The fabricated hadith, that the moderates love to use: When returning from the Hunayn expedition, the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) had declared We are back from the lesser Jihad (effort, resistance,struggle for reform) to the greater Jihad. A Companion asked What is the greater Jihad, Messenger of God? He answered: It is fighting the self (the ego, inner struggle of the soul, Jihad against ones self). ________________________ There is a saying, We have returned from the lesser Jihad (battle) to the greater Jihad, which the people quote on the basis that it is a hadeeth, which is infact false, fabricated hadith which has no basis. According to this belief, striving against desires of the self is considered the Greater Jihad, which makes the Jihad of the battlefield the Lesser Jihad. However, this so-called hadith is only a saying of Ibrahim bin Abi Ablah one of the Successors, and it contradicts textual evidences and reality. Ibn Taymiyyah said in Al-Furqan PP. 44-45: This hadith has no sources and nobody whomsoever in the field of Islamic knowledge has narrated it. Jihad against the disbelivers is the most noble of actions and moreover it is the most important action for the mankind. This hadeeth also contradicts clear verses of the Quran. Allah the Mighty, the Majestic, says: Not equal are those of the believers who sit (at home), except those who are disabled (by injury or are blind or lame, etc.), and those who strive hard and fight in the Cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives. Allah has preferred in grades those who strive hard and fight with their wealth and their lives above those who sit (at home). Unto each, Allah has promised good (Paradise), but Allah has preferred those who strive hard and fight, above those who sit (at home) by a huge reward; Degrees of (higher) grades from Him, and Forgiveness and Mercy. And Allah is Ever Forgiving, Most Merciful. (4:95-96) This hadeeth also contradicts mutawatir (mass-narrated) Ahadeeth which have been reported from the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) which make plain the excellence of Jihad. We will mention a few of these. A morning or an evening spent in the Path of Allah is better than the world and all it contains. [Bukhari and Muslim] Standing for an hour in the ranks of battle in the Path of Allah is better than standing for sixty years (in prayer). [Sahih al- Jami] Abu Hurayrah (radiallaahu anhu) said: Is any of you able to stand in prayer without stopping, and to fast continuously for as long as he lives? The people said, Oh Abu Hurayrah! Who could endure that? He said, By Allah! A day of a mujahid in the Path of Allah is better than that. The claim of those who say that the struggle against the self is the Greater Jihad because the individual is put to test by day and by night, may be refuted by the following hadeeth: On the authority of Rashid, on the authority of Sade, authority of one of the Companions, that a man said, Oh Messenger of Allah! Why is it that the believers are all put to trial in their graves, except for the martyrs? He (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, The clashing of swords above his head was sufficient trial for him. [Sahih al-Jami] This erroneous and slanderous notion involves injustice and wrong to the status of the Mujahideen. Allah (swt) has ordered us to practice justice in our verdicts, saying: Be just, it is closer to piety; and fear Allah. Allah is aware of what you do. [5:8] Is it any part of justice and fair treatment for us to say that our brethren in the land of attention and battle are in a lesser Jihad when the mines are exploding beneath their feet, with the result that their bodies fly into the air, and their limbs and blood are scattered all over, to the extent that their pure corpses cannot be contained in a grave? And that is for the sake of Allah, and if He wills, He may bless the limbs of a body torn to pieces. Were these youths in a lesser Jihad, while our fasting, and breaking our fasts on the most delicious of food are then a greater Jihad? By Allah! This is an unequal measure, and if you were to put the matter before the most knowledgeable people on earth, they would never arrive at such a disparate verdict.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 23:42:18 +0000