the relationship between these two seemingly transposable notions?
Keywords: Jihad, War, Jihad-War
Jihad and war: Delving into connections and distinctions in the primary sources of Islam
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CİHAD VE SAVAŞ KAVRAMLARININ TEMEL KAYNAKLARDA
BİRLEŞEN VE AYRILAN NOKTALARI ÜZERİNE BİR ARAŞTIRMA
Bu makalenin amacı tanım ve anlam alanı bakımından cihad ile savaş arasındaki
ilişkiyi temel kaynakları esas alarak ortaya koymak ve bu çerçeveden sonraki
gelişme ve yorumları değerlendirmektir. Öncelikle cihad kavramını bağımsız bir
terim olarak ele alıp inceledikten sonra onun savaş kavramı ile bağlantısı üzerinde
durulacaktır. Cihad kavramının temel prensiplerini yakından inceledikten sonra bu
terimin savaş kavramı ile bağlantılarını veya ayrıldıkları noktaların açığa
çıkarılması çalışmamızın önemli noktalarını oluşturur. Kısacası birbirinin yerine
kullanılmaktan çekinilmeyen bu iki kavramın varsayılan bu ilişkisini İslam'ın temel
kaynakları ne kadar onay veriyor onun üzerinde durulacaktır.
Anahtar kelimeler: Cihad, Savaş, Cihad-Savaş
The complicated and controversial topic of jihad in much of the Anglo-American academy
has understandably received multi-faceted and unsettling discussions thus far. The real bone of
contention in most of these discussions seems to center around the unsatisfactory and
problematic issue of the very meaning, and translation of the term jihad into English as ‘holy
war’. Indeed, this translation may inevitably mislead many by unfairly assuming a direct and an
unquestionable correlation between the concept of jihad and holy war. Textual evidence
demonstrates the total absence of this adjectival construct of ‘holy war,’ al-ḥarb al-muqaddasa
in classical Islamic sources.1 Those contemporary scholars who have freely deployed the idea of
holy war have been primarily interested in facilitating the theoretical conception of this term
from Arabic, and to a great extent, they have genuinely attempted to make sense of jihad
tradition to a western post-Christian readership.2 Furthermore, they have arguably underscored
the fact that the notion of ‘holy war’ has its own archeology of ideas in European Christian
culture all the way to its theological and political appropriations by the crusaders in the middle
ages as they ventured to restore ownership of the Holy Land.3 On this account alone such
inadequate translation not only generates serious misunderstanding in the minds of those
1 K. Abou al-Fadl, The Place of Tolerance in Islam (Boston: Beacon Press, 2002), 13; Abu al-A’lā Mawdudi, Jihād
in Islam: Speech on Iqbal Day, (Lahore: Islamic Publications Limited, 1976), 6; W. Shepard, Introducing Islam (New
York: Routledge, 2009), 39; M. Bonner, Jihad in Islamic History: Doctrines and Practice (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 2006), 5; J. Kelsay, “al-Shaybani and the Islamic Law of War,” Journal of Military Ethics 2/1
(2003): 63–75: 63; M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, “Qur’anic ‘jihād’: A Linguistic and Contextual Analysis,” Journal of
Qur’anic Studies 12 (2010): 147–166: 147; G. Marranci, Jihad Beyond Islam (New York: Berg, 2006), 17-18; A.
Özel, “Cihad” in TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi (Istanbul: TDV Yayinlari, 1993), 527-531: 531. 2 Ali Muhammad Sallābi, Salaḥuddin al-Ayyubī wa Juhūduhū (Beirut: Dar al-Marifa, 2008), 29, 40-43, 116, 135;
Qutub critiques addressing jihad with “holy war”: al-harb al-muqaddasa. Sayyid Qutub, Fī Zilāl al-Qur’ān (Beirut:
Dar al-Shurūq, 1986), III, 1444; Qaradawi uses al-harb al-mukaddasa, (Y. Qaradawi, Fiqh al-Zakah (Fiqh al-Zakah)
Translated by Monzer Kahf, (Jeddah: King Abdulaziz University, 2005), II, 662. 3 R. G. Boling, Jashua: A New Translation with Notes and Commentary (New York: Doubleday, 1982), 28-31, 37,
67, 72, 133, 150-151; J. T. Johnson, The Holy War Idea in Western and Islamic Traditions (University Park, PA:
Penn State University Press, 1997), 34; Armstrong, Karen. Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today’s
World (New York: Anchor Books, 2001),147-199; R. Firestone, Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1999), 14; R. L. Rubenstein, “Holocaust and Holy War,” Annals of the American Academy
of Political and Social Science 548 (The Holocaust: Remembering for the Feature 1996), 23-44.
Jihad and war: Delving into connections and distinctions in the primary sources of Islam
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unfamiliar with the semantic genealogy of the term in primary Islamic sources, but it does less
justice to distinguishing the theological and historical specificity of each of these formulations.
This scholarly conversation whose aim has been to come terms with this odd pairing of
terms, has, in most cases, tried to grapple with the historic and semantic evolution of jihad and
the extent of its associations with violence and warfare. Khadduri, for example, considers the
term jihad relatable to holy war4. Watt scrupulously delves into the various layers of the
semantics of jihad, but in the end he leaves himself with no other option but to translate jihad as
holy war.5 Kahrl on the other hand makes a more courageous leap of critical analysis by arguing
that holy war is nothing but an invention of the West and the idea of jihad in Islam has so little
to do with war, (let alone its holiness!), as understood in the modern military lexicon of
warfare.6 Peters goes further to claim that since there are multiple meanings for the term jihad, it
makes sense to avoid translating it as holy war.7 Bonner makes this point even more
conspicuous by stating transparently that “the word jihad does not mean ‘holy war’.”8 Hallaq, in
his response to the disavowing reactions in the west against the politics of jihad, he defines jihad
without using the term holy war.9Afsaruddin avoids using holy war and translates jihad as
simply striving. She finds substantive affinities between the core moral values of Islam like
sabr/patience/forbearance - which are in essence driven by the raw emotions of eagerness,
craving, or self-restraint, deep devotion and vigor, and the thrust of hermeneutic flexibility in
the jihad tradition.10
Beyond the daunting issue of accurate translation or signification, some scholars have shed
light on a wider application of jihad by looking at both primary Islamic texts and at the classical
narrative literature in order to distinguish a history between war/holy war and the doctrine of
jihad. Johnson examines the translation of jihad vis-à-vis holy war and states that “applying the
term to jihad assimilates two quite different religious concepts to each other, along with their
respective social, political, and historical associations.”11 He further examines various ways of
correspondence between holy war and jihad, and he finally seems to find some well-grounded
similarities.12 Abou Fadl responds to such reading by claiming that “Johnson ends up projecting
the Western symbolism of holy war upon the Islamic tradition anyway… [and] consistently
speaks of the Islamic concept of holy war.”13Abou Fadl’s remark points out to an underlying
tension in the very approach used to dismantle the two concepts. This notion is also seen in
Firestone’s analysis; he brings together a vast discussion on the application of jihad in Islamic
4 M. Khadduri, War and Peace in the Law of Islam (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1955), 71. 5 M. Watt, “Islamic Conceptions of the Holy War,” In The Holy War, ed. T. P. Murphy (Columbus: Ohio State
University Press, 1976), 141-156: 145. 6 S. J. Kahrl, Introduction to The Holy War, ed. T. P. Murphy (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1976), 4;
Mawdudi, Jihad, 6. 7 R. Peters, Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1996), 1. 8 Bonner, Jihad, 2. 9 W. Hallaq, Sharī‘a: Theory, Practice, Transformations (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 324; L. See
for details on the subject: Fatoohi, Jihad in the Qur’an: The Truth from the Source (Birmingham: Luna Plena
Publishing, 2009), 23. 10 A. Afsaruddin, Striving in the Path of God: Jihād and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2013), 11, 179-204. 11 Johnson, Holy War, 31. 12 Johnson, Holy War, 42. 13 K. Abou Al-Fadl, “The Use and Abuse of Holy War,”
http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/journal/14/review_essays/216.html (February 18, 2016).
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texts; he sees some intersection between the concepts of jihad and holy war as it is so clear from
the very title of his book: Jihād: the Source of Holy War in Islam. Even though he
unequivocally stresses that “the term ‘holy war’ is a European invention” he still manages to
draw a conceivable comparison between “European expressions of holy war” and “the Islamic
expressions of holy war” to describe jihad in Islam.14
Another significant source of tension paradoxically lies in classical legal scholarship. With
the exception of a few cases, a substantive majority of Muslim jurists associated jihad with the
concept of warfare; they unambiguously discussed war and jihad as if they were one term or one
doctrine. This particular hermeneutic deviation from core sources was a matter of circumstantial
necessity; jurists evidently responded to the historic conditions of their time (they had
voluntarily suspended the relevance of other types and structures of jihad) - and focused more
on the jihad tradition of warfare that would respond and justify their predicament of imminent
conflict with uncompromising polytheists. In fact, only a handful of classical jurists have
managed to insist on a sober disassociation between jihad and war.
