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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books 180 Questions Enquiries About Islam Volume One: The Practical Laws Jihad What purpose does Islam seek to achieve by Jihad? What is the need for the ‘Initiating Jihad’? The Islamic Jihad can be classified into three categories.

The ‘Initiating’ and ‘Liberating’ Jihad Allah has prescribed a set of orders and chalked out programmes for the development, freedom, comfort, happiness and prosperity of man, and has entrusted unto His prophets the responsibility of communicating these to the people.

Now, if an individual or a group of individuals regard the communication of these orders detrimental to their personal lowly interests and endeavour to obstruct the prophets in fulfilling their divine responsibilities, the prophets possess the right to remove the obstructions lying in their path, initially by utilizing peaceful means and if not possible, then by use of force, in order to acquire for themselves the freedom to propagate (the commandments of Allah).

In other words, in every society, people have the right to listen to those who invite them towards the path of Truth, and possess freedom to accept their invitation. But if some individuals deprive them of their legitimate right and inhibit them from hearing the truth and becoming freed from their mental and social captivity and slavery, the followers of these divine programmes possess the right to utilize every means at their disposal in order to achieve this freedom.

It is here that the necessity of the Initiating Jihad in Islam and other divine religions becomes manifest. Similarly, if some individuals were to compel the believers to revert to their original religion, every means could be employed for repelling such compulsions too. The ‘Defensive’ Jihad At times it so happens that a battle is imposed upon an individual or a group such that they find themselves as the object of a calculated and/or a surprise attack.

In such an instance, all divine and man-made laws permit the persons attacked to defend themselves and employ every available means to protect themselves. This kind of Jihad is referred to as the defensive Jihad; the battles of Ahzab, Uhud, Mutah, Tabuk, Hunain and some other Islamic battles are examples of this category of Jihad which were defensive in nature.