Explaining the categories of jihad.

The Shaykh : And finally, it is perhaps appropriate to point out that this jihad, which is fighting the enemies, is divided into two categories. One category is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn) upon every person who is able to carry a weapon. This occurs when Muslims are attacked in a part of their vast lands by disbelievers. In that case, it is obligatory for every Muslim, or for a group of them, to go out to repel that aggression. If repelling this attack requires all the Muslims, then it is obligatory for every individual Muslim to go out to repel the enemies. This is if some of them, whether a quarter, half, or otherwise, are not sufficient. Here, because the enemies are attacking the lands of Islam, this jihad is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn) for these enemies themselves upon every person who is able to carry a weapon, including women in this situation who go out. However, do not let it be claimed today that this leads to mixing, or to the mixing of the ranks of men and women. No, first, women do not go out to carry weapons, but rather to quench the thirst of the thirsty, to treat the wounded, and to provide similar assistance that falls under the known profession of medicine today. As for the second type of jihad, it is a collective obligation (fard kifayah); if some people fulfill it, it drops from the rest. This type of jihad is for conveying the call of Islam from one country to another. The lands of Islam are limited today to these known countries. Therefore, there must be people who strive to expand the area of the Islamic world. Naturally, this has details in the books of hadith and Islamic jurisprudence. The first thing that Muslims should do is call other countries to Islam with the tongue, through the call, through speech. This second type of jihad, which is a collective obligation (fard kifayah), begins with the jihad of the tongue. That is, Islamic callers go from the lands of Islam to the lands of disbelief to call them. If those disbelieving countries grant freedom to the Islamic callers, then Muslims are exempted from the jihad of the sword, because the sword is not prescribed in Islam except out of dire necessity. If the Islamic callers are given their freedom to call to Islam in the lands of disbelief, we look forward to good, and the future will be for Islam in those lands. However, if the rulers in those countries stand between the Islamic callers and the call to Islam, then nothing takes the place of the tongue except the sword. This is the jihad of collective obligation (fard kifayah) to the extent that this Islam spreads. This jihad in the path of Allah mentioned in this hadith thus includes two types: what is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn), which occurs when the Islamic lands are attacked.