The Lesser and
the Greater Jihad

Defensive jihad under an established state—qital—is temporary. In contrast, jihad-e-nafs against oneself, to make God one’s focus and not deviate from the straight path, is a permanent, intellectual struggle that one continues throughout one’s life.

According to a Hadith, when the Prophet and his Companions returned to Madinah from a battle, the Prophet said: raja’na min al-jihad il-asghar ila al-jihad il-akbar. That is, “We have returned from a lesser jihad towards a greater jihad.” (Kanzul Ummal, Hadith No. 11260) In other words, it was an announcement that the believers had come back from temporary jihad to permanent jihad. In an extended sense, temporary jihad means defensive jihad, whose necessity might occasionally arise. By permanent jihad is meant spiritual jihad, which continues non-stop in every person’s life.

This point is narrated in another Hadith report in this way: jahidu ahwa’akum kama tujahiduna a’da’akum. That is, “Do jihad with your desires as you do jihad with your opponents.” (Tafsir al-Raghib, Vol. 1, p. 502)

In Islam, fighting against one’s enemy is a highly temporary act, whose need arises when someone has attacked a Muslim state. This is a defensive jihad, and only some trained people participate in it, not the entire Muslim community. In contrast to this, jihad against one’s nafs or self is something that pertains to an individual and goes on throughout the life of a true believer.

For instance, it is an act of merit that when a Muslim meets someone, he greets him with the phrase Assalamu Alaikum, which means ‘peace be upon you.’ According to a Hadith, these words are so lofty that one who greets another in this way is given the good tidings of Paradise. (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 54) However, in this world, where we live and many other people, we repeatedly face bitter experiences. On account of this, every person develops complaints against and negative feelings for others, which he nurses in his heart. In such a situation, only a person who has already purified his heart of all negative emotions and is genuinely concerned for the well-being of others can genuinely wish Assalamu Alaikum to someone else. This task is challenging. It requires the enormous efforts that are termed as ‘jihad’.

There is a tradition, recorded in the Sahih Muslim, according to which the Prophet said: Alhamdulillah tamla ul-mizan. This means, “The word Alhamdulillah (Thanks be to God) fills up the scale.” (Sunan an-Nasa’i, Hadith No. 9924)

On the Day of Judgment, one’s good deeds and evil deeds will be weighed on the scale set up by God. According to the tradition mentioned above, the scale will be filled up for a person who says Alhamdulillah. That is, his good deeds will outweigh his evil deeds.

This is no simple matter. To genuinely say Alhamdulillah requires a great intellectual effort. To say Alhamdulillah is to express gratitude for God’s blessings. Man receives these blessings in various forms all the time. Every person receives them without any effort on his part. People generally become habituated to them, because of which they do not consciously recognise them as blessings.

To genuinely say Alhamdulillah requires one to engage in an intellectual jihad in such a situation. An individual has to bring his powers of thinking into action and bring what is in the subconscious into the conscious mind. He needs to give a new direction to his feelings. He needs to struggle as a mujahid or engage in jihad to awaken his intellectual powers. Only after this can he utter such words to fill up the scale on the Day of Judgment.

Human beings have various desires and mental states, such as greed, superiority complex, scorn, impatience, anger, revenge, etc. Often, people remain dominated by these negative states. In addition to this, they get deeply attached to certain things—for example, wealth, fame, their children, and so on.

People oscillate between negative and positive emotions, hate and love. These emotions shape their thinking. Consciously or otherwise, they mould their lives according to these emotions. Given this, it is undoubtedly an act of jihad for someone to continuously make God the focus of their attention and not deviate from the straight path. The challenging task is called in the Hadith as jihad-e nafs, or jihad against oneself. (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 23958)