I quote from page 909 of Provisions Of The Afterlife" to which I added bold font emphasis.
One may ask: what is the finest livelihood?
The response: three views have been adopted in this regard:
1. The finest livelihood is trade.
2. The finest livelihood is manual labor with the exception of lowly
trades such as cupping.
3. The finest livelihood is agriculture.
Although all of these views are plausible, the finest livelihood is the
livelihood which sustained the messenger of Allaah (may Allaah send
salutations upon h im ), i. e. jihaad. In fact, this livelihood has received more
praise in the Qur’aan than any other livelihood. For this reason, the prophet
(may Allaah send salutations upon him) was chosen for jihaad, and he has
said: (I have been sent with the sword as the final hour approaches. I have
been sent so that only Allaah may be worshipped and my sustenance has
been placed beneath my spear, and those who oppose me are disgraced).
Since this sustenance is obtained by overpowering the enemy, no livelihood
is finer than jihaad, and Allaah knows best.
I quote from Sunan Abu Dawud to which I added bold font emphasis:
"
Book 23, Number 3455:
Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar:
I heard the Apostle of Allah, (peace_be_upon_him) say: When you
enter into the inah transaction, hold the tails of oxen, are pleased
with agriculture, and give up conducting jihad (struggle in the way of
Allah). Allah will make disgrace prevail over you, and will not
withdraw it until you return to your original religion.
Take a esson from Islamic law, the code of the Shafi'i school:
Reliance Of The Traveller to which I added bold font emphasis.
'o9.1: The Obligatory Character of Jihad
Jihad is a communal obligation (def: c3.2). When enough people perform it to successfully accomplish it, it is no longer obligatory upon others (O: the evidence for which is the Prophet's saying (Allah bless him and give him peace),
"He who provides the equipment for a soldier in jihad has himself performed jihad,"
and Allah Most High having said:
"Those of the believers who are unhurt but sit behind are not equal to those who fight in Allah's path with their property and lives. Allah has preferred those who fight with their property and lives a whole degree above those who sit behind. And to each, Allah has promised great good" (Koran 4:95).
If none of those concerned perform jihad, and it does not happen at all, then everyone who is aware that it is obligatory is guilty of sin, if there was a possibility of having performed it. In the time of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) jihad was a communal obligation after his emigration (hijra) to Medina. As for subsequent times, there are two possible states in respect to non-Muslims.
The first is when they are in their own countries, in which case jihad (def: o9.8) is a communal obligation, and this is what our author is speaking of when he says, "Jihad is a communal obligation," meaning upon the Muslims each year.'
Chapter 25.9 lists 8 duties of subordinate rulers, I quote the eighth.
''-8- and if the area has a border adjacent to enemy lands, an eighth duty arises, namely to undertake jihad against enemies, dividing the spoils of battle among combatants, and setting aside fifth (def: o10.3) for deserving recipients."
o9.8 tells what the caliph does and why he does it. I have added bold font emphasis, read it and weep.
"O9.8: The Objectives of Jihad
The caliph (o25) makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians (N: provided he has first invited them to enter Islam in faith and practice, and if they will not, then invited them to enter the social order of Islam by paying the non-Muslim poll tax (jizya, def: o11.4) -which is the significance of their paying it, not the money itself-while remaining in their ancestral religions) (O: and the war continues) until they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax (O: in accordance with the word of Allah Most High,
"Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day and who forbid not what Allah and His messenger have forbidden-who do not practice the religion of truth, being of those who have been given the Book-until they pay the poll tax out of hand and are humbled" (Koran 9.29),"
Now observe how jurists interpret that: I quote the infamous fatwa of Imam Al-Shafi'i as recounted on page 17 of "The Book Of Jihad" to which I added bold font emphasis."“The minimum participation in Jihad is once a year, and more is always
better. It is not allowed to have a year pass you by without any fighting
except out of necessity like the weakness of Muslims and the great numbers
of the enemy, or fear of extermination if you attack them first, or lack of
provisions, or similar excuses. Otherwise, if there is no necessity it is not
allowed to delay attacking the non-believers for more than a year.” Imam
Shafi’i states that."
Can you guess what Al-Ghazali said ?
"One must go on jihad (i.e. warlike razzias or raids) at least once a year […] one may use a catapult against them [non-Muslims] when they are in a fortress, even if among them are women and children."
Inquisition:
- What is the best occupation for Muslims?
- Why is jihad the best way of life for Muslims?
- What will Allah do to Muslims if they abandon jihad in favor of business or agricultureL?
- What is the original religion of Muslims?
- Why is Jihad obligatory?
- How often must jihad ber performed?
