The Truth About Ghazwa-e-Hind
Is it legitimate to engage in military Jihad according to Islam? And if not, how will Ghazwa-e-Hind be fought?
The following is Younus AlGohar’s reply to a question posed by a viewer during his daily live speeches on AlRa TV. You can tune in and ask Younus AlGohar questions every day at 10:00 PM BST on the AlRa TV YouTube channel.
There have emerged a lot of misunderstandings and misconceptions regarding many things within the religion.
For example, Jihad meant to struggle with a weapon. It wasn’t allowed for the Muslims to begin Jihad [of their own accord]. Prophet Mohammad waited for God’s command.
Initially, Islam was deeply rooted in Mecca where the Prophet Mohammad was born. They lived there for some time. Then, they realised that coexistence with the infidels of Mecca was not merely possible. It was a matter of survival of the fittest.
At that time, they were not in a position to combat the infidels of Mecca who were fully equipped and ready for war. They were well-off financially while, on the other hand, the Muslims were struggling. Most of the Muslims came from a background where they were either slaves or working class people. For some reason, those who were financially well off were not attracted to Islam. As a result of this, Prophet Mohammad decided to migrate from Mecca to Medina.
Initially, Jihad was not introduced because they found a more sensible and economical resolution to that situation: they migrated to Medina.
Once they had migrated, the infidels of Mecca started to send their troops to Medina to attack Muslims. They had this understanding that if the Muslims were left alone unmonitored and unsubdued, the Muslims would flourish and come into power.
On many occasions, the Companions of the Prophet approached his uncle, Amir Hamza, and very strongly requested him to speak with the Prophet [about Jihad]. They were shy or maybe they respected the Prophet so much that they didn’t have the courage to say it blatantly in front of him. Whatever the case may be, they used Amir Hamza as a medium to send their message to the Prophet Mohammad.
Every time Amir Hamza spoke to him about Jihad, Prophet Mohammad said, ‘I cannot initiate Jihad until God himself commands me to do so.’ So they did not engage in Jihad until God’s command came to Prophet Mohammad [Koran 22:39]. Then, Prophet Mohammad said, ‘Now, if you are attacked, you have to retaliate.’
At the time of Prophet Mohammad, Jihad was not meant to be an assault. It was meant to be a defence against any atrocity that might be carried out against the Muslim community. The Muslims had left Mecca because of the turmoil and fierce opposition, yet their enemies followed them to Medina. They were now well-settled in Medina; they couldn’t become gipsies and continue to migrate. They had no other choice than to defend themselves, so they decided to reply with whatever force they were in possession of. This is how the Jihad started.
There had been a lot of wars between the early Muslim community and infidels of Mecca. In the first war, the Battle of Badr, the enemies were more than 1000 in number while the Muslims were only 313. The infidels of Mecca had all the weapons and equipment as well as horses and donkeys. Out of the Muslims, perhaps only a few of them had swords. They also had only a couple of horses. However, once the Muslims gained power and became strong, they went to Mecca to regain their city.
Prophet Mohammad went to Mecca for the Conquest of Mecca. Prophet Mohammad was in power and he outnumbered the enemies, but on that day, when he could have killed every single enemy, he said, ‘You are free to go.’ He mentioned a few homes and announced that those who take refuge in these homes would be given refugee status. He forgave everyone.
The Greatest Jihad
A few months after the Conquest of Mecca, the political structure of Islam was established and there was a government ruled by Islam and Sharia. It was a just government as the Sharia was defined by Prophet Mohammad. The fundamental principle of that Sharia was mercy upon mankind, not assault upon them.
Prophet Mohammad was the ruler and now the Companions of Prophet Mohammad would ask him, ‘What should we do with our swords? They are getting rusty.’ On that occasion. Prophet Mohammad said, ‘Let’s turn to a greater Jihad from a smaller Jihad.’
The Companions of the Prophet were beguiled. They had fought many wars. Their children, fathers and wives had been killed. So many people were killed. They had it in their minds that the greatest thing they could do to please Prophet Mohammad and God was military Jihad.
However, taking somebody’s life and giving away your life is not the greater Jihad.
So, under the extreme exclamation, they asked the Prophet, ‘What is a greater Jihad?’ Prophet Mohammad explained to them, ‘In the Jihad that you carried out — as a result of which, now, we are ruling this place — you were able to see your enemy in front of your eyes. You did your best and were victorious. Now, in the form of Jihad that I am talking about, your enemy is invisible and it resides within you: your Carnal Self (Nafs).’
The struggle against your Carnal Self is to attain purification of the Carnal Self — which is not easy. That was the time when Jihad by the sword was abrogated. It was replaced with Jihad bin Nafs (Struggle against the Carnal Self).
Ghazwa-e-Hind is happening now, every day. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians are all participating in our online spiritual gatherings. Their Carnal Selves — their invisible enemies — are getting purified. Hatred is diminishing from their lives. Whether you are a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian, you are given to give equal respect to everybody regardless of their religious background. Here, a Hindu loves a Muslim and a Muslim loves a Christian.
This is the understanding and spiritual intelligence with the help of which you can understand that every single human being has the right to love God and be loved by God. Everyone must be given equal opportunities to reach God.
Only His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi is catering for the needs of humanity. Nobody has to shift from one religion to another or leave the religious of his ancestors behind. You can stick to whatever religion you have been attached to for the past many centuries, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you learn to become spiritual.
So this Jihad which was replaced by Prophet Mohammad 1400 years ago is no more in practice. If you carry out Jihad with a sword, you are only displeasing God and spreading mischief. God doesn’t guide mischievous people [Koran 9:24].
In Ghazwa-e-Hind, you are fighting the Devil. This is a Jihad against hatred. This is a Jihad against ignorance. This is a Jihad against divisions within humanity.
We are striving for unity among human beings and also we are striving for you to obtain union with God. This is the greatest Jihad in which your hearts are being supplied with love and instruments of love. Your hearts are now being equipped with the power of love from HDE Gohar Shahi.
Younus AlGohar is the CEO of Messiah Foundation International. Read more of his work on his website.
