The Concept of
Jihad in Islam

If you are willing to sacrifice your ego completely and surmount all hurdles and face all sorts of difficulties and losses but still remain firmly established on the truth—this is the actual jihad.

As noted earlier, the word ‘jihad’ is derived from the root juhd, which means ‘to strive’ or ‘to struggle.’ It denotes the exertion of oneself to the utmost, to the limits of one’s capacity, in some activity or for some purpose. Thus, the Quran says, “And strive for the cause of God as it behoves you to strive for it.” (22:78)

In Arabic, ‘jihad’ actually denotes effort or all-out effort for something. Because fighting one’s enemies is also one form of such effort or striving, it is also referred to as jihad in an extended sense. However, the Arabic word for this is qital, not jihad.

Fighting with one’s enemies is something that might happen by chance, and only occasionally. However, jihad is a continuous process that animates every day and night of the true believer’s life. It never ceases. This continuous jihad is the ceaseless effort a believer makes at every moment to abide by and remain established in God’s will in every aspect of his life. Such a person does not let any obstructions affect his life, such as the desires of the self, the allure of gain and personal aggrandisement, the power of culture and the pressure of tradition, the promptings of opportunism, the lust for wealth, and so on. All such things are obstacles in leading a God-oriented life and doing good deeds. Overcoming such obstacles and abiding by the commandments of God is the real jihad, and this is what jihad’s primary meaning is.

There are many references to this jihad in the sayings attributed to the Prophet in the books of Hadith. For instance, in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, there are several traditions, such as:

1. Al-mujahid man jahada nafsahu lillahi

That is, ‘A mujahid struggles with his self for the sake of God.’ (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 23951)

2. Al-mujahid man jahada nafsahu fi sabilillahi

That is, ‘A mujahid is he who exerts himself for the cause of God.’ (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 23965)

3. Al-mujahid man jahada nafsahu fi ta’atillahi.

That is, ‘A mujahid is he who struggles with his self in submission to the will of God.’ (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 23958)

This present world is a testing ground. It has been fashioned so that human beings are constantly faced with challenging situations that test them. In the course of these tests, people have to face various hurdles. So, for instance, you might face a situation where you are confronted with something, but you feel that acknowledging it might lower your status. You might have something that actually belongs to someone else in your possession, and you feel that returning it to its rightful owner would damage your interests. Alternatively, you think that leading a modest life is tantamount to suppressing your desires and ego. At times, you might think that you would negate yourself if you do not vent feelings of anger and revenge. You might hesitate to uphold justice for fear of losing your popularity. You might feel that if you act in a principled manner instead of selfishly, you might lose certain facilities. And so on.

In this way, you have to suppress or deny your desires on various occasions repeatedly. If you are willing to sacrifice your ego completely and surmount all hurdles and face all sorts of difficulties and losses but still remain firmly established on the truth—this is the actual jihad or the primary meaning of jihad. Those who remain steadfast in this jihad will be eligible for Paradise in the Hereafter.

Jihad is essentially a peaceful struggle. As mentioned earlier, one form of this peaceful struggle is dawah, inviting people to God.

The jihad that the Quran (25:52) refers to is not about military action. Instead, it refers to an entirely intellectual and ideological task. In short, it means refuting falsehood and affirming the truth.

In its primary sense, jihad in the form of qital or war is another name for peaceful struggle. That is to say, if an enemy challenges someone militarily, even then, one should initially strive, to the utmost extent possible, to respond to this challenge through peaceful means. Peaceful means can be abandoned only when it is no longer possible to use them when war becomes the only option left to respond to war initiated by others.

In this regard, a statement recorded in the Sahih al-Bukhari, and attributed to Aisha, the wife of the Prophet, serves as a guiding principle. According to this report, whenever the Prophet faced two alternatives, he would always opt for the easier one. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 3560)

This means that whenever he had to choose between two options, he would always leave the harder option and choose the easier one.

This practice or Sunnah of the Prophet applies not only to the routine affairs of life but also to serious matters such as war, which by its very nature is a difficult option. A study of the life of the Prophet reveals that he never initiated war himself. Whenever his opponents sought to entangle him in fighting, he would always adopt some way to try to avoid it and stave off war. He engaged in war only when there remained no other options. Thus, going by the Prophet’s method, wars of aggression are forbidden in Islam. Islam allows only for defensive war, and that, too, only when it becomes unavoidable.

In life, one is constantly faced with the problem of choosing between two options: peaceful means, on the one hand, and violent means, on the other. The accounts of the Prophet’s life tell us that always, and in every matter, he shunned violence and adopted peaceful methods. His whole life was a successful model of this principle. Here are some instances that illustrate this point:

1. Soon after being appointed as a prophet, the Prophet of Islam was faced with choosing between the two options mentioned above—peaceful and violent methods. As a prophet, his mission was to end polytheism and establish monotheism. The Kabah in Makkah was established as a centre of Tawheed, but three hundred and sixty idols had been installed therein when the Prophet Muhammad received prophethood. Hence, one might think that the Prophet should first have been instructed in the Quran to purify the Kabah of idols and remake it as a centre of Tawheed, and only then work for the mission of Tawheed. However, had he started his work in this way, it would have been tantamount to warring with the Quraysh of Makkah, who enjoyed leadership among the Arabs precisely because they had become the custodians of the Kabah.

History tells us that at this stage, the Prophet completely abstained from practically purifying the Kabah of idols and limited himself only to the ideological dawah of Tawheed. It was, thus, an early example set by the Prophet of choosing a peaceful method over a violent one.

