06-12-2005, 04:17 PM
Bismillah
as salam alykom brother/sister
u actually brought up a very good point here:""We have returned from the lesser jihad to embark on the greater jihad." They said: "What is the greater jihad?" He said: "The jihad of the heart, or the jihad against one's ego" even Abu Mazen used this hadeeth the day he assumed Presidential duties. Any way, regardless of the fact that many say the hadeeth is Daeef for it "as it contradicts the major bounties clearly known about Jihad (fight in the name of Allah) since as u r well aware Jihad is not restricted on the physical fight.
Now let us not get off topic
As the Ayah 4:95 u quoted clearly say that those who fight are not equal to those who are sitting.
But let us try to analyze the hadeeth, the Messenger was coming back from a battle, which indicates that he is not encouragining staying back, as this would be contradicting Quran, neither does he puts it in a lesser priority, but rather since Jihad as a word is more comprehensive, he called the one they came back for which is Jihad u nafs the larger, why?
becaue jihad u nafs is an ongoing process it is not restricted on a limited time like a battle of war which ends by the victory or other wise Sobahan Allah.
Whereas Jihad u nafs is a constant process that starts the minute u wake up and end when sleep every single day.
Therefore by this the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam never discouraged, called off, or made jihad on a lesser priority no way, just as I explained and of course Allah Knows best but this is how I understood it, the difference is that fight in a battle takes a limited time, while jihad u nafs is an ongoing process
I think wallahu a`lam this is why he called it the lesser to the larger