Jihad in the Quran

The Qur'an is considered by Muslims to be the most important authority in all of Islam.  The Qur'an clearly teaches and encourages Holy War, or Jihad.

1. Surah 61:4  "Truly Allah loves those who fight in His Cause in battle array, as if they were a solid cemented structure,"

2. Surah 2:190-193  "Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress limits...And slay them wherever ye catch them.  And turn them out from where they have turned you out; for persecution is worse than slaughter; But fight them not at the sacred Mosque unless they first fight you there; But if they fight you, slay them.  Such is the reward of those who reject faith.  But if they cease, Allah is oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.  And fight them on until there is no more persecution.  And the religion becomes Allah's.  But if they cease, Let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression"

3. Surah 9:38-39  "O ye who believe!  What is the matter with you, that, when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, ye cling heavily to the earth?  Do ye prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter?  But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the Hereafter.  Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others in your place; but Him ye would not harm in the least.  For Allah hath power over all things.  Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others in your place; but Him ye would not harm in the least.  For Allah hath power over all things,"

4. Surah 8:59-70  "Their state is like that of the people of Pharaoh, and of those before them who treated their Lord's signs as lies.  We therefore destroy them in their sins, and We drowned the people of Pharaoh; for they were all doers of wrong.  The worst beasts truly in the sight of God are the thankless who will not believe; They with whom thou hast leagued, and who are ever breaking their league, and who fear not God!  If thou take them in war, then, by the example of their fate, scatter those who shall follow them - that they may be warned: Or if thou fear treachery from any people, throw back their treaty to them as thou fairly mayest, for God loveth not the treacherous.  And think not that the infidels shall escape Us!  The shall not weaken God....O Prophet!  stir up the faithful to the fight.  Twenty of you who stand firm shall vanquish two hundred: and if there be an hundred of you they shall vanquish a thousand of the infidels, for they are a people devoid of understanding....No prophet hath been enabled to take captives until he had made great slaughter in the earth.  Ye desire the passing fruitions of this world, but God desireth the next life for you.  And God is mighty and wise.

5. Sura 9:5  "And when the sacred months are passed, kill those who join other gods with God wherever ye shall find them; and seize them, besiege them, and lay wait for them with every kind of ambush: but if they shall convert, and observe prayer, and pay the obligatory alms, then let them go their way, for God is gracious, merciful.

6. Sura 9:12  "But if, after alliance made, they break their oaths and revile your religion, then do battle with the ring-leaders of infidelity - for no oaths are binding with them - that they may desist.  What!  will ye not fight against those Meccans who have broken their oaths and aimed to expel your Apostle, and attacked you first?  Will ye dread them?  God is more worthy of your fear, if ye are believers!  So make war on them:  By your hands will God chastise them, and will put them to shame, and will give you victory over them, and will heal the bosoms of a people who believe;"

7. Sura 9:30  "Make war upon such of those to whom the Scriptures have been given as believe not in God, or in the Last Day, and who forbid not that which God and His Apostle have forbidden, and who profess not the profession of the truth, until they pay tribute out of hand, and they be humbled.  The Jews say, "Ezra is a son of God"; and the Christians say, "The Messiah is a son of God."  Such the sayings in their mouths!  They resemble the saying of the infidels of old!  God do battle with them!  How are they misguided?  They take their teachers, and their monks, and the Messiah, son of Mary, for lords besides God, though bidden to worship one God only.  There is no God but He!  Far from His glory be what they associate with Him!  Fain would they put out God's light with their mouths: but God only desireth to perfect His light, albeit the infidels abhor it.  He it is who hath sent His Apostle with the guidance and a religion of the truth, that He may make it victorious over every other religion, albeit they who assign partners to God be averse from it.

          Also see Sura 61 and Sura 4

Jihad in the Hadith

The Hadith are the recorded sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad.  It is second in authority only to the Qur'an and is often used to clarify things not specified in the Qur'an.  The following is what Muhammad had to say about Jihad as recorded in the Hadith.

1. The second best deed is to participate in Jihad (Volume 1, Book 2, Number 25, Narrated Abu Huraira) - Allah's Apostle was asked, "What is the best deed?"  He replied, "To believe in Allah and His Apostle (Muhammad).  The questioner then asked, "What is the next in goodness?  He replied, "To participate in Jihad (religious fighting) in Allah's Cause."  The questioner again asked, "What is the next (in goodness)?"  He replied, "To perform Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca) 'Mubrur, (which is accepted by Allah and is performed with the intention of seeking Allah's pleasure only and not to show off and without committing a sin and in accordance with the traditions of the Prophet)."

2. Muhammad said if someone leaves Islam, to kill them (Volume 4, Book 52, Number 260, Narrated Ikrima) - All burnt some people and this news reached IBn 'Abbas, who said, "Had I been in his place I would not have burnt them, as the Prophet said, 'Don't punish anybody with Allah's Punishment.'  No  doubt, I would have killed them, for the Prophet said, "If somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him."

3. Volume 1, Book 2, Number 35, Narrated Abu Huraira  "The Prophet said, The person who participates in holy battles in Allah's cause and nothing compels him to do so except belief in Allah and his Apostles, will be recompensed by Allah either with a reward, or booty (if he survives) or will be admitted to Paradise (if he is killed in the battle as a martyr).  Had I not found it difficult for my followers, then I would not remain behind any saiya going for Jihad and I would have loved to be martyred in Allah's cause and then made alive, and then martyred and then made alive, and then again martyred in His cause."

4. Volume 3, Book 46, Number 726  "Allah's Apostle said, A pious slave gets a double reward.  Abu Huraira added:  By Him in Whose Hands my soul is but for Jihad (holy battles), Hajj, and my duty to serve my mother, I would have loved to die as a slave."

5. Volume 9, Book 93, Number 555  "Allah's Apostle said, Allah guarantees (the person who carries out Jihad in His Cause and nothing compelled him to go out but Jihad in His Cause and the belief in His Word) that He will either admit him into Paradise or return him with reward or booty he has earned to his residence from where he went out."

RETURN TO ISLAM MAIN PAGE