"The Bible depicts a world that, seen through modern eyes, is staggering in its savagery. People enslave, rape, and murder members of their immediate families. Warlords slaughter civilians indiscriminately, including the children. Women are bought, sold, and plundered like sex toys. And Yahweh tortures and massacres people by the hundreds of thousands for trivial disobedience or for no reason at all. These atrocities are neither isolated nor obscure. They implicate all the major characters of the Old Testament, the ones that Sunday-school children draw with crayons. And they fall into a continuous plotline that stretches for millennia, from Adam and Eve through Noah, the patriarchs, Moses, Joshua, the judges, Saul, David, Solomon, and beyond. According to the biblical scholar Raymund Schwager, the Hebrew Bible “contains over six hundred passages that explicitly talk about nations, kings, or individuals attacking, destroying, and killing others. . . . Aside from the approximately one thousand verses in which Yahweh himself appears as the direct executioner of violent punishments, and the many texts in which the Lord delivers the criminal to the punisher’s sword, in over one hundred other passages Yahweh expressly gives the command to kill people.” Matthew White, a self-described atrocitologist who keeps a database with the estimated death tolls of history’s major wars, massacres, and genocides, counts about 1.2 million deaths from mass killing that are specifically enumerated in the Bible. (He excludes the half million casualties in the war between Judah and Israel described in 2 Chronicles 13 because he considers the body count historically implausible.) The victims of the Noachian flood would add another 20 million or so to the total. The good news, of course, is that most of it never happened. Not only is there no evidence that Yahweh inundated the planet and incinerated its cities, but the patriarchs, exodus, conquest, and Jewish empire are almost certainly fictions. Historians have found no mention in Egyptian writings of the departure of a million slaves (which could hardly have escaped the Egyptians’ notice); nor have archaeologists found evidence in the ruins of Jericho or neighboring cities of a sacking around 1200 BCE. And if there was a Davidic empire stretching from the Euphrates to the Red Sea around the turn of the 1st millennium BCE, no one else at the time seemed to have noticed it."

"King Solomon is credited with fewer homicides than his predecessors and is remembered instead for building the Temple in Jerusalem and for writing the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs (though with a harem of seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, he clearly didn’t spend all his time writing). Most of all he is remembered for his eponymous virtue, “the wisdom of Solomon.” Two prostitutes sharing a room give birth a few days apart. One of the babies dies, and each woman claims that the surviving boy is hers. The wise king adjudicates the dispute by pulling out a sword and threatening to butcher the baby and hand each woman a piece of the bloody corpse. One woman withdraws her claim, and Solomon awards the baby to her. “When all Israel heard of the verdict that the king had rendered, they stood in awe of the king, because they saw that he had divine wisdom in carrying out justice.” The distancing effect of a good story can make us forget the brutality of the world in which it was set. Just imagine a judge in family court today adjudicating a maternity dispute by pulling out a chain saw and threatening to butcher the baby before the disputants’ eyes. Solomon was confident that the more humane woman (we are never told that she was the mother) would reveal herself, and that the other woman was so spiteful that she would allow a baby to be slaughtered in front of her—and he was right! And he must have been prepared, in the event he was wrong, to carry out the butchery or else forfeit all credibility. The women, for their part, must have believed that their wise king was capable of carrying out this grisly murder."

"When King Solomon is dedicating the Temple, his prayer includes these words, addressed to the creator of the universe: “Behold, the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have builded.” Nowhere does Solomon exhibit his wisdom better than here. Let us never suppose that the structures of our human minds can contain God."

"Solomon was a 'copper king', and all along that Araba, on both sides, we found many copper mines and smelting stations, all attributable to Solomon and his immediate successors."

"The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here."

"That one should not be wise above what is written is well demonstrated in the life of King Solomon. The Torah says that the king whom the Israelites should set over them should not multiply horses to himself, nor wives, in order that he might not cause the people to return to Egypt, and that his heart might not turn away (Deut. 17. 16, 17). 'Then,' argued Solomon, 'since the reason for the paucity of wives and horses is given, I am sure that I can stand proof against these; I can multiply horses and wives and shall not turn away and will not cause my people to return to Egypt.' Unfortunately he was not proof against the prohibitions, as it is recorded against him (in 1 Kings 2. 1-7). And one can also see the wisdom of the Torah in withholding any reason for many commandments it enjoins."

