Jihad According to the Quran & Sunnah
The following is a translation from 'Fataawaa al-Albaanee' (a transcription of some of the cassettes of the shaikh) when the shaikh was asked his opinion on jihaad.
The Answer:
"With respect to Jihad, O my brother, in this time and before this time it is fard ayn, because the problem at hand is not a problem of Bosnia (alone) which has again moved the emotions of the muslim youth. For here we have neighbouring us, the Jews who have occupied Palestine, and not a single Islamic country has moved to establish the obligation of making Jihad with them, and evicting them and throwing them in the sea, as some of or one of the presidents of the Islamic lands used to say.
And the point is that Jihad is fard ayn, because many of the muslim lands have been occupied in the past and the present by the kuffaar. And the likes of this occupation is not hidden from the muslim who concerns himself with the affairs of the muslims, not to speak of the Islamic groups or Islamic sects or Islamic lands.
But Jihad has pillars and conditions, and we - the group of muslim scholars - believe that the obligatory Jihad is only obligatory upon those muslims who would help one another to establish what Allaah has obligated upon them from the jihad against the kuffaar, and evicting them from the lands they have occupied.
And we do not need now to relate the evidences from the Book and Sunnah, for this point has no difference of opinion over it between the scholars - that jihad is fard ayn when an area of the muslim land is occupied, so how about when the occupation has occurred in many lands?!
But, unfortunately I wish to say that this jihad which is fard - rather fard ayn - is not possible to be established by individuals as occurs in the question, rather not even by some of the Islamic groups. Because the likes of this jihad, especially in our times in which the means of fighting have become many, is not possible to be established by the Islamic groups not to speak of individuals! But the obligation is upon the countries, and those Islamic countries that have the strength to prepare for war, and the means of modern day warfare, by which if they gathered together sincerely for this jihad they would establish the fard ayn. But, very unfortunately, these countries have not moved a limb to establish this.
So maybe they refer the matter of this jihad to the various Islamic groups and sects, while these are not capable of doing anything to stop the advance/attack of the kuffaar. And the current affairs bear witness to the fact that any Islamic group that tries, either to fight the aggressor as occurred in Afghanistan for example, or by revolting against the ruler whose kufr has become clear, like in Algeria for example - then these unfortunate occurrences indicate that the individual jihad or group jihad does not produce the expected fruit, and that is that the Word of Allaah be made supreme.
So therefore, we believe that this Jihad is not possible except under an Islamic authority firstly, and under an Islamic group comprising of people from different lands, not just one land or one region.
And add to this the necessity that taqwa of Allaah be present, by staying away from what Allaah has prohibited from the matters that are well known amongst the muslims, but unfortunately they are very far from putting into practice.
And we have mentioned - and I am trying to summarise my words as much as possible - many times that what has befallen the muslims today, this humiliation and abasement/ignominy that has not been known in the history of Islaam at all, is that the muslims have misapplied, at the very least, one verse of the Quraan....and that is the saying of Allaah, "if you help Allaah, Allaah will Help you."
And there is no doubt that this Help of the muslims from Allaah, is Help in making the Laws of the Shariah an observable reality, and this unfortunately is not realised in the majority of the Islamic lands, or in the muslim individuals. And those amongst the muslim lands that do have some remnants of ruling by the Law of Allaah have not, uptil now proclaimed the call to Jihaad.
And due to this the muslim individuals and nations will remain weak as long as none of the Islamic lands lift the flag of Jihad, and that Jihad which calls for fighting those nearest them, not those that are far far away. For the muslims, with their lands, and groups, and sects, and as individuals, if they cannot establish Jihad with those that neighbour them or are close to them then they are not capable of making Jihad with those that are distant from them....for example Eritrea, ,Somalia, Bosnia and Cechnya.
And due to this we mention now, that it is upon the Muslim youth as individuals and groups and sects that they spread the correct Islamic awareness in the lands firstly, and then in the rulers secondly - and that (correct understanding) is that all of these people rule by what Allaah has revealed.
The ruler that he rules by what Allaah has revealed and ordered. The individual that he rules by what Allaah has revealed... I know that today many of the individuals, and groups and sects, throw the responsibilty (of the state of affairs) onto the rulers only, while in my certain belief the responsibility equally falls upon these individuals, groups and sects, as it falls upon these rulers! This is because these governments arose from the lands of these muslims.....these muslims who were addressed by two hadeeth from the Messenger (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) ....the first his (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) saying,'when you deal with interest, and hold fast to the tail of the cow, and become contented with agriculture, and you leave Jihad in the Way of Allaah, Allaah will permit your humiliation and will not lift it from you until you return to your deen.'
And the second hadeeth, his (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) saying, '"the nations summon each other upon you as you call guests to eat from a plate of food", they said , "will we be few in number on that day O Messenger of Allaah?" He said, "no rather you will be many on that day, but you will be like the foam on the ocean. And Allaah will remove the fear in the hearts of your enemies and place in your hearts al-wahn". They said, "what is al-wahn O Messenger of Allaah?" He said, "love of this world and hatred of death."'
And these occurrences which are mentioned by the Messenger (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) in this hadeeth have now occurred in every muslim society, and they are from the clear afflictions that necessitate the descent of this humiliation upon the muslims until the hearts of the rulers, and individuals become totally covered in black (due to their sins).
The muslim lands do not rule by what Allaah revealed, and if there is one amongst them that does (claim to) rule by what Allaah revealed, then the first clear indication that it does not rule by what Allaah revealed is that it does not raise the call for Jihad.
So if this time is not the time in which Jihad in the Way of Allaah does not become obligatory, and many of the muslims lands have been occupied, then when will this Jihad become obligatory?
But the problem - and this is the heart of the matter - is that there is no one amongst us who is capable of undertaking (this jihad), why?.....Because we are drowning in sins, and drowning in sectarian differences and national differences, and we know that one of the doorways to weakness and defeat is that the muslims differ amongst themselves.
And we have been tried recently with a very sad trial, and that is the Afghani Jihad, where we were hoping that its endpoint would be victory for the muslims, and there were strong signs for placing the seed of the Islamic state. Then the end and result turned out to be totally opposite (to what was hoped) due to the early signs of victory over the enemy, the communists (shuyuiyyeen), diminished when the differences between the tribes made them split into seven groups, and their Islam which they took as deen did not prevent them from doing this, and our Lord says, "and do not be from the mushriks. From those that split their deen and became sects, each sect rejoicing in what it has."
Therefore, it is upon the one who desires to go on Jihad that he gets the means of jihad, and the means of aquiring victory, and that is not realisable in our times unfortunately. And Allaah says in the Noble Quran, "indeed Allaah will not change the state of a people until they change what is in themselves."
Therefore we call the Muslim individuals, and groups and sects, not to speak of the governments that they concern themselves by spreading the purified, authentic Islam, purified from every spurious element that has entered it with the passing of time, and then bring up the muslims on this purified Islaam.
The day when these signs begin, and become clear in this vast Islamic land, that day shall the signs of getting ready to establish this fard ayn Jihaad begin.
These anxious individuals that go to many of the muslim lands invaded/attacked by the kuffaar like Bosnia and Chechnya for example..... what are the weapons that they have with them? who are the leaders who can discipline them and make them fight under one authority and under one flag? So if there was a single authority then we would see the (fruits) of the Jihad as we saw them in Afghanistan (i.e victory over the aggressor).
Therefore Allaah says, "and prepare for them what you can from stength and weapons to strike fear into the hearts of the enemies of Allaah and your enemies".
Where is this preperation?! And who is the one capable of this preparation? The individual?! No, the governments?...yes the governments, and it is possible for us to say that they do establish a small amount of this preperation.....but this preparation is taken from their enemies..... so if there was a jihad established between the kaafir and muslims, then soon these muslims would not be capable of supplying their armies with the necessary weapons except by buying them from their enemies.
So can their be victory and Jihad by buying weapons from the enemies of the muslims?!
This is impossible, and due to this, this preparation ordered us, cannot be established even by the Islamic countries, because the Islamic countries buy their weapons of destruction from their enemies and aggreviated states. And there are ways of making these weapons malfunction when they (the muslims) intend to use then against the kaafir enemy. And due to this I say, and I finish my words and reply upon this question that Allaah, when He said, "And prepare for them what you can...." this address was to the Companions of the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) , then the address is directed to the generality of muslims due to the generality of the text. But this address was directed to the Sahaabah after they were brought up on the authentic Islamic upbringing until it was possible for them to establish the likes of this address - preparing the worldly might after preparing the spiritual might in themselves or with themselves, due to the upbringing they went through at the hands of their Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) .
And history repeats itself.....So there has to be an upbringing of a nation from the Islamic nations so that is may be possible for this nation to establish this worldly preparedness, and we today do not find a nation that has established this obligation which we can depict in two words: tasfiyyah (correction) and tarbiyyah (education/cultivation).
(Rather) we see us as scattered individuals here and there. And if there were a group, and over this group a leader who has the allegiance of all the muslims, and he raises the flag of Jihad against the enemies: this has not happened yet, and due to this we call for the existence of this introduction/predicate to this holy Jihaad.
And as for running (of these people) behind emotions when the spiritual jihad has not even been realised in them - and that is the correct understanding of Islaam, and applying it collectively, and that there be over them a leader after that, and he enjoins them to prepare what they can from strength and weapons: So the day we see the likes of this, that day the muslims will rejoice in the victory of Allaah, and Allaah Helps whom He Wills. This is my answer to your question."
Sheikh Albanee debates with a Jihad
Jihad in the Quran and Sunnah
Debate with a Jihadi
Author: Shaikh al-Albaanee
Article ID : IBD170004
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The discussion starts with al-Jihaad supporter :-
Al-jihad supporter : We have no doubt that you are one of the first of the scholars in the century to call for the return to the understanding of the Salaf. There is no doubt that the issue of jihad is an issue of disagreement among those who follow manhaj as-Salaf assali7. In the issue of jihad, we call the people to fight jihad under two conditions : The first is that is has to be done in pure intention for the sake of Allah. The second that it has to be under the banner of Islam. However we hear from the devout muslim youth other conditions that they narrate from you which we never heard about in hadith, such conditions are Islamic knowledge (or Education and purification - Tasfiyah wa Tarbiyah) and having Khilafa or an Islamic state. These conditions we hear a lot from the brothers who follow manhaj as-Salaf, and I am among those who follow this manhaj insha' Allah. My Question is : do these conditions have any reference in the Sunnah ? or are they only an ijtihad regarding the current situation and\or conditions? and before that do you really call for these conditions?
Al-Albani : first of all, we agreed to discuss this issue with you to find out about your da3wa.
Al-jihad supporter : I told you about it.
Al-Albani : Then, explain your da3wa. Your questions are premature now, I want to understand what you da3wa is for.
Al-jihad supporter : my da3wa is clear, to do jihad according to the conditions I mentioned. Intention because the prophet KAW said "whoever fought for the word of Allah to be the higher word is fi sabeel Allah". Under the banner of Islam because the prophet KAW said "whoever fought for the sake of 3asabiyah supporting one group or fighting another and died, he died the death of jahiliyah."
Al-Albani : OK. Do we need an Amir to do jihad ?
Al-jihad supporter : No.
Al-Albani : so we do jihad in a big disorganized mess ? (Arabic : Fawda)
Al-jihad supporter : No ... but
Al-Albani : Also, your first condition which is the pure intention. This condition in every worship so we are done with it. Your second, under the Islamic banner, do you imagen jihad without an Amir? how can we have an Islamic banner without an Amir for that banner ?
Al-jihad supporter : We can do jihad in this manner like if a muslim goes to a kafir enemy leader, and kills him.
Al-Albani : But we were talking about the jihad of a group. Jihad under an Islamic banner is it the jihad of one person or the jihad of a group ? Also, a group of Muslims that leave for jihad, do they not need an Amir to lead them ?
Al-jihad supporter : Yes, yes of course. A group of Muslims who travel or leave for jihad need an Amir. and If a group of Muslims of more than 3 leave for Jihad they need an Amir.
Al-Albani : Then why did you not mention this as a condition?
Al-jihad supporter : well, okay, let us make it a third condition.
Al-Albani : Okay for the Fard 3ayn jihad, do we need a jama3a for it or can it be done as individuals ?
Al-jihad supporter : Either case.
Al-Albani : This is not an answer.
Al-jihad supporter : why is that ?
Al-Albani : We said that jihad is two kinds : Fard Kifayah, which only a small group of Muslims can do, and if a group do it, the rest of the Muslims are not questioned about it. This kind of jihad individuals can do on their own. Fard 3ayn which ALL the Muslims have to do it in a specific area. To do this kind of jihad, do we not need an Amir to lead the Muslims ?
Al-jihad supporter : yes we need an Amir for this group if it fights or if it doesn't fight.
Al-Albani : Good Good, we return to say Amir to mean a Khalifa of the Muslims.
Al-jihad supporter : no not a khalifa.
Al-Albani : Why? is it dangerous to say khalifa?
Al-jihad supporter : Yes of course, because this means we want to reap the fruit before we plant the trees.
Al-Albani : This is what I see you doing. You say you want an Amir for the whole group of Muslims to lead jihad and at the same time you don't want him to be the khalifa! is this what you want ?
Al-jihad supporter : well, yes.
Al-Albani : !! Okay then where is this Amir? and who is this Amir? and can we have more than one Amir? We are now on the condition we agreed on before, which is that we need an Amir, and you claim that we need an Amir to lead this group jihad without him being the khalifa. Which do we get first, the Amir or the jihad ? this is like asking do we pray before the athan or after. which comes first ?
[after a while of arguing around]
Al-jihad supporter : Okay we do need an Amir for the Fard 3ayn jihad before we start the jihad.
Al-Albani : Excellent. Then do we call to have an Amir first, or do we call for the jihad first.
Al-jihad supporter : well, both at the same time.
Al-Albani : la hawla wa la quwaata illa billah. We just agreed that we need an Amir for Jihad al-3ayn before we start the jihad. The next question is do we call for an Amir First or do we call for the jihad first? This group, all kinds of groups need an Amir. To call for this kind of jihad we do need an Amir first, the Amir will call for the mujahideen and send those here and those there.
Al-jihad supporter : okay what if a group of Muslims read in the Quran about jihad and want to do jihad, so they gather for jihad and then appoint an Amir on them.
Al-Albani : Ya akhi what you are describing is a case of jihad Fard al-Kifayah. For Fard Al-Kifayah it is okay for a small group to gather and go do jihad. For Fard al-3ayn we need the whole group of Muslims. How can we have to the whole group of Muslims if we don't have a unified leadership for this kind for jihad? This kind of Amir, I do not see any of the Mujahideen calling for it. Why do you not call for that Amir?
Al-jihad supporter : Okay then let us call for this Amir.
Al-Albani : OK, then what are the characters for this Amir, in your opinion?
Al-jihad supporter : [some characters ]
Al-Albani : and do you see an Amir with these qualities ?
Al-jihad supporter : yes, many.
Al-Albani : where ?
Al-jihad supporter : everywhere.
Al-Albani : We said that we need an Amir for the whole group, ie for all the Muslims. How can we have more than one Amir for all the Muslims ?
Al-jihad supporter : ... [arguing around]
Al-Albani : do you know what does the hadith of Huthayfah bin yaman (fa in lam yakun lahom jama3a wa la imam) say about this, does it lead to the conclusion that this jihad needs a khalifa, or otherwise ?
[hadith narrated in bukhari , Kitab al-manaqib, hadith #3338 hadith says When people were asking the prophet about the goodness, i was asking about the evil in fear that it may get to me, so I asked "oh prophet of Allah we were in jahiliyah then Allah brought this goodness, will there be any evil after it?" the prophet said "yes there will", I said "will there be goodness after it?" he said "yes and it has some impurities" i asked "and what are its impurities?" he SAW said " people who guide without my guidance, you know of them and deny." I asked "is there evil after this goodness?" he said "yes, there will be preachers who preach for the doors of hellfire, whoever answers them they throw him into hellfire" so i said "oh prophet of Allah, describe them for us" he SAW said "they are from u and they speak from our language." so i asked "what should I do if i witness that?" the prophet SAW said "stick with the group of Muslims and their leader" i asked "what if they had no leader?" he said "if they had no leader or imam, then leave all these groups even if you had to bite on a tree until your death."]
Al-jihad supporter : what does this hadith have to do with our discussion?
Al-Albani : did Huthayfah not ask the prophet about what to do when there are callers to the doors of hellfire ? the prophet answered that he must stick to the imam of the jama3a, if there is no imam then let him stay away from every jama3a. Do these conditions apply to today? do we not have people who claim to be Muslims yet they are callers to hellfire? is Khilafa not missing ?
Al-jihad supporter : I prefer to to discuss other hadiths, like "there is still a portion of my nation fighting for the right, they do not care whoever disagreed with them or let them down."
Al-Albani : What does this have to do with our discussion? We are not in disagreement about calling for jihad. We are in agreement that jihad is a an obligation (Fard 3ayn) today, what we disagree on is that do we need a khalifa first or not. What you quoted adds nothing to the argument. We both agree that jihad is a Fard. Do you understand? What we disagree about is the issue of needing a khalifa to start this jihad.
Al-jihad supporter : OK.
Al-Albani : notice that the prophet advised Huthayfah to stick with the imam of the Muslims and their main group. You have that all the conditions in that hadith are true today ..
Al-jihad supporter : true ...
Al-Albani : and the prophet said if the Muslims had no imam or jama3a, to leave all the groups. so what do you do now ?
Al-jihad supporter : well, we try to look for the group of Muslims and find an imam for it.
Al-Albani : this is what we call for! jihad is fard, but right now is not the time for it. We need the imam first and that the prophet ordered you to follow and stick with his group.
Al-jihad supporter : How do we know that we can not do jihad until we get this khalifa that is indeed necessary ?
Al-Albani : the hadith says if the Muslims had no one leader then leave all the groups. And we already said before that the jihad for fard al-3ayn has to be done the jama3a led by a leader to all the Muslims, an Amir. If the Muslims had no leader they stay away from ALL groups. How can they do group jihad if they should at the same time stay away from all groups??? you are contradicting what you already agreed on. islamically we have only one banner, one group and one leader. We do need this one group to start the fard al-3ayn jihad.
Al-jihad supporter : ...
Al-Albani : now what I want to do is prove to you that this Amir of the fard 3ayn jihad must be a khalifa, not just an Amir. The dallel is the hadith of Huthayfah again. Sometimes as you know the evidence is clear and sometimes not very, (qat3i al-dilalah, or thahiri al-dilalah). Let us consider an example of a Shaikh advising his student on the guidelines of this hadith. The student asks his Shaikh what to do to to avoid the evil, the Shaikh says stick with the imam of the Muslims. The student answers that the Muslims have no khalifa, so the Shaikh advises him to stay away from all the groups. This student is obedient to his Shaikh and this Shaikh that is following his prophet. what would this student do? he would go ahead living his life in a valley looking after his sheep or whatever, worshiping Allah. Where is jihad? if it was a wajib on this muslim to fight then the Shaikh would tell him to fight, and not to stay away from every group. is there a jihad here? as long as there is no imam then there is no jihad. This evidence is Qat3i al-Dilalah. Jihaad must be in the supervision of an Imam, or khalifa. But let me tell you about some thing that troubles many of the students of knowledge, that there are many groups that fight like the afghan or those in Syria a decade or more ago. Those people, if they want to fight they must be under the leadership of one Amir, that doesn't mean that Syrians fight in Afghanistan and afghanis in Syria, no. It means that both fighting groups must be under the supervision on one Imam and one khalifa. If there was no one imam and no one jama3a (not in the meaning of two fighting groups, but in the meaning of one group in their unity of leadership, but could be more than one group of fighters each fighting in a part of the Islamic world), both groups would be operating on their own.
To do this fard 3ayn jihad, the wajib of the Muslims is unity, the unity needs a khalifa. To establish this thing we must start with education and purification (Tasfiyah wa Tarbiyah). We can not start with jihad right now.
You say that there are many groups for jihad, yet all these groups are in disagreement and as Allah said in Quran "wa la tanaza3o fa tafshalu wa thahaba ree7okum". We are today many like the flowing of the river, what you want to do is give legitimacy to these ghutha' groups.
Al-jihad supporter : okay then how does this education and purification (Tasfiyah wa Tarbiyah) lead to khilafa?
Al-Albani : History repeats itself. everybody claims that the prophet is their role model. Our prophet SAW spent the first half of his message in making da3wa, and he started with it not with jihad. The prophet first raised his companions Islamic education like he educated them to say the word of truth and not be afraid of it, he also taught them the Islamic teachings. We know that our Islam today is not like it was when Allah revealed "today I have completed your religion", many things have indeed been added to Islam, do you not agree?
Al-jihad supporter : Yes I fully agree. but there are many Quranic proofs that jihad is an important obligation!
Al-Albani : I do not deny that, but ya akhi the question is "where do we start from?" My da3wa is : to do this jihad we need an Amir, to get this Amir we must work on the Tasfiyah and Tarbiyah. think about this on your own, by considering the hadith of Huthayfah which do we need first jihad or the Amir ?
Al-jihad supporter : has anyone before called for Tasfiyah and Tarbiyah before jihad ?
Al-Albani : May Allah be merciful with you. Tell me when did the Muslims not have a unified khalifa?
Al-jihad supporter : What about the time of Ali and Mu3awiyah?
Al-Albani : You mean you have a doubt that Ali was right, and that Mu3awiyah was wrong?
Al-jihad supporter : No ... but
Al-Albani : no "but"s. How many khulafa' were there?
[after a while of discussion]
Al-jihad supporter : OK, OK, one.
A listener : To be frank my Shaikh, this discussion is going nowhere : if one does not make his intention and mind pure he will never understand.
Al-Albani : This is indeed a good advice. We live in an age where one of the fatal characters is spread, which is everyone liking his own opinion. Today everybody who reads a bit of Quran or learns a bit of A7kam and Hadeeths, he thinks he is something in 3ilm although he can not read the hadiths without errors, and then he wants to argue everything he sees ...
Al-jihad supporter .. trying to interrupt ...
Al-Albani : the time for discussion is over. I will take the advice of the brother. My advice to the students of knowledge is not proceed to preach to the people something that may lead them to great misguidence (Dalal). He should check with the people of knowledge before he jumps to conclusion. It is one of the disasters of the muslim youth today to quickly adopt opinions without looking into the opinions of the Salaf and khalaf regards these issues. I advise Muslims to research this especially in the issues that concern the group such as jihad. Jihaad is, without doubt the the pride of Islam and of the basis of Islam (arkan) and the verses and hadiths regards this are known to everybody insha' Allah. But this jihad has its conditions and introductions. From its basic conditions that the group that does it must be in agreement to return to Quran and Sunnah in their rulings (a7kam). This in fact needs a great time of education, purification and of scholars and preachers, like the prophet educated his companions. We notice that Mujahids call for whatever of the Muslims to join in the fight, and when they go to fight they find disagreement among themselves in matters of their faith and the basics of Islam. How do these people get ready to go for Jihad when they are yet to understand what is obligatory on them of Aqeedah ??!! This my brother, leads us to understand that Jihaad is not to be discussed, but we must discuss its introductions. The first introduction is, as we attest before Allah, the khalifa. Because if the amirs exist today and the bond I talked about (common understanding of Islam) does not exist among them then they will turn against one another and fight each other. They must be all for one methodology and one understanding. I therefore advise every muslim to work by the hadeeth of Ibn al-yaman, leave all the groups and stay by yourself. And this is not to mean to live in isolation, no it means not to join one or another group. You can do yourself and all the Muslims good with your knowledge. This is a reminder and the reminder benefits the believers.
