JIHAD*PERCEPTION AND REALITY

The extremists and
terrorists have hijacked
certain terms and
expressions that suit their
purpose. The word Jihad is
the most exploited one.
They misinterpret these
words to radicalize the
Muslim youth in particular,
and other Muslims in
general. They also supply
radical and extremist
meanings to some of the
verses of the Qur’an and
traditions of the Holy
Prophet (blessings and
peace be upon him). They
take them out of context,
and misuse and misapply
them. So those who are
influenced by them parrot
some verses and traditions
for frequent use and
employ words like Jihad,
martyrdom, Khilafa, of
Islam, Dar al-Harb, Dar al-
Islam to assure the people
of their deep affinity to
Islam. And by putting these
terms together, they have
developed an ideology
declaring it true Islam
claiming that it originates
from the texts of the
Qur’an and the texts of
the traditions of the Holy
Prophet Muhammad
(blessings and peace be
upon him). But in truth, this
is the ideology of
terrorists and extremists
and has absolutely no link
or relation with Islam and
Islamic teachings and the
classical interpretations of
Islamic authorities. So the
crux of our talk is that
this concept is totally a
wrong accusation against
Islam.
When the word Jihad is
uttered or heard, the
image of fighting and killing
automatically comes to mind
because that is what they
do and call it Jihad; their
wrong actions and wrong
interpretations supply this
word the same meanings.
This causes disrepute to
Islam and distorts its
identity. It must, therefore,
be made clear that the
term ‘jihad’ does not
denote or connote any kind
of fighting, combating,
torturing or killing. On the
contrary, it means extreme
exertion, effort, and
struggle for a good cause.
There are, in total, 36
verses of the Holy Qur’an,
where the word ‘jihad and
its derivatives such as
jahada, jaahada, yujahid or
yujahiduna have been
used, including the
commandment of jihad. Out
of these 36 verses, 31
verses have absolutely no
mention of fighting
anywhere, neither in the
text nor context. There
are three ways of deriving
the meaning or significance
of a particular command in
a verse. You understand
certain commandment,
teaching or prohibition
either from the text of a
verse, or its context, or
historical context—what
were the circumstances
when this commandment
was revealed, on what
date, in which year, and
the particular situation, and
what was the historical
background of the text,
context or historical
background in which 31
verses out of 36 do not
make any direct or indirect
mention of the
commandments of jihad, not
even the defensive war,
or a fair or lawful war.
There is absolutely no
mention of fighting or
combating.
I would like to explain one
thing before moving ahead.
Keep in mind that there is
not a single verse in the
Holy Qur’an, from the first
chapter to the last, which
contains, in the text of the
same verse, two
commandments, jihad and
qital, together. The word
qital means fighting and
combating. As for ‘jihad’, it
is used in a broad
perspective. So jihad and
qital (fighting) have never
been used even in a
single text anywhere in the
Holy Qur’an. Meanwhile,
according to the Qur’an,
jihad does not necessarily
mean fighting even for
self-defence; it does not
necessarily mean it.
Unfortunately, this term has
been hijacked by the
radicals, the extremists
and terrorists, and they
have applied it wrongly for
their own criminal and
terrorist activities of mass
killing.
Now, after giving the
description of 31 verses,
which do not mention
fighting at all, I now
explain the remaining five
verses out of 36. These
five verses do not contain
any reference to fighting
and using the word ‘jihad’
in the text, but there is a
reference to lawful fighting,
defensive war, and just
and lawful war of defense.
This is mentioned just in
the context of five verses.
I am very specific. Now we
come to the chapter nine,
Sura al-Tawba of the Holy
Qur’an. There are only two
places in this chapter
containing the five verses
where there is a
contextual reference to the
lawful fighting using the
word ‘jihad’.
The next very important
aspect in this regard is
that when qital, the lawful
fighting, was allowed for
self-defense, the Holy
Prophet (blessings and
peace be upon him) had
spent 13 years of his life
in Mecca. This period was
full of cruelty, violence,
militancy, terrorism, killing
and persecution against the
Muslims. They were a very
weak minority, but in spite
of all these injustices and
atrocities, patience was the
command of the Qur’an,
and the Muslims were not
allowed, including the
Prophet of Islam and His
companions, to take up
arms against cruelty,
oppression and aggression.
There was no self-defense
and no resistance against
torture, brutality, cruelty
and tyranny; it was a
rock-solid display of
patience for long 13 years.
It was after his migration
to Medina when the verses
about lawful defensive
fighting were revealed. In
Mecca, taking up arms was
prohibited. Standing up for
your own defence as a
matter of resistance
against oppression was
prohibited. There was no
permission for self defense
even at that particular time
when the verses of jihad
were there. I would just
quote the reference for
your further studies. The
verses revealed in the
Holy Qur’an in Meccan time
are: al-Furqan, verse 52,
al-‘Ankabut, verse 6,
al-‘Ankabut, verse 8,
al-‘Ankabut, verse 69 and
Luqman, verse 15. I just
quote as a reference one
or two of them. The Holy
Qur’an says:
ﻭَﻣَﻦ ﺟَـٰﻬَﺪَ ﻓَﺈِﻧَّﻤَﺎ ﻳُﺠَـٰﻬِﺪُ
ﻟِﻨَﻔْﺴِﻪِ.
And whoever strives hard
(for the cause of Truth)
strives for his own
(benefit). (al-‘Ankabut, 29:6)
It is stated:
ﻭَﺟَـٰﻬِﺪْﻫُﻢ ﺑِﻪِ ﺟِﻬَﺎﺩًﺍ
ﻛَﺒِﻴﺮًﺍ.
And launch a large-scale
struggle against them by
means of (logic and
preaching of the Qur’an).
(al-Furqan, 26:52)
You should perform great
jihad. So major jihad or
great jihad was the
command of Almighty God in
Mecca, when Muslims were
not allowed to take up
arms and stand up in self-
defense; they were not
allowed to resist against
the oppression. Even then
the commandments of great
jihad were there in Mecca.
This is sufficient evidence
to establish that jihad does
not necessarily include
even the war of defense.
Although it is included in
the broader term of jihad,
yet it does not necessarily
mean that. Jihad was
revealed much earlier than
the command of the
permission of war in self-
defense. So if this is the
case, then we have to
understand what jihad
means. When this is a
commandment revealed in
Meccan period where
resistance against
oppression was prohibited—
that you are not allowed to
raise the arms, then what
was the meaning of jihad
in Qur’an? The same
meanings continue to date.
Kinds of jihad
As for meaning of Jihad, it
has five dimensions.
The first meaning of the
greatest of jihad actions
connote spiritual dimension.
It is known as jihad bi al-
Nafs—your struggle for
self-purification. It is a
fight against the evil
desires of your lower self,
to purify your inner self,
to make one a good moral
and ethical personality who
could work for the sake of
Allah, get rid of arrogance,
greed, lies, aggression,
aggressive attitude,
negative propensities and
who could work for the
betterment of human
society and purify his inner
self too. This is purely
spiritual dimension, which
has no link with arms.
The second dimension of
its meaning is academic and
intellectual. On intellectual
plane, it is ijtihad; and
mujtahid is a scholar, a
great jurist, an expert of
juristic sciences who can
derive and deduct legal
values and meanings from
the bases, and can apply
it in accordance with the
changes and newly
emerging situation of
modern time. So in this
dimension of jihad, mujtahid
is he who connects the old
with the new, and the past
with the future through
academic, intellectual and
juristic efforts. Purely an
academic and juristic work
is jihad bi al-‘Ilm and jihad
bi al-Fiqh.
The third one is the social
dimension and this is jihad
bi al-‘Aml. This can be
political. This can be social.
This can be cultural. This
can be educational and, in
a way, this is for the
social reforms of society,
to purify society of social
evils, and to eradicate
corruption. This deals with
all kinds of evil attitudes
individually at first level
and collectively at this
third level. So the work for
social and political reforms,
democratic struggle, political
struggle, and peaceful
struggle comes within the
range or ambit of jihad bi
al-Qawl, i.e., al-amr bi al-
ma‘ruf wa al-nahy ‘an al-
munkar to promote the
good and to abstain from
evil. This is social
dimension.
The fourth dimension is
jihad bi al-Mal. It is
financial dimension of the
word ‘jihad’ and concept
jihad. This is just an act
of charity and Qur’an has
emphasized particularly in
two areas of jihad. The
first jihad bi al-Nafs, the
purification of lower self,
the spiritual one and the
second is socio-economic
and financial jihad. The
Holy Qur’an has
emphasized these two and
there is a full-fledged
chapter of the Holy Qur’an,
which explains this concept
and it is said that even
negation of act of charity
is negation of Din, the total
sum of Din. It is spending
money to remove economic
misery of the poor,
spending your own
economic resources to
provide ease to eliminate
the poverty from the
society. This is exactly the
work, which is done by the
charitable organizations,
western countries, the
Muslim countries, by the UN
whatever, to help humanity
and take it out of the
financial crises. It is the
struggle for the equal
distribution of wealth and
the provision of all
facilities and the privileges
of life as human beings.
This is jihad. So the
Qur’an says:
ﺃَﺭَﺀَﻳْﺖَ ﭐﻟَّﺬِﻯ ﻳُﻜَﺬِّﺏُ
ﺑِﭑﻟﺪِّﻳﻦِ. ﻓَﺬَﺍﻟِﻚَ ﭐﻟَّﺬِﻯ
ﻳَﺪُﻉُّ ﭐﻟْﻴَﺘِﻴﻢَ. ﻭَﻟَﺎ ﻳَﺤُﺾُّ
ﻋَﻠَﻰٰ ﻃَﻌَﺎﻡِ ﭐﻟْﻤِﺴْﻜِﻴﻦِ.
Have you seen him who
denies the Din (Religion)?
So he is the one who
pushes away the orphan
(i.e., rejects the needs of
the orphans and deprives
them of their right), And
does not promote the
cause of feeding the poor
(i.e., does not strive to
end the economic
exploitation of the poor
and the needy). (al-Ma‘un,
107:1-3)
Those people who do not
work for their economic
betterment and welfare are
the people who are the
nullifiers of the faith. So
this act of charity is jihad
bil-Mal. This is one of the
best jihads.
And the fifth dimension is
the defensive dimension.
This relates to the
defensive war when you
are attacked. Then there is
a war of self-defense, and
a defensive war. As a
student of law and as a
humble student of
international law, I can say
and declare this fact with
full confidence as far as
my studies throughout my
life are concerned that I
have not seen a minor
difference between a lawful
war or jihad and a war
which is known as qital.
According to Islam and the
definitions and the
conditions given by the UN
charter, it is exactly the
same concept and same
definition with same
conditions; there is no
difference. The only
difference is the term or
the word ‘jihad’ or ‘qital’
is used in Arabic language
and we say just wars and
lawful wars derived from
the time of Aristotle till
today’s UN charter.
Throughout the history, the
concept of just wars and
lawful wars has existed
continuously in every era.
This is the defensive
dimension of jihad.
When the Holy Prophet
(blessings and peace be
upon him) migrated to
Medina, two verses were
revealed in order to
provide the permission of
lawful war in self-defense.
The first was revealed in
the first year of migration.
So these are the two
verses where the
commandments of fighting
are available. There are
further clauses and two
basic articles, which
provide the permission of
fighting i.e. one is in Sura
al-Hajj, verse no. 39; the
words are: ﺃُﺫِﻥَ ﻟِﻠَّﺬِﻳﻦَ
ﻳُﻘَـٰﺘَﻠُﻮﻥَ ﺑِﺄَﻧَّﻬُﻢْ ﻇُﻠِﻤُﻮﺍْ .. It is
stated that now the
permission is granted to
pick up the arms to fight
against those who have
already imposed war on
you because you have
been wronged and because
an act of aggression has
been committed against you.
So, today the permission is
given to you to fight a
war for your self-defense.
This is the first verse.
Look at the words udhina,
permission is granted,
lilladhina only to those,
yuqatiluna against whose
aggression and war has
already been imposed; bi
annahum zulimu, because
they have faced an act of
aggression, militancy,
terrorism, killing, and the
act of attack has been
already committed on them.
So now they can resist the
attackers for their self
defense. This is the
foundational article of jihad
meaning of qital. I mean
self-defense. This has
nothing to do with the four
meanings I have already
explained.
War is the right of
state
This is very interesting
point which I have
elaborated here. Very few
scholars would have
mentioned it. When the Holy
Prophet (blessings and
peace be upon him) was in
Mecca, there was no Islamic
state there. Nobody was
allowed to take up arms
for an armed conflict. When
he migrated to Medina,
Islamic state came into
existence. He was the head
of the state elected
through the constitution. He
established an alliance with
the Jewish tribe, and with
their support, he was
selected and appointed as
the head of the state and
promulgated the first
constitution of Medina. Since
the Holy Prophet (blessings
and peace be upon him)
was the head of state,
rising against the
oppression was allowed
and the defensive war was
permitted because the state
was already there. So this
difference between Mecca
and Medina explains the
fact that, in any case, if it
is a defensive war, no
person, no organization
and no community can take
up arms individually. None
of them is allowed to
launch a defensive war.
War is a privilege and a
prerogative or a lawful
right of a state. No
organization and no person
has any authority or
privilege to start a war
and declare its terrorist
acts as jihad. Since it was
not done by the Holy
Prophet (blessings and
peace be upon him) and
his Companions, how can it
be legalized or considered
legitimate for an
organization that exists
nowadays and claim its
criminal and terrorist
activities as jihad. It is
totally against the
teachings, practice and the
conduct of the Holy Prophet
(blessings and peace be
upon him).
The second verse, which
is the foundation of second
article, was revealed. This
foundational article of jihad
means qital. The word
‘qital’ has been used as
lawful, just and defensive
war in Sura al-Baqara, the
Medinan chapter verse 190.
The words are: wa qatilu.
Sometimes people take a
few words from the verse,
and sometime they take the
verse out of the context
and use specific words for
their own meanings. They
may be Muslims or some of
the western scholars and
orientalists who do not
have full grasp and
comprehensive command on
the subject. So the Qur’an
says:
ﻭَﻗَـٰﺘِﻠُﻮﺍْ ﻓِﻰ ﺳَﺒِﻴﻞِ ﭐﻟﻠَّﻪِ
ﭐﻟَّﺬِﻳﻦَ ﻳُﻘَـٰﺘِﻠُﻮﻧَﻜُﻢْ ﻭَﻟَﺎ
ﺗَﻌْﺘَﺪُﻭۤﺍْ ﺇِﻥَّ ﭐﻟﻠَّﻪَ ﻟَﺎ ﻳُﺤِﺐُّ
ﭐﻟْﻤُﻌْﺘَﺪِﻳﻦَ.
This is the second
foundation. This was
revealed in 7th year of
migration. It means that
twenty years had already
passed after the
promulgation of Islam, and
the commencement of the
revelation of the Qur’an—
13 years of Meccan and 7
years of Medinan period.
20 years had passed when
the command of defensive
war was revealed. At that
time, only three years
were left of Holy Prophet’s
life. When the treaty of
peace was breached by the
Meccans, only as a result
of the breach of treaty of
peace, treaty of
Hudaybiyya, which was a
ten year no war
agreement. The no war
pact for ten years was
done and signed by the
Meccans and Medinans. The
Meccans breached that
treaty of peace within one
year. This was the
historical background when
the war for defense was
allowed for the Muslims,
and whenever there was a
war of defense, it was
fought by the state. It was
between states. The word
‘in the way of Allah’ is
misused and misinterpreted
and exploited; where it is
said ﻓِﻰ ﺳَﺒِﻴﻞِ ﭐﻟﻠَّﻪِ , in the
way of Allah, it means for
a just cause, and not for
expansionist objectives.
You may fight with those
ﭐﻟَّﺬِﻳﻦَ ﻳُﻘَـٰﺘِﻠُﻮﻧَﻜُﻢْ , who are
already fighting against you
and imposed war on you.
So fight in defense. ﻭَﻟَﺎ
ﺗَﻌْﺘَﺪُﻭۤﺍْ —and even in war
of defense, you are not
allowed to transgress the
limits, for transgression is
prohibited. Transgression
means that even in the
event of war, in the
battlefield, you cannot kill
women. This is categorically
narrated in Bukhari, Muslim
and dozens of other books
of Hadith. These references
can be found in my book
Fatwa on Suicide Bombings
and Terrorism. So you
cannot kill women during
war; you cannot kill
children, kids, the priests,
pastors, bishops, and
religious leaders of the
Jewish or Christian or
other faiths. You cannot kill
farmers, agriculturists and
growers. You can't kill the
business community
because they are lynchpin
of economy, and provide
livelihood to society. You
can’t kill traders, diplomats
and ambassadors. They
are categorical injunction of
Holy Prophet, not only in
one single book but in
hundreds of books and
hadith reports. The
classical literature is full of
these references and the
same was the practice of
the rightly guided caliphs.
You cannot demolish the
churches and houses; and
you cannot burn houses.
You cannot kill animals
except for need of food
even during war in the
land of your enemy. You
can't attack the civilian
people. You can't attack
non- combatants. These
are the rules of the lawful
war, and lawful jihad. All
classical authorities whether
Hanafis, Malikies, Shafi‘ies,
or Hanbalies or Ja‘faries,
enjoy consensus on this
point during the history of
1400 years. So no one is
allowed to attack the non-
combatants even in war.
You are not allowed to kill
the non- combatant, and
civilians who belong to a
state or country against
which you are fighting and
they are fighting against
you.
So there is neither any
justification nor approval
for suicide bombings or
killing civilian population,
terrorist attacks on civilian
population, on embassies,
and kidnapping them and
killing them. All these acts
are criminal acts, anti-
Islamic and anti-Qur’anic
acts, but unfortunately, the
extremists and terrorists
have hijacked the Islamic
teachings. They create
news and news shape
minds. Then views on the
news make a mindset. So
concluding this aspect,
fighting in self-defense or
fighting against aggression
and persecution is very
important. That is lawful
fighting in defense and
should be in just
proportion ﻭَﻟَﺎ ﺗَﻌْﺘَﺪُﻭۤﺍ . You
cannot transgress limits.
There should be a just
proportionality and a moral
conduct of war, as I
mentioned some of the
things. The categorical
letters and instructions
were issued in written form
by the Holy Prophet
(blessings and peace be
upon him) and by the
Caliphs that these things
are prohibited. Fighting for
the restoration of peace
and harmony is what
constitutes a just war. And
in spite of war, truces and
treaties of peace are to be
honored. According to the
Qur’an and Sunna, the
Muslims were neither
allowed then nor today to
break or to breach the
truces and treaties of
peace in any case. These
were the main conditions.
Verse of the Sword
And now a very important
thing— there is another
confusion which is normally
and frequently used by the
terrorists, the extremist
people—they quote a verse
from Sura al-Tawba,
chapter 9, verse 5. The
same verse has created
some confusion in the
minds of some western
authors and writers too.
This is ﺁﻳَﺔُ ﺍﻟﺴَّﻴْﻒ , the
verse of sword. There are
references from 70 to 120
verses that ban taking up
arms in Meccan period
when the permission of
self-defense was accorded.
The extremist people, the
terrorist people and some
of the western writers who
are again confused and
have no clarity on the
subject, say that this
verse of Sura al-Tawba,
verse 5 ﺁﻳَﺔُ ﺍﻟﺴَّﻴْﻒ
repealed all verses which
were revealed for self
defense and that this
enjoined just to kill the
non-Muslims.
The terrorists exploit the
meaning of this verse,
take it out of context, and
misinterpret it. So I want to
clarify this
misunderstanding from both
the sides, the Muslims and
the western side. I am
analyzing this verse of
sword. This is verse
number 5 chapter 9. So we
have to be very clear that
we can't segregate or
isolate a particular verse,
taking it out of the context
and then interpreting it in
its physic situation. We
have to try to understand
every single verse in full
context of the Qur’an and
in the historical background
in which it was revealed.
So this is a verse in
chapter 9 known as Sura
al-Bara’a and Sura al-
Toba. This is a chapter of
renunciation, absolution and
this was revealed in 9th
year of Hijra. That’s why
they say this is the last
verse and this has
repealed all verses of
peace and commandments
of treaties and
commandments of self
defense. This is the
biggest misunderstanding.
The terrorist are using
this verse, which is the
biggest silly argument used
by them. This whole
chapter of war was
revealed in 9th year of
migration and its first word
is that the treaty of peace
which was signed in
Hudayibiyya in the 6th year
of Hijrah and the Holy
Prophet (blessings and
peace be upon him) went
there with 1400 Companions
and was not allowed to
enter Mecca.
This situation concluded on
a treaty of peace, a truce.
So there was a specific
condition, a written article
in that treaty that neither
Mecca nor Medina would
attack each other nor their
allies and none of these
two states would be
allowed to help any ally in
order to attack Medina or
attack the ally of Medina.
In the same way, Medina
would not be allowed to
help their allies to attack
any ally of Mecca. So this
was the comprehensive
treaty for ten years. What
happened soon after this
treaty? There was Banu
Bakr, a very big tribe,
among the allies of
Meccans and there was a
big tribe Banu Khuza‘a, it
was the ally of Medinans.
So Banu Bakr attacked the
Banu Khuza‘a and
committed a great act of
killing and massacre and
the Meccans provided them
with arms, money and
physically participated in
this attack and killing. So
the Meccans breached the
treaty of peace by this
attack and a collective act
of killing of the tribe Banu
Khuza‘a. So the treaty of
Hudaybiyya stood nullified
and came to naught as a
result. This chapter 9 was
revealed in this historical
context to announce, till
this time that the breach of
treaty was committed by
the Meccans.
The Qur’an is declaring
annulment or renunciation
that treaty of peace which
was done in Hudaybiyya
under which both sides
were bound and held
responsible not to war
against each other or
against their allies now
ﺑَﺮَﺃَﺓٌ ﻣِّﻦَ ﺍﻟﻠﻪِ ﻭَﺭَﺳُﻮْﻟِﻪِ ,. God
and His Prophet (blessings
and peace be upon him)
are announcing that the
treaty has been cancelled
and there is no liability on
both sides. This is an
announcement of no liability
remaining after the breach
has taken place by the
Meccans. This was the
whole Sura.
The next verse is
important ﻭَﺃَﺫَﺍﻥٌ ﻣِّﻦَ ﭐﻟﻠَّﻪِ
ﻭَﺭَﺳُﻮﻟِﻪِ. Then God
commanded the Holy
Prophet (blessings and
peace be upon him) since
the treaty has been
breached so there should
be no warfare unless it
should be properly and
publically announced. So
second verse and third
verse include the public
announcement of the
breach of the treaty and
both parties have come out
of their responsibilities
because the Meccans
breached the treaty.
Second verse is ﻭَﺃَﺫَﺍﻥٌ ﻣِّﻦَ
ﭐﻟﻠَّﻪِ ﻭَﺭَﺳُﻮﻟِﻪِ , so it is
announced that the treaty
is no more in existence. It
is stated that those who
have breached the treaty
and still there are some
tribes who were allies of
Meccans, they have not
yet breached their allies.
So Qur’an says:
ﺇِﻟَّﺎ ﭐﻟَّﺬِﻳﻦَ ﻋَـٰﻬَﺪﺗُّﻢ ﻣِّﻦَ
ﭐﻟْﻤُﺸْﺮِﻛِﻴﻦَ.
So the treaty of peace
would remain intact for the
tribes who are peace-
loving and have not
participated in the breach.
Medina will honour the
treaty with them. This was
the third article. Then forth
article was that only those
Meccans and allies who
initiated war against Medina
and Medinan allies have
particularly breached the
treaty, so this renunciation
and annulment of treaty
would affect only their
position. They would no
more be under guarantee
because they have
breached a pact. In verse
number 4 and 5 that
ultimatum was given even
after breach of trust that
we will not fight against
you in spite of your
breach; four month
ultimatum was given ﻓَﺈِﺫَﺍ
ﭐﻧﺴَﻠَﺦَ ﭐﻟْﺄَﺷْﻬُﺮُ ﭐﻟْﺤُﺮُﻡُ and in
Qur’an it comes ﻣِﻨْﻬَﺎ ﺍَﺭْﺑَﻌَﺔٌ
ﺍَﺣْﺮُﻡ four months were
given to them as ultimatum.
Those who abuse human
rights and violate the
treaties of peace, ultimatum
of four months was given
and stated that we are
giving you the period of
four months so that you
may return to peace. You
may restore peace and
revise your policy. If the
treaty of peace is restored
and policy of peace is
again made, these four
months are given for
peace making. Even after
four months, if you don’t
revise the policy, still you
prepare attacking us. Then
this verse number 5, the
verse of sword, revealed:
then you are allowed to
fight them in self-defense.
Some people among the
terrorists think and there
is some misunderstanding
in the west as well. They
think that this verse
repealed all verses
communicated before. This
is wrong. This verse did
not repeal any verse. This
verse just repealed the
treaties which were already
breached by the Meccans.
All commandments of the
Qur’an remain intact and
this is reported by ‘Abd
Allah Ibn ‘Abbas. So does
al-Dahhak b. Mihsan. ‘Ali b.
Talha say the same thing.
They say that this verse
of sword elaborates that
you cannot take up sword
against those people who
have not breached the
treaty of peace.
So it was still for those
who are peace loving
countries and are not
going to attack you; you
cannot fight them in your
defense. Again if there is a
war going on and a state
of war is restored even
during warfare, it is said:
if any person kills a non-
combatant belonging to a
state which is fighting you,
and if that non-combatant
comes to you, you are
under obligation to provide
peace and security to him.
Verse number 6,
immediately after the first
verse 5, said that you are
under the obligation to
provide security and safety
to all non-combatants. So
this is an explicit Qur’anic
commandment to provide
safety and security to all
non-combatants. And up to
verse 12, it is again
instructed to fight against
those who commit
aggression on you, fight
you, impose war on you
except those people who,
as per their agreement of
peace, don't fight. This is
the verse no 12 of the
same chapter. So this was
an analysis of the whole
subject of the verse
known as the verse of
sword.
Division of Abodes
One last point— the
terrorists and extremists
declare the whole world as
Dar al-Harb. They say that
we are under obligation to
fight them irrespective of
whether they are Muslims
or non-Mulims. This is
against the Qur’an and
Sunna. The basic
relationship between the
Muslim countries and non-
Muslim countries is not the
relationship of war, it is
the relationship of
neutrality. The Muslim
countries are neutral
countries. These are known
as Dar al-Hiyad, ﺩﺍﺭ
ﺍﻟﺤﻴﺎﺩ, relationship of
ﺍَﻟْﻤُﺤَﺎﻳِﺪَﺓ, neutrality. If they
fight, you they become a
part of war directly; if they
enter into a treaty of
peace, they become Dar
al-‘Ahad ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻌﻬﺪ ; if they
establish friendly
relationship with you and
conclude an agreement of
conciliation, they become
Dar al-Salm ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﺴﻠﻢ , the
abode of conciliation.
Because of a multinational
treaty through UN, every
state, and every single
member of the UN has
entered into a multinational
international treaty of
peace. The UN has become
the treaty maker and
peace maker for the whole
world. So every single
country, Muslim or non-
Muslim, is bound by the UN
charter. So all countries of
the world have become Dar
al-‘Ahad ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻌﻬﺪ under
the UN and the injunctions
of the Qur’an and Sunnah
and Islam of Dar al-‘Ahad
are the same as Dar al-
Isalm. All jurists such as
Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam
Tahawi, Imam Sarakhsi,
Imam Kasani and Hanbali
and Shafi and Malki
scholars even Imam Shafi
agreed to this idea that
the word ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻻﺳﻼﻡ does
not mean the land of Islam.
This is wrong translation.
Dar al-Islam means the
abode of peace.
In every county where
people live their free lives
and enjoy the security of
life, property, wealth,
religion, culture, getting
benefit of freedom
everywhere, those
countries are Dar al-Islam.
It means countries of
peace. So neither any
individual nor any
organization has a right to
declare any act as jihad or
wage war. Secondly, the
whole world under the UN
according to the injunctions
of the Qur’an and the
Sunna of the Holy Prophet
(blessings and peace be
upon him) has become Dar
al-‘Ahad similar to Dar al-
Islam. So nobody has the
right to fight against
anyone unless the UN
decides or the state
decides as a defensive
war, a matter between
states and these are the
things or collective
resistance against an
aggression. So these are
the basic concepts which
were misunderstood,
misinterpreted and hijacked
by the terrorists. We need
to be clear about these
concepts. I have tried to
convey my message of
peace and counter-
terrorism and clarification
of the concept of Islam and
reclaiming the terms from
the terrorists in respect to
Islam. I hope Almighty God
will help us understand one
and another more and
more. Thank You.