What is the ruling on jihad in Afghanistan for non-Afghans? And what is the cause of the Muslims' weakness today?

The questioner : Several questions have been received in different wordings, the most precise of which is: What is the ruling on jihad in Afghanistan for non-Afghans?

The Shaykh : Jihad in Afghanistan is like jihad in every country that the disbelievers have invaded. It is a great degree of negligence that people are moved by emotions; an uprising occurs in a certain country, emotions are stirred, and we want to go to jihad. But after a few years, this uprising becomes dormant in people's hearts, and jihad becomes forgotten. Then, when another problem is raised in some of the Muslim countries, the emotions of the Muslims are stirred again, and they ask about the ruling on jihad. So we say:
Jihad, before the event in Afghanistan, before the event in Syria, and before the event in Palestine—all these events and these unjust wars that occurred in some of the Muslim countries at the hands of the people of disbelief and misguidance—jihad in them is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn) upon the Muslims. It is not permissible for them to delay this jihad in any way, because the scholars divided jihad into two categories:
1 - Jihad whose ruling is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn).
2 - And jihad whose ruling is a collective obligation (fard kifayah).
As for the first type of jihad, which is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn): it is when a single town from the lands of Islam is invaded. Then the Muslims must go out, or at least a group of them must go out such that the obligation is fulfilled, which is to repel this disbeliever who invaded the Muslim town. If that is not sufficient, the Muslims must continue to go out until, hypothetically, if it becomes obligatory for all of them to go out, it is an individual obligation. If they delay, they all sin. And now, the issue is not just Afghanistan; these lands are close to you, and some of you are from there, displaced and fleeing, and that is Palestine. So Palestine has now, unfortunately, become forgotten. And there is no difference in jihad here or there; it is all an individual obligation (fard 'ayn).
But the sad truth is that the Muslims, despite the existence of this clear ruling, which is that jihad is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn), are unable to go to jihad, neither governments nor peoples. This is because the Muslims have, unfortunately, distanced themselves from the psychological jihad about which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So we find today that the Muslims are far, very far, from struggling against their desires and their souls in their own homes, indeed in their own houses with their families and their children. Therefore, such jihad, which we said is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn), is usually preceded, by custom and by the Shari'ah, by a jihad that many Muslims today do not ask about, and they are heedless of it. Among the greatest of jihad is for the Muslim to distance himself from committing the forbidden things that he is able to stay away from, and there is no authority forcing him to commit what Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) has forbidden. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) pointed to some of the causes that lead to the Muslims falling into such humiliation that makes us ask: What is the ruling on this jihad? We must look at the causes that led the Muslims to be unable to fight the disbelievers who fight them, and to be unable to repel them from the lands of Islam. What are the causes? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned some of the causes in some authentic hadiths, the most famous of which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): So returning to the religion is the first obligation today for the Muslims who want to truly strive in the path of Allah. And returning to the religion means returning to its rulings that Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) revealed upon the heart of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and especially returning to lawful earnings, from which many Muslims have distanced themselves, if not most Muslims today, and especially the merchants among them.
If the Muslims fall into this, they deserve humiliation to befall them from their enemy. He (peace be upon him) said: The exchange of 'inah (buy-back sale) has been mentioned more than once, and I do not want to return to it now, but it is one of the forms of forbidden sales, indeed one of the forms of usurious sales. The basis of this sale is called the sale of 'inah. What the Muslims have been afflicted with today, all of them except a very few, is known among you and is a reality, and it is the sale on installments. The sale of 'inah is based on the sale on installments. The sale on installments, in itself, as a payment in installments, has nothing wrong with it; indeed, it is better than a cash sale. But if this sale, the sale on installments, is exploited with a price higher than the cash sale, then it is riba (usury or interest), by the testimony of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): , meaning: the one with the lower price, Today, these Muslims who want to strive in the path of Allah and are enthusiastic for jihad in the path of Allah, and have no way to do so because of what we mentioned previously, why do they not strive against themselves so that they do not exchange two sales in one sale with two different prices? And no one forces them to do this, because they have competed fiercely for the worldly life. And this is what the Messenger (peace be upon him) pointed to in the complete hadith when he said: This is an allusion to tying the farmers to their crops and their cows and their animals that they use to obtain money, and obtaining this money through lawful means is not sufficient for them, but they throw themselves after obtaining money until they neglect their obligations. Many of the merchants and farmers turn away from prayer and even from fulfilling family obligations behind their rush to this earnings that the Messenger (peace be upon him) mentioned in this hadith, where he said: This fierce competition for the worldly life is the fatal disease; if it controls the ummah (the Muslim community), the Shari'ah instinct of jihad dies in it, because of the human being's competition for material things, he does not care about the Hereafter. And therefore, the Messenger (peace be upon him) made these causes a Shari'ah reason for the Muslims to deserve humiliation to befall them, and then He described for them the cure in His saying (peace be upon him): And returning to the religion—and I will summarize the speech now, because we have questions that seem numerous—returning to the religion means returning to its understanding—first—understanding it correctly according to the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the Salaf al-Salih (the earliest generations), as we always call people to do. And second: acting upon this religion that we have understood correctly. And I hope that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will grant a ray of light that we see among the Muslims today, where they have resumed their understanding of their religion in the light of the Book and the Sunnah in many of the Muslim countries. Then the effect of that appeared on many of the young Muslims in their dealings with people and in their characterizing themselves with Islamic morals to some extent. And the matter needs, if Allah wills, completion so that the fruit of that appears soon, if Allah wills (Blessed and Exalted is He).

The questioner : Our teacher, now we complete another question related to this research.

The Shaykh: Go ahead.

The questioner : A question: What is the position of one who strives against himself by adopting the methodology of Allah in creed and branches, and prepares his wealth and his self to fight the enemies of the religion in Afghanistan, for example, by facilitating the means of reaching it?

The Shaykh : We do not see a barrier to going, but we do not believe that jihad to repel these enemies will be an individual jihad. It must be an organized jihad from the Muslims, and they must have a leader, which we call in the Shari'ah language the Khalifah (caliph) for the Muslims. He is the one who takes charge of directing them, managing them, and preparing them. The issue is not the issue of an enthusiastic person who claims that he has done everything that is obligatory upon him in this call, and in this there is what is in it of submission. This is a hypothetical argument that I assume. Even if that is realized in some individuals, these individuals cannot form the group that strives in the path of Allah under a Khalifah who is pledged allegiance to by the Muslim ummah. So the issue is not as simple as some of the enthusiasts for jihad in the path of Allah imagine. And they are, without doubt, rewarded for this enthusiasm of theirs, but they must distance themselves and be calm in the issue and know the conditions of jihad in the path of Allah. It should not be an uprising, and it should not be a surging emotion, but rather it should be with planning.
Today, if we look at the aspect of creation alone, our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) mentioned in the Noble Qur'an that one of the causes of the Muslims' weakness is their discord and disagreement. He said (Mighty and Majestic): Do you see? means: your strength. Today, the Muslims are not only in this large society differing to the greatest extent, but news also reaches us that in the battle there in Afghanistan, they are differing, between Salafis, Sufis, and Muslim Brothers. Where is this jihad, and under which banner does the enthusiastic Muslim fight? Therefore, we say that we must start from the beginning, to rectify our own selves. This does not require hours or days or months; it requires many long years, and focused, planned preparation, such that there is a group that issues from one opinion and follows one idea, with no disagreement among them, their hearts, the heart of each one being one, on the heart of one man, upon the Book and the Sunnah. And perhaps our Lord will achieve that for us, even if it is after a long delay, if Allah wills.