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Islam: Good Conduct and Key Moral Principles

Greater and Lesser Jihad

  • 2 things to know
  • Component 2

Overview

Recall questions on the greater and lesser jihad and the report behind the distinction, the Qur'anic limits on fighting and conditions for a legitimate jihad, weapons of mass destruction and why scholars condemn terrorism.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Process

State four rules of conduct in war taught in the earliest Muslim sources.

Key term

What limit does the Qur’an place on fighting?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    State what the word jihad actually means.

    Model answer

    It means striving or exerting effort, and it does not mean holy war.

  2. 2

    Define the greater jihad.

    Model answer

    It is the inner struggle against one’s own selfish desires and sinful inclinations in order to live obediently.

  3. 3

    On what report is the distinction between greater and lesser jihad based?

    Model answer

    On a report that the Prophet, returning from battle, told his companions they had come back from the lesser struggle to the greater struggle against the self.

  4. 4

    What do hadith scholars say about the standing of that report?

    Model answer

    It is generally graded weak and is not found in the main Sunni collections.

  5. 5

    Why do many Muslims accept the distinction despite that grading?

    Model answer

    They argue it expresses a teaching the Qur’an and sound hadith make clear anyway, that the hardest and most constant struggle is with oneself.

  6. 6

    Why do some Muslims object to the distinction?

    Model answer

    Critics argue the report is too weak to found a distinction on, and that calling armed struggle the lesser jihad sits badly with sound hadith ranking fighting in God's cause among the highest of deeds.

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