The Need to Fight Evil

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

“وَجَاهِدُوا بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنفُسِكُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ”

(Qur’an 9:41)

“Wa jāhidū bi-amwālikum wa anfusikum fī sabīli Llāh”

“And strive with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah.” Ṣadaqa Llāhu l-‘aẓīm.

Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla tells to make jihād on the way of Allāh ﷻ. Jihād – There are various types of jihād. When there is no khalīfah, you cannot make jihād by yourself. Therefore, you must make jihād against your ego.

When our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam was in Makkah, there was no jihād. The order for jihād had not yet come then. When he ﷺ came to Madīnah, it occured step by step because mushriks did not leave him ﷺ alone. Jihād was necessary. As he ﷺ is a human, it is a normal thing. And it is the same for Muslims. Most Prophets made jihād. Some of them were shown the way of Allāh ﷻ without making jihād so that people have something different. They made wars then, not jihād.

Sayyidinā ‘Īsá ‘alayhi s-salām didn’t have the order of jihād. He was inviting people to religion through preaching and advice. They didn’t have war and jihād in their religion. But you see now, they are those who make war; whereas there is no order. Our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam received the order of jihād. But there is a method and principles for jihād; what should and should not be done. There must not be oppression. There must not be torture of the elderly, children, babies and women. They must not be killed. There are orders like this.

Oftentimes, those who are not Muslim show hypocrisy. They say “Your religion spread through wars.” It did not spread through wars. There were wars to save people. Our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam made jihād to save people from oppression. It was not possible otherwise. Because when mankind has power in their hands, when they have weapons and army, they surely oppress others. And it is wrong to stand in front of them like sheep and wait to be killed.

That oppression has no limit. People have oppression inside them. It is in their egos. Therefore, in order to stop that oppression, there must be another power against them. And this is the wisdom of jihād in Islām. Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla who created us is the one who knows what and how we should do. Therefore, He ﷻ shows the way to those who believe in Him ﷻ. His ﷻ commands are for the benefit of people.

This great battle of our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam was over 1,400 years ago. It was almost 1,450 years ago that the Battle of Badr took place. Mushriks came from that Battle of Badr. They say one of those mushriks was Abū Jahl. He had a dream. They asked, “Interpret this dream for us.” There were people who interpreted dreams there. Even if not Muslim, there are people who can interpret dreams. They intrepreted that dream and said, “A big disaster will come to you. This trip will not be good for you.”

They even tried to go back a few times. But then they decided to go and fight, to kill Muslims and enjoy it. They said, “We will cook camels and lamb. We will drink. Women will sing for us, and we will have fun.” So they went. They went with drums and pipes and with women singing for them. On the other hand, our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam spent that whole night begging and making du’ā’ to Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. Whereas Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla had promised victory to our Holy Prophet ﷺ.

That was a lesson for people so when they go to a war somewhere, they must surely ask for help from Allāh ﷻ. In this way, all of those people who said “We will have fun and drink and do I don’t know what”, seventy of the greatest kāfirs were the ones who oppressed our Holy Prophet ﷺ a lot. Our Holy Prophet ﷺ counted their names one by one while in Makkah, and none of those counted could survive. They harmed our Holy Prophet ﷺ for years and kept him hungry. They made all kinds of oppression. But they all got what they deserved on that day. All of them were thrown in a dump well. Our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam stood by that well and told their names one by one. “O faithless people who don’t believe, do you see that we’ve reached what Allāh ﷻ had promised us? Did you reach it too?” asked our Holy Prophet ﷺ. They kept quiet, of course.

Sayyidinā ‘Umar was a man who was understood by people. He told our Holy Prophet ﷺ “O Rasūlu Llāh ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam, you are talking to carcasses. Do they hear? Why are you doing so?” He ﷺ replied, “They hear so well. They hear better than you,” said our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. All of them regret it there. But their regret was of no use then. Because the Sulṭān of the world and universes, our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam preached and advised them for years, he ﷺ showed miracles, did goodness and everything, but they didn’t accept it. At last, they rushed to remove everyone. So they got what they deserved.

Therefore, jihād and war is necessary. It is the order of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla to remove badness when its time comes. Certainly, you can’t do it everywhere as you like. What is the worst badness now? It is the badness of your ego. You must always make jihād against it. Its war never ends. Once you say it is over, it gets above you. Therefore, may Allāh ﷻ protect us. May our jihād be against our egos in shā’a Llāh. May Allāh ﷻ help us. Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq.

Al-Fatiha.

• Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 

17 March 2025/ 17 Ramadhan 1446

Lefke, Cyprus

More on the Battle of Badr here.

Wassalam.