'JIHAD'
From the book: "Let Us be Muslim" by Syed Abul Ala Maududi
Brethren-in-Islam !
I have repeatedly reffered to this point in my previous
lectures that Salah, fasting, Hajj and Zakat, which Allah has
made obligatory for you and made them pillars of Islam are not
like the 'Ibadaat of other religions comprising such rituals as
pooja pat, nazr-o-niaz and jatra etc., that you just perform
them and have Allah pleased with you. The truth of the matter
is that these functions were made obligatory to prepare you for
a big purpose and to train you for a great task. Now that I
have enlightened you in detail about this training and the mode
of its preparation, the time has come to tell you the purpose
for which all this training is required.
Real objective of Islam
Briefly speaking, it would be enough to state that the
real objective of Islam is to remove the lordship of man over
man and to establish the kingdom of God on Earth. To stake
one's life and everything else to achieve this purpose is
called Jihad' while Salah, fasting, Hajj and Zakat are all
meant as a preparation for this task. But as you have since
long forgotten this objective as well as the task entrusted to
you, and because all 'Ibadaat have been turned into mere
Tasawwuf, the meaning I have tried to convey in one small
sentence will be regarded by you as an enigma. Therefore I
shall present before you an elucidation of this objective.
Root of evils---rotten political system
The root of all the evils you find in the world lies in
the bad character of the government. Power and wealth rest in
the hand of the government. Laws are framed by the government.
All the authority of administration is exercised by the
government. The force of Police and Army is in the hands of the
government. Therefore whatever evils there are in the life of
the people, are either spread by the government itself or with
its help, because the power required to make anything prevail
rests with the government. As an example, you notice that
adultery is openly indulged in and is carried on publicly in
brothels. What is the reason ? The reason is nothing else
except that adultery is not a crime in the eyes of those who
hold governmental power. They are themselves used to it and
allow others to do it. Otherwise if they wanted to stop it,
this evil could not be carried on with such impunity. You
notice that usury is rampant and the rich are sucking the blood
of the poor. Why is it so? This is just because the government
itself takes usury and helps those who take it. Its courts pass
decrees in favour of usurers and it is with its support that
big money-lending houses and banks are flourishing. You notice
that indecency and immorality are increasing in the people. Why
is it so ? This is merely because the government has made
arrangements to impart this very king of education and training
to the people and it appreciates these models of morality and
humanity which you witness. If you want to produce other types
of human beings through a different kind of education and
training, wherefrom will you get the resources ? And even if
you produce a few of a good type, where will they get the jobs
? All the sources of livelihood and employment are in the hands
of the wrong type of government. You notice that blood shedding
is going on extensively in the world. Human knowledge is being
used for destruction. The fruits of man's labour are being put
to fire, and precious lives are being destroyed with greater
callousness than are pieces of clay done away with. Why is it
so ? This is just because the most wicked and mischievous from
among the children of Adam are holding the reins of authority
and leadership of the nations of the world. Since power is in
their hands, the world is going towards the direction they want
to take it. Whatever purpose they have prescribed for the use
of knowledge, wealth, labour and life, everyone of them is
being utilized for those purposes. You notice that oppression
is being perpetrated everywhere in the world. There is no
justice anywhere for the weak. The life of the poor man is
difficult. Courts have become shops of traders wherefrom
justice is bought in return for money. People are subjected to
exorbitant taxes which are being wasted on high salaries of
officers, on big buildings, on purchase of armaments and other
extravagant expenditures. Money-lenders, zamindars, Rajas and
Nawabs, title-holders and title-seeker dignitaries, gaddi-occupying
Pirs and Mahants, cinema-proprietors, wine-dealers, publishers
of obscene books and magazines, owners of gambling dens and
many such people are ruining the life, wealth, honour, morality
and everything of God's creation and there is nobody to check
them. Why is all this happening ? Simply because the government
is out of gear. The hands that hold power are bad. They
themselves commit oppression and also side with oppressors. And
whatever oppression is being perpetrated is due to the face
that they want it to be done or are at least tolerant of it.
You must have understood from these examples that the ignoble
character of a government is the root of all evils. The
pollution of people's thoughts, the degeneration of morals, the
diversion of human capacities and capabilities into wrong
channels, the prevalence of wrong concepts of business and
dealings, bad methods of living, the prevalence of oppression
and misdeeds and destruction of God's creation, all these
result from one thing : the keys of authority and power being
in wrong hands. It is obvious that when power will rest in the
hands of wrong people and when the resources of livelihood will
be under their control, then they will not only themselves
spread distortions but every type of malformation will also
prevail with their help and support, and as long as power is in
their hands, no reform of anything will take place.
