Striving to attaing Purity and Concord (Jihad)

The literal meaning of jihad is "to strive hard" to progress in all aspects of life. Although this word, in English, has taken on purely military connotations, in reality it covers the vast range of human enterprise - family life, work, spiritual development, and, at the end of all this, justified defensive warfare.

The most important jihad is the struggle to purify the soul, and this jihad far outweighs any military jihad. Once, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) met a group of soldiers returning from a defensive battle and addressed them: "Welcome to the people who have concluded the minor jihad (struggle)." Astonished, the soldiers asked, "Was this the minor jihad? Then what is the major jihad?" Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) replied: "The major jihad is the jihad to purify one's self."

The beginning of the jihad to purify the soul is to restrain the self from committing sins and thereby corrupting the soul. The next step is to control material desires and ambitions and free the self from the things that distract it from Allah. All of the forms of worship in Islam - prayers, fasting, charity, and so on - exist to purify and perfect the soul. Only in the upward development of the soul do human beings find happiness in this life and the next, for if the soul is unhappy, a person will be miserable regardless of how materially wealthy he or she may be. "And by the soul and Him Who perfected it, then showed it what is right and what is wrong for it - indeed, he succeeds who purifies his soul, and, indeed, he fails who corrupts his soul." (91:7) The soul is the essence of man; it is the part which will outlast this life and be judged in the next, and one of the main reasons human beings were placed in this world is to test and develop their souls.

Jihad does also refer to the legitimate struggle to defend human rights, such as personal and religious freedom as well as the defense of land, property, and families. Those who are being attacked have the right to defend themselves in jihad:

Permission [to fight] is given to those against whom war is being wrongfully and offensively waged, and surely Allah is able to give them victory. Those who have been expelled from their homes unjustly, only because they said, "Our Lord is Allah...." (22:39-40)

The believers are in fact commanded to defend human rights and integrity:

And why do you not fight in the way of Allah and the utterly oppressed men, women, and children who are crying out, "O Lord! Rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors, and raise for us from You one who will protect, and raise for us from You one who will help." (4:75)

Jihad as fighting must be for just causes and to defend the freedom, liberty, and integrity of societies - and when these issues are at stake, fighting is not only permitted, but required. "Fight against aggressors until oppression is stopped." (2:193)

None of the powerful countries today could have achieved their stature without a war for independence and a struggle for freedom, nor would they have retained their positions without strong military development. In life, struggle will always exist between good and evil, truth and falsehood, and societies cannot progress if tyrants are left alone to do what they want to do.

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