Strive or Struggle
(Jihad)
Now, let us understand jihad. Jihad means to exert one’s utmost effort for a cause, to strive so hard that a person becomes exhausted. Like migration, this jihad is not the name of a temporary action but a process that relates to one’s entire life. Jihad is not limited to the battlefield. In a believer’s life, jihad begins as soon as one accepts faith and continues until the very end of life.
In a society where truth is suppressed, the struggle for truth becomes an ongoing form of jihad in a believer’s life. This effort and inner striving continue within the believer at all times—expressed as patience and hope in times of hardship, and as gratitude and humility in moments of ease. This process remains a constant part of a believer’s life until the very end.
The real nature of jihad is to strive to one’s utmost to walk on the path of God. In the Quran, God’s religion has been called “najd,” which means a high place, and following this religion has been compared to climbing upward. (Quran, 90:10-11) From this example, we can understand the true reality of jihad. There are only two ways to live in this world: one according to the desires of the self, and the other according to the will of God. One is an irresponsible way of living, and the other is a responsible one. The first path is easy, while the second is difficult. In the first case, one moves downward; in the second, one moves upward.
If you leave a vehicle on a slope, it will roll down on its own without any effort. But if you want to drive the same vehicle uphill, it requires continuous effort. Without sustained effort, no one can take a vehicle from the bottom to the top. When a person makes this kind of effort—going against one’s desires in order to move toward God—that is what we call jihad.
When a person decides that he will live his life according to the will of God, he immediately realizes that there are two powerful forces that strongly block this intention. On one side is a person’s own self, and on the other is taghut. By the self is meant the inner impulse that constantly seeks pleasure and comfort. It looks for ease at all times. It desires status and superiority. It does not pause to consider what should or should not be done; rather, it moves in whatever direction it feels inclined. This impulse drives a person to do whatever satisfies these desires and to avoid anything that might restrain or challenge them. By taghut is meant the corrupt environment that surrounds a person in the form of misguided customs and social norms, exerting pressure on them. The external forces behind these customs create resistance both directly and indirectly. Indirectly, they shape a situation in which a person feels they have no choice but to conform and become part of it, as though they cannot survive otherwise. Directly, because in such an environment, rejecting wrong practices and choosing to follow the truth is seen as a challenge to these forces. As a result, those who rise with such a mission face strong opposition, as these forces use all their power to stop them.
When a person moves toward God, he encounters countless obstacles at every step, from within himself to the world outside, from his inner thoughts to the realm of action. At times, they must accept hardship instead of comfort; at other times, they must struggle to break away from prevailing social trends and accept beliefs that may be unpopular at the societal level; at times he must force himself to be content with a meager gain rather than piles of unlawful profit that come his way; at times he must strive to be satisfied with obscurity and humiliation instead of honour and fame; at times he must consent to being deprived of his legitimate rights and real interests. In short, two different paths lie open before him, and he has complete freedom to go whichever way he chooses. On the one side, everything the world has to offer appears to be available; on the other hand, apparently nothing seems to be gained. His lower self urges him to take the easy path. External forces place their full weight upon him to push him in that direction. Yet despite all this resistance, he abandons the easy and pleasurable path and pulls himself toward the difficult one. This very struggle is called jihad.
Some say that bringing about a political revolution is Islam’s true objective. Others say it is not an objective but a means. The truth, however, is that it is the outcome of a continuous process. When the faith that arises in the heart expresses itself in righteous action and begins to spread through society, the culmination of that process is what is called an Islamic revolution. It is not something artificial; it emerges naturally as the result of a living process. If sincere and upright individuals exist within a society who actively convey the truth, then the environment of wrongdoing is gradually weakened, and goodness comes to prevail.
Jihad means removing every challenge that arises in the course of living by one’s faith. Since these obstacles come both from within and from outside, a person engaged in jihad sometimes struggles against their own self, and at other times works to overcome the challenges of the external world. At times, one must fight one’s own desires; at other times, one must critique and confront wrong practices; and at times, one must practically address the challenges that stand in the way of truth.
The Prophet of Islam said: “Strive against your desires just as you strive against your enemies.” (Al-Mufradat fi Gharib al-Quran, p. 208)
Raghib al-Isfahani, in light of the Prophetic teachings, said: “Striving is carried out both by the hand and by the tongue.” (Al-Mufradat, root ‘j-h-d’)
However, in its true essence, jihad is not merely the name of an outward act. Rather, it refers to a particular inner state—a quality of striving through which a person works to overcome the challenges that arise in the path of truth. The outward forms are only expressions of this inner state; they are not, in themselves, the essence of jihad.
A person works day and night to write a high-level book on Islam. Outwardly, this appears to be a form of jihad. But if his purpose is to gain fame from the book or to earn money, then his action has no value. In the terminology of the Quran, he does not deserve to have his action called jihad. On the other hand, while doing a good deed, a wrong thought passes through someone’s heart, and he trembles at the idea that this may ruin everything he has done. Tears flow from his eyes, and he cries out without control, O God, do not hand me over to Satan, otherwise I will be destroyed. This is jihad.
This point does not apply only to jihad; the same holds true for other forms of worship as well. In religion, the acts that are prescribed are not valued merely for their outward form, but for their inner reality. The merits associated with certain forms of remembrance and prayer, the obligations attached to acts of worship, and the importance given to certain moral qualities and actions—so much so that, without them, even a claim to faith is not considered valid—all of this is meant to show what a God-oriented life looks like, not to define God-consciousness by outward forms alone.
What God truly seeks is not that a person merely recites a few words of praise, performs specific rituals in the name of prayer, fasting, or pilgrimage, gives a fixed portion of their wealth to the poor, or conveys His message through speech and writing. No doubt, these are essential practices that form the necessary framework of a God-oriented life, and whenever faith takes shape in human life, it does so through these very forms—no other structure has been prescribed by God.
But beyond these outward expressions, the real thing that God seeks from people—the quality that makes a person worthy of His mercy—is an inner state of the heart in which a person’s thoughts and feelings are fully aligned with God’s will. They come to love what God loves and to dislike what God dislikes. They oppose whatever goes against God’s will, and for whatever is dear to God, they are ready to sacrifice even their last possession.
These are the demands of Islam, and our eternal future depends on whether we fulfill them or fail to do so. A person who has come to know this reality that there is one God of this world, and who has also believed in the fact that a great Day of Judgment in the Hereafter is surely going to come, when the entire human race is made to stand in the court of God, his desire can be nothing other than that on that terrifying Day of Judgment, when he stands before the Lord of the universe, God Almighty should say about him that this is My servant who remained loyal to Me in the life of the world. But it is obvious that this position cannot be achieved by mere desire alone. Worldly governments grant a certificate of loyalty only when a person fulfills the prescribed conditions of the state. Then how can God—the Ruler of all rulers, who is absolutely uncompromising about His sovereignty and does not tolerate even the slightest sharing in His divinity—accept anything less, will He be pleased merely by a wish in the heart or a movement of the tongue, and grant someone the honour of loyalty just because he wants it, whether or not he has practically made his loyalty exclusive to Him. The truth is that, like all other forms of loyalty, the desire to become loyal to God also demands a great struggle. In worldly institutions, a person’s importance is recognized only when he devotes his best abilities to them. A shop reveals its possibilities of profit to someone only when a man gives everything he has to it. In the eyes of governments, a person is considered worthy of trust and respect only when they live as a fully loyal citizen. In the same way, in the sight of God, the status of true devotion is granted only to one who completely surrenders to the One God. Just as worldly authorities do not tolerate divided loyalty, God too does not accept any form of associating partners with Him.
Keep this reality before you, and then imagine the Day when you and I, and all those who came before and after us, will be gathered before God—when all voices will fall silent before the Lord of all. On that Day, a person will forget everyone but themselves, even their closest friends and dearest relatives. Only truth will carry weight, and everything else will have lost its value. It will be the Day when a person will regret, wishing they had spent their entire life preparing for it.
This will be the Day of Decision. Between us and that Day lies only death—the death whose timing no one knows. Every moment we live today will have consequences that we will face for countless years to come. Each one of us is moving toward an end where there will be either eternal comfort or eternal suffering.
Life is like a slope down which all people are moving rapidly. Every passing moment brings us closer to the final outcome that awaits each of us. We have only a few days of life—days whose consequences will not be limited to millions or billions of years, but will extend into eternity. Its comfort will be beyond measure, and its suffering unbearably painful.
Every time the sun sets, it reduces your life by another day—this life, which is your only opportunity to prepare for the Day to come. Our life is like that of a seller of ice, whose stock melts away with every passing moment. Their success lies in selling their goods before time runs out; otherwise, in the end, nothing will remain, and they will leave empty-handed.
So before death separates us from this world—where action is possible—and takes us to the next, where there is no action but only results, we must decide how to use our abilities and energies wisely. One day, we will all stand before the Creator of the universe. Blessed are those who reach their Lord having given their all for the sake of truth in this world, for they will be the first to receive His attention.
