Is it permissible to seize the wealth of the Jews on the grounds that they are at war? And what is the Shari'ah jihad?

The Shaykh : Many people mistakenly assume that the wealth and honor of those at war are absolutely lawful for Muslims, such that a Muslim may raid the property of a disbeliever who is at war, or violate his honor, whenever and however he pleases. This is not the case. Any wealth that falls into his hands, or any captive, whether male or female, must be handed over to the commander responsible for him, with whom he is fighting. This commander is then required to distribute the spoils of war obtained by his soldiers according to the Shari'ah division. Therefore, when the question is asked: "Is it not permissible today to seize the wealth of the Jews, considering that they are—peace be upon you—warring and occupying the lands of Islam?" We say: No, it is not permissible in the sense that comes to mind, such as if a man were to raid and take a Jewish girl as a slave for himself; that is not the case. Or if he were to obtain wealth in one way or another, he does not seize it from that Jew because he is at war; that is not the case. Both the wealth and the captive are to be handed over to the commander who leads the army to fight the disbelievers. Where is this commander today? Today, there is no jihad in the Shari'ah sense in Palestine such that the Shari'ah rulings would apply, such as the saying of Allah the Exalted: , or such as, for example, captivity or enslavement. Did you understand the answer?
Al-Huwaini: Yes, may Allah reward you with good.

Another questioner : O Shaykh, in Afghanistan, it is known, is it the same regarding the commander?

The Shaykh : Yes, but by Allah, I do not know if the Shari'ah rulings are applied there. This is one of the matters that motivates and drives us to say that it is not permissible to engage in Shari'ah jihad unless the way is paved for it by all lawful means, including that the one who wants to engage in this jihad must have a body of scholars who direct the jihad in the Shari'ah direction. For example, let us take the issue from the closest path: the spoils of war seized by the Afghan mujahideen, are they distributed among all the mujahideen? Or are they distributed only among the group or squad that seized them, while there are other squads with jihad on other fronts who have a share of that or of those spoils? I do not know if this is applied or not. Therefore, the jihad that many Muslims seek and talk about a lot, and a lot, requires knowledge of the Shari'ah rulings related to jihad. For example, today, when we made that trip in Saudi Arabia and in Dammam in the Eastern Province, some of them asked me that he has a vacation and wants to use it to go to Afghanistan and fight in the path of Allah. I told him: Jihad in the path of Allah is not a leisure trip, nor is it a matter of choice where one fights for a month or two and then returns to his family. No, he must hand over the leadership of his affairs to the army commander, and then if the commander allows him to return, he returns; otherwise, he does not. Today, it has become a matter of choice: he goes, spends a month or two, and then what? He returns. After that, he waits for another opportunity to go, spend it, and then return. Is this jihad? The reason is that there is no proper organization.