First step towards reform---improvement of government
Having grasped this point, it will be easy for you to
understand that in order to effect reforms among the people and
to bring them on the path of well-being and righteousness after
rescuing them from the path of destruction, there is no other
remedy except to set right the mutilated shape of government. A
man of ordinary sense can understand this point that where
people are quite free to commit adultery, no amount of sermons
can put a stop to it. But if after getting hold the power of
government adultery is stopped by force, people will themselves
give up this illicit course and take to the licit one. It will
be impossible to succeed if you want to stop by means of
sermons the evils of drinking, gambling, usury, bribery,
obscene shows, indecent dress, unethical education, and such
other things. Of course, with the force of government these
evils can be exterminated. It will in no way be possible
through advice and preaching to make those people give up their
booties who plunder God's creation and ruin their morals. Of
course if you take power in your hand and end their mischief by
force, then all these evils can be stopped. If you want that
the labour, wealth, intelligence and ability of God's creation
are rescued from being wasted in wrong channels and are
utilized in the right directions, if you wish to see oppression
rooted out and the justice prevail, if you desire that there be
no mischief on the earth, that man should neither suck nor shed
the blood of man, that the lot of depressed and fallen human
beings be ameliorated and all human beings be granted equal
opportunities of having honour, peace, prosperity and progress,
then this task cannot be achieved by mere preaching and
exhortation. Of course, if you have the power of government in
your hand, all this is quite possible. So this is an obvious
matter requiring no great thinking, that no scheme of reform
for the people can be implemented without acquiring control of
the government machinery. Whoever really wants to root out
mischief and chaos from God's earth and is genuinely anxious to
ameliorate the condition of God's creation, it is useless for
him to work as a mere preacher. He should stand up to finish
the government run on wrong principles, snatch power from
wrongdoers and establish a government based on correct
principles and following a proper system.
Basis of ignoble government---man's rule over man
After grasping this point, go a step further. You have
come to know that the cause of the evils which spread among
God's servants is a bad government and that it is necessary for
reforming it to set right the root-cause. But the question now
arises as to what is the basic cause of the badness of the
government itself; where is the root of this evil; and what
basic reform should be effected in it in order to wipe out the
evils mentioned above? The answer to this question is that the
lordship of man is over man is the root-cause and there is no
other method of reform except that there should be sovereignty
of God over man. Do not be surprised at hearing such a brief
answer to such a big question. You may do any amount of
research work to probe into this question but you will get the
same answer as I have given you. Just ponder whether the earth
you live upon has been made by God or by some other being ? The
human beings who inhabit this earth have been created by God or
by somebody else ? All these countless necessities of life, on
which depends the sustenance of man have been provided by God
or by somebody else ? If the answer to these questions is only
this that the earth, the human beings and all these materials
have been created by God alone, then it means that the land
belongs to God, the wealth belongs to God and the people also
belong to God, the wealth belongs to God and the people also
belong to God. When this is the situation, how can anybody
become their claimant so as to run his writ in the land of God
? How can it be considered correct to govern God's subjects by
any other law except that of God or by a law made by the
subjects themselves ? How can your intellect accept the
position that the subjects themselves ? How can your intellect
accept the position that the land is owned by one being and the
writ runs there of another being, that a property belongs to
one person and some other person becomes its owner, that the
subjects belong to one authority and some other authority rules
over them ? Such a happening is clearly against justice. And
because this is against justice, wherever and whenever such a
situation is found, the result is always bad. Those persons who
get power to make laws and run their writ bound to commit
blunders due to ignorance, while some of them deliberately
perpetrate oppression and injustice in order to satisfy their
corporeal urges. The reason is that firstly they do not possess
enough knowledge to frame correct laws and rules to conduct
human affairs, and, far more dangerous than this, is the fact
that, being unmindful of the fear of God and of accountability
to Him, they become reckless and unbridled. It is quite easy to
understand that after gaining authority and power, what else
will a man become except an unbridled individual who has no
fear of God, who has no thought of being accountable to
anybody, and who considers in his own way that there is no one
above him to question what he does. Do you think that such a
person will stick to truth and justice when he holds in his
heads the key to providing food to the people, when he controls
the life and property of the masses, when lakhs of heads bow to
his command ? Can you expect him to prove a trustee of public
treasury ? Can you hope that he will abstain from violating
people's rights, from taking illicit money and from subjugating
God's creation in accordance with his own whims and desires ?
Do you regard it possible that such a person will himself
follow the right path and make others to walk on that path ?
Never, Never ! Such a happening is irrational. The experience
of thousands of years testifies to the contrary. You are today
witnessing with your own eyes that to what extent those who
feel no fear of God and are heedless of accountability in the
Hereafter, have become oppressive, betrayers of trust and
evil-doers after they have acquired power.
Basis of reform---God's lordship over man
Therefore the reform needed in the very basis of the
government is that there should not be lordship of man over man
but that of God over man. Those who run the government must not
become supreme sovereigns but, recognising God as their
Sovereign, they must work as his deputy and trustee and must
fulfil their responsibilities with the consciousness that
ultimately they have to submit an account of their trust to
that Monarch Who is the Knower of the seen and unseen. The law
should be based on the guidance of that God Who has knowledge
of all realities and is the fountainhead of wisdom. Nobody
should have the power to change this law or to amend it or to
cancel it so that it may not be distorted due to the infusion
of human ignorance, selfishness and improper desires. This is
that basic reform that Islam wants to introduce. Islam demands
from those who accept God as their sovereign (not imaginary but
real sovereign) and affirm faith in the law sent by Him through
His Prophet (peace be upon him), that they should gird up their
points to enforce their Monarch's laws in His land and break
the power of the rebels among His subjects who have become
supreme sovereigns, and rescue Allah's subjects from becoming
subjects of others. In the eyes of Islam it is certainly not
enough for you to believe God as God and His law as true law.
Simultaneous with your faith in these two verities, the duty
devolves on you that wherever you are, in whichever country you
live, you must get up there for the reform of God's creation,
try to transform the wrong principles of government into
correct principles, snatch away the power of legislation and
lordship from those who do not fear God and are unbridled. And
then taking over the leadership and superintendence of God's
servants, conduct the affairs of the government in accordance
with God's laws and with belief in their responsibility and
accountability in the Hereafter as also in God being the Knower
of the unseen. The name of this striving is Jihad.
Governance-----a hard way
But everyone knows what an awful thing is lordship. The
very idea of acquiring it arouses in a man's heart a tempest of
greed. The corporeal urges induce that if the treasures of the
earth and the necks of God's creation come into our grasp, we
shall rule like a god to our heart's content. It is not so
difficult to take possession of the powers of Government as it
is difficult to protect oneself from becoming a god after
acquiring power, and work as a servant of God. Then what
benefit is there if after removing one Pharaoh, you yourself
become a Pharaoh ? Therefore, before calling upon you to
undergo his severe trial, Islam considers it necessary to
prepare you for it. You can never have the right to rise with
claim to government and fight with the world till such time as
you cleanse your heart of selfishness and sensualism, until you
develop in yourself such purity of thought that your fight is
not meant for personal and national interests but solely for
the pleasure of God and for the reformation of God's creation,
and that until this capability gets stabilized in you after
gaining authority, you will not follow your own desires but
will be firm in following the law of God. The mere fact that
you have entered Islam by reciting the Kalima does not at all
entitle you that Islam will give you the order to attack God's
creation and then, in the name of God and His messenger, you do
all those evil acts which the oppressors and rebels of God
perpetrate. Before you are ordered to undertake such a
tremendous responsibility, Islam considers it necessary to
develop in you strength enough to be able to bear this burden.
