244. And fight in the way of Allah, and know that surely Allah is Hearing Knowing.
In the previous ayah we saw how Allah (swt) gave the early Muslims a story to remind them that life and death are completely under His (swt)’s control. The human being is an extremely forgetful creature and he is easily deceived by the life of this world. So even though every Muslim should have known that death and life are only from Allah (swt), Allah (swt) reminded them again of this fact. In this ayah we see the reason why Allah (swt) reminded them that life and death are only from Him (swt).
Allah (swt) begins this ayah by giving the early Muslims a command, Allah (swt) says “And fight in the way of Allah”. In this ayah, Allah (swt) gives the early Muslim community a clear order to fight in His (swt)’s cause. We know that for over thirteen years of dawah in Makkah, fighting was not allowed. Now that the Islamic State had been established, Allah (swt) gives the command for the early Muslim community to fight. As we mentioned there are only two reasons when fighting is permissible in Islam. The first is to remove the obstacles in the way of the dawah, these obstacles are the kufr governments which prevent this Message from properly reaching the people. The second reason is to defend the lives of Muslims who are oppressed. These two were the only reasons why the early Muslims fought. They never fought for honor or glory, for wealth or plunder, or to liberate a homeland. They only fought for Allah (swt). To allow the Message of Allah (swt) to reach the people and to save the lives of the servants of Allah (swt). So in this ayah Allah (swt) gives a clear command for the Muslims to fight because fighting is an integral part of this dawah once the State has been established.
For those of us who are living in a world without the Islamic State, there are still several lessons that we can take from this ayah. Firstly we should realize that in order to fulfill the command for jihad we first have to establish what makes jihad possible and that is the Islamic State. Allah (swt) has given us a command in this ayah to fight, but the only way that we can implement this command is if we reestablish the Islamic State. So for our situation today this is a command to establish the State. Once the State has been established, then we will be able to fulfill this command to fight. So because fighting to save the Muslims and remove the obstacles in the dawah is an obligation, working to bring the State that enables fighting also becomes an obligation.
Another lesson that we can take from this ayah is to realize that there are many ways in which we can fight in the way of Allah (swt). Although fighting with the sword or with other material force is not allowed without the State, we can still fight with our pens and our tongues.
We can fight to defend the ideas and tenets of Islam from the onslaught that is attempting to overwhelm it from all fronts today. We can strive to give people the correct understanding about Islam and to remove all innovations and misconceptions. We can struggle with our tongues and our pens to call the people back to Allah (swt). So although we have to wait for the State to return to fight with material force, we can still fight with ideas and thoughts to defend Islam and to carry the idea of Islam as a complete way of life into the minds of the Muslims. May Allah (swt) give us all the ability to fight in His (swt)’s cause!
In the next part of the ayah, Allah (swt) gives another command when He (swt) says “know that surely Allah is Hearing Knowing”. Here Allah (swt) commands the early Muslims to know with certainty that He (swt) Hears and Knows everything. This is a fact about which certain knowledge without any doubts must be established because it is certain knowledge that leads to action. When the Muslims know for certain that Allah (swt) Hears the call that is sounded to fight in His(swt)’s way and they know for certain that Allah (swt) Knows those who respond to this call and those who sit back, then they will think twice about not heeding this call. When the Muslims know for certain that Allah (swt) Hears and Knows everything, then they will be motivated to strive to seek His (swt)’s Pleasure. Allah (swt) Knows the reason why those who held back did not go forward, He (swt) Knows whether their excuse was a valid one or not. Allah (swt) Knows what is in the deepest recesses of their hearts and He (swt) Hears the words that they spoke to themselves as they decided whether or not to go forward in the way of Allah (swt). Similarly we also must be aware that Allah (swt) Hears and Knows everything. All of us know that it is an obligation for us today to strive hard in the path of Allah (swt). We can see the situation that our Ummah is in, and we know that there is no one else who can save her except us. So the time for making excuses is over. If we make excuses to ourselves then we have to remember that Allah (swt) Hears our excuses and He (swt) Knows whether they are valid excuses or not. Fighting in the way of Allah (swt) is by no means an easy task, but this is the most important of matters and so it demands our due attention. There should be nothing that is more important in our lives than worshipping and serving Allah (swt), striving in the way of Allah (swt), and working to see that the Din of Allah (swt) is made dominant once again. May Allah (swt) give us the enabling grace, there is no might nor power except in Him (swt)!
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