JIHAD in Islam: Concept and Practice

Friday Sermon of 01 November 2013:

“O Prophet, fight against the disbelievers and the hypocrites and be harsh upon them.” (9: 73).

This verse is a clear call to Jihad, but does not mention the taking of arms. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) indeed engaged in defensive wars against the non-believers of Makkah, but never took up arms against the hypocrites of Medina, even after their betrayal in the battle of Uhud. It is therefore clear that the above mentioned jihad is not the armed jihad. The term jihad is derived from Jahada which means making intense efforts to the ultimate limit (29: 6). Jihad is an important injunction for Muslims; it is mentioned in no less than 36 places in the Holy Quran.

Jihad, as it is apparent from reading the Holy Quran denotes three types of battles:

1) The battle against the self (nafs).

2) The battle against evil in all its forms.

3) The armed battle against the visible enemy.

We can differentiate between the three types of jihad by respectively calling them Jihad-i-Akbar (the supreme jihad), Jihad-i-Kabir (the greater jihad) and jihad-i-Saghir (the lesser jihad). The Holy Prophet of Islam (pbuh) believed that the Jihad-i-Akbar is the ultimate battle, the noblest and he said, to his troops upon returning from the campaign of Tabuk: “We have returned from the lesser Jihad to the greater Jihad”. In which sense did he say that?

Final Sermon of Prophet Muhammad

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) delivered his last sermon (Khutbah) on the ninth of Dhul Hijjah (12th and last month of the Islamic year), 10 years after Hijrah (migration from Makkah to Madinah) in the Uranah Valley of mount Arafat. His words were quite clear and concise and were directed to the entire humanity.

After praising, and thanking Allah, the Holy Prophet (sa) said: “O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today.

‘ISMUHU AHMAD’: ‘Munir is Ahmad’

Beyond all thoughts and imagination
Is the status of Ahmad (sa);
Whose servant, you can see, 
Is the Messiah of the age! 

-[Haqiqat-ul-Wahi, RK, Vol. 22, pp.286, f.n.)

Divine prophecies contain within them the seed of profound fulfillment: sometimes once, often several times. In the fullness of time, when it unravel and unveil before the world, it is for the believers to recognize and accept the enduring spirit of Divine Truth reverberating through time and history as magnificent reflections of the original fulfillment. Consider the great prophecy of Jesus (as) regarding the raising of the Holy Prophet of Islam, Hadhrat Muhammad (sa). Centuries after it was originally made and recorded in the Holy Books of the Christians (Gospel of John, 14: 16-17; 15:26; 16:7, 12-14),  the Holy Qur’an confirmed the prophecy: ‘Jesus, son of Mary, said, ‘Children of Israel, I am sent to you by God, confirming the Torah that came before me and bringing good news of a messenger to follow me whose name will be Ahmad’   (61:07).    

In a special Sermon delivered on September 07, 2013 the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim (atba) of Mauritius explains the ways in which Allah (twa) has imprinted and illuminated his name in the Kitab Al Munir/Qur’an Al Azim through the prophecy on ‘ISMUHU AHMAD’.

Read the Extracts from the Speech:

Allah reveals in the Holy Quran about the glad tidings vouchsafed by Jesus to his people concerning the advent of “Ahmad”.

“And giving glad tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad” (61: 7).

Without any doubt, the reference to “Ahmad” as mentioned by Jesus and confirmed by Allah in the Holy Quran calls our attention to the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad ^(saw). But like the extent of the verses of the Holy Quran are infinite and its interpretations likewise, Allah made this humble self also understand that this applies also to the advent of the first Messiah of Islam and also to this humble self.

‘Jesus is in the Third Heaven’

Religious beliefs sometimes have a tendency to challenge common sense. Thus, the Christians hold the belief that the founder of their religion, i.e., Jesus, Son of Mary is the literal ‘Son of God’. Likewise, defying gravity, logic of reason and experience of history, sections of the Muslims continue to hold the belief that the Prophet Jesus (as) is still ‘alive’, two millennium after his birth and they say that he would physically descend in our times among the Muslims as their Imam!

     

No doubt, in the Muslim spiritual tradition, Jesus (as) is one of the great messengers of the Almighty, celebrated along with Hadhrat Muhammad (sa). However, the ‘belief’ on or the myth of, a physically alive Jesus crept into Islam/among the Muslims in the medieval period when the influx of Christians into Islam led to a mixing of ‘cultures’ and the dogmas of the Christians found their way into, replacing the traditional Muslim understanding on the matter, shaped by the Qur’an and taught by the Holy Prophet of Islam (sa). In a special Sermon delivered on September 07, 2013 the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius throws searching light on the physical death of Jesus (as), as emerging from the express Qur’anic verses and the opinions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) on the matter.    

Read the Extracts from the Sermon:

Allah says in the Holy Qur'an:

Fa lammaa tawaffay tanii kunta ‘Antar-Raqiiba ‘alayhim: wa ‘Anta ‘alaa kulli shay-‘in Shahiid.

But when You cause me to die, You were the Guardian over them, and You are, over all things, Witness. (Al-Maida 5: 118)

Death and life are not alike. If God has given us life, He also decreed death for us, humans, and all living creatures that He has placed in the universe. And verily, in death, there is life and in life, there is death.

A 'Khalifatullah' among Ahmadis

In his Friday Sermon of 06 September 2013, Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius provides an illuminating commentary on the continuity of Divine guidance in Islam in the Later Days. 