"And also to the alien, who is not of Thy people Israel, but comes from a distant land on account of Thy fame; for hearing of Thy great name and Thy strong hand, and Thine outstretched arm, he comes to this house to pray... do Thou listen in the heavens, the place where Thou dwellest, and perform all that the alien begs of Thee, so that all the peoples of the earth may know Thy name, to fear Thee like Thine own people Israel, and to know that Thy name is proclaimed over this house that I have built."

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

"Who is like the wise man? Who knows the solution to a problem? A man’s wisdom lights up his face and softens his stern appearance. I say: “Obey the king’s orders out of regard for the oath to God. Do not rush to depart from his presence. Do not take a stand for anything bad; for he can do whatever he pleases, because the word of the king is absolute; who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?"

"I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with."

"The Mujahid is one who strives against his own soul."

"حَدَّثَنَا الْمَكِّيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، أَخْبَرَنَا يَزِيدُ بْنُ أَبِي عُبَيْدٍ، عَنْ سَلَمَةَ، أَنَّهُ أَخْبَرَهُ قَالَ خَرَجْتُ مِنَ الْمَدِينَةِ ذَاهِبًا نَحْوَ الْغَابَةِ، حَتَّى إِذَا كُنْتُ بِثَنِيَّةِ الْغَابَةِ لَقِيَنِي غُلاَمٌ لِعَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ عَوْفٍ قُلْتُ وَيْحَكَ، مَا بِكَ قَالَ أُخِذَتْ لِقَاحُ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم‏.‏ قُلْتُ مَنْ أَخَذَهَا قَالَ غَطَفَانُ وَفَزَارَةُ‏.‏ فَصَرَخْتُ ثَلاَثَ صَرَخَاتٍ أَسْمَعْتُ مَا بَيْنَ لاَبَتَيْهَا يَا صَبَاحَاهْ، يَا صَبَاحَاهْ‏.‏ ثُمَّ انْدَفَعْتُ حَتَّى أَلْقَاهُمْ وَقَدْ أَخَذُوهَا، فَجَعَلْتُ أَرْمِيهِمْ وَأَقُولُ أَنَا ابْنُ الأَكْوَعِ، وَالْيَوْمُ يَوْمُ الرُّضَّعِ، فَاسْتَنْقَذْتُهَا مِنْهُمْ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَشْرَبُوا، فَأَقْبَلْتُ بِهَا أَسُوقُهَا، فَلَقِيَنِي النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، إِنَّ الْقَوْمَ عِطَاشٌ، وَإِنِّي أَعْجَلْتُهُمْ أَنْ يَشْرَبُوا سِقْيَهُمْ، فَابْعَثْ فِي إِثْرِهِمْ، فَقَالَ ‏ "‏ يَا ابْنَ الأَكْوَعِ، مَلَكْتَ فَأَسْجِحْ‏.‏ إِنَّ الْقَوْمَ يُقْرَوْنَ فِي قَوْمِهِمْ ‏"‏‏.‏"

"حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى، حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ، عَنْ شُعْبَةَ، عَنْ سَعِيدِ بْنِ أَبِي بُرْدَةَ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ جَدِّهِ، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم بَعَثَ مُعَاذًا وَأَبَا مُوسَى إِلَى الْيَمَنِ قَالَ ‏ "‏ يَسِّرَا وَلاَ تُعَسِّرَا، وَبَشِّرَا وَلاَ تُنَفِّرَا، وَتَطَاوَعَا وَلاَ تَخْتَلِفَا ‏"‏‏."

