The Ruling on Revolutions and the Distinction Between Them and Jihad

Question:
This question is, of course, the topic of the hour, as we know, and it is the issue of revolutions. Some people hold that revolutions are a form of jihad in the path of Allah and part of enjoining good and forbidding evil. They view what is happening in Syria—the slaughter of children, killing, and the violation of women’s honor—as the victory of Islam and Muslims, and they claim that this will lead to the triumph of Muslims, and so on. They insist that revolutions are jihad and enjoining good and forbidding evil. So how do we say, or what do we say to these people?

Answer:
These revolutions are a fitnah (trial, discord or temptation); we ask Allah for safety from them, because they do not end in anything but rather end in evil. As for jihad, it is different from revolutions. Jihad is organized; an army is organized and led by an imam or the imam’s deputy, and the Muslims go out on a military expedition. This is jihad in the path of Allah. As for revolutions that are not regulated and have no leadership, these are chaos, fitnah, and the shedding of blood. There is no power and no strength except with Allah.