2. Firmly abiding by this peaceful principle, the Prophet carried on his preaching work in Makkah for thirteen years. However, despite this, the Quraysh turned into his fierce opponents, so much so that their leaders plotted to kill him. Accordingly, they armed themselves with swords and surrounded his house.

This was, in effect, an open challenge to war issued to the Prophet and his companions. However, following God’s guidance, the Prophet decided to avoid armed confrontation. Thus, in the silence of the night, he left Makkah and secretly travelled to Madinah. This incident is known in Islamic history as the Hijrah.

The Hijrah exemplifies a peaceful method instead of a violent one.

3. The ‘Battle of the Trench’, also known as the Battle of Ahzab, is another illustration of this Sunnah of the Prophet. On this occasion, many of the Prophet’s opponents from different tribes assembled and marched towards Madinah to attack the city. It was an open challenge to war on their part. However, to avoid war, the Prophet arranged for a trench to be dug around the town. This served as a buffer against the attackers. Thus, the army of the Quraysh, having spent just a few days on the other side of the trench, turned back in retreat.

Digging this trench, too, was an example of the Prophet’s choosing a peaceful option instead of a violent one.

4. The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah is also an example of this policy of the Prophet. The Prophet and his companions wanted to enter Makkah and perform the Umrah or minor pilgrimage, but they were stopped by the leaders of Makkah at a place called Hudaybiyyah and were told to go back to Madinah. The Quraysh said that they would not allow them to enter Makkah at any cost.

This was, in other words, a challenge to war on the part of the Quraysh. Had the Prophet proceeded towards Makkah by his plan of performing the Umrah, it was inevitable that armed confrontation with the Quraysh would have broken out. However, he ended his journey at Hudaybiyyah. There, he entered into a peace treaty with the Quraysh by unilaterally accepting all their conditions, and then he returned to Madinah.

This is yet another clear example of the Prophet choosing a peaceful method over a violent one.

5. This same Sunnah or practice of the Prophet was also exemplified in the victory over Makkah. On this occasion, he was accompanied by ten thousand devoted companions. They could undoubtedly have successfully fought the Quraysh. However, instead of using force, the Prophet chose to give a demonstration of force. He did not set out with this ten-thousand-strong army by announcing and then fighting the Quraysh and capturing Makkah. Instead, what he did was that he made preparations for the journey in complete secrecy and travelled along with his companions to Makkah and silently entered the town. His entry into Makkah was so sudden that the Quraysh could not make any preparations against him, so Makkah was won over without any bloody confrontation.

This, too, is an example of the Prophet’s choice of a peaceful, over a violent, method.

These examples prove that in ordinary conditions  as well as in extreme emergencies, the Prophet adopted the principle of peace instead of war. All his successes are practical examples of this very Sunnah of peace.

As indicated above, peace is the general commandment in Islam, while war is only a rare exception, to be resorted to only when it becomes an unavoidable compulsion. If we keep this principle in mind and survey the world today, we will find that the modern age is entirely different from the world of ancient times in this regard. In the past, violent methods were a common or general practice, while adopting peaceful methods was challenging. However, today the situation has completely changed. In today’s world, violent methods have become completely undesirable and unacceptable. In contrast, peaceful methods are now the only acceptable option. Moreover, today, peaceful methods enjoy solid intellectual and practical support, making them extremely powerful and effective.

These supports for peaceful methods are very many—for instance, the right to express one’s views, the possibilities of widely disseminating one’s views using modern means of communications, employing the power of the electronic media, the internet and social media in one’s favour, and so on. These modern transformations have made peaceful methods both much more popular and, at the same time, much more effective options.

As mentioned earlier, the Prophet’s Sunnah or practice was that when peaceful methods are available, these methods alone must be used for the Islamic movement, and violent struggle should be abandoned. In today’s context, because of the vast transformations that have taken place, peaceful methods are now available and, based on the supporting factors mentioned above, they have become much more effective. It can be safely said, without any fear of exaggeration, that today, violent methods have not only become difficult but that they are also utterly useless in practical terms. In contrast, peaceful methods are far easier to adopt and very effective.

No longer is the peaceful method a question of choosing between two possible options—peaceful versus violent. Instead, the peaceful method is now the only practically possible and result-oriented option. Thus, it is correct to say that violent methods must now be abandoned in practice. In the language of the Shariah, they should be regarded as mansukh or abrogated. The followers of Islam are now left, at the practical level, with only one method to adopt—and that, without any doubt whatsoever, is the peaceful method, unless such changes take place in prevailing conditions that once again change the rules that apply in this regard.

In the past, violent methods were used occasionally, but these were only a choice compelled by the age conditions in which the Prophet lived. However, since no longer does any such compulsion exist due to changes in the age, the choice of violent methods must now be considered unnecessary and not in consonance with the Prophet’s Sunnah. In the changed conditions of today, only peaceful methods must be used.

An instructive example from recent times in this regard is the life of Mahatma Gandhi. Because of the changes our times have witnessed that are referred to here, Mahatma Gandhi could engage in a full-fledged peaceful political struggle and succeed. Moreover, all of this happened by adhering, from start to end, to non-violent methods and peaceful activism.

According to a well-known principle of fiqh or jurisprudence, rules can or should be modified to suit the change of time and place. This accepted principle of fiqh demands that when times have changed, one must, if need be, seek the re-application of Shariah commandments per the prevailing conditions. This fiqh principle applies as much to the issues of war as it does to many other matters. It, too, demands that violent methods should now be abandoned and peaceful methods alone are considered legitimate according to the Shariah.