The Madinan Period, Part 3: The Covenant, the Qiblah, and the Meaning of Jihad
Section 19 of 26 · The Life of the Prophet Muhammad: The Madinan Period
The Four Stages of Jihād
So what are the stages that jihād went through? Ibn al-Qayyim says in Zād al-Maʿād: fa-kāna al-jihādu muḥarraman, thumma maʾdhūnan bihi, thumma maʾmūran bihi li-man badaʾahum bi-l-qitāl. Ibn al-Qayyim says that in the beginning jihād was not allowed; it was prohibited. Muslims were not allowed to fight. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says: iṣbirū fa-innī lam uʾmar bi-l-qitāl — be patient, because I have not been given permission to fight. So in the beginning it was patience, which is called …
The second stage, he said, is thumma maʾdhūnan bihi: then it was allowed — merely allowed. It was just allowed; it was not instructed, not commanded, not obligated. It was allowed, and that is when Allah (swt) revealed the āyah in Sūrat al-Ḥajj, verse 39:
أُذِنَ لِلَّذِينَ يُقَـٰتَلُونَ بِأَنَّهُمْ ظُلِمُوا۟ ۚ وَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ نَصْرِهِمْ لَقَدِيرٌ
“Permission (to fight) is given to those against whom fighting is launched, because they have been wronged, and Allah is powerful to give them victory.” (22:39)
Permission to fight has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged, and indeed Allah is competent to give them victory. So here permission was given to them.
The following stage, as Ibn al-Qayyim says, is thumma maʾmūran bihi li-man badaʾahum bi-l-qitāl: then they were commanded to fight the ones who fight them. This was the third stage, and the āyah for that is verse 190 of Sūrat al-Baqarah. Allah (swt) says:
وَقَـٰتِلُوا۟ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّذِينَ يُقَـٰتِلُونَكُمْ وَلَا تَعْتَدُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُعْتَدِينَ
“Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight you, and do not transgress. Verily, Allah does not like the transgressors.” (2:190)
Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress; indeed, Allah does not like the transgressors. So here they fought only the ones who transgressed against them.
And then the final stage — the stage that represents the final law of Allah, which applies to the ummah — is, as Ibn al-Qayyim says, thumma maʾmūran bihi li-jamīʿ al-mushrikīn: then the Messenger of Allah was instructed to fight all the disbelievers. Allah (swt) says:
إِنَّ عِدَّةَ ٱلشُّهُورِ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ٱثْنَا عَشَرَ شَهْرًا فِى كِتَـٰبِ ٱللَّهِ يَوْمَ خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ مِنْهَآ أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرُمٌ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلدِّينُ ٱلْقَيِّمُ ۚ فَلَا تَظْلِمُوا۟ فِيهِنَّ أَنفُسَكُمْ ۚ وَقَـٰتِلُوا۟ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ كَآفَّةً كَمَا يُقَـٰتِلُونَكُمْ كَآفَّةً ۚ وَٱعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ
“Surely, the number of months according to Allah is twelve (as written) in the Book of Allah on the day He created the heavens and the Earth, of which there are Four Sacred Months. That is the right faith. So, do not wrong yourself therein. And fight the Mushriks all together, as they fight you all together, and be sure that Allah is with the God-fearing.” (9:36)
And fight against the disbelievers collectively, as they fight against you collectively. And that is also the hadith which is mutawātir, narrated by al-Bukhārī, Muslim and others, and narrated by over twenty Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): umirtu an uqātila al-nāsa ḥattā yashhadū an lā ilāha illā Allāh wa anna Muḥammadan rasūlu Allāh, wa yuqīmū al-ṣalāta wa yuʾtū al-zakāh, fa-idhā faʿalū dhālika ʿaṣamū minnī dimāʾahum wa amwālahum illā bi-ḥaqqihā wa ḥisābuhum ʿalā Allāh — "I was instructed to fight the people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah, establish the ṣalāh and pay the zakāh. If they do that, they have protected their blood and their wealth from me, except by its right, and Allah will hold them accountable" (al-Bukhārī 25; Muslim 22). So these are the four stages that jihād fī sabīlillāh went through.