The Hardest Aspect of the Hardest Act of
Worship in Islam
27-03-2008
By Shaykh Dr. Abdullāh Azzam ash-Shahīd Extract from
Nida'ul-Islām vol.5 issue 22Translated by Abū Zayd
From my looking at this Dīn and my long experience with its signs and acts of
worship, I find that the most difficult act of worship upon the soul is Jihād.
Therefore (due to its difficulty) it is the topmost part of Islām, and the
bountiful rewards which Allāh has prepared for the Mujāhidīn are no passing
coincidence.
In the Sahīhayn (al-Bukhārī and Muslim) on the authority of Abū Dharr: I (Abū
Dharr) said, 'O Messenger of Allāh, which is the best of deeds?' He said, "Īmān
in Allāh and Jihād for His Cause".
And in the Sahīhayn on the authority of Abū Hurayrah:
It was said: 'O Messenger of Allāh, what deed is equal to Jihād for the sake of
Allāh (in reward)? He said, "You are not able to do it". So he repeated it (i.e.
the question) two or three times ... every time, he (SAW) - said: "You are not
able to do it". The he (SAW) said, "The likeness of a Mujāhid in Allāh's Cause
is like the one fasting, praying, being attentive of Allāh's verses not breaking
from his prayer nor his fast until the Mujāhid in Allāh's Cause returns".
And in the authentic hadīth with Ahmad and at-Tirmidhī: "Standing a period of
time in the row of fighting is better than standing (praying) for sixty years".
Therefore there is ijmā', likewise, that there is nothing equal to the reward of
Jihād, and that ribāt is better than being by the Ka'bah. In the Sahīhayn, on
the authority of Abū Hurayrah, the Prophet said: "That I make ribāt for one
night in Allāh's Cause is better than that I stand (for prayer) in Laylatul-Qadr
by the Black Stone". (This report is also narrated as a statement of Abū
Hurayrah)
And (similarly) in the Qur'ān:
"Do you consider the providing of drinking water to the
pilgrims and the maintenance of al-Masjid al-Harām (at Makkah) as equal to the
worth of those who believe in Allāh and the Last Day, and strive hard and fight
in the Cause of Allāh? They are not equal before Allāh. And Allāh guides not
those people who are the Zālimūn (polytheists and wrongdoers). Those who
believed and emigrated and strove hard and fought in Allāh's Cause with their
wealth and their lives are far higher in degree with Allāh. They are the
successful" (Sūrah at-Tawbah (9):19-20).
It is stated in Sahīh Muslim that the reason for revelation of this āyah was the
ikhtilāf (differing) between the Sahabah regarding what was the greatest act of
worship in terms of reward. Was it to give water to the pilgrims or maintaining
the Masjid al-Harām or Jihād in Allāh's Cause?
I found that the hardest thing in Jihād was its waiting; making ribāt for the
battle is harder than the actual battle itself. Since the more the period
becomes longer in making ribāt, the more boredom begins to creep into the
sedentary souls. The zeal begins to waste away day by day, if the soul does not
find what preserves its ardour, burning flames and the fuel from the acts of
worship, as well as what sparks the blaze for zeal and its setting alight the
fire of its courage for the battle.
Those who live amongst the Mujāhidīn know this fact clearly, especially those
who come to the Jihād from afar, leaving the decor of worldly life and its
treasures and the glitter and gloss of wishful dreams. Then the Shaytān comes to
tempt them to return to their worldly lives which they left. But he (Shaytān)
does not enter except through the door of "benefit" and "the weighing of
benefits" and "balancing of the pros and cons".
He does not immediately come to them through the door of abandoning the Jihād,
rather through the door that the place you left will cause their children to be
neglected, and the Masjid that they left will fall short in its maintenance and
the family which their souls tore away from, will (itself) be torn apart.
Submitted by a Mujahid