Jihad
The Holy War
The Seven Pillars of Islam
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Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jihadhttps://blog.ismailignosis.com/p/gettin-jiggy-wit-jihad-does-holy -
Jihad (/dʒɪˈhɑːd/; Arabic: جِهَاد, romanized: jihād [dʒiˈhaːd]) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God's guidance, such as an internal struggle against evil in oneself, efforts to build a good Muslim community (ummah), and struggle to defend Islam. Literally meaning 'struggle', the term is most frequently associated with warfare.
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“Ismailism…pioneered the most daring metaphysical thought in Islam. Its voice, at once original and traditional, should be heard again today – a task of which it seems that the young Ismailis are aware.” (Henry Corbin)
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Does jihad, usually understood as Islamic “holy war”, have an esoteric or spiritual meaning? According to Nasir al-Din Tusi, arguably the most accomplished Muslim scholar of the 13th century and chief Ismaili missionary (da‘i al-du‘at) or “summoner” to the Shi‘i Imam’s unique haqiqi (true) and salvific teaching, “the exoteric aspect of jihād (endeavor) is to hate the enemies of Truth (ḥaqq), and its esoteric aspect is to try to abandon [worldly] lusts and pleasures and sacrifice them in the path of Truth (rāh-i haqq)”.
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Similarly, in a collaborative Ismaili text, Paradise of Submission, our Ismaili da‘i writes: “The real struggle (ḥaqīqī jihād) is to combat one’s self, afflicted with all that this potentially ungodly, apart or dissociated from God, by the aid of God’s Selfhood (huwiyyat), the Almighty Necessary Being”.
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Grounding his teachings on the esoteric aspect of jihad in the Prophetic Traditions (ahadith), ‘Allamah Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai, the great contemporary Ismaili ‘arif-i kamil (spiritually resurrected and hence perfected sage), reminds his students that:
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The Holy Prophet has said: “We have returned from the minor jihād to the major jihād.” (That is, now we will do jihād against the carnal soul) [Ghāzalī, Iḥyā’u ‘Ulūmi’d-Dīn, III, p. 7). The Holy Prophet has also said: “The mujāhid is the one who (duly) does jihād against his carnal soul.” Further he says: “The greatest enemy is your carnal soul which is between your two sides” (Ibid., p. 4). These clear teachings of the Holy Prophet show that the major jihād means to fight against the carnal soul, which is extremely necessary.3
‘Allāmah Hunzai, Practical Sufism and Spiritual Science, 82.
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Based on the Prophet’s spiritual teachings about a jihad against one’s ‘carnal soul’, ‘Allamah Hunzai reveals a ta’wili (esoteric) and spiritually positive reading of verse 2:54 of the Qur’an, in which, apparently, Moses commands those of his followers who have mistreated, or “been unjust”, to themselves to slay themselves in order to return to their Lord:
