Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
218Extract 3: M. Khadduri, ‘The Doctrine of Jihād’ (1955).
Taken from: War and Peace in t he Law of Islam by Majid Khadduri (John Balt imore
Press, 1955), Chapt er 5, T he Doc t rine of Jihād, Chapt er 6, T ypes of Jihād,
pp.55-82.
THE DOCTRINE OF JIHĀD
The Meaning of Jihād
The t erm jihād is derived from the verb jāhada (abstrac t noun, juhd) whic h
me a n s "exerted";^15 it s jurid ic al-t he olo g ic al me a n i n g is exertion of one's power
in Allah's path, that is, the^ spread of the belief in Allah and in ma ki n g His^
word supreme over t his world. The individua l's re c o mp e n se would be the
ac hieveme nt of salvat ion, sinc e the jihād is Allah's direc t way to paradise.
T his definit io n is based on a Qur'ānic injunc tion whic h runs as follows:
O ye who believe! Shall I guide you to a gainful t rade whic h will save
you from painful punishment? Believe in Allah and His Apost le and c arry on
warfare (jihād) in the path of Allah wit h your possessions and your persons.
T hat is bet t er for you. If ye have knowledge, He will forgive your sins, and will
plac e you in the Gardens beneath whic h the streams flow, and in fine houses
in the Gardens of Eden: that is the great gain.^16The jihād, in the broad sense of exertion, does not necessarily mean war or
fight ing, sinc e exert ion in Allah's pat h may be ac hieved by peac eful as well as
violent means. T he jihād may be regarded as a form of religious propaganda that
c an be c arried on by persuasion or by the sword. In the early Makkan revelat ions,
the emphasis was in the main on persuasion. Muhammad, in the disc harge of his
prophetic func tions, seemed to have been satisfied by warning his people against
idolat ry and invit ing t hem t o worship Allah. T his is evidenc ed by suc h a verse as t he
following: "He who exert s himself (jāhada), exerts only for his own soul],''^17 whic h
expresses the jihād in terms of the salvation of the soul rather than a struggle for
proselyt izat ion. In t he Madīnan revelations, the jihād is often expressed in terms of
strife, and there is no doubt that in c ertain verses the c onc eption of jihād is
synonymous with the words war and fighting.^18
The jurists, however, have distinguished four different ways in whic h the
believer may fulfill his jihād obligation: by his heart; his tongue; his hands; and by
t he sword.^19 The first is 'concerned with combatting the devil and in the attempt to
escape his persuasion t o evil. T his t ype of jihād, so signific ant in the eyes of the
Prophet Muhammad, was regarded as the greater jihād,^20 the sec ond and third are
mainly fulfilled in supporting the right and c orrec ting the wrong. The fourth is
prec isely equivalent to the meaning of war, and is c onc erned with fighting the
(^15) For the literal meaning of jihād, see Fayrūzabādī, Qāmūs al-Muhīt (Cairo, 1933), Vol. I, p.
- For the Qur'ānic use of jihād in the sense of exertion see Q. VI, 108; XXII, 77.
(^16) Q. LXI, 10-13. See also Jurjānī, Kitāb al-Ta'rīfāl, ed. Gustavus Flügel (Leipzig, 1845), p. 84
(^17) Q. XXIX, 5.
(^18) 'See Q. ll, 215; IX, 41: XLIX, 15; LXI, 11; LXVI, 9.
(^19) See Ibn Hazm, Kitāb al·Fasl fi al-Milal wa'l-Ahwā wa'l-Nihal (Cairo, A.H. 1321), Vol. IV, p.
135; Ibn Rushd, Kitāb al-Muqaddimāt al-Mumahhidāt (Cairo, A.H. 1325), Vol. I, p. 259;
Būhutī, Kashshāf al-Qinā 'An Matn al-Iqnā' (Cairo, A.H. 1366), Vol. III, p. 28
(^20) lbn al-Humām, Sharh Fath al-Qadir (Cairo, A.H. 1316), Vol IV, p. 277.