Download PDF: [S] Jihad for the Sake of Allah only

It was habit with Timur that whenever he used to conquer any city he used to call the ‘Ulama to a meeting and asked them some very difficult questions. In fact, if some of them could not answer his questions, Timur found this a good excuse to murder those ‘Ulama.

 

It is mentioned that once when Timur captured the city of Halb. He killed most of the people in this city and captured hundreds of people. He then called the ‘Ulama of this city to a special meeting and addressing his special advisor, Molwi Abdul Jabbar bin Allamah Numaanudeen Hanafi, he asked him to ask these ‘Ulama the following question.

 

He declared, “Inform these ‘Ulama that I wish to ask them a question which I had even asked the ‘Ulama in Samarkhand, Bukharah and Herat but none of them could give me a proper answer. I also wish to ask these ‘Ulama the same question and they should not beat around the bush and give me a straight answer. At the same time, the most learned scholar in their group should be one that answers this question.”

 

This person then asked the ‘Ulama present, “Our Sultan wishes to ask you people this question. Yesterday, in the battle, many people from your side and our side were killed and he wishes to ask you whether his soldiers were Shaheed (martyred) or only your soldiers were martyred.”

 

Most of them were shocked when they heard this question. However Allama Shanah stood up to give the answer. He replied, “At this moment, I can remember a Hadith Shareef. Once a Bedouin approached the Holy Prophet – may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him – and asked, ‘O Prophet of Allah! There is a person who fights (or takes part in Jihad), but his intention is merely greed for the bounties of war, another person fights so that he can become famous, which among these people are true martyrs?’ The Holy Prophet – may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him – replied, ‘The person who fights with the intention of uplifting the Divine Message of Allah Almighty (only) he is a true martyr.’

 

“Therefore, we wish to bring to your intention the following which is that whether it is the dead on our side or the dead on your side, only those will be considered as martyrs who fought to uplift the Divine Message of Allah Almighty.

 

“As for those who fought to become famous or merely to get the spoils of war, they are not martyrs.”

 

When Timur heard these words, he was completely silenced and they congratulated the scholar for giving such a precise and true answer. (Ruhul Bayan, 4/279)

 

From this, we can see the true ocean of knowledge that the ‘Ulama in the past used to possess. They also never feared giving a reply no matter how big a tyrant was standing in front of them. Their words and actions were certainly a sign of the truth of Islam. They had immense trust in Allah Almighty and never feared any worldly leader.