Further, the Imam-Ahmud (on whom be peace!) has related on the authority of Al-Mikdad that he heard the Prophet (for ever blessed) to exclaim: There shall not remain a dwelling in the city, or on the plain, on which Allah shall not cause to descend the word of Islamism, which shall dignify him [who is] already righteous, and condemn him who lives in sin, to the salvation of the one, and the everlasting ruin of the other. For those whom Allah would exalt, will he make of the number of true believers, whilst, those whose destruction has been predetermined, shall seal it by rejecting this holy faith, which indeed, said I, has Allah for its author and its end. Now be it known, that Allah most high bath willed, that the faith of Islamism should flourish throughout the chief of the inhabited regions of the earth; in some countries making the sword and compulsion the means of its dissemination, in others preaching and exhortation. […]
Know then, that infidels shall be regarded in two distinct points of view. And first: those who are dwelling peaceably in their own countries, and against whom if one person only from any party of Moslems shall go forth to war, the divine co d on this subject will have been sufficiently observed, and the remainder of his brethren are not called upon to proceed against them. But should no one be found thus to offer himself as the holy champion of his party, then it becomes the duty of all to arm. Secondly: The case of infidels who shall invade the territories of the Moslems, as is now the case in the contest in which we are engaged. Now to attack these, becomes an act of paramount duty for every pious Mahomedan, and for all who would support their religion, whether bond or free, male for female, of the city or of the plain, without being dependent on or guided by the consent or refusal of master, husband, father or creditor, or of any other person to whom he or she might in other matters owe obedience; since to engage in this warfare is imperative on every person whether within three days’ journey of the position of the infidels or beyond that distance; should the forces of the faithful not be sufficiently strong to admit of their services being dispensed with. |
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