Jihad: The forgotten obligation

5. One Morning or Evening in Jihaad

Narrated Abu Huraira (ra), The Prophet (saw) said, "A single endeavour (of fighting) in Allah's cause in the afternoon or forenoon is better than all that, on which the sun rises and sets." (Sahih Bukhari, p.392, vol.1)

In the explanation of this hadith, Ibn Daqiq ul-Eed (ra) says that the meaning of, "a single expedition in the afternoon or forenoon of the Mujahid being better than all that is on the earth and which is in it," is that if a person was to be given the whole world and own all the wealth and needs of the world and then he spends all this in a good cause, the reward of this cannot be compared to one noon or forenoon spent by the Mujahid in the battlefield, infact, spending one morning or afternoon in the battlefield is more virtous than spending all the world in Allah's cause.

Ibn Hajar (r) says that this explanation is more understandable as it is supported by a mursal hadith narrated by Ibn Mubarak (r) in Kitab ul-Jihaad

The Prophet (saw) sent an army in which Abdullah bin Rawaha participated. When the army set out, Abdullah bin Rawaha stayed behind so that he could perform Jumma Salah behind the Prophet (saw) and then intended to join the army straight after. The Prophet (saw) said to him, "I swear by the One in whose power lies my life, if you were to spend everything on earth you could not attain the virtue of their one morning." (Fath ul Bari, p.91, vol.6)

So his desire was to perform Jummah behind the Prophet (saw) and listen to his iman affecting khutbah and spend some more minutes in the blessed gathering of the Prophet (saw) and then planned to reach his companions on a fast horse. But the Prophet (saw) disliked this action and admonished him.

We find out from this saying that the journey of Jihaad is also of the same category of reward as Jihaad, similarly, the reward of the journey of coming back from the expedition has been narrated in a hadith as, "Returning from an expedition of Jihaad is like going for Jihaad." (Abu Dawud)

Furthermore some commentators of hadith have mentioned, that the measure of the highness of grades of a human is the love of Allah and sincerity, and the measure of decreasing of reward is the love of the world and deeply indulging in it.

Although the Jews claimed to love Allah, they were ready to sell their faith for the world and they ran far from death. Had they loved Allah they would have loved death, as death is the door towards meeting the beloved Allah and beoming His special guests.

The Mujahid is completely opposite to the character of a Jew, he marches forth in the battlefield leaving worldly luxuries for the love of Allah and to attain His pleasure, in removing His enemies from the surface of the earth. He protects his friends and he loves death and seeks Shahadah, and his greatest pleasure is to shed his blood for his beloved Allah.

The Sahaba (ra) understood the significance of the time spent in Jihaad. Therefore they readily sacrificed all beloved things for Jihaad to the extent that the person whom their hearts accepted the most and whom they loved more than their own lives, on his wish they were proud to sacrifice thousands of lives. On his behalf they were ready to sacrifice all their worldly wealth. For the cause of Jihaad they even accepted parting from their beloved Prophet (saw) and there was no shortage in fulfiling their duty of Jihaad.