BENEFIT 415: Is jihad currently an individual obligation upon all Muslims? And are Muslims today sinful for forsaking Gaza?

Sheikh ’Adnān Al-Maṣqari ḥafidhahullāh responded: "When Muslims are in a state of weakness and lack the capability to engage in jihad, they must avoid provoking the disbelievers as long as the disbelievers leave them alone. In such circumstances, they should fortify themselves with Ēmān, sound creed, and tawheed, and strive diligently in raising their sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters upon the teachings of the Qur'ān, the Sunnah, and the understanding of the righteous predecessors. These are the foundations of victory. As for asserting that all Muslims are sinful due to this, then this is an unjust statement. The Prophet ﷺ himself witnessed the suffering of Sumayyah and the family of Yāsir, some of whom were even killed. Yet, he could not do more than encourage them with his words, saying: “Patience, O family of Yāsir, for your promise is Paradise.” He could not defend them with any means other than supplication — the greatest weapon and the mightiest strength. Likewise, Bilāl and Ibn Mas’ūd were subjected to harm. It was narrated by Aḥmad and Ibn Mājah, from ’Abdullāh ibn Mas’ūd, who said: “The first to openly profess Islam were seven: the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ, Abū Bakr, ’Ammār, his mother Sumayyah, Ṣuhayb, Bilāl, and Al-Miqdād. As for the Messenger of Allāh, Allāh protected him through his uncle Abū Ṭālib. Abū Bakr was protected by his people. As for the rest, the polytheists seized them, dressed them in armour of iron, and exposed them to the sun. All of them gave in to what they were forced into, except for Bilāl. He did not care about himself in the cause of Allāh, nor did he care about his people’s abuse. They gave him to the children who paraded him through the valleys of Makkah while he kept saying: ‘One, One.’” This ḥadīth is recorded in As-Sahih Al-Musnad by Imam Al-Wādi’ee, may Allāh have mercy on him. Had the Prophet ﷺ gathered all the Muslims to support the family of Yāsir or to defend Bilāl or Ibn Mas’ūd, it could have led to their collective destruction, and Islam might not have stood on solid ground afterward — such a course would contradict both reason and revelation. Similarly, after the Hijrah, seventy of the Qur'ān reciters were killed at Bi’r Ma‘ūnah. The Prophet ﷺ responded not by sending armies, but by supplicating against their killers for a month. This was the method of the Prophets and Messengers, differing greatly from the approach of the Kharijites and the reckless. Anas (may Allāh be pleased with him) said: ((قَنَتَ رَسُولُ الله ﷺ شَهْرًا حِينَ قُتِلَ الْقُرَّاءُ، فَمَا رَأَيْتُ رَسُولَ الله ﷺ حَزِنَ حُزْنًا قَطُّ أَشَدَّ مِنْه)) “The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ performed Qunūt for a month after the reciters were killed, and I never saw him so grieved as he was then.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri and Muslim] He also reported that tribes — Ri‘l, Dhakwān, ‘Uṣayyah, and Banū Liḥyān — requested aid from the Prophet against their enemy, so he sent them seventy men from the Anṣār known as the Qur'ān reciters. They would gather wood by day and pray at night. When they reached Bi’r Ma‘ūnah, they were betrayed and killed. When the news reached the Prophet, he invoked curses against those tribes for a month in Fajr prayer. Anas added: “We used to recite an Āyah concerning them that was later abrogated: {بَلِّغُوا عَنَّا قَوْمَنَا أَنَّا لَقِينَا رَبَّنَا فَرَضِيَ عَنَّا وَأَرْضَانَا} ‘Inform our people that we have met our Lord, and He is pleased with us and we are pleased with Him.’” [Also narrated by Al-Bukhāri and Muslim] The Prophet ﷺ was unable to dispatch an army at that time, as the state of Madīnah was still relatively fragile. However, he later took revenge in the sixth year after Hijrah by sending out military expeditions against the tribes that had committed treachery. The greatest retribution came later during the Conquest of Makkah and subsequent campaigns, where the Prophet sent armies to discipline those treacherous tribes and others.