The sin of the imam abandoning jihad when he is able to do so
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, if the imam abandons jihad while he is able to do so, is the sin upon him alone, or do all of them sin?
The Shaykh:
Yes.
The questioner:
If the imam abandons jihad while he is able to do so, is the sin upon him alone, or do all the Muslims sin?
The Shaykh:
The Muslims are not like him. The imam who abandons jihad while he is able to do so is the one who bears the sin, but the subjects are not like him. Yes, but I do not think any imam of the Muslims is able to engage in jihad and then abandons it. That is what I think does not happen. He does not abandon it except for one of the reasons.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, if the imam abandons jihad while he is able to do so, is the sin upon him alone, or do all of them sin?
The Shaykh:
Yes.
The questioner:
If the imam abandons jihad while he is able to do so, is the sin upon him alone, or do all the Muslims sin?
The Shaykh:
The Muslims are not like him. The imam who abandons jihad while he is able to do so is the one who bears the sin, but the subjects are not like him. Yes, but I do not think any imam of the Muslims is able to engage in jihad and then abandons it. That is what I think does not happen. He does not abandon it except for one of the reasons.
Source
شرح أخصر المختصرات في الفقه، كتاب الجهاد — islamhouse.com (58:03)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.