Lesser and Greater Jihad: Difference between revisions

The two forms of Jihad are sometimes explained by Muslims as follows:

During Prophet [[Muhammad|Muhammad's]] lifetime, and onward to the present, the word 'Jihad' was, and is, almost always used in a military sense.<ref>Lewis, Bernard, ''The Crisis of Islam'', 2001 Chapter 2</ref> This idea of a greater and lesser jihad was a later development which originated from the 11^th century book, The History of Baghdad, by the Islamic scholar al-Khatib al-Baghdadiis, by way of Yahya ibn al 'Ala', who said,

{{Quote||We were told by Layth, on the authority of 'Ata', on the authority of Abu Rabah, on the authority of Jabir, who said, 'The Prophet (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam) returned from one of his battles, and thereupon told us, 'You have arrived with an excellent arrival, you have come from the Lesser Jihad to the Greater Jihad - the striving of a servant (of Allah) against his desires.'<ref>Fayd al-Qadir vol.4 pg. 511</ref>}}

In fact, all four schools of [[Sunni]] jurisprudence ([[Fiqh]]) as well as the [[Shiite|Shi'ite]] tradition make no reference at all to the "greater" jihad, only the lesser.<ref>Ray Harris - [{{Reference archive|1=http://www.integralworld.net/harris20.html|2=2011-12-21}} The myth of Islam as a religion of peace] - Integral World, August, 2005</ref> So even before we examine the evidence against the validity of this hadith, we know that the concept of the greater jihad is unorthodox and heretical to the majority of the world's Muslims.

One of the most important factors in the classification of a genuine [[hadith]], is that it must conform with what is written in the [[Qur'an]]. However, this hadith directly contradicts the explicit teachings of the Qur'an.

In all six major Hadith collections (Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Dawud, al-Sughra, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah), jihad almost always refers to the "lesser" outward physical struggle and not the so-called "greater" inward spiritual struggle. As an example, there are nearly 200 references to jihad in the most trusted collection of hadith, Sahih Bukhari, and ''every single one'' assumes that jihad means literal warfare.  

This [[List of Fabricated Hadith|fabricated hadith]] does not appear in any of the famous hadith collections, and in fact goes against the teachings found in corroborated (Mutawatir) sahih hadith. Some of these hadith state that fighting jihad is second only to the belief in Muhammad and [[Allah]], and that standing for an hour in the ranks of battle is better than standing in [[Salah|prayer]] for sixty years.

The importance placed on physical jihad in Islam, is never more apparent than in the sahih hadith which record Muhammad calling Muslims who refuse to fight or consider going to jihad as 'hypocrites'.

The "lesser versus greater jihad" hadith's [[isnad]] (the completeness of the chain of narrators and the reputation of each individual narrators within the chain of oral tradition) has been categorized by scholars as "weak" (da`if), and generally in [[Islamic law]], only the authentic ([[sahih]]) and good (hasan) hadiths are used in deriving the rules. The weak hadiths have no value for the purpose of Shari'ah.<ref>Fatwa Bank - [http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503547442 What is the value of a weak hadith?] - IslamOnline, Feb. 22, 2010</ref> Contemporary Islamic scholars have even classed it as "maudu" (fabricated), meaning this narration, by some, is not even considered to be a hadith at all.<ref>Ibrahim B. Syed - [{{Reference archive|1=http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_251_300/52_weak_ahadith.htm|2=2011-11-20}} 52 Weak Ahadith] - Islamic Research Foundation International </ref>

A similar narration taken from the same source reads,