Then, what remains curious and perhaps even disconcerting among contemporary scholars of
jihad is markedly their tendency to lapse back into the habit of collapsing jihad and war/holy
war.15 What is really at stake - when we recognize the limitation of our translation, and we
pinpoint precarious semantic and historically cultural collusions, yet we fall back into the pitfall
of making so little a distinction between the epistemological, semantic and historic structures of
jihad, war, and holy war? Looking at a consensus of earlier classical jurists and some of the
ambivalent renderings in modern scholarship on jihad, we are likely still facing a perplexing
epistemic crisis in our understanding of jihad. Therefore, how can one be pedagogically
conclusive enough to reach a break with the heritage of untranslatability and miscomprehension
between the tradition of Islamic jihad and the current scholarly attempt to discern some subtle
alterity?
I suggest a closer and more critical examination of the discursive appearance of the modality
of jihad and its connection to war in the very foundational sources of Islam may yield more
nuanced answers. I argue that the Qur’an and much of the Sunna narratives use the term jihad to
refer to a limited military action; this small space of crossing, understandably enough, has been
widened for various ideological purposes, and has materialized at uneven junctures of Islamic
history. However, the convergence between them may not be strong enough to warrant the use
of these as two transposable terms.
By delving into a system of discursive manifestations of these two appellations in the Qur’an
and in the hadith literature, I will demonstrate that (1) jurists used jihad and war interchangeably
in order to respond to specific contextual circumstances; (2) the Qur’an and the Sunna, when
read cross referentially, focus more exclusively on what may be called the scheme of moral
conduct in cases of war; (3) and finally a number of dimensions of jihad in primary sources
perceivably show no correlation with what one finds in the scheme of moral conduct related to
14 Firestone, Jihad, 14-15, 17. 15Marranci, Jihad, 17.
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war. All of these lines of argumentation may be outlined in a table and chart system of
distinctions and connections showing that the spaces of intersection and devolution of jihad and
war are subtle and may only be measured by a discursive analysis of these seemingly locked in
traditions in the primary sources.
I. Jihad and War in Legal Texts
As a basic principle, Muslim jurists considered all physical struggles of Muslims in a combat
zone as jihad, and interpreted related verses and hadith narratives with this connection in
mind.16 Therefore, in juridical writings, jihad and siyar17 always referred to military campaigns
by the ‘Adobe of Islam’ against the ‘Adobe of War’; the latter is defined as any territory
inhabited and ruled by non-Muslims.18 Muslim jurists mostly employed jihad and war as
homologous in their juristic analysis because their immediate historic urgency was one of
consolidating Islam’s new message of absolute universal monotheism, and helping a growing
expansion beyond Arabia.19
In Hanafī legal school such perspective developed much later since its earlier jurists were
more cynical about equalizing jihad and warfare in their legal work. Abū Yūsuf (d. 182/798)
and Muhammad al-Shaybānī (d. 189/805), co-founders of the school and authors of the earliest
Hanafī legal texts have implied that jihad may not be substitutable to war because of its
contents. Al-Shaybānī, for example, discusses booties, taxes, concepts of dhimmīs (non-Muslim
subjects living in an Islamic state), and musta’mans (grant of safety) as issues related more to
warfare in his book al-Aṣl under the title of kitāb al-siyar.20Abū Yūsuf narrates accounts
regarding physical parameters of warfare in the chapter bāb al-ghazwa al-jaysh in his book al-
Āthār without linking them to the sphere of jihad.21 The only place the term jihad appears in
relationship to warfare is in his book al-Kharāj.22 By the same token, Qāsim b. Sallam (d.
224/838) analyses structural conditions related to warfare in his book, Kitāb al-amwāl without
even deploying the sphere of jihad.23Taḥāwī (d. 321/933) covered similar questions in the
16 A. Afsaruddin, “Views of Jihad Throughout History,” Religion Compass 1/1 (2007): 165–169: 168. 17 Peters, Jihad, 1. “Deriving from the root s-y-r, which carries the notion ‘to walk,’ the term siyar connotes the act of
marching with the assumption that the march embodies a military expedition directed toward the enemy. In non-legal
works, the term commonly used was al-maghāzī, indicates the act of riding.” Hallaq, Sharī ‘a, 324, fn.1. 18 Hallaq, Sharī ‘a, 325. 19Muhammaad b. Idris Shafi‘ī, al-Umm, ed. Muhammad Zuhrī (Beirut: Dar al-Marifa, 1984), IV, 170; Abdusselam b.
Saīd al-Tanūkhī Saḥnūn, Mudawwana al-Kubrā, ed. Zakariyya Amirat (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1994), I,
496; Abu Bakr Muhammad Sarakhsī, Mabsūt: Sharḥu Kitāb al-Kāfī, ed. H. A. Mannan (Jordan: International Ideas
Home, 2010), I, 1197-1200; Alauddīn Abu Bakr b. Maṣud Kāsānī, Badāi‘ al-Ṣanāi‘ fī Tartīb al-Sharāi‘ (Beirut: Dar
al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1999), VII, 98,127; Abu Omar Yūsūf Ibn Abdilbarr, al-Kāfī fī Fiqhi Ahl-i Madina, ed.
Muhammad Ahid (Riyadh: Maktaba al-Riyadh.1980), I, 462; Muwaffaquddīn Abdullah b. Ahmad Maqdisī, al-Kāfī fī
Fiqh Imam Aḥmad (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1994),IV, 116. 20Muhammad Shaybānī, al-Aṣl, ed. Mehmet Boynukalin (Beirut: Dar Ibn Hazm, 2012), VII, 421-538. 21Yakub b. Ibrahim Abū Yūsuf, al-Āthār, ed. Abū al-Wafa al-Afghānī (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Imiyya, 1355), 192-
218. 22Yakub b. Ibrahim Abū Yūsuf, Kitāb al-Kharāj, ed. Tāhā Abdurra‘ūf Sa‘d (Cairo: al-Maktaba al-Azhariyya li’t-
Turāth, 1999), 17, 38, 95, 162. 23Abu Ubayd Qāsim b. Sallam, Kitāb al-Amwāl, ed. K. M. Harras (Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1988), 1-729.
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chapter of kitāb al-siyar and cites jihad only at the end of the entry.24 When Jassās (d. 370/980)
wrote his commentary on Taḥāwī’s book al-Mukhtaṣar, he cited siyar and jihad together, and
titled the chapter on warfare as kitāb al-siyar wa al-jihād. In this commentary, Jassās changed
the place of jihad from its original location at the end to the beginning.25
Samarqandī (d. 373/983) entitles one chapter bāb al-siyar in his book, Uyūn al-Masāil and
here he cites topics related to warfare by examining the concept of jihad in terms of a legal
requirement for a person to seek permission for any physical engagement in battle.26 Here
Samarqandī uses jihad to refer directly to war. Qudūrī (d. 428/1036) begins with the topic of
jihad in the chapter, kitāb al-siyar in his famous book al-Mukhtasar. He defines military jihad
as a collective duty and then he turns into examining technical matters related to warfare.27
Sarakhsī (d. 483/1090) provides a comprehensive explication of almost all questions of warfare
in al-Mabsūt, his magnum opus, under the title, kitāb al-siyar. According to him jihad here
really means war.28 This perspective is particularly clear in his commentary on Shaybānī’s al-
Siyar al-kabīr where he replaces jihad with the term warfare.29
Other Sunnī legal schools used jihad and war as undifferentiated from the very start of their
intellectual foundation. Imam Mālik (d. 179/795), the founder of the Mālikī school, cites
narratives related to issues of warfare in the chapter of kitāb al-jihad in his famous book al-
Muwaṭṭa’.30 Sahnūn (d. 240/854), who collected the earliest legal opinions in Mālikī school
after al-Muwaṭṭa’ employed military terms in his chapter on kitāb al-jihād of his book
Mudawwana.31 Imam Shafi‘ī (d. 204/820) depends on similar pattern of analysis by explaining
the duty of fighting on the basis of verse 2:216 in al-Baqara. In this verse only “fighting” qitāl
(a general term for warfare) is cited, but he considered this particular use to refer to the overall
sphere of military jihad. Therefore Imam Shafi‘ī’s usage here of jihad and war keeps them as
two indistinguishable concepts.32
By equalizing them, the doctrine of jihad in Islamic legal literature had become the
cornerstone shaping the relationship between the concept of jihad in Islam and the idea of holy
24Abu Jāfar Tahāwī, Ikhtilaf al-Ulamā’: Ikhtasara Abū Bakr al-Rāzī al-Jassās, ed. A. N. Aḥmad (Beirut: Dar Bashāir
al-Islamiyya, 2014), 509-510. 25Abu Bakr al-Rāzī Jassās, al-Ahkam al-Qur’ān, ed. M. Kamhāwi (Beirut: Dar Ihya al-Turas al-Arabi, 1985), VII, 5. 26Abu al-Layth Samarqandī, ‘Uyūn al-Masāil, ed. S. al-Nāhī (Baghdad: Matbaatu Asad, 1965), 413; see also,
Bukhārī, Saḥīh, Kitāb al-Jihād, 136; Abu al-Husayn Muslim b. Hajjāj, Saḥīh al-Muslim, ed. M. F. Abdulbaqi (Beirut:
Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, 1972), Kitāb al-Birr, 1. 27Ahmad b. Muhammad Qudūrī, Mukhtasar al-Qudūrī fi al-Fiqh al-Ḥanafi, ed. K. Muhammad (Dar al-Kutub al-
Ilmiyya, 1997), 296. 28 Sarakhsī, Mabsūt, I, 1197-1199. 29Abu Bakr M. Sarakhsī, Sharḥ al-Siyar al-Kabīr, ed. A. M. Hasan (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1997), I, 188-
191. According to him, the rationale behind military jihad and the need to read jihad in these terms, is to keep the
Muslim community stronger first, then to eliminate their enemies. As Heck notes: “The first Islamic dynasty, the
Umayyads (660-750) inaugurated the idea of jihad as conquest in the service of expanding the adobe of Islam […]
The so called classical form of the doctrine of jihad was hammered out during the early Abbasid period by jurists in
the service of the state.”, “Jihad Revisited,” Journal of Religious Ethics 32/1 (2004): 95-128: 103-104, 106-108. 30Abu Abdillah al-Asbahī Malik b. Anas, al-Muwaṭṭa’, ed. M. F. Abdulbaqi (Egypt: Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi,
1985), III, 629-670. 31Sahnūn, Mudawwana, I, 496. 32Shafi ‘ī, al-Umm, IV, 167-170.
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war in Western culture.33 The inquiry of the comprehensive rules and parameters involved in
military jihad and warfare outlined by legal scholars is not the primary concern of this paper,
but the point I want to stress here is the fact that these legal texts reflect more an understanding
of a certain legal temporal approach specific to the circumstances of the eight to eleventh
centuries of warfare and conflict. Jurists who lived within the formative constraints of building a
faith and monotheistic empire interpreted jihad and war from their position of confronting
organic historic transformations. On this account these legal interpretations should be treated for
what they really are; subjective, transitory and provisional serving the political and religious
conditions of a determinative and germinal span of an emerging world faith.34
Despite their idiosyncratic character in relation to the foundational claims of primary texts on
jihad tradition, these legal writings have an important merit as historiographical documents
helping us understand the political and intellectual mood and conditions of their times.
Therefore, it is perhaps safe to say that such academic value does not make these legal opinions
in any way universal or trans-historical; in the end their parochial perspective may not measure
up to the orthodox consensus on the reliability of the Qur’an and much of the authenticated
prophetic tradition to close the gaps we may have on the jihad tradition.
In the midst of the jurists’ hermeneutic labor, perhaps Qur’anic verses, and most hadith
narratives may have been teaching a kind of jihad less infected by the circumstances of
expediency or the growing pains of a civilization, and more driven by a well-defined system of
discriminating balance between moral theology and ‘futūhāt’ (openings) theology. Therefore,
the Qur’an and hadith provide a restrained perspective on the jihad tradition if read contextually
and systematically. These texts have intriguingly - and in essence, avoided the conceptualization
of jihad and war as two sides of the same coin. No doubt these sources have admittedly -
(considering the very situatedness of revelation in history), outlined the common denominator
between jihad of a certain type and war. But such marginal space of intersection may not
designate the presence of war, that is the use of armed violence, as the center of all the sphere of
jihad; the exception in the rule should not be locked in as the driving rule that explains all
conditions and forms of indiscriminate violence.
II. The Relationship between Jihad and War in the Qur’an and Hadith
The word jihād is the adjectival noun (masdar) which derives from the root verb radicals j-
h-d. The basic Arabic verb denotes effort, exertion, strive, and struggle towards a certain goal.
The third form of j-h-d (jāhada) is not different from the first basic form in terms of meaning.
For example, carrying a heavy rock which denotes extreme effort was expressed by Arab people
by using the verb “jāhada.”35 In its transitive form the verb jāhada takes prepositions along with
its complement or object to infer various contexts. For example, the Qur’an uses the root of
jihad, jāhada, with the following prepositions bi (with/by); fī ̕(in); li (for); ma‘a (with); ʻalā (on;
33 Firestone, Jihad, p. 14. 34 Afsaruddin, “Views of Jihad,” 168.
See for counter argument: M. C. Bassiouni, “Is Jihād a Just War?” The American Journal of International Law, 96/4
(2002), 1000-1005: 1003. 35M. M. Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-Arab (Beirut: Dar al-Sadr, 1955), III, 133.
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over) to address conspicuous distinctions between categories of jihad. Prepositional verbs of
jihad here add specific information to the act of striving by, for example, qualifying an effort in
the yielding of one’s possessions, giving one’s life or striving by using the proof of the Qur’an.
On this account, we note in the discursive system that when the verb of jihad is used without
any preposition it tends to cover generalizations about the need to take an initiative, to be
galvanized for a goal. Interestingly enough the various codifications around jihād/jāhada or
mujāhada are around thirty verses of the whole Qur’an.36 Charting such codifications reveal
specific conceptual generalizations and mainly historically conditioned modalities that show the
open borders of jihad, the circumscribed boundaries of war, and the marginal space in between.
The table also shows to what extent the Qur’anic text gives supplementary information
about all types of prepositioned jihads, and clearly distinguishes them from incomprehensive,
general and more flexible forms of jihad that usually constitute a moral system of conduct
coherent with Hadith codifications of jihad. For the sake of clarity, I have divided up these into
three codifications of meaning: first prepositional jihad in two parts, second, concentrated
prepositional jihad of wealth and life, and third non-prepositional jihad. To make a distinction
between the systems of moral conduct embedded in the conceptual generalization of jihad, and
the historic context (i.e. reasons of revelation) the table also underlines the rhetorical modalities
involved in each textual occurrence of the jihad sphere and tradition. At the end of each
reference, I have made note only of the Arabic original occurrences of the prepositions in the
word jihad and its associated derivatives.
Jihad: Its Codifications and Modalities in the Qur’an
Categories
Various Occurrences of Jihad in the
Qur'an37
Conceptual Generalization within each Modality and Context of
Occurrence38
Prepositional
Jihad 1:
with/ for/
over/in
25:52- ‘So [prophet] do not give into
the disbelievers: strive hard against
them by means of this [Qur’an’] with
utmost striving.’
(jāhidhum bihī jihādan kabīran)
29:6 - ‘Those who exert themselves
do so for their own benefit – God
does not need His creatures.’
(yujāhidu li nafsihī)
29:8 ‘We have commended people to
be good to their parents, but do not
25:52- Imperative; this jihad commands using the
Book for rational contestation (to respond to the claims
of unbelievers). It is addressed specifically to the
prophet during his earlier career in the 7th year of
Meccan period when the hostilities against the
message of Islam was at its peak.
29:6 Affirmative; this jihad affirms the benefit of
striving to maintain personal character and inner
strength. Revealed in the 10th year of Meccan period
when Khadija and the prophet`s uncle died.
29:8 Imperative; this jihad commands believers to
resist authority if not founded on knowledge. Same
36 It could reach 41 in 36 verses if we counted all j-h-d roots not related to jihad. For more details, see: E. Landau-
Tasseron, “Jihad,” in Encyclopedia of the Qur’ān, ed. J. D. McAuliffe (Leiden: Brill. 2001) III, 35-42; III, 35. 37M.A.S Haleem, The Qur`an: A new Translation (Oxford - New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), and M.
Asad, The Message of the Qur`ān (England: The Book Foundation, 2003). Both versions are used as necessary. 38 Muhammad b. Omar Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, ed. M. Jones (Beirut: Dar al-Alami, 1989); for the chronology of
revelation of verses, I refer to tafsīrs and modern chronology by Y. Demirkiran, Kur`an`in Nuzul Sureci (Seyr-è
Tehevvol- è Kor`ân by M. Bâzargan) translated (Ankara: Fecr Yayinevi, 1998); for reasons of revelation I use Ali b.
Ahmad Waḥidī, Asbāb al-Nuzūl al-Qur'ān, ed. B. Zaghlul (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1991), and other
classical commentators.
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228
obey them if they strive to make you
serve, beside Me, anything of which
you have no knowledge: you will all
return to Me, and I shall inform you
of what you have done.’
(jāhadāka li tushrika bī)
31:15 - ‘If they [parents] strive to
make you associate with Me anything
about which you have no knowledge
[spiritual proof, then do not obey
them…’
(jāhadāka ʻalā an tushrika
bī)
conditions of revelation as 29:6. in Meccan period.
This verse was revealed about one of the close
companions Sa ‘d ibn Abi Waqqas and his mother.
When he embraced Islam, his mother asked him by
swearing that she will never eat, drink, and take shelter
under the shade until he reverted to his old religion.
This verse was revealed as a response to this occasion.
31:15-Imperative; this jihad commands believers to
resist authority if not founded on knowledge. Revealed
in the 12th year of Meccan period while the Muslim
community is establishing an agreement with
delegations from Medina.
Prepositional
Jihad 2:
in /with
5:35 - ‘You who believe, be mindful
of God, seek ways to come closer to
Him and strive for His cause, so that
you may prosper.’
(jāhidū fī sabīlihī)
22:78 - ‘Strive hard for God as is His
due: He has chosen you and placed
no hardship in your religion, the faith
of your forefather, Abraham. God has
called you Muslims.’
(jāhidū fī ̓ lillah)
2:218 - ‘But those who have believed,
migrated and striven for God’s cause,
it is they who can look forward to
God’s mercy.’
(wa jāhadū fī sabīlillahi)
8:74- ‘Those who believed and
emigrated, and struggled for God`s
cause, and those who gave refuge
and help-they are the true believers
and they will have forgiveness and
generous provision.’
(wa jāhadū fī sabīlillahi)
9:19- ‘Do you consider giving water
to pilgrims and tending the Sacred
Mosque to be equal to the deeds of
those who believe in God and the
Last Day and who strive in God’s
path?’
5:35- Imperative; this jihad commands believers to
seek mindfulness, closeness to God, and to strive for
His supremacy unlike those who ‘wage war against
God and his messenger and strive to spread
corruption’ (5:33). Revealed in the 9th year of the
Medinan period during the Tabuk expedition and
destruction of the Masjid al-Dirar which belongs to
the hypocrites.
22:78- Imperative; this jihad commands full
commitment to God’s cause because of his
deservedness especially in His mercy to make religion
accessible. There are two narratives regarding
revelation: (1) in the 8th year of Meccan period when
the discussion had reached the top in terms of who had
the right to be worshipped; (2) in the early years of
Medinan period when fighting was just allowed.
2:218- Affirmative; this jihad is sequenced in the
context of belief in God and displacement for His sake.
Migration here refers to the travel of the prophet to
Medina escaping the persecution in Mecca. The 2:218
is revealed in 9th year of Medinan period while the
Prophet ordered to collect zakah; This is also the year
of the Tabuk expedition.
8:74- Affirmative; this jihad cites the benefits of
embarking on emigration and struggle for the sake of
declaring the oneness of God. Revealed in the 3rd year
of Medinan period while the Uhud war was taking
place.
9:19-Affirmative through rhetorical questioning; this
jihad is directly associated with the belief in God and
the day of judgment. Revealed in the 9th year of
Medinan period as a result of a discussion among the
companions of the prophet on what amounts to a
supreme deed of devotion.
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229
(wa jāhada fī sabīlillahi)
29:69 - ‘But We shall be sure to guide
to Our ways those who strive hard for
our cause: God is with those who do
good’
(jāhadū fīnā)
5:54‘You who believe, if any of you
go back on your faith, God will soon
replace you with people He loves and
who love Him, people who are
humble towards the believers, hard
on the disbelievers, and who strive in
God’s way without fearing anyone’s
reproach.’
(yujāhidūna fī sabīlillahi)
9:24- ‘Say [Prophet], ‘If your fathers,
sons, brothers, wives, tribes, the
wealth you have acquired, the trade
which you fear will decline, and the
dwellings you love are dearer to you
than God and his messenger and the
struggle in His cause, then wait until
God brings about His punishment.’
(wa jihādan fī sabīli-hi)
60:1 - ‘You who believe, do not take
My enemies and yours as your allies,
showing them friendship when they
have rejected the truth you have
received, and have driven you and
the Messenger out simply because
you believe in God, your Lord- not if
you truly emigrated in order to strive
for My cause and seek My good
pleasure.’
(jihādan fī sabīlī)
9: 86- ‘When a sura is revealed
[saying], ‘believe in God and strive
hard alongside His messenger,’ their
wealthy ask your permission [to be
exempt], saying, ‘allow us to stay
behind with the others.’
(wa jāhidū ma ‘a rasūli-hi)
29:69- Affirmative; this jihad is associated with God in
a very general sense. Revealed in the 11th year of
Meccan period when the prophet had engaged in his
heavenly journey; this is also a year when Musab b.
Umayr was sent to teach the Qur’an in Medina.
5:54- Affirmative; this jihad is also associated with the
most essential ‘covenant’ between God and the
believers, the absolute bind of belief in one God.
Revealed at the end of Medina period in the 10th year.
During the last days of revelation and the end of
prophecy; around days of the Farewell sermon.
9:24 -Affirmative warning: This jihad is part of a
sequence of warnings against breaking away from
commitment to God through the temptations of
affiliations, ownership, and wealth. Revealed in the 8th
year of Medinan period during the Hanayn and Taif
expeditions after the conquest of Mecca.
60:1- Imperative: This jihad is linked to the duty to
consistently stand for God against enemies of faith.
Revealed in the 10th year of Medinan period in
response to a letter in favor of Meccans leaked by one
companion of the prophet to a lady who traveled from
Medina to Mecca. He wrote in this letter: ʻFrom Hatib
to the people of Mecca: The Messenger of Allah, Allah
bless him and give him peace, is about to attack you,
so take precautions.’
9: 86 Descriptive: This type of jihad describes those
who reject the duty of jihad very likely in this verse of
one’s life. Revealed in the 7th year of Medinan period.
Cross referenced with 9:73.
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230
Concentrate
d
Preposional
Jihad:
With
Property and
Life
9:41- ‘So go out, no matter whether
you are lightly or heavily [armed],
and struggle in God's way with your
possessions and your persons: this is
better for you if you only knew.’
(was jāhidū bi amwālikum wa
anfusikum fī sabīlillah)
9:20- ‘Those who believe, who
migrated and strove hard in God's
way with their possessions and their
persons, are in God's eyes much
higher in rank…’
(wa jāhadū fī sabīlillahi bi
amwālihim wa anfusihim)
9:88- ‘But the Messenger and those
who believe with him strive hard with
their possessions and their
persons…’
(jāhadū bi amwālihim wa anfusihim)
49:15- ‘The true believers are the
ones who have faith in God and His
Messenger and leave all doubt
behind, the ones who have struggled
with their possessions and their
persons in God's way: they are the
ones who are true.’
(wa jāhadū bi amwālihim wa
anfusihim fī sabīlillahi)
8:72- ‘Those who believed and
emigrated [to Medina] and struggled
for God's cause with their
possessions and persons, and those
who gave refuge and help, are all
allies of one another.’
(wa jāhadū bi amwālihim wa
anfusihim fī sabīlillahi)
9:44- ‘Those who have faith in God
9:41- Imperative. Jihad here is a call to contribute in a
war against enemies; such contribution may include
possessions or one’s life. The word armed here is
bracketed because the original Arabic does not use this
term, but describes the state in which jihad of this type
takes place; the phrase ‘infirū khifāfan aw thiqālan’
may refer to any state of existence one finds himself in
whilst called for military jihad. Thus the modality of
jihad here denotes some physical engagement but does
not underline the idea of armed violence. This verse is
revealed in the 3rd year of Medinan period while the
battle of Uhud was taking place.
9:20- Affirmative. This jihad with one’s life and one’s
possessions. Revealed in the 8th year of Medinan
period. Cross referenced with 9:16, 24.
9:88- Affirmative. This is an affirmation a complete
package which includes striving with both one’s
wealth and one’s life. Revealed in the 7th year of
Medinan period. Cross referenced with 9:73.
49:15- Affirmative. Cross referenced with 9:88.
8:72- Affirmative. This jihad is revealed in very first
year of Medinan period. Cross referenced with 47:31.
9:44- Affirmative. This jihad affirms the unity and
brotherhood of all those who submit to the entirety of
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231
and the Last Day do not ask for the
exemption from struggle with their
possessions and their persons – God
knows exactly who is mindful of Him
– (45- ) only those who do not have
faith in God and the Last Day ask
your permission to stay at home: they
have doubt in their hearts and so they
waver.’
(an yujāhidū bi amwālihim wa
anfusihim)
9:81- ‘Those who were left behind
were happy to stay behind when
God's Messenger set out; they hated
the thought of striving in God's way
for their possessions and persons.
They said to one another, 'Do not go
[to war] in this heat.' Say, 'Hellfire is
hotter.' If only they understood!’
(an yujāhidū bi amwālihim wa
anfusihim fī sabīlillahi)
61:11- ‘Have faith in God and His
Messenger and struggle for His cause
with your possessions and your
persons – that is better for you, if
only you knew – and He will forgive
your sins, admit you into Gardens
graced with flowing streams, into
pleasant dwellings in the Gardens of
Eternity.’
(wa tujāhidūna fī sabīlillahi bi
amwālikum wa anfusikum)
4:95- ‘Those believers, who stay at
home, apart from those with
incapacity, are not equal to those
who commit themselves and their
possessions to striving in God's way.
God has raised such people to a rank
above those who stay at home –
although He has promised all
believers a good reward, those who
strive are favored with a tremendous
reward…’
(al-mujāhidūna fī sabīlillahi bi
amwālihim wa anfusihim)
the migration and jihad, which again involves striving
with one’s possessions and one’s life. Revealed in the
4th year of Medinan period while a couple of
expeditions were taking place.
9:81- Affirmative. This jihad affirms and admonishes
at the same time. It scolds all those who found excuses
not to give up their possessions and their lives in times
of need. Revealed in the 7th year of Medinan period.
Cross referenced with 9:73.
61:11- Affirmative. This jihad affirms the advantages
of striving with one’s possessions and life; such
engagement brings forgiveness and admission into the
hereafter. Revealed during the very first year of
Medinan period while the prophet was settling in
Medina and establishing a covenant with faith
communities.
4:95- Affirmative. Revealed in the 8th year of Medinan
period while the prophet was dealing with Mu`ta
expedition and re-conquest of Mecca followed by
Hunayn expedition.
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232
Non-
preposional
Jihad
66:9- ‘Prophet, strive hard against
the disbelievers and the hypocrites.
Deal with them sternly.’
(jāhid al-kuffāra wa al-munafiqūn)
9:73 - ‘Prophet, strive against the
disbelievers and the hypocrites, and
be tough with them.’
(jāhid al-kuffāra wa al-munafiqūn)
47: 31- ‘We shall test you to see
which of you strive your hardest and
are steadfast; we shall test the
sincerity of your assertions.’
3:142 - ‘Did you think you would
enter the Garden without God first
proving which of you would struggle
for His cause and remain steadfast?’
9:16- ‘Do you think that you will be
left untested without God identifying
which of you will strive for His cause
and take no supporters apart from
God, His messenger, and other
believers?’
(al-mujāhidīn minkum)
(jāhadū minkum)
16:110- ‘But your Lord will be most
forgiving and most merciful to those
who leave their homes after
persecution, then strive and remain
steadfast.’
(thumma jāhadū)
66:9- Imperative: This jihad is related to the
consequences of disbelief and disobedience of
hypocrites and the unbelievers. Revelation date and
occasion of revelation are not clearly mentioned in the
literature.
9:73-Imperative: This jihad is likely related to rational
contestations against hypocrites and the unbelievers. It
is clear that Muhammad did not mean to infer any
physical act against hypocrites. Revealed in the 7th
year of Medinan period while the prophet was sending
delegations to the neighboring states like Byzantium
and Sassanid to call their leaders to embrace Islam, and
in clash with some communities.
47: 31; 3:142 - Affirmative. This jihad for the cause of
God is stressed through rhetorical questioning.
As all other deeds the act of jihad will be questioned.
47: 31 was revealed in the first year of Medinan period
while the prophet was settling in Medina and
establishing a covenant between new Muslim
community and rest of the Medinan people. 3:142 was
revealed in the 3rd year of Medinan period while the
first war was taking place between Muslims and
Meccan idolaters. 9:16 was revealed in the 8th year in
Medina while the prophet was dealing with conquest
of Mecca followed by the Hunayn and Taif
expeditions.
16:110- Affirmative. This jihad stresses the rewards
for those who migrate and strive in forbearance for the
cause of God; such jihad is usually contrasted to the
behavior of unbelievers who are worldly and heedless.
Revealed in Mecca, when Ammar b. Yasir’s family
was killed he did not lose his faith and remained
steadfast. Later he immigrated to Abyssinia.
These categories are structured around modalities of straight forward discursive command
to give up everything for the sake of consolidating, spreading the new message of monotheism,
or through affirmative statements describing the metaphysical benefits of such commitment.
Doubtless, all reasons of revelation reflect specific situations of jihad appropriate to their
contexts of the prophet’s significant journey of migration from Mecca to Medina, and the now
irreversible mission to spread the new message of submission to one God. We note that there
could be no connection between jihad and war in verses revealed in Mecca because permission
to fight was not granted yet in a clear revelation during this period (22:39-40).39 There are nine
imperative verses of jihad and only one of them relates to warfare. Among the nearly twenty
affirmative verses, only eight of these relate to warfare.
39 Afsaruddin, “Views of Jihad,”166.
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233
War in Arabic is simply known by one word, ḥarb, which means battle, confrontation or
conflict. Although fighting, qitāl has more specific meaning than war regarding actual combat,
fighting and war have been used almost synonymously.40 War (ḥarb/ḥāraba) is repeated eleven
times, fighting (qitāl/ qatala/ qātala, or muqātala) around a hundred and seventy times in
hundred and twenty verses in the Qur’an. These numbers indicate that the notion of fighting in a
battle is preferred, and seems to stand on its own two feet as an independent historic concept in
the Qur’an. As Johnson concedes, "when the Qur’an provides a direct injunction to Muslims to
fight, the word used is not jihad but qital (‘fighting’) or another word built from the same
root."41
Declarations of war and codes of conduct during wartime have their own specific rules,
which are beyond my interest in this study. Despite counter arguments, for the Qur’anic text,
war always operates according to circumstantial conditions, and its main goal is the ultimate
attainment of a peaceful situation.42 Therefore, fighting for the sake of God within an actual war
is to be justified first: “And fight in God’s cause against those who fight against you, but do not
overstep the limits, God does not love aggressors” (2:190) According to this verse, it appears
that the Muslim community is called into action to defend itself against offenders. Also, this
verse warns Muslims against exceeding the limits of justice even in self-defense.43 Nevertheless,
if a war starts between Muslims and their aggressors, then the Qur’an encourages Muslims to
fight: “And slay them wherever you may come upon them, and drive them away from wherever
they drove you away — for oppression is even worse than killing” (2:191). As Bonney points
out: “In view of the preceding ordinance, the most debatable injunction to ‘slay them wherever
you may come upon them’ is valid only within the context of hostilities already in progress in a
war”44 or basically justifiable by legal ruling deliberated among expert jurists. The statement in
verse “fight in God’s cause against those who fight you” clearly denotes fighting back against
aggressors or oppressors. A war of liberation from oppression could be understood as a war “in
God’s cause”; this interpretation points to some connection between war and a certain category
of jihad. However, this is another category related to necessary violence and connects with jihad
tradition from a different perspective which is beyond our examination at this point.
Looking at the Hadith tradition on jihad, it is clear that prophetic reports address a set of
categories that are said to be more flexible. On the one hand, the prophet used the term jihad to
refer to fighting in a combat; during the battle of Uḥud, for example, Amr ibn Jamūh, a disabled
man, came to the prophet and claimed that his sons did not allow him to join the campaign, then
the prophet replied “You are excused; jihad (fighting in a battlefield for the sake of Allah) is not
your responsibility.”45 On the other hand, the prophet considered pilgrimage, hajj, as an act of
jihad for women. As hadith narratives explain in the case of Aisha, wife of the prophet, she
40 E. W. Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon (Beirut: Librairie Du Liban, 1968), I, 510.
http://www.tyndalearchive.com/tabs/lane/ (July 28, 2015) 41 Johnson, Holy War, 35. 42R. Rida, Tafsīr al-Manar, X, 168. 43 Sarakhsī, al-Mabsut, I, 1197-1199. 44R. Bonney, Jihād from Qur’ān to bin Laden (New York: Palgrave, 2004), 29. 45Abdulmalik, Abu Muhammad Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya, ed. M. Saka-I. Abyarī-A. Shalabī (Egypt:
Mustafa al-Babī al-Halabī, 1955), II, 92; Muhammad b. Omar Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, ed. M. Jones (Beirut: Dar al-
Alami, 1989), I, 264.
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234
asked: “We see jihad (joining battle) as the highest deed; should we join it?” He replied: “But,
the best jihad (for a woman) is the pilgrimage which is performed as it should be, hajj al-
mabrūr.”46 This hadith indicates that Aisha used “jihad” in lieu of fighting in a battlefield for
the sake of God; the prophet stressed another layer of jihad through performing the required
pilgrimage. Other categories and explanation of jihad in relation to warfare in hadith literature
will be covered later in types of jihad.
Although the prophet used flexible dimensions of jihad, he did not use jihad and war
interchangeably in his lifetime. Instead, he used terms of warfare to describe war. As Cook
states, he “never formally declared a jihad – not, at least using that term” from beginning to end
in his prophethood.47 In the first conflict between new Muslim converts and Meccan idolaters,
the prophet called this confrontation, the battle of Badr. He did not use the term jihad to address
this war. The prophet used the term jihad to address individual striving of a Muslim in a battle
field as one of the dimensions of jihad. When Jarir b. Abdullah embraced Islam, the prophet
asked him to perform the military jihad as one of the requirement of a Muslim.48 The prophet
took jihad to mean giving up one’s person, jihad with one’s life in this incident.
A systematic and cross referential approach to the Qur’anic verses and hadith literature on
the subject in terms of relation between jihad and war reveals that these two concepts have
limited and well defined injunction. As al-Fārābī (d. 339/950) states only justifiable wars could
be considered legitimate, and would relate to jihad based on genuine intention.49 Therefore any
juristic formulation that equalizes jihad and war or maintains that shedding blood to please God
could not incontrovertibly be seen as part of jihad in Islam.50 If we consider various categories
of jihad and war in the Qur’an and Sunna in a chart they may likely reflect clear spaces of
intersection and those of devolution.
46Bukharī, Saḥīh, Jihād, 1, 62; Muhammad b. Yazid al-Qazwīnī Ibn Maja, Sunan Ibn Māja, ed. M. F. Abdulbaqi
(Cairo: Dar al-Hadith, 1998), Hajj, 7; Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal. Musnadu Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, ed. Sh. al-Arnaut (Beirut:
Muassasat al-Risala, 1993), V, 288. 47 D. Cook, Understanding Jihad (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), 2. 48 Ibn Ishaq, Sira, p. 291. 49Abū Nāsir al-Fārābī, Fusūl al-Mutanazzi ̔a, ed. F.M. Najjar (Iran: Maktaba al-Zahra, 1405), 76-77. 50 L. Ali Khan, “An Islamic View of the Battlefield: God Loves not the Transgressors,” Barry University Law Review
7 (2006), 15.
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235
JIHAD WAR
War has
its own
Rules in
the Qur’an
and Hadith
Literature.
1. Intellectual Jihad/ using logic
and reasoning
2. Jihad with
Property/
possessions/ one’s
wealth
4. Jihad against ego/ Instinct/ carnal desires and emotions/ Jihad
through service.
3. Jihad with one's life to defend the
sanctity and Oneness of God:
Depending on the fighter’s intention,
fighting may be considered jihad.
Chart 1: Jihad and War Intersection
The intersectional space by the circle in the middle with a discontinuous line represents the peripheral relation between jihad and war. Beyond this intersection a big portion of jihad excludes acts of violence, confrontational fighting or fully fledged warfare. Only jihad with one’s life as a whole would conceptually mean physical fighting and can be
operating specifically in a justifiable and legitimate war. Conceivably, some part of jihad with
property or one’s wealth could be related to fighting as seen in the small triangle in the chart.
The chart demonstrates that intellectual jihad or jihad through deploying scientific logic and
reasoning, and jihad against the desires of the ego are totally unrelated in any way to warfare.
The chart therefore shows that only a limited space of armed struggle would be counted as
jihad.
III. Levels of Congruence between Categories of Jihad and War
Because of various codifications of jihad in the Qur’an and the Hadith literature, scholars
have categorized jihad into multiple conceptual clusters of specific designation. Al-Iṣfahānī (d.
502/1109), for example, divides jihad into three subcategories: jihad against enemy, jihad
against Satan, and jihad against ego, nafs.51 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350) divides jihad
into four categories: jihad against egotistical desires, jihad against Satan, jihad against
unbelievers and hypocrites, and jihad against tyrants. Moreover, he adds that the prophet
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236
Muhammad performed jihad using his heart, his spirit, his calling, his explanation, his tongue,
and as a last resort, his sword.52 There could be more ways in which the believer may fulfill the
obligation of jihad, but such obligation seems to dominate his entire belief system; he is,
therefore, accountable to its core moral force in everything he does.53 I will examine jihad and
its connection to war through the four categories to investigate to what extent is the jihad
tradition relatable to war and violence.
1. Jihad with the proof of the Qur’an
As a part of striving with the evidence of the Qur’an as inimitable revelation and divine in
origin, intellectual jihad is mostly forgotten by contemporary Muslims. The Qur’an calls this
type of striving as greater jihad, jihādan kabīran which involves logic, contestation and the
exercise of rationalization using the very language, rationalistic and rhetorical structure of the
Qur’an: “So [prophet] do not follow the unbelievers: strive hard against them by means of this
[Qur’an’] with utmost striving.’ (25:52). God asks the prophet Muhammad to reason with
others, who opposed him, by deploying rational signs from the Qur’an. This verse was revealed
in Mecca at the critical juncture when the prophet was engaged in the initial and primary
struggle of convincing his opponents that the idea of monotheism was more tenable and
logically compelling than polytheism.54
Almost all commentators including Tabarī (d. 310/922), Zajjāj (d. 311/923), Ibn Abī Ḥātim
(d. 324/936), Qurtubī (d. 671/1272) and Rāzī (d. 606/1200) interpreted the Qur’anic phrase
“jihādan kabīran” (with utmost striving) as an indication of struggle against enemies through
the coherence of the Qur’anic message; that is, through an unequivocal presentation of divine
truth.55According to Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah this phrase tells us that the prophet must call
people to God not necessarily and always through emotional appeal but on the basis of the
tangible and language based miracle called the Qur’an.56
In light of the Qur’anic command for greater jihad, a certain type of intellectual struggle is
expressed by the term ijtihād, (providing novel legal interpretation).57 The term ijtihād comes
from the same root as jihad; in Islamic law it refers to a great effort made to resolve a legal
problem faced by the Muslim community.58A qualified jurist must exercise all of his scholarly
skills in order to reach a decision consistent with the limits and creative provisions in Islamic
law; the idea of jihad here highlights the indispensability of creativity and willingness to expand
the epistemological horizons of Islamic judicial hermeneutics. “And the believers should not all
51R. al-Iṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt fī Ghārīb al-Qur’ān (Beirut: Dār al-Qalam, 1992), I, 208. 52 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Zād al-Maʿād fī Hadyi Khayri al- ‘Ibād (Beirut: Muassasat al-Risala, 1994), III, 5. 53Khadduri, War and Peace, 56-57. M.F. Abdulbaqi, al-Mu‘jam li Alfāẓ al-Qur’ān al-Karīm (Istanbul: Cagri
Yayinlari, 1986),182-183. Qaradawi widens these categories by stating: “Jihad may be educational, journalistic,
social, economic, or political jihad as much as military jihad.” Qaradawi, Fiqh al-Zakah, II, 67. 54 Abu Hasan Muqātil, Tafsīru Muqātil b. Sulayman, ed. A. M. Shahhata (Beirut: Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, 1423),
III, 237; 55Ibn Jarīr Tabarī, al-Jāmi ‘al-Bayān, ed. A. M. Shakir (Muassasat al-Risala, 2000), XIX, 281; Abu Muhammad Ibn
Abī Ḥatim, Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-Aẓīm, ed. A. M. Tayyib (Riyadh: Maktaba Nizar Mustafa al-Bāz, 1999), VIII, 2707;
Abū Abdullah Qurtubī, al-Jāmi‘li Ahkām al-Qur’ān, ed. A. al-Barduni-I. Atfiyash. (Cairo: Dar al-Kutub al-
Mastriyya, 1964), XIII, 58. 56 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Zād al-Maʿād, III, 5-7. 57Zamakhsharī, al-Kashshāf, III, 286. 58 W. Hallaq, “Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?” International Journal of Middle East Studies 16/1 (1984): 3-41: 3.
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go out to fight. Of every troop of them, a party only should go forth, that they (who are left
behind) may gain sound knowledge in religion, and that they may warn their folk when they
return to them, so that they may beware.” (9:122). Alongside this commandment, the prophet
himself chose not to join many battles and war expeditions because the community was in need
of his presence, support, and advice.59 In other words, at times the mere act of speaking,
advising is as valid and legitimate exercise of jihad, or as one hadith commands, “strive against
associates, mushrikūn, with your possessions, with yourself, and with your tongue.”60
This perspective on intellectual jihad is supported further by other textual evidence. The
verse “Strive in the Way of Allah as you ought to strive…” (jāhadū fillahi haqqa jihadi-hi)
(22:78) stresses the idea of sincerity for the sake of God.61 God asked the prophet to perform
this jihad against unbelievers and hypocrites: “O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers
and the hypocrites, and be hard against them.” (9: 73; 66:9) We do not know if the prophet
engaged in armed struggle against hypocrites, but he likely engaged in reasoning with them
using rhetorical skills of persuasion to begin with.62According to Ibn Qayyim, this type of
rational jihad against the arguments and claims of hypocrites seems to be more demanding in
many ways than the military actions and war, since matters of faith are more forceful when they
evoke the side of volition and sincere devotion than force.63
The prophet has favored the impact of intellectual jihad by declaring: “The best jihād is
[speaking] a word of justice to an oppressive ruler.”64During his mission, the prophet was
mobilizing all his rationalistic skills to share the Qur’anic message no matter what it cost. He
further encouraged his followers to do the same for the sake of righteousness, truth, and justice.
Therefore, the prophetic tradition increasingly reflects more conceptual facets rooted in a system
of moral conduct and responsibility in addition to the fundamental duty of communicating the
message rather than fighting under the banner of a jihad of aggression.65
These definitions and articulations of intellectual striving are meant to encourage Muslims to
interpret the notion of jihad in the Qur’an in terms of a holistic, flexible and multi layered
approach. Indeed, since this type of jihad merits the ultimate measure of ‘greatness’, it is
structurally intersected with the rest of other categories of jihad outlined in my chart. Its
presumed greatness comes from its structuring of a moral system of comprehending, taming
one’s emotional impulses, and performing jihad. Therefore, it is unswervingly alienated from
the earthly materialism and violence of warfare. On this account both the definitional singularity
59 Sarakhsī, Mabsūt, I, 1197; Kāsānī, Badāi ‘al-Ṣanāi‘, VII, 98. 60Sulayman b. Ash’as al-Sijistānī Abū Dāwūd, Sunan Ebī Dāwūd, ed. Sh. al-Arnaut (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Arabi,
2009), Jihād, 18; Abu Abdurrahman Ahmad Nasāī, al-Sunan al-Kubrā, ed. H. A. Shalabī (Beirut: Muasasa al-Risala,
2001), Jihād, 1, 48. 61Abu al-Layth Samarqandī, Bahr al-Ulūm (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1993), II, 472. 62Tabarī, al-Jāmi‘al-Bayān, XIV, 73; Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Andalūsī Abu Hayyan, al-Bahral-Muhīt, ed. S. M.
Jamil (Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1420), V, 463-470; Muhammad b. Ali Shawkānī, Fath al-Qadīr, (Beirut: Dar Ibn Kathir,
1414), II, 443-445; M. H. Yazir Elmalili, Hak Dini Kur’an Dili (Istanbul: Eser Neşriyat, 1979), II, 687-699; Abdel
Haleem, "Qur’anic jihād," 148. 63 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Zād al-Maʿād, III, 7. 64AbūDāwūd, Sunan, Malāḥim, 17; Abu Isa Tirmīdhī, al-Jāmi‘al-Saḥih: Sunan al-Tirmīdhī, ed. A.M. Shakir-M.F.
Abdulbaqi- I.A. Iwad (Egypt: Mustafa al-Bābī al-Halabī, 1975), Fitan, 13; Ibn Maja, Sunan, Fitan 20. English
translation of the hadith by Firestone, Jihad, 17. 65 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawjiyyah, Zād al-Maʿād, III, 5.
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of jihad (in its moral coding emphasized) and its theological removedness from war in particular
are defined and outlined in primary sources with a great degree of nuance and gradation.
2. Jihad with one’s property/ wealth
Another structure of jihad pertains to giving away money and property known as jihad by
one’s wealth/material possessions, jihād bi’l-māl. Jihad by one’s wealth is mentioned before
jihad by one’s life, jihād bi’l-nafs in the Qur’an. For example, several verses66 repeat the phrase
or similar ones “jāhadū bi amvālihim wa anfusihim fī sabīlillah” (those who struggled for the
sake of God with their wealth and lives). It seems that the former one would be a prerequisite
for the latter. 67 Verses that relate striving to ‘’ones wealth’ was interpreted as financing of a
Muslim army,68 but helping the poor, giving charity to people in need, and spending money to
advocate the path of submission to one God would be included within this category of jihad.69
Rāzī interprets the phrase ‘jāhadū bi amvālihim’ (those who struggle with their possessions)
in 8:72 as follows: “Even though the companions of the Prophet emigrated with him and left all
their possessions in Mecca, they spent their wealth for the sake of God.”70 Therefore, leaving
property for the sake of God may also be considered as jihad with possessions. Commentators
such as Waḥidī (d. 468/1075), Tabarī, Naḥḥās, and al-Zamakhsharī (d. 538/1143) and others
have not elaborated in detail on the question of what is determined as struggle using one’s
wealth or material possessions.71
A number of prophetic reports tend to signal that any type of service for the sake of God
would be recognized as jihad with possessions. It is reported that “A man came to the prophet
asking his permission to go on jihad, the armed struggle. The prophet asked him, ‘Are your
parents alive?’ He replied, ‘Yes’. The prophet said to him, ‘then exert yourself in their
service.’”72 The prophet used the phrase ‘fa fīhimā fa jāhid’ (employ yourself for your parents)
to encourage this person to be available to minister his parents first. Jihad is therefore almost
always circumstantial and must operate according to ethical priorities; the prophet advises this
man to pay more attention to his immediate condition by spending time, energy, and emotional
allegiance to his family and parents instead of joining a war.73
The prophetic tradition cites examples of financing armies of an Islamic state as military
jihad: “He who prepares a ghāzi, warrior, going in Allah’s Cause is given a reward equal to
664:95; 8:72; 9:20,41,44,81,88; 49:15; 61:11 67 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Zād al-Maʿad, III, 6. According to Ibn Qayyim al-Jawjiyya, jihād al-nafs, struggle
against one’s ‘demons’ is an integral part of jihad; the former one is necessary for the latter. 68Tabarī, al-Jāmi‘, XIV, 414; Jassās, Ahkām, IV, 318; Fahruddin Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb, (Beirut: Dāru Ihyā al-
Turath al-Arabī, 1420), XVI, 119. 69Tabarī interprets verse 57:11, which speaks of the idea of “a good loan”, “qardan hasanan”, to cover financial
support of needy people as a form of jihad. Tabarī, al-Jāmi ‘, V, 282. 70Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb, XIV, 515. 71Muhammad b. Ali al- Nisābūrī Waḥidī, al-Wajīz fī Kitāb al-Azīz, ed. S. A. Dawudi (Damascus: Dar al-Qalam,
1415), I, 458; Tabarī, al-Jāmi‘ al-Bayān, XIV, 173; Abū Jafar Naḥḥās, I‘rāb al-Qur’ān, ed. A. H. Ibrahim (Beirut:
Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 2000), II, 113; Amr b. Ahmad Zamakhsharī, al-Kashshāf an Ḥaqāiq Ghawāmiḍ al-Tanzīl,
(Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Arabi, 1407), II, 256; Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb, XIII, 15. 72Bukhārī, Sahīh, al-Jijād, 56, 138; Muhammad Shaybānī, al-Kasb, ed. S. Zakkār (Damascus: Abdulhādi Harsūnī,
1980), 58. 73 Sarakhsī, Sharḥ al-Siyar al-Kabīr, I, 190-195.
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that of ghāzi; and he who looks after properly the dependents of a ghāzi going in Allah’s Cause
is (given a reward equal to that of) ghāzi.”74 It is obvious that the first part of this hadith openly
relates financial support of a Muslim warrior to jihad with property, but the rest of the hadith
states that taking care of needy people is a valid form of jihad. Another narrative from the
prophet states: “Jihad consists of ten units; nine of them are related to seeking permissible,
halāl, and money earned legitimately to support his family and to give it to the people in need,
infāq…”75The latter one openly declares that helping people in need for the sake of God is jihad
with possessions. This meaning could be seen in the verse “Seek ways to come closer to Him
and strive for Him.” 5:35 which covers any type of activity for the sake of God.76 Both the
Qur’an and Sunna seem to agree that jihad with property is not limited to military
circumstances.77
3. Jihad with one’s life
Jihad with one’s life, jihād bi’l-nafs is usually mentioned just after the jihad with property in
the Qur’an. With certain rules, this category is counted as fighting for the sake of God, qıtāl fī
sabīlillah.78 For example: “Fight in God’s cause against those who fight you, but do not
overstep the limits…” (2:190); “Fight in the way of God, and remember that God hears and
knows everything.” (2:244). Although the term jihad is not used in these verses, the phrases at
the very beginning “Fight in God’s cause…” and “Fight in the way of God” (qātilū fī sabīlillah)
deal with military jihad against enemies. Some verses clearly state the intersected meaning of
jihad and war by using the terms of jihad and warfare in the same verse: “Those who were left
behind were happy to stay behind when God’s Messenger set out; they hated the thought of
striving in God’s way [jihad] with their possessions and their persons. They said to one another,
‘Do not go [to war] in this heat.’…” (9:81) Verses 86 and 88 of the same chapter have a parallel
meaning regarding jihad with one’s life and fighting for the sake of God.
It is obvious that when ‘jihad bi’l-nafs’ is used as a phrase it means jihad with one’s life or
fighting in a combat. For example: “So go out, no matter whether you are lightly or heavily
armed, and strive hard in God's way with your property and yourself; this is better for you, if
you know.” (9:41) and “Those who believed and emigrated [to Medina] and struggled for God’s
cause with their possessions and persons, and those who gave refuge and help, are all allies of
one another…” (8:72) affirm that fighting in a war may be seen as jihad.
74Bukhārī, Sahīh, al-Jijād, 38. Other hadith collections also have separate chapters on the issue of jihad. “Ghazwa,
comes from gh-z-y, which means expedition or campaign would have some connections to jihad. However, there is a
hadith in Bukhari which indicates a neutral meaning for the ghazwa. Related part of the hadith reads as follow:
“yaghzū jayshan al-Ka’bata…” “an army heads to Ka’ba ‘to destroy’.” In this phrase the prophet used the term
ghazwa to address the army who intended to destroy the Ka’ba. Muhammad b. Ismail Bukhārī, Saḥīh al-Bukharī
(Istanbul: al-Maktaba al-Islamiyya, 1310) al-Buyu’ 49, al-Hajj, 49. 75Shaybānī, al-Kasb, 48; Sulayman b. Ahmad Tabarānī, al-Mu’jam al-Kabīr, ed. H. Abdulmajid (Mosul: Maktaba al-
Ulūm, 1983), XVIII, 309. 76Shawkānī, Fath al-Qadīr, VI, 372. 77 According to Qaradawi, “the majority of scholars in the four schools of jurisprudence restrict this share [fī
sabīlillah] to financing fighters and defenders of Islam.” Qaradawi, Fiqh al-Zakah, II, 67. 78For more details on the armed jihad see: A. Al-Dawoody, “Armed Jihad in the Islamic Legal Tradition,” Religion
Compass 7/11 (2013): 476–484.
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However, just joining a war declared by a Muslim leader or an Islamic state does not qualify
the warrior as practicing jihad. This type of physical action has some conditions attached to it in
order to be measured as approved jihad.79According to Hadith narratives, sincerity and genuine
intention are preconditions for this category of jihad; without the exhaustive fulfillment of these
requirements even the most sacrificial fighting for the Muslim community will not be counted
as jihad. The following hadith makes this point clearer:
Abū Hurayra narrates “I heard the messenger of Allah say: The first of people against whom
judgment will be pronounced on the Day of Resurrection will be a man who died a martyr. He
will be brought and Allah will make known to him His favors and he will recognize them. Allah
will say: And what did you do about them? He will say: I fought for you until I died a martyr.
Allah will say: You have lied; you did but fight that it might be said of you: ‘He is courageous.’
And so it was said. Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on his face until he is cast into
Hellfire….”80
This hadith argues that the quality of sincerity and commitment of those who claim to
fight for the sake of Allah is paramount to jihad involving physical violence. If a Muslim
warrior, for example, intends to join a war, declared by Muslims, to achieve material or
political gains, then prophetic teaching is clear that he would not be accepted as engaging in
jihad with his own life, and therefore should expect no rewards in heaven. One companion
asked the prophet: “Apostle of Allah, a man wishes to take part in jihad in Allah’s path
desiring some worldly advantage? The prophet said: He will have no reward.”81 The
companion repeated his question for a third time and the response was the same from the
prophet: “He will have no reward.” Sarakhsī concedes that this hadith determines clearly
that the innermost intent to unconditionally serve God in a conflict remains the absolute
priority, and is a the ultimate prerogative of God to appraise.82
Another prophetic hadith from al-Bukhārī further explains this point within one
occasion when ‘Uthmān ibn Maẓ ‘ūn, one of the close companions, passed away. The
woman who was taking care of him said: “I testify that Allah has blessed you.” The prophet
said to her, "How do you know that Allah has blessed him? [...] As regards ‘Uthman, by
Allah he has died and I really wish him every good, yet, by Allah, although I am Allah’s
Messenger, I do not know what will be done to [me] him. [...]”83‘Uthmān was one of the
earliest Muslims who converted to Islam in Mecca. He devoted his life to worshiping and
fasting and would be hailed as one of the earlier ascetics in Islam. He joined the first war,
Badr, fighting alongside the new Muslim community of Medina against the Arab idolaters.
‘Uthmān lost his life after a couple of months of this war.84 However, this hadith implies that
joining a war declared by the prophet in itself may not be enough to engage in jihad with
79Bukhārī, Sahīh, Ilm, 45; Muslim, Sahīh, al-Imāra, 42; Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, Musnad, XXIII, 68, 381; Ibn Maja, Sunan,
Jihād, 15, Zakāh, 49; Abū Dāwud, Sunan, Jihād, 38. 80 Muslim, Sahīh, Imāra, 43. Translation of this hadith is done by M. M. Khan, The Translation of the Meanings of
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 1984) 81Abū Dāwud, Sunan, Jihād, 24; Aḥmad. b. Ḥanbal, Musnad, IV, 170-171. 82 Sarakhsī, Sharḥ al-Siyar al-Kabīr I, 25-26. Also Sarakhsī adds: “thinking of the material advantages of engagement
as secondary or supplementary, like booties, may be acceptable and could indeed allow the sincere martyr both
rewards.” 83Bukhārī, Sahīh, Janaiz, 3, Shahādāt, 30. 84Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, I, 151; Izzuddīn Ibn Athīr, Usd al-Ghābah fī Ma‘rifah al-Sahābah, ed. A. Muhammad-A.
Ahmad (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, 1994), III, 589.
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one’s life. The final judgment of who truly qualifies to be counted as practicing jihad seems
to be more relegated to the discerning verdict of God himself. The chart below demonstrates
some of the major parameters of jihad with one’s life:
Chart 2: Jihad Inside War: Fighting For The Sake Of God
Thus, what amounts to the measure of jihad has less to do with the ability or availability to
join a war declared by an Islamic state. Sincerity and bona fide intention to engage in jihad
purely for the sake of God are mandatory moral prerequisites.
4. Jihad against the self
Striving against carnal desires and egotistic tendencies is another category of jihad, which is
generally considered by the Sufis as ‘the greater jihad.’ In Sufi literature, this jihad is described
as the very act of righteousness or ‘being mindful of God,’ taqwā, which is the essence of
Islamic piety. Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d. 110/728) is reported to have said that the best jihad is
combating selfish urges, mukhālafa al-hawā.85Qushayrī (d. 4565/1072), a leading Sufi master,
states that because desire is the original spring of all enemies, struggling against egotistical
compulsions is the supreme level of jihad. On this account it is only through ascetic discipline
of self-denial that the human soul is ready to eliminate the deceit and duplicity of desire.86
Striving against the ego, jihād al-nafs may have some connection to the Qur’anic term
mujāhada, but as a phrase, jihād al-nafs is not spelled out in the Qur’an. Jihad al-nafs is
emphasized more predominantly in hadith reports. The hadith dealing with striving against ego
“we have returned from lesser jihad to greater one” is not mentioned in earlier sound hadith
85Manṣur b. M. Abū Muẓaffar, Tafsīr al-Qur’ān, ed. Y. Ibrahim (Riyadh: Dar al-Watan, 1997), IV, 194.
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collections.87 For a number of reasons the Qur’anic call for greater jihad of intellectual striving
had gained less prominence than the greater jihad of inner struggle attributed to Hadith.88
Some commentators have interpreted the Meccan verse 29:69 “We shall be sure to guide to
Our ways those who strive hard for Our cause…” as a jihad against selfish yearnings.
According to them the phrase strive hard for Our cause is the jihad of the heart, which means
striving against carnal cravings, the temptations of the devil, and sinful inclinations.89 The
Qur’anic verse “strive hard for God as is His due…” (22: 78) may be stressing this connotation.
Prophetic reports, being concerned about a scheme of moral responsibility to administer all
categories of jihad, unequivocally endorse the importance of internal jihad as indeed the actual
point of departure for all other norms, practices and manifestations of jihad: “The most virtue of
jihad is struggling against egoistic desires….”90Another narrative states: “The mujāhid (the
performer of jihad) is one who strives against his lower self in obedience to Allah.”91 These
hadiths intend to ground intrinsic jihad as the very basis of external engagement in any form of
hostility, confrontation and combat.92 On the basis of such moral administration, armed jihad is
managed as a discourse of equilibrium between the inviolability of human beings, and the
material and the concrete need to defend one’s faith. By every measure, if these hadiths were
taken to supplement the semantic field of jihad tradition, they would really stress the importance
of striking a balance between the moral imperative to control the inner impulses of destruction
involved in the use of force, and the affirmative mission to spread faith in one God.
The prophet declared this dictum during his farewell pilgrimage: “The one, who does jihad,
al-mujāhid, is he who struggles against his selfish desires for the sake of Allah.”93 Palpable
intention (piety with taqwā) is the major part of good work, amal al-sāliḥ.94 Hadith reports and
Sufi literature elucidate that jihād al-nafs has its basis in any action performed for the sake of
God. They underline that without this scheme of moral conduct, it is impossible to regulate a
sanctioned armed battle in the name of God. This inner striving to contain the self-centered,
self-interested ambitions of an individual, a nation or a sovereign state, (in today’s lexicon, the
use of diplomacy or political alternatives in international situations of conflict) remains the
moral precondition for all other spheres of jihad codified in the Quranic text.
86Abdulmalik Qushayrī, Laṭāif al-Ishārāt, ed. I. Basyūnī (Egypt: Ammali’l-Kitab, 1981), I, 161. 87 Ismail b. Muhammad Ajlūnī, Kashf al-Khafā’ (Cairo: Maktaba al-Qudsī, 1351), I, 424-425. See also, Ibn
Taymiyya, Majma’ al-Fatāwā’, ed. A. M. Qasim (Madina: Malik Fahd Abdulalaziz, 1995), XI, 197; Ibn Qayyim al-
Jawjiyyah, Rawḍa al-Muḥibbīn wa Nuzhat al-Mushtāqīn, (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1992), 478. 88 Badruddīn ͑Aynī, Umdat al-Qārī Sharḥ Saḥīh al-Bukharī, (Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1998), XXXIII, 285. 89Abu Ishāq Zajjāj, Ma‘āni al-Qur’ān wa I ‘rābuhū (Beirut: Alam al-Kutub, 1988), IV, 174;AbūManṣūrMāturīdī,
Ta’wīlātu Ahli al-Sunna, ed. M. Baslum (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 2005), VIII, 246; Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb,
XXV, 77. Although the permission of fight (war) was not given in Meccan period, Tabarī interprets this verse as
military jihad, jihad al-qitālī. Tabarī, al-Jāmi‘ al-Bayān, XX, 63. For more details see Firestone, Jihad, p. 17-21. 90Shaybānī, al-Kasb, 87. 91Tirmīdhī, Sunan, Faḍāil al-Jihād, 2; Nasāī, Sunan, al-Raqāiq; Shaybānī, al-Aṣl, 87.) The last part ‘in obedience to
Allah’ is recorded by Ahmad b. Ḥanbal in Musnad, XXXIX, 386-387. 92Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Zād al-Maʿād, III, 6. 93Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, Musnad, 1993: XXXIX, 381. 94Bukharī, Sahīh, Bad’u al-waḥy, 1; Abū Dāwud, Sunan, Zuhd, 26.
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Conclusion
To examine the concept of jihad exclusively in relationship to its incommensurable
equivalent of ‘holy war’ is indeed a vital reason why jihad is widely misunderstood and
misrepresented in Anglo-American academy. Translating jihad as ‘holy war’ in English is a
serious misnomer that reduces the complexity of this concept in original and authentic sources
of Islam into stereotypical images of innate violence, religious terror and the ‘crusading’ nature
of Islam. Yet, what is of greater significance is to examine jihad tradition by handling the
discursive manifestations in a system of substantive divergence between war and jihad. The
pedagogical advantage of such reading is to mark to what extent the scheme of moral conduct,
accentuated in the primary sources, remains the driving moral theology of executing all
categories of jihad. On this account jihad is minimally associated with warfare, defense and
conflict; it is also shuttered into several, historically conditioned, forms, modes and
codifications; and when it is reducible to warfare, it is unmistakably circumscribed by well-
defined stipulations. The nuance of the jihad tradition lies deep in an alterity. The primary
sources seem to suggest a measured balance between the need for a moral theology and a
theology of ‘futūhāt’ (openings) to spread the new message of an immaculate monotheism.
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