Jihad and Shahadat

Blog Post #87

Muharram 1, 1448 - June 15/16, 2026

 (This is Part One of Jihad and Shahadat by Ayatullah Sayyid Mahmoud Taleqani. Part Three was published in Blog Post #63 on August 17, 2023 and Part Two was published in Blog Post #78 on June 24, 2025. Al-Hamdulillah, we hereby conclude  the discussion of Ayatullah Talegani's book.)

 Those who believe fight in the way of Allah and those who disbelieve fight in the way of taghut. So fight the friends of the shaitan. Indeed, the shaitan's strategy is weak. (4:76)

The evil propaganda against Islam and Muslims from a variety of sources ever since the beginning often focuses on war, specifically Muslim conquests and advancements. In other words, jihad is chosen to lie about in order to defame Islam. It has permeated even into the minds of Muslims. Astagfir Allah.

Some Muslims are often even afraid to mention the word or write the word, especially online. In this timely blog post, as the forces of evil desire to extinguish the light of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and Islam in Gaza and the whole of Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, the Islamic Republic of Iran and everywhere, martyring our leaders and their families and whole families and multitudes of children, women and men, the topic of jihad is not shied away from, rather it is made clear. It is our duty to understand this form of ibadat (worship), this wajibat (obligatory) duty, inshallah. What an honour to be chosen by Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to taste the glory of shahadat!

Ayatullah Sayyid Mahmoud Taleqani (1910-1979) writes in Jihad and Shahadat, which this blog post will quote quite heavily, that jihad has been defended by asking the following questions.

 “What is the meaning of jihad in Islam?

How has Islam progressed?

How many human casualties were caused by

this great intellectual, social, and moral revolution

which appeared in the Arabian peninsula?

Were the wars of the beginning of the

Islamic era defensive or offensive?”

One of the “Allah-given natural characteristics of living beings” is defense. Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala has created anger in us and, in “more or less and in varying forms, in animals.” He placed it there “to safeguard the right to live.” This defensive power can even be seen in some plants. Ayatullah Taleqani writes: “Perhaps there are plants, the fruit and flower of which is to be used by others. There are yet other plants, the fruit of which is only for their own reproduction. People can only enjoy these visually. For this reason, some plants have big sharp thorns to warn the intruder, saying, ‘Since I am such a fragrant, beautiful being, this weapon must protect me from the harm of potential invaders.’” He gives some lines of a “miraculously eloquent and realistic” poem by an unknown author to illustrate:

“How long will you remain depressed as ice,

Or drifting like a dead mouse in water?

Contempt causes inner discord;

Acceptance of repression invites humiliation;

So like a rosebush, bear your weapon on your shoulder

So you can also display your beautiful blossoms.”

The harmony of our faculties is ruined by servility and lowliness. When a person lives in these conditions, they may be able to recognize what is happening, but not be able to do anything about it by speaking or action. Discord means the “dissonance between a person’s perceptive and practical mechanisms. If the rosebush wishes to preserve the freshness and beauty of its own roses, if it wishes to stand proudly, it must cut the hands of the intruders.” Animals have a horn, talons, teeth, for example, and we have “the emotion of anger.” We use reason to control our faculties and thus use “anger as a weapon to defend our rights, territory, dignity, nationality… Thus if a Prophet or a law-giver decrees that war and defense is to be nullified in a nation, it is the same as decreeing that because lustful passion causes unfavorable social conditions, men and women have to cut off their procreative organs.” But Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala has guided us in how we must use our natural powers for procreation and preservation. The same can be said about the appetite for food. We must not eat by fulfilling a “destructive urge” that overflows the boundaries resulting in gluttony and harm to our body and life. “Likewise, the sexual urge…”

“When anger manifests itself… in” us, we take up arms if our “rights, honor and dignity are endangered. If anger is not directed and utilized in the cause which God has determined, according to the law of creation, it becomes deviant. Then it results in wars of conquest waged for material expansion and the destruction of humanity.”

“First, anger is a natural fact.

Second, it must be guided

by divine legislation.”

Those with wisdom, the reformers, the Prophets, find solutions in religion. The argument that “war should vanish from the face of the earth” is widespread. People who work for peace in various organizations and try to limit weapons production and usage toil “day and night…in halls and rooms above the ground. Underground there are factories which are in a frenzy to create destructive, murderous weapons. Just below the people who brag about peace and disarmament, nuclear weapons are made. Then what is to be done?

Anger must “be guided onto the straight path” of Islam. The answer to war and killing is jihad. “Jihad is always attached to…fi sabil Allah (in the way of” Allah). This way, this path is that of “the well-being and betterment of human society. It is the way of justice, truth, and human liberty. It is the building of a world in which a specific group or class does not dominate over the destiny of the people, in order to stop human intellectual movement or to stop people from utilizing the natural resources that God Almighty has created for the common use of humanity.” Just like He has given us powers and intellect, He has created air, light and land for everyone. The sabil Allah (way of Allah) is “the world in which all people can develop their human capacities in order to obtain freedom. Jahidu fi sabil Allah (strive in the way of” Allah) is Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala’s command.

Jihad is part of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and it takes up one whole volume in the section of ‘ibadat (worship). “Our jurisprudence is divided into two parts: ‘ibadat and mu’amilat, the latter meaning ‘interpersonal relations.’” ‘Ibadat requires the intention of intimacy with Allah. Actions such as salat, sawm (fasting), zakat (charity), khums (tax on wealth), Hajj, jihad, amr bil mar’uf (enjoining the good) and nahy an al-munkar (forbidding the evil) are ‘ibadat.

Only if you have a divine intention to fight fi sabil Allah would you be a mujahid (someone who performs jihad). This intention must be made to seek the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala, to become close to Him. This intimacy is required, this intention to fight in the way of Allah, the way of “wisdom, justice, and mercy,” to seek nearness to Him. In the Holy Qur’an, whenever Allah commands qatilu (wage war) and jahidu (struggle), there is always the words fi sabil Allah.

Reread the ayat at the beginning of this blog post, inshallah. Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala tells us “that there is always war in the world. Such a state is consistent with the nature of man…The people of the world are of two types: the ones who believe and therefore strive in the way of God, and the ones who disbelieve and strive in the way of taghut.”

“Whether we like it or not,

life is a struggle,

it is warfare.

But those who believe

in a supreme goal,

struggle in the way of Allah.

Is there another way

besides the way of God?

Yes.

The way of taghut.”

Taghut is a very important word which Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala uses in the Qur’an. Do we give this word the attention it deserves? It comes “from tughyan (deluge, rebellion, outburst). The sentence ‘tagha al-ma’ means ‘Water has overflowed; it left its natural bed. It is destroying the neighboring houses and farms and uprooting the nearby trees.’ This is the meaning of tughyan. Taghut is the one who commits tughyan. Taghut is the selfish person.” It does not just mean a despot and tyrant. “A tyrant can very well be only a tyrant over himself. More clearly, his passions may dictate over and control him. But taghut is the one who overflows from his rightful social limits. He tramples social limits under his feet. It is as though a hurricane of lusts has burst out, recognizing no limits.” Some think it means idol. “Of course, idols represent a kind of taghut, but the two are not synonymous.” The word taghut does not mean idol.

Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala repeats the word taghut eight times in the Qur’an. “In surah two, in Ayat al-Kursi, which is much recommended for recitation after the required prayers, the term is repeated twice…”

There is no compulsion in the religion.

Surely the right direction is distinct from the wrong.

Then whoever disbelieves in the taghut and believes in Allah,

then surely he has grasped the firm handhold which will not break.

And Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

Allah is the Protecting Guardian of those who believe.

He brings them out from the darknesses into the light.

And those who disbelieve, their guardians are the taghut.

They bring them out from the light into the darknesses... (2:256-257)

“There are only two possibilities.” Either our existence and will come under Allah’s control – which means “that gradually the individual will come out of the darkness of selfishness and wrong-doing, and therefore, with the aid of knowledge and wisdom, his foresight will broaden – or taghut will possess him. It is either this or that. If the former is rejected as an alternative, the latter will occur automatically.”

We “cannot live without a wali (guardian); such a guardian is either God or taghut…The Prophet and the Imams are also guardians…because they implement divine will. It is for this reason that they are wali-Allah (divine guardians). Such guardians know the good of the people better than the people themselves do. The noble Prophet says, ‘Alastu awla bikum min anfusikum? (Haven't I been closer to you than you to yourselves?) You were inclined to remain idol-worshippers, to be ignorant, weak, and downtrodden. But you witnessed that when I conquered you, you gained everything.’ This is how the divine Prophet delivered his ultimatum on the day of Ghadir, when such a transformation had become obvious, and had reached a practical level…Thus if God and the divine guardians are not in charge, people will be possessed by taghut.”

That possession results in: “People will be taken out of light into darkness…from the light of nature, the light of reason, and the light of perception, they will be dragged into the dark sphere of ignorance, lust, suspicion, and pessimism.” Remember Allah’s words: ‘Those who believe fight in the way of Allah and those who disbelieve fight in the way of taghut...” So “war in the world is inevitable. Whenever there is no war, it will either be the end of the world, or there has to be another world, or human instinct must be completely transformed. If it is transformed, there will be a new form of life.” But in our world, the way it is, war is present. The war is different, though because it is between – “the ones who believe, and therefore wage warfare in the way of God, and the ones who disbelieve and wage war in the way of taghut, in the way of the despots and tyrants, in the way of the ones who overflow their rightful limits. This is a second issue…The first: war is natural and instinctive and man cannot do without it.”

“The second issue is that a religion, a perfect religion, unlike Christianity, recognizes the necessity of warfare. Christendom superficially claims that there must be no war…They relate what they think are the words of Christ, ‘If someone slaps you on the cheek, offer the other cheek.’ Has it been so in practice? Where have all these wars come from in this world? Did we Muslims create them? Who has been behind all these wars and massacres…?” The same can be said about marriage. “Christendom recommends that those who want God’s kingdom should not marry.” And yet we find “Christian” countries are the centres of lust and the “monks and nuns have locked themselves up in monasteries and convents; they imprison their vital faculties.” Allah says in the Qur'an says “... But monasticism they invented. We did not ordain it for them...” Monasticism results in “huddling defenselessly in a corner and not defending one’s existence and rights.” Our Allah-given natural faculties are not to be used “for murdering, theft, lustful purposes, or military expansionism. Use it in its proper way. Defend your rights. Defend your dignity. Defend your country. Defend your religion. Defend human rights.”

Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala says in the Qur’an:

“And fight them

until oppression is no more,

and the religion is for Allah.

Then if they desist,

then let there be no hostility

except against the oppressors.” (2:193)

 

“And fight them until

oppression is no more

and the religion, all of it, is for Allah.

But if they desist, then indeed

Allah is All-Seer of what they do.” (8:39)

“This is fi sabil Allah.” Fi sabil Allah “has both a positive and a negative side. First it says, ‘Wage warfare’; then it says for what one should wage warfare… Do so in order to bring the voice of truth unto the ears of the people of the world. This is the meaning of sabil Allah: free the people! In other words, remove the obstacles to a truthful human life. Remove those ‘powers’ and ‘classes’ which are obstacles to the rights of the masses and which suppress public opinion. Abolish them. Liberate people from this suffocating environment, and familiarize them with God and the fountainhead of the universe. Do so ‘until there is no more persecution.’ Those centralized powers that deceive the weak masses set one group against the other, drive the masses away from divine truth into materialism, mislead the masses from the unity of God and drive them toward polytheism, idolatry, and the worship of humans. Fight them until these mischiefs are removed from the way of human evolution toward perfection. Do so until those particular classes which utilize public wealth for their own lust and violate the rights of millions of people…are annihilated.”

“When that bare-footed Arab confronted the commander of the Persian army, he was asked, ‘Did you come to conquer and to loot? Or did you perhaps come because of starvation or nakedness? If so, we will feed you; we will give you money; we will satisfy all of you, commanders and soldiers alike. Return to your land.’ [Rustam] thought his words had persuaded the man! Make note of what the man answered and how his words have been recorded in history. He said only one sentence, but a very meaningful one: ‘We have been given the mission of liberating the nations of the world from slavery to human laws and false religions which are for a particular class, and to lead them to the glory of Islam.’ This is the Islamic jihad. This is the meaning of ‘jihad.‘ ‘Jihad’ means ‘striving for truth’; it is not similar to war and murder…and that is why it is discussed in the volumes on 'ibadat (worship). It is conditioned by fi sabil Allah.”

“A man asked the noble Prophet, ‘Messenger of God! [What is the reward of] a poor person who goes to the battlefield for the sake of booty?’ The Prophet repeated three times, ‘He has no divine reward.’ [Another person] asked the noble Prophet, ‘Is the one who goes to the battlefield in order to test his own courage or to see fame properly called mujahid fi sabil Allah (striver in the way of God)?’ "No!’ he replied. ‘Then who can properly be called mujahid fi sabil Allah.’ The Prophet answered, ‘[The one who strives so] that God’s word becomes the uppermost,’ meaning that God’s will manifests itself and rules their wills. This is the meaning of ‘the way of God.’ This is the meaning of ‘jihad of Islam.’” Islam is the true religion and recognizes the necessity of warfare and has given a commandment about it.

“If man does not have a right to live and defend himself, if he does not have such a personal right, then what is the function of anger? If he has anger, it follows that he has rights. And if he has rights, he has to channel the power of his anger in the way of his rights, rather than channeling it in a false way. Man must defend his rights, to defend his dignity. This is the truth of jihad, and it is a necessary part of a true religion, which has laws. One cannot believe a religion which argues on the one hand that it is a true religion and has come to reform the world, but on the other hand does not have any dimension of defense, propagation, and advancement. Such a religion is not credible. If a religion is like this, we shouldn’t accept its claim that it has come from God for the salvation of humanity and to lead people toward truth and salvation until the day of judgement.”

Al-Hamdulillah we have been given the duty of fighting fi sabil Allah. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala bless all the mujahideen of the world, today, yesterday and in the future. May He keep us all strong on His Path. In this holy month of Muharram, we ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to help us always remember that "Every day is Ashura and every land is Karbala" and die in His Cause, as Imam Husayn and his family and companions did or stand faithful, tall and loud, defiant and resistant as Lady Zainab and the survivors and friends did, peace be upon them all.

Continued in Part 2 Blog Post #78 and Part 3 Blog Post #63...

Resources

Ayatullah Sayyid Mahmoud Talegani. Jihad and Shahadat. The Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) - Digital Library. January 1, 1986. Accessed from https://www.icit-digital.org/articles/jihad-and-shahadat and Al-Islam.org. Accessed from  https://www.al-islam.org/articles/jihad-and-shahadat-sayyid-mahmud-taleqani