Itmam al-Hujjah And The Jihad Of The Companions


Question

I have following questions regarding the answer you have provided me regarding Itamam-ul-Hujjah on neighboring countries.

1) I think the answer you have provided is not sufficient. I still cannot understand that how we can assume that just on the basis of Itamam-ul-Hujjah which was done in Makkah/Madina, it was also done on Faris and Rome? I mean that there is evident difference between itamam-ul-hujjah on the people of Makkah/Madina where first every question was answered directly and then only the punishment was given. Whereas in the case of neighboring countries, only letters and then later an army was sent by only giving leverage to individuals who ask for asylum. To elaborate further if I make an analogy, if for example in current times, a prophet comes in India, and does itamam-ul-hujjah there, punishes the kafirs there and then write a letter that I have done this in India and now the same will happen to you in Pakistan if you will negate what I am preaching. Will it be considered as itamam-ul-hujjah?
2) Were the letters written to the neighboring countries before the punishment to the direct addressees or after that? Could you please provide the content of letter?
3) Any evidence from the sources of history that the message of Islam was delivered in its ultimate form to the people in neighboring countries? Like people accepting Islam, or Quran or any hadith mentioning that those people are also doing kufr?
4) This is the question which I asked in my last email as well but could not get answer. “Can we say that today Israel, India and US are doing persecution and if we were able then Jihad was obligatory to be declared by our state?”
5) My next question is regarding the current issue of Cartoons on Facebook. What should be the approach of a person using Facebook, should we deactivate our accounts or should we defend it by being there?

Answer

Here are the answers to your questions:

1. Actually the mere happening of the itmam ul hujjah in the whole of Arabia by the 10th AH for which letters were written around the 6th AH was enough. Remember, it was almost four years before its completion that the letters were sent to these neighboring countries to be on guard. Of course this meant that if any individual wanted to time to understand more, he must have been given this time in the light of the Qur’an itself.
3. Work needs to be done in this area. Once this is done, hopefully many examples can be cited.
4. Jihad never becomes obligatory unless our military might is at least 1:2 in relation to the enemy country and that country is persecuting its citizens or oppressing them in some way. The decision as to which country is doing so should be made by the parliament of that country.
5. In my view, a Muslim should not deactivate his or her account at the Facebook in the wake of recent events. He or she should ignore what people are doing to insult great personalities. Ignoring such endeavours is their best treatment. Moreover, the objections which people make on Islam or the Prophet of Islam should be seriously taken up and answered in a polite way by Muslim scholars. Instead of snubbing such questions, they should engage in a meaningful dialogue with those who are raising such objections.

Answered by: Dr. Shehzad Saleem

Date: 2015-02-14


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