Some people claim that whoever conditions jihad on an imam and a banner is an innovator and that this is not part of the religion of Allah, and that the Salaf are innocent of it. What is your response?

Al-Halali: May Allah reward you, my brother. There is a paper issued by some Salafi da'is, or those who claim affiliation with the Salaf, in Kuwait. They claimed in it that whoever conditions jihad on an imam and a banner is an innovator and that this is not part of the religion of Allah, and that the Salaf are innocent of it. What is your response, may Allah bless you, regarding these people?

The Shaykh : My response is that jihad is of two types: defensive jihad, and the man's statement pertains to this.

The questioner : ... in their paper, it is general.

The Shaykh : I say that, for us, the man's statement is understood in this context. As for the jihad intended to convey the call of Islam through fighting, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said , this fighting requires an imam. This is because, in fact, the subject we discussed before Maghrib is very important. When we claim to be Salafis, it means that we understand Islam in light of the application of this Islam by the righteous Salaf. Therefore, the one who utters this statement does not look at the practical application of many of the rulings of the Shari'ah, including the jihad we are currently discussing. This jihad, as a reality in early Islamic life, was not except by the command of the imam. This jihad requires precise and very precise organization. Therefore, we see, following the imams of the Salaf, that jihad continues under the banner of the imam. But this jihad is the jihad of conveying the call, as in the previous hadith . However, when the Muslims are attacked in their own homeland, we do not wait for the command of the imam, who may be far from us or unable to aid us, and so on. Rather, the Muslims, old and young, men and women, go out to defend their country and repel the evil of the invader in their homeland. This is what we testify to before Allah. In reality, these people do not give weight to the issue of . Dozens of issues branch out from this, and this is one of them. In wisdom, I do not know where you read it, but it is the habit of the falsifiers, and particularly the zindiqs, that they multiply "no, no, no." The plan in discussing these people is to take their position and ask them; you turn their question back on them. We say to them: What is the evidence you have that this jihad... and I do not know if this is what is in his mind, this distinction between defensive jihad and the jihad of conveying the call. If it is in his mind, how can this jihad be without an imam responsible for directing the mujahideen and ordering them to fight such a direction or such a direction, so that the matter does not become chaos? Indeed, Subhan Allah, the simplest matters require management and a responsible leader, let alone such a jihad which results in fighting the mushriks and many, many peoples and nations. And Subhanak Allah wa bihamdika ashhadu an la ilaha illa anta astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk.