Fighting for the Cause of Allah (Jihaad)

Al-Hasan ibn Sabbah narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Sabiq narrated to us; Malik ibn Mighwal narrated to us, who said: I heard al-Walid ibn al-ʿAyzar mention Abu ʿAmr al-Shaybani, who said: ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I asked the Messenger of Allah, “What deed is best?” He replied, “Prayer at its appointed time.” I asked, “Then what?” He said, “Kindness to parents.” I asked, “Then what?” He said, “Striving in Allah’s cause.” I did not ask the Messenger of Allah any more; had I asked him for more, he would have told me more.

ʿAli ibn ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; Yahya ibn Saʿid narrated to us; Sufyan narrated to us, who said: Mansur told me, from Mujahid, from Tawus, from Ibn ʿAbbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), that the Messenger of Allah said: “There is no emigration after the Conquest, but there remain striving and intention; and when you are called to mobilize, then go forth.”

Musaddad narrated to us; Khalid narrated to us; Habib ibn Abi ʿAmra narrated to us, from ʿAʾisha bint Talha, from ʿAʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her), who said: “Messenger of Allah, we consider striving in Allah’s cause the best deed. Should we not strive?” He replied, “Rather, the best striving is an accepted pilgrimage.”

Ishaq ibn Mansur informed us; ʿAffan informed us; Hammam narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Juhada narrated to us, who said: Abu Hasin informed me that Dhakwan told him that Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) told him: A man came to the Messenger of Allah and said, “Show me a deed equal to striving in Allah’s cause.” He replied, “I do not know of one.” Then he said, “Can you, when the fighter has gone out, enter your mosque and stand without tiring, and fast without breaking your fast?” The man said, “Who could do that?” Abu Hurayra said: The fighter’s horse moves about within its tether, and good deeds are recorded for him.

Abu al-Yaman informed us; Shuʿayb informed us, from al-Zuhri, who said: ʿAtaʾ ibn Yazid al-Laythi told me that Abu Saʿid al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) told him: It was asked, “Messenger of Allah, who is the best of people?” The Messenger of Allah said, “A believer who strives in Allah’s cause with his life and property.” They asked, “Then who?” He said, “A believer in one of the mountain passes who is mindful of Allah and keeps people safe from his harm.”

Abu al-Yaman informed us; Shuʿayb informed us, from al-Zuhri, who said: Saʿid ibn al-Musayyab informed me that Abu Hurayra said: I heard the Messenger of Allah say, “The one who strives in Allah’s cause—and Allah knows best who truly strives in His cause—is like one who fasts and stands in prayer. Allah guarantees the one who strives in His cause that, if He takes his life, He will admit him to Paradise; or He will return him safely with reward or spoils.”

ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf narrated to us, from Malik, from Ishaq ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Talha, from Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah used to visit Umm Haram bint Milhan, who would serve him food. Umm Haram was married to ʿUbada ibn al-Samit. On one visit, she fed him and began picking through his hair. The Messenger of Allah slept, then woke smiling. She asked, “What makes you smile, Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “Some people of my community were shown to me as fighters in Allah’s cause, riding the open sea like kings on thrones”—or “like kings on thrones”; Ishaq was uncertain which wording.

She said, “Messenger of Allah, ask Allah to make me one of them.” The Messenger of Allah prayed for her, laid his head down, then woke smiling again. She asked what made him smile, and he repeated that people of his community had been shown to him as fighters in Allah’s cause, as before. She again asked him to pray that she be among them. He said, “You are among the first.” She sailed on the sea during the time of Muʿawiya ibn Abi Sufyan. When she disembarked, she fell from her mount and died.

Yahya ibn Salih narrated to us; Fulayh narrated to us, from Hilal ibn ʿAli, from ʿAtaʾ ibn Yasar, from Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah said, “Whoever believes in Allah and His Messenger, establishes prayer, and fasts Ramadan has a right from Allah to enter Paradise, whether he strives in Allah’s cause or remains in the land where he was born.” They said, “Messenger of Allah, shall we not give people this good news?” He replied, “In Paradise there are one hundred levels that Allah has prepared for those who strive in His cause. The distance between two levels is like the distance between heaven and earth. When you ask Allah, ask Him for al-Firdaws, for it is the center and highest part of Paradise; I think he said it is above it the Throne of the Most Merciful, and from it the rivers of Paradise flow.” Muhammad ibn Fulayh narrated from his father: “Above it is the Throne of the Most Merciful.”

Musa narrated to us; Jarir narrated to us; Abu Rajaʾ narrated to us, from Samura, who said: The Prophet said, “Last night I saw two men come to me. They took me up a tree and brought me into a house more beautiful and splendid than any I had ever seen. They said, ‘This is the house of the martyrs.’”

Muʿalla ibn Asad narrated to us; Wuhayb narrated to us; Humayd narrated to us, from Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet, who said: “A morning or evening journey in Allah’s cause is better than the world and everything in it.”

Ibrahim ibn al-Mundhir narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Fulayh narrated to us, who said: My father told me, from Hilal ibn ʿAli, from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Abi ʿAmra, from Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet, who said: “A bow’s length of space in Paradise is better than all that the sun rises and sets upon.” He also said, “A morning or evening journey in Allah’s cause is better than all that the sun rises and sets upon.”

Qabisa narrated to us; Sufyan narrated to us, from Abu Hazim, from Sahl ibn Saʿd (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet, who said: “A morning or evening journey in Allah’s cause is better than the world and everything in it.”

ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad narrated to us; Muʿawiya ibn ʿAmr narrated to us; Abu Ishaq narrated to us, from Humayd, who said: I heard Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrate from the Prophet: “No one who dies with good awaiting him from Allah would wish to return to this world, even if he were given the world and everything in it, except the martyr. Because of what he sees of the excellence of martyrdom, he would wish to return to the world and be killed once more.”

I also heard Anas ibn Malik narrate from the Prophet: “A morning or evening journey in Allah’s cause is better than the world and everything in it. A bow’s length in Paradise—or the space occupied by one of your whips—is better than the world and everything in it. If a woman of the people of Paradise appeared to the people of earth, she would illuminate all that lies between them and fill it with fragrance. Her head covering is better than the world and everything in it.”

Abu al-Yaman informed us; Shuʿayb informed us, from al-Zuhri, who said: Saʿid ibn al-Musayyab informed me that Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Prophet say: “By the One in whose hand is my soul, were it not that some believing men dislike being left behind me, and I have no mounts to carry them, I would never stay behind any expedition setting out in Allah’s cause. By the One in whose hand is my soul, I would love to be killed in Allah’s cause, then brought to life, then killed, then brought to life, then killed, then brought to life, then killed.”

Yusuf ibn Yaʿqub al-Saffar narrated to us; Ismaʿil ibn ʿUlayya narrated to us, from Ayyub, from Humayd ibn Hilal, from Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Prophet delivered a sermon and said, “Zayd took the banner and was struck down; then Jaʿfar took it and was struck down; then ʿAbd Allah ibn Rawaha took it and was struck down. Then Khalid ibn al-Walid took it without having been appointed, and victory was granted to him.” He then said, “It would not please us if they were with us.” Ayyub said: Or he said, “It would not please them to be with us.” His eyes were shedding tears.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf said: Al-Layth told me; Yahya narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Habban, from Anas ibn Malik, from his maternal aunt Umm Haram bint Milhan, who said: One day the Prophet slept near me, then awoke smiling. I asked, “What makes you smile?” He replied, “Some people of my community were shown to me, riding this green sea like kings on thrones.” She said, “Ask Allah to make me one of them.” He prayed for her, then slept again and had the same experience. She repeated her request, and he answered as before. She asked him to pray that she be among them; he said, “You are among the first.”

She went out with her husband ʿUbada ibn al-Samit on a military expedition, the first time Muslims sailed by sea with Muʿawiya. When they returned from the expedition and disembarked in Syria, a riding animal was brought for her. It threw her, and she died.

Hafs ibn ʿUmar al-Hawdi narrated to us; Hammam narrated to us, from Ishaq, from Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Prophet sent seventy men from Banu Sulaym to Banu ʿAmir. When they arrived, my maternal uncle said, “I will go ahead of you. If they grant me safe conduct so I can convey the Messenger of Allah’s message to them, then fine; otherwise, stay close to me.” He went ahead, and they granted him safe conduct. While he was speaking to them about the Prophet, they signaled to one of their men, who stabbed him fatally. He said, “Allah is greatest! By the Lord of the Kaʿba, I have triumphed!” Then they attacked the rest of his companions and killed them, except for a lame man who climbed the mountain. Hammam said: I think another man was with him.

Gabriel informed the Prophet that they had met their Lord, who was pleased with them and made them pleased. We used to recite, “Tell our people that we have met our Lord; He is pleased with us and has made us pleased.” It was later abrogated. For forty mornings the Prophet invoked against Riʿl, Dhakwan, Banu Lihyan, and Banu ʿUsayya, who had disobeyed Allah and His Messenger.

Musa ibn Ismaʿil narrated to us; Abu ʿAwana narrated to us, from al-Aswad ibn Qays, from Jundab ibn Sufyan: The Messenger of Allah was in one of the battles and his finger was bleeding. He said, “You are only a finger that has bled, and what you have suffered is in Allah’s cause.”

ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf informed us; Malik informed us, from Abu al-Zinad, from al-Aʿraj, from Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allah said: “By the One in whose hand is my soul, no one wounded in Allah’s cause—and Allah knows best who is wounded in His cause—will come on the Day of Resurrection except that the wound’s color will be the color of blood and its scent the scent of musk.”