The great prophecies regarding the Second Manifestation of the Holy Prophet of Islam (sa) appearing among the “Aakhariin” have been fulfilled at one level with the appearance of the Promised Massih/Khalifatullah Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) of Qadian in the last century. Till the appearance of a Divine Elect as a Khalifatullah who shall speak with the help of the Rooh-ul-Qudus, Ahmadis have been advised by the Promised Massih (as) (in Al Wassiyat) to remain united under an elected leadership and accordingly, the Khilafat-e- Ahmadiyya was established. Now that in the new century of Islam, Allah (twa) has raised His own Khalifa in the person of Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius, there is no scope for a man-elected Khalifa to play a spiritual role. Instead of propagating 'Khatame Massih Maoud' to continue with the mundane Khilafat system within and thereby  commanding Allah to do as per their liking, the scholars and members of the Jamaat-e- Ahmadiyya would do well to introspect, show spiritual humility and follow the new Divine Messenger.  

Read the extracts from the Friday Sermon:

“And He will raise him from among others of them who have not yet joined the first (ones). He is the Mighty, the Wise.” (62: 4) 

To add to what has been mentioned in this verse of the Holy Quran on the appearance of a Khalifatullah, the Messiah of the last days, and the one who shall in fact symbolize the Spiritual Second Manifestation of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) among the “Aakhariin” this verse of the Holy Quran is indeed very revealing: He regulates the affair from the heaven to the earth; then it will ascend to Him in a Day, the extent of which is a thousand years of those which you count.” (32: 6)

According to this verse, Islam shall go through a dark period that would last a thousand years, after a first period of progress and prosperity. This first glory would last three hundred years, according to the traditions. Indeed the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “My century is best. Then it will be the century of those who come after my companions (the Tabi’in) then it will be one of those who will come after Tabeïnes (the Tabi-Tabi’in).”

The Islamic Veil: Ethics and Prudence

Continuing the series of sermons on women’s struggle for dignity, identity and equality in society and the larger Islamic teachings that provide a framework to address these complex questions, in his Friday Sermon of 23 August 2013, the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius provides illuminating guidance on the ethics and prudence of the Islamic veil as a moral choice for women (and men). 

Read the Extracts from the Friday Sermon:

“O children of Adam! We have indeed bestowed upon you clothing to conceal your private parts and as adornment.” (7: 27).

 “O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves (part) of their outer garments. This is the best way for them to be recognized and not be abused. And Allah is really Most-Forgiving and Most-Merciful.” (33: 60)

 “And tell the believing women to lower their gaze, and protect their private parts and not to show off their adornment...” (24: 32)

The ISLAMIC VEIL has always been the subject of debate in several countries which is said to be modern with liberal thoughts. The West and countries adopting European cultures around the world see the Muslim woman as a prisoner and without having any dignity, just by the way they dress, the way they cover themselves from head to toe.

Prophet Muhammad (sa) and His Marriages

Both anti-Islam elements and mindlessly ignorant critics have long called attention to the multiple marriages of the Holy Prophet of Islam (sa), in an effort to tarnish the sublime spiritual life of the father of Muslims and to decry that Islam has no space for women’s dignity and rights. Nothing can be further from the truth. For history and traditions of the Muslims testify that the Holy Prophet of Islam (sa) elevated the status of women in society through his precepts and practices. If one cares to examine the historical record in its entirety and the material circumstances of the events of the Prophet’s marriages and the times in which such marriages happened, one could come to an intelligent conclusion-that Islam and the Holy Prophet (sa) upheld the dignity and rights and status of women in society. 

In his Friday Sermon of 25 January 2013, the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius continued his exposition on some important aspects of the life of the Holy Prophet of Islam (sa), a theme he began in the previous week. The Sermon especially provides profound insights on the attitude of the Holy Prophet (sa) towards women and the circumstances of his many marriages. In a fractured and divided tribal society, where women’s lives were considered cheap and disposable, the Prophet’s marriages brought dignity to vulnerable, widowed women and protection to their young children, mend the faultiness of tribal discord, raised the status of slave women, provided unique opportunities for the training of the Ummah on religious values and norms, points out the Messenger of Allah of our times.

Read the Extracts from the Friday Sermon:

Islam has over the centuries been both commended and criticised concerning the rights of women in society. The modern westerners flaunt the so-called liberty of their women folk before the world, and in their ignorance falsely allege that Islam reserves an inferior place to woman and that she is more of a slave than a person of equal status to man. Whilst the world before Islam casted women as a lowly thing, with the advent of Islam the woman regain her true identity as excellent servant of God, and man’s great treasure, help and equal. 

Remembering the Holy Prophet (sa)

In his Friday Sermon of 18 January 2013, the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib of Mauritius (atba) gave a discourse on the early life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) whose endearing personality was “the epitome of purity, morality, spirituality and human perfection.” The Sermon presents a graphic portrait of the early years of the man whom Allah the Most High had destined to raise to a lofty spiritual station in this very life. Reflecting on the very many trials and tribulations faced by the young Muhammad, who went on to become the Holy Prophet of Islam, the Khalifatullah (atba) observes: “It was the will of God that the Prophet to-be should undergo all sorts of sufferings, pains and privations incidental to human life in order that he might learn to bear them with becoming fortitude and raise his stature in human perfection.”

Read the Extracts from the Friday Sermon:  

Born on the soil of Arabia on a Monday 12 Rabi’ul Awwal (in the year of the Elephant), the Seal of all prophets, Muhammad (pbuh) came as Warner and Preacher of the Unity of God, not only to the People of the land upon which he was born, but he came also as the Universal Prophet, that is, for all nations of the world, a blessing indeed for the world. He was commissioned to Prophethood on a Monday also, and very often he used to fast on this day in remembrance of the immense favour which Allah made upon him when He chose him as the best of mankind.