Although some scholars divide the Islamic Jihad into two parts: the initial Jihad, and the defensive Jihad, and for each of these two sections they mention other sections but in fact, even the initial Jihad is a kind of defensive Jihad. We refer to the verses of the Holy Quran and consider the types of Jihad in the Quran.
1. Initial jihad
آُذِنَ لِلَّذِينَ يُقَاتَلُونَ بِأَنَّهُمْ ظُلِمُوا وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى نَصْرِهِمْ لَقَدِيرٌ
“Permission (to fight) is given to those upon whom war is made because they are oppressed, and most surely Allah is well able to assist them.”
Then, following this verse, it is added in the explanation of the matter:
الَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا مِنْ دِيَارِهِمْ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ إِلَّا أَنْ يَقُولُوا رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ
“Those who have been expelled from their homes without a just cause except that they say: Our Lord is Allah.”
The interpretation of the verse, which begins with “permission”, is very much in line with the words of those who consider it the first verse of jihad; and it shows that such permission did not exist before, and the beginning of the legislation of jihad (defensive jihad) was against the enemy, the same enemies who forced the Muslims to emigrate and leave their homes without any sin.
Others consider verse 190 of Surah Al-Baqarah first verse of Jihad, which says:
وَقَاتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ الَّذِينَ يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ
“Fight in the way of Allah those who fight against you”
If we accept this view; again the basis of jihad is based on crushing the enemy and every wise person knows silence in the face of the onslaught of a bloodthirsty enemy makes no sense. The interpretation of “for the sake of God” shows that even Islamic defense is for God and based on divine standards, not for whimsy and ambition!
This is the first form of jihad in Islam, but the meaning of “defensive jihad” must not be taken that the Islamic government should do nothing so that the enemy invades its house and then defends itself, but vice versa when it feels that the enemy is preparing for battle and intends to attack Islam forces it must take the initiative and break the enemy’s offensive power.
2. Jihad to extinguish the fire of sedition
We read in verse 193 of Surah Al-Baqarah:
وَقَاتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّى لَا تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ وَيَكُونَ الدِّينُ لِلَّهِ فَإِنِ انْتَهَوْا فَلَا عُدْوَانَ إِلَّا عَلَى الظَّالِمِينَ
“Fight against them until there is no dissension, and the religion is for Allah. But if they desist, there shall be no aggression except against the harm-doers.”
It should be noted that in the interpretation of “sedition” there is a dialogue among scholars, interpreting sedition in any sense: whether it means creating corruption, or torturing believers, polytheism and idolatry mixed with imposing beliefs on others, or it means trying to mislead and deceive the believers, anyhow it is an attack by the enemy and therefore jihad would be defensive.
The phrase “But if they desist, there shall be no aggression except against the harm-doers” also shows well that the goal is to crush the oppression of the oppressors.
It is noteworthy that in verse 191 of Surah Al-Baqarah:
وَاقْتُلُوهُمْ حَيْثُ ثَقِفْتُمُوهُمْ وَأَخْرِجُوهُمْ مِنْ حَيْثُ أَخْرَجُوكُمْ وَالْفِتْنَةُ أَشَدُّ مِنَ الْقَتْلِ
“Kill them wherever you find them. Drive them out of the places from which they drove you. Dissension is greater than killing.”
This verse, referring to the verse before it speaks of the invading polytheists, clearly calls for the fighting and killing of those who attacked the Muslims and drove them out of their homes and did not shrink from any crime, especially Muslims were constantly pressured to change their religion and even tortured, the holy Qur’an not only allowed fighting with such individuals but also makes it obligatory.
However, in some hadiths and words of a group of interpreters “sedition” has been interpreted to mean polytheism and idolatry but the evidence in the verse and verses before and after that shows well that not every polytheism and idolatry is meant rather the intent is the acts such as those of the infidels of Mecca who constantly pressured Muslims to change their religion.
In the interpretation of “Al-Manar” about this verse, we read: Continue to fight them so that they do not have the power to torture and harass you to change your religion and prevent you from professing Islam and calling for it.
Certainly, such sedition and deprivation of liberty and torture and pressure to change the belief and religion of God is worse than killing, so the phrase “وَيَكُونَ الدِّينُ كُلُّهُ لِلَّهِ”
(and religion is all for Allah) indicates that the removal of sedition is that everyone can freely worship God and not be afraid of anything or anyone, and infidels of Mecca wouldn’t be free to turn the house of the Kaaba into an idol-temple and the sincere Muslims could not be able to say “Allah Akbar” and “La ilaha illa Allah” openly.
However, verses 190, 191, and 193 of this surah (Surah Al-Baqarah) which are all related to each other; show well that extinguishing the fire of sedition as a goal for Islamic Jihad is in fact a defensive aspect and protects the believers against the cultural, social and military aggression of the enemies of Islam.
3. Jihad for supporting the oppressed
Verse 75 of Surah An-Nisa’ invites Muslims to jihad for supporting the oppressed and fight the oppressors and says:
وَمَا لَكُمْ لَا تُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَالْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاءِ وَالْوِلْدَانِ الَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْ هَذِهِ الْقَرْيَةِ الظَّالِمِ أَهْلُهَا وَاجْعَلْ لَنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ وَلِيًّا وَاجْعَلْ لَنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ نَصِيرًا
“So why is it, that you do not fight in the way of Allah, and for the abased among men, women, and children who say: ‘Our Lord, bring us out from this village whose people are harm doers, and give to us a guardian from You, and give to us a helper from You.”
In the beginning, the verse invites to jihad in the path of God and immediately remarks on the oppressed and downtrodden who have been so oppressed by the hard-hearted enemy that they are content to leave their homes, and it seems that These two actually return to the same meaning, because helping such oppressed people is a clear example of “jihad for the sake of God”.
It is clear that this type of jihad is also a defensive jihad. (Defending the oppressed against the oppressors). The above three goals are the main purposes of Islamic jihad, although they can be divided into two parts (initial jihad and defensive jihad); but the soul of them all is defensive; for this reason, we do not find in the history of Islam that infidels are ready to live peacefully with Muslims and that Islam has rejected them.
Even today, the Islamic government is not at war with anyone and will not fight with anyone until the war is imposed on it, but it considers defending the oppressed as one of its main duties and inciting sedition, intimidation, oppression, and deprivation of liberty as a kind of declaration of war and considers itself obliged to defend.