'Ibadaat'------a training course
These Salah, fasting, Zakat and Hajj are in reality meant
for this very preparation and training. Just as the countries
of the world first impart special training to their men for the
army, police and civil service and then take work from them, in
the same way the Deen of Allah (Islam) also first gives
training in this manner to all those men who get themselves
recruited in it for service. Then it wants to take work from
them for Jihad and Divine government. The difference, however,
is that for the work the governments of the world take from
their men no qualities of moral excellence, piety and fear of
God are required. Therefore, they just try to use these men as
routine workers though they may be adulterers, drunkards,
dishonest and wicked to any extent. But since the work to be
taken from its men by Allah's Deen is wholly and solely of a
moral character, it considers it much more important than the
routine work to make its men God-fearing and virtuous. In fact,
it aims at developing so much strength in them that when they
rise with the claim of establishing the caliphate of God on
earth, they must prove true to their claim. If they fight, the
aim should not be to acquire for themselves wealth, property
and land but it must be proved by their deeds that their fight
is purely for Allah's pleasure and for the benefit and
well-being of His creation. If they are victorious they must
not become proud and headstrong. On the other hand, their heads
should be bowed before God. If they become rulers, they should
not enslave the people. In fact, by becoming themselves God's
slaves they should not allow others to be slaves of anyone
except God. If they take possession of earth's treasures, they
should not fill their own pockets or the pockets of their
kinsmen or community people but should judiciously distribute
the God-given bounties among all His slaves, and, like a
truthful trustee, should work with the consciousness that an
eye is watching them in all situations and that there is
someone above to whom they have to render account of every
single pie. There is no other method possible at all for this
training except these 'Ibadaat. And when Islam prepares its men
in this manner, then it tells them : " Now you are the most
pious slaves of God on the surface of earth. So go ahead and
fight, and remove the rebels of God from the government and
take over the powers of caliphate." " Ye are the best community
that has been raised up for the guidance and reformation of
mankind. Ye enjoin righteousness and forbid evil; and ye
believe in Allah." (Al-Qur'an 3:110)
Blessings of Government run by God-conscious persons
You can imagine in what excellent condition God's
creation will be where the army, police, judiciary, tehsildars,
tax-collectors and all other government functionaries comprise
such officers and personnel who are all God-conscious and
mindful of being answerable to him in the Hereafter, where all
the rules and regulations of government are formulated on the
basis of the guidance vouchsafed by Allah, in which there is
not the slightest possibility of injustice and ignorance, and
where a timely rectification is done of every evil and evil act
and the government is constantly ready to promote virtue and
piety with its power and material resources. Then if you
reflect a little you will easily understand this point that
when this type of government after functioning for some time
will set right the detestable habits of the people; when it
will bar all avenues of illicit earning, lewdness, oppression,
indecency and immorality; when after giving a decent burial to
the wrong type of education and training, it will reform the
ideas of the people through the wholesome system of education
and training; and when under its aegis people will get a chance
of leading their lives in clean and chaste atmosphere of
justice and fairness, peace and tranquility, good character and
pleasing manners; then those eyes, which had turned blind by
suffering for a long time under the supremacy of people who are
vicious and heedless of God, will be gradually enabled to
perceive and appreciate the Truth. Those hearts which are
rusted because of the immoralities stretching over centuries
would cast off this rust and become clear like a mirror quite
fit to have the glimpse of Truth and then radiate it to others.
At that time it will not at all be difficult for the people to
understand this simple and plain fact that in reality Allah
alone is their God and that no one else is entitled to lordship
over them, and that in reality that Prophet (peace be on him)
was truthful through whom the truthful laws were vouchsafed to
humanity. The point which looks extremely difficult today to
instill in the minds of the people will automatically penetrate
therein. The point which cannot be explained today through
speeches and books will be understood by them conveniently as
if there was never any complication in it. For those who will
see the difference with their own eyes as to what happens when
the affairs of the world are run by man-made laws and as to
what is the position when these very affairs are conducted
according to the Divine system it will be easy to affirm faith,
and difficult to reject it, in the oneness of God and
truthfulness of the Prophet (peace be on him). This will be
just like making it easy to pick flowers and difficult to pluck
thorns after feeling the difference between flower and thorn.
At the time it will require great obstinacy to reject the truth
of Islam and stick to Kufr and atheism, and hardly five or ten
persons in a thousand will be found who will exhibit unusual
obstinacy. Brethren ! Now I hope you have thoroughly understood
for what purpose are meant these Salah, fasting, Hajj and Zakat.
You have been thinking till now, and for a long period you have
been involved in the misunderstanding, that these 'Ibadaat are
merely a kind of Puja pat. It was not at all explained to you
that these are preparations for a big service. For this very
reason you have been carrying on these rites without any
purpose before you, and the idea never occurred to you to get
ready for the work for which 'Ibadaat were really prescribed.
But now I tell you that all the 'Ibadaat of that person are
meaningless in whose heart there is no intent of Jihad and who
does not keep in view this purpose of Jihad. If you imagine
that by these meaningless 'Ibadaat you can win the favour of
God, then on going before Him you will yourself see how much
they have brought you nearer to Him.