"حَدَّثَنَا إِسْحَاقُ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، قَالَ قُلْتُ لأَبِي أُسَامَةَ حَدَّثَكُمْ عُبَيْدُ اللَّهِ، عَنْ نَافِعٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ قَالَ وُجِدَتِ امْرَأَةٌ مَقْتُولَةً فِي بَعْضِ مَغَازِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم، فَنَهَى رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَنْ قَتْلِ النِّسَاءِ وَالصِّبْيَانِ‏.‏"

"حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الْيَمَانِ، أَخْبَرَنَا شُعَيْبٌ، عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي سِنَانُ بْنُ أَبِي سِنَانٍ الدُّؤَلِيُّ، وَأَبُو سَلَمَةَ بْنُ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ أَنَّ جَابِرَ بْنَ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ أَخْبَرَ أَنَّهُ، غَزَا مَعَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قِبَلَ نَجْدٍ، فَلَمَّا قَفَلَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَفَلَ مَعَهُ، فَأَدْرَكَتْهُمُ الْقَائِلَةُ فِي وَادٍ كَثِيرِ الْعِضَاهِ، فَنَزَلَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَتَفَرَّقَ النَّاسُ يَسْتَظِلُّونَ بِالشَّجَرِ، فَنَزَلَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم تَحْتَ سَمُرَةٍ وَعَلَّقَ بِهَا سَيْفَهُ وَنِمْنَا نَوْمَةً، فَإِذَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَدْعُونَا وَإِذَا عِنْدَهُ أَعْرَابِيٌّ فَقَالَ ‏"‏ إِنَّ هَذَا اخْتَرَطَ عَلَىَّ سَيْفِي وَأَنَا نَائِمٌ، فَاسْتَيْقَظْتُ وَهْوَ فِي يَدِهِ صَلْتًا ‏"‏‏.‏ فَقَالَ مَنْ يَمْنَعُكَ مِنِّي فَقُلْتُ ‏"‏ اللَّهُ ‏"‏‏.‏ ثَلاَثًا وَلَمْ يُعَاقِبْهُ وَجَلَسَ‏.‏"

"حَدَّثَنَا حَفْصُ بْنُ عُمَرَ، حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنْ أَبِي إِسْحَاقَ، عَنِ الْبَرَاءِ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ رَأَيْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَوْمَ الأَحْزَابِ يَنْقُلُ التُّرَابَ وَقَدْ وَارَى التُّرَابُ بَيَاضَ بَطْنِهِ، وَهُوَ يَقُولُ لَوْلاَ أَنْتَ مَا اهْتَدَيْنَا وَلاَ تَصَدَّقْنَا وَلاَ صَلَّيْنَا‏.‏ فَأَنْزِلِ السَّكِينَةَ عَلَيْنَا وَثَبِّتِ الأَقْدَامَ إِنْ لاَقَيْنَا‏.‏ إِنَّ الأُلَى قَدْ بَغَوْا عَلَيْنَا إِذَا أَرَادُوا فِتْنَةً أَبَيْنَا‏.‏"

"حَدَّثَنَا حَفْصُ بْنُ عُمَرَ الْحَوْضِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا هَمَّامٌ، عَنْ إِسْحَاقَ، عَنْ أَنَسٍ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ بَعَثَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَقْوَامًا مِنْ بَنِي سُلَيْمٍ إِلَى بَنِي عَامِرٍ فِي سَبْعِينَ، فَلَمَّا قَدِمُوا، قَالَ لَهُمْ خَالِي أَتَقَدَّمُكُمْ، فَإِنْ أَمَّنُونِي حَتَّى أُبَلِّغَهُمْ عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَإِلاَّ كُنْتُمْ مِنِّي قَرِيبًا‏.‏ فَتَقَدَّمَ، فَأَمَّنُوهُ، فَبَيْنَمَا يُحَدِّثُهُمْ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم إِذْ أَوْمَئُوا إِلَى رَجُلٍ مِنْهُمْ، فَطَعَنَهُ فَأَنْفَذَهُ فَقَالَ اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ، فُزْتُ وَرَبِّ الْكَعْبَةِ‏.‏ ثُمَّ مَالُوا عَلَى بَقِيَّةِ أَصْحَابِهِ فَقَتَلُوهُمْ، إِلاَّ رَجُلاً أَعْرَجَ صَعِدَ الْجَبَلَ‏.‏ قَالَ هَمَّامٌ فَأُرَاهُ آخَرَ مَعَهُ، فَأَخْبَرَ جِبْرِيلُ ـ عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ ـ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَنَّهُمْ قَدْ لَقُوا رَبَّهُمْ، فَرَضِيَ عَنْهُمْ وَأَرْضَاهُمْ، فَكُنَّا نَقْرَأُ أَنْ بَلِّغُوا قَوْمَنَا أَنْ قَدْ لَقِينَا رَبَّنَا فَرَضِيَ عَنَّا وَأَرْضَانَا‏.‏ ثُمَّ نُسِخَ بَعْدُ، فَدَعَا عَلَيْهِمْ أَرْبَعِينَ صَبَاحًا، عَلَى رِعْلٍ وَذَكْوَانَ وَبَنِي لِحْيَانَ وَبَنِي عُصَيَّةَ الَّذِينَ عَصَوُا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ صلى الله عليه وسلم‏.‏"

"حَدَّثَنَا إِسْحَاقُ بْنُ مَنْصُورٍ، أَخْبَرَنَا عَفَّانُ، حَدَّثَنَا هَمَّامٌ، حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ جُحَادَةَ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي أَبُو حَصِينٍ، أَنَّ ذَكْوَانَ، حَدَّثَهُ أَنَّ أَبَا هُرَيْرَةَ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ حَدَّثَهُ قَالَ جَاءَ رَجُلٌ إِلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ دُلَّنِي عَلَى عَمَلٍ يَعْدِلُ الْجِهَادَ‏.‏ قَالَ ‏ "‏ لاَ أَجِدُهُ ـ قَالَ ـ هَلْ تَسْتَطِيعُ إِذَا خَرَجَ الْمُجَاهِدُ أَنْ تَدْخُلَ مَسْجِدَكَ فَتَقُومَ وَلاَ تَفْتُرَ وَتَصُومَ وَلاَ تُفْطِرَ ‏"‏‏.‏ قَالَ وَمَنْ يَسْتَطِيعُ ذَلِكَ قَالَ أَبُو هُرَيْرَةَ إِنَّ فَرَسَ الْمُجَاهِدِ لَيَسْتَنُّ فِي طِوَلِهِ فَيُكْتَبُ لَهُ حَسَنَاتٍ‏.‏"

"حَدَّثَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ يُونُسَ، وَمُوسَى بْنُ إِسْمَاعِيلَ، قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ بْنُ سَعْدٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ شِهَابٍ، عَنْ سَعِيدِ بْنِ الْمُسَيَّبِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم سُئِلَ أَىُّ الْعَمَلِ أَفْضَلُ فَقَالَ ‏"‏ إِيمَانٌ بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ‏"‏‏.‏ قِيلَ ثُمَّ مَاذَا قَالَ ‏"‏ الْجِهَادُ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ‏"‏‏.‏ قِيلَ ثُمَّ مَاذَا قَالَ ‏"‏ حَجٌّ مَبْرُورٌ ‏"‏‏.‏"

"Sahih Muslim (20:4696) - "the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: 'One who died but did not fight in the way of Allah nor did he express any desire (or determination) for Jihad died the death of a hypocrite.'""

"Sahih Muslim (20:4645) - "...He (the Messenger of Allah) did that and said: There is another act which elevates the position of a man in Paradise to a grade one hundred (higher), and the elevation between one grade and the other is equal to the height of the heaven from the earth. He (Abu Sa'id) said: What is that act? He replied: Jihad in the way of Allah! Jihad in the way of Allah!""

"Sahih Muslim (1:149) - "Abu Dharr reported: I said: Messenger of Allah, which of the deeds is the best? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Belief in Allah and Jihad in His cause...""

"Abu Dawud (14:2527) (considered daif) - The Prophet said: Striving in the path of Allah (jihad) is incumbent on you along with every ruler, whether he is pious or impious"

"Abu Dawud (14:2526) (considered daif) - The Prophet said, Three things are the roots of faith: to refrain from (killing) a person who utters, "There is no god but Allah" and not to declare him unbeliever whatever sin he commits, and not to excommunicate him from Islam for his any action; and jihad will be performed continuously since the day Allah sent me as a prophet..."

"The best Jihad is to say a word of truth before a tyrant ruler."

"أَفْضَلُ الْجِهَادِ كَلِمَةُ عَدْلٍ عِنْدَ سُلْطَانٍ جَائِرٍ"

"“I came to the Prophet and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, which Jihad is best?’ He said: ‘(That of a man) whose blood is shed and his horse is wounded.’”"

"إِنَّمَا ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَرْتَابُوا۟ وَجَٰهَدُوا۟ بِأَمْوَٰلِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلصَّٰدِقُونَ"

"وَٱلَّذِينَ جَٰهَدُوا۟ فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا ۚ وَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَمَعَ ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ"

"وَمَن جَٰهَدَ فَإِنَّمَا يُجَٰهِدُ لِنَفْسِهِۦٓ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَغَنِىٌّ عَنِ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ"

"The Sheikh has departed, may God have mercy on him, to his God as a martyr and we must continue on his path of ¬ Jihad to expel the invaders from the land of Muslims and to purify it from injustice. Today, and thanks to God, America is not facing an individual or a group, but a rebelling nation, which has awoken from its sleep in a jihadist renaissance."

"While there are hundreds of sources for militant, or lesser, jihād in classical Islam—hadīth collections, commentaries on the Koran, law books from all the schools of law, and so on—there do not seem to have been any works devoted exclusively to spiritual, or greater, jihād. This is clearly a derivative form, since it is not mentioned in any of the canonical collections of hadīth. Even the later literature on jihād fails to mention “greater jihād.”"

"In hadith collections, jihad means armed action; for example, the 199 references to jihad in the most standard collection of hadith, Sahih al-Bukhari, all assume that jihad means warfare."

"The Qur’ān calls upon believers to undertake jihād, which is to surrender “your properties and youselves in the path of Allāh”; the purpose of which in turn is to “establish prayer, give zakāt, command good and forbid evil”—i.e., to establish the socio-moral order. So long as the Muslims were a small, persecuted minority in Mecca, jihād as a positive organized thrust of the Islamic movement was unthinkable. In Medina, however, the situation changed and henceforth there is hardly anything, with the possible exception of prayer and zakāt, that receives greater emphasis than jihād....Every virile and expansive ideology has, at a stage, to ask itself the question as to what are its terms of co-existence, if any, with other systems, and how far it may employ methods of direct expansion. In our own age, Communism, in its Russian and Chinese versions, is faced with the same problems and choices. The most unacceptable on historical grounds, however, is the stand of those modern Muslim apologists who have tried to explain the jihād of the early Community in purely defensive terms."

"Jihad against the lower self precedes jihad against external enemies and is the basis for it. Indeed, if one does not strive against himself first to do what he has been commanded and avoid what he has been forbidden and to wage war against it for the sake of Allah, one cannot possibly strive against external enemies. How can one strive against his enemies and be just if his enemy within has overpowered him, dominated him, and he did not strive or wage war against it for the sake of Allah? Rather, he cannot go out against his enemies unless he gives precedence to striving against himself."

""The third category is the "moderate Ummah" which Almighty Allah has guided to the approach of moderation and granted knowledge, wisdom, and deep understanding of the Shari`ah and reality. Hence, it has not slipped into the negligence of the first category that seeks to keep the right of the Ummah unarmed with power, its Qur'an unguarded by the sword, and its home and sanctuaries with no guards to protect and defend them. Likewise, it has not fallen into the excess and extremism of the second group that seeks to fight those who are peaceful and declare war against all people without discrimination; white and black, in the East or in the West. Their alleged aim by doing so is to shepherd people to (the way of) Almighty Allah, drive them shackled toward Paradise and take them coercively by the hand to the Straight Path. They further add that their aim is to remove the obstacles set in front of those people by despotic regimes that do not allow them to convey the Word of Allah and the Call of His Messenger to the people, so that they can hear it loud and clear and free from all stains."

"With the new millennium (in the Christian calendar’s calculation), Hashem, as the Mahdi of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (AROPL), aims to reemphasize a timeless and more internalized view of jihad. [Knowingly, he] separates the types of righteous struggles, outlining a clear distinction between the Greater and the Lesser forms. Importantly, he decontextualizes both original temporal and spatial elements, displacing jihad from the borderline of “dar al-Islam” (house of Islam) and “dar al-harb” (house of war) in preference for a more contemporary, postmodern setting. This displacement, however, does not result in a reductionist or voided understanding, but a realignment with the modern day and age and the crises these contain."

"The first step... is to understand the difference between total strategy, that is Jehad, and military strategy. The term, Jehad, so often confused with military strategy, is, in fact, the near-equivalent of total or grand strategy or policy in execution. Jehad entails the comprehensive direction and application of ‘power’ while military strategy deals only with the preparation for and application of force. Jehad is a continuous and never-ending struggle waged on all fronts including political, economic, social, psychological, domestic, moral and spiritual to attain the object of policy. It aims at attaining the overall mission assigned to the Islamic State, and military strategy is one of the means available to it to do so. It is waged at the individual as well as collective level; and at internal as well as external front. Waged in its true spirit, and with multiple means available to it, the Islamic concept of total strategy has the capacity to produce direct results."

"The overwhelming majority of classical theologians, jurists, and traditionalists [i.e., specialists in the hadith] . . . understood the obligation of jihad in a military sense."

"Both the Qur'an and the Hadith have attached great importance to jihad. What is jihad? Jihad means struggle, to struggle one's utmost. It must be appreciated at the outset that this word is used for non-violent struggle as opposed to violent struggle. One clear proof of this is the verse of the Qur'an (25:52) which says: "Perform jihad with this (i.e., the word of the Qur'an ) most strenuously.""

"The word "jihad" has nowhere been used in the Qur'an to mean war in the sense of launching an offensive. It is used rather to mean "struggle". The action most consistently called for in the Qur'an is the exercise of patience."

"″Thus the jihad may be regarded as Islam’s instrument for carrying out its ultimate objective by turning all people into believers, if not in the prophet-hood of Muhammad (as in the case of the dhimmis), at least in the belief of God. The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have declared "some of my people will continue to fight victoriously for the sake of the truth until the last one of them will combat the anti-Christ." Until that moment is reached the jihad, in one form or another will remain as a permanent obligation upon the entire Muslim community. It follows that the existence of a dar al-harb is ultimately outlawed under the Islamic jural order; that the dar al-Islam (Islamic community) are permanently under jihad obligation until the dar al-harb is reduced to non-existence; and that any community accepting certain disabilities- must submit to Islamic rule and reside in the dar al-Islam or be bound as clients to the Muslim community. The universality of Islam, in its all embracing creed, is imposed on the believers as a continuous process of warfare, psychological and political if not strictly military.″"

"″The Islamic faith, born among a single people and spreading to others, used the state as an instrument for achieving a doctrinal or an ultimate religious objective, the proselytization of mankind. The Islamic state became necessarily an imperial and an expansionist state striving to win other peoples by conversion. At the very outset, the law of war, the jihad, became the chief preoccupation of jurists. The Islamic law of nations was essentially a law governing the conduct of war and the division of booty. This law was designed for temporary purposes, on the assumption that the Islamic state was capable of absorbing the whole of mankind; for if the ideal of Islam were ever achieved, the raison d’être of the law of war, at least with regard to Islam’s relations with non-Islamic states, would pass out of existence. ..The Islamic law of nations, however, is not a system separate from Islamic law. It is merely an extension of the sacred law, the shari’a, designed to govern the relations of Muslims with non-Muslims, whether inside or outside the territory of Islam. In a word, an Islamic law of nations does not exist as a separate system in the sense that modern municipal (national) law and international law, based on different sources and maintained by different sanctions, are distinct from one another″"

"JIHAD. “Lit. “An effort, or a striving.” A religious war with those who are unbelievers in the mission of Muhammad. It is an incumbent religious duty, established in the Qur’an and in the Traditions as a divine institution, and enjoined specially for the purpose of advancing Islam and of repelling evil from Muslims."

"[God] has perfected the pleasures for the martyrs who have fought in God’s path, for they have not embarked boldly upon fighting, save that they [first] sundered their attention from worldly affairs, desiring [only] to meet God, [they are] willing to be killed for His satisfaction… blessed is the paradise that the martyr reaches…"

"In law, according to general doctrine and in historical tradition, the djihād consists of military action with the object of the expansion of Islam and, if need be, of its defence….The notion stems from the fundamental principle of the universality of Islam: this religion, along with the temporal power which it implies, ought to embrace to whole universe, if necessary by force…."

"The spread of Islam by arms is a religious duty upon Muslims in general. It narrowly escaped being a sixth rukn, or fundamental duty, and is indeed still so regarded by the descendants of the Khāridjīs. This position was reached gradually but quickly. In the Meccan Sūras of the Qur’ān patience under attack is taught; no other attitude was possible. But at Madīna the right to repel attack appears, and gradually it became a prescribed duty to fight against and subdue the hostile Meccans. Whether Muhammad himself recognized that his position implied steady and unprovoked war against the unbelieving world until it was subdued to Islam may be in doubt. Traditions are explicit on the point; but the Qur’ānic passages speak always of the unbelievers who are to be subdued as dangerous or faithless. Still, the story of his writing to the powers around him shows that such a universal position was implicit in his mind, and it certainly developed immediately after his death, when the Muslim armies advanced out of Arabia. It is a now a fard ‘ala ’l-kifāya, a duty in general on all male, free, adult Muslims, sane in mind and body and having means enough to reach the Muslim army, yet not a duty necessarily incumbent on every individual, but sufficiently performed when done by a certain number. So it must continue to be done until the whole world is under the rule of Islam....A Muslim who dies fighting in the Path of Allah (fī sabīl Allāh) is a martyr (shahīd) and is assured of Paradise and of peculiar privileges there. Such a death was, in the early generations, regarded as the peculiar crown of a pious life. It is still, on occasions, a strong incitement, but when Islam ceased to conquer it lost its supreme value. Even yet, however, any war between Muslims and non-Muslims must be a jihād with its incitements and rewards. Of course, such modern movements as the so-called Mu‘tazilī in India and the Young Turk in Turkey reject this and endeavour to explain away its basis; but the Muslim masses still follow the unanimous voice of the canon lawyers. Islam must be completely made over before the doctrine of jihād can be eliminated."

"Jihad made it possible for the early followers of Islam from the Muhajirun and the Ansar to be instrumental in the entry of the Quraysh and the people around them into the fold of Islam. Subsequently, God destined that Mesopotamia and Syria be conquered at their hands. Later on it was through the Muslims of these areas that God made the empires of the Persians and Romans to be subdued. And again, it was through the Muslims of these newly conquered realms that God actualized the conquests of India, Turkey and Sudan. In this way, the benefits of jihad multiply incessantly, and it becomes, in that respect, similar to creating an endowment, building inns and other kinds of recurring charities.… Jihad is an exercise replete with tremendous benefits for the Muslim community, and it is the instrument of jihad alone that can bring about their victory.… The supremacy of his Religion over all other religions cannot be realized without jihad and the necessary preparation for it, including the procurement of its instruments. Therefore, if the Prophet’s followers abandon jihad and pursue the tails of cows [that is, become farmers] they will soon be overcome by disgrace, and the people of other religions will overpower them."

"...after surveying the evidence from classical until contemporary times, one must conclude that today's jihad movements are as legitimate as any that have ever existed in classical Islam... In short, although the actions of many of these groups may disgust many Muslims, as far as their conduct of jihad, they fall within the limits set by classical and contemporary Muslim law."