Explanation of the words of Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) regarding what he quoted: "

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said, in what he quoted from Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him): He said: And in another wording: , and his statement: : In this lies the sincerity of intention for Allah the Exalted and Majestic, and this is the reason the author cited the hadith, for the sake of sincerity of intention. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked in this hadith about the one who fights in these three ways: bravery, tribal loyalty, and seeking recognition. As for the one who fights with bravery, its meaning is that he is a brave man who loves fighting, because a brave man is characterized by bravery, and bravery must have a field in which it is displayed. So you find the brave man loves that Allah facilitates a battle for him so that he can fight and display his bravery; he fights because he is brave and loves fighting. The second: he fights out of tribal loyalty. Loyalty to whom? Loyalty to his nationality, loyalty to his tribe, loyalty to his homeland, loyalty to any kind of tribalism. The third: he fights to be seen in his position, meaning so that people see him and know that he is brave. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) turned away from that and said a concise word that serves as a standard for fighting, and he said: . And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) turned away from mentioning these three so that it would be more general and comprehensive, because a man might fight in order to seize homelands and countries, or fight in order to obtain a woman to take captive from these people. The point is that intentions have no limit, but this standard mentioned by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is a complete and just standard. And from this we know that it is obligatory to correct the tone used by many people today. The tone is of two kinds: a tone of fighting for nationality, specifically Arab nationality. Fighting for Arab nationality is pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) fighting; whoever is killed in it is not a martyr; he has lost this world and lost the Hereafter, because that is not in the cause of Allah. Fighting for the sake of Arab nationality is pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) fighting; it does not benefit the person in any way. And therefore, despite the strength of the propaganda for Arab nationality, we have not benefited from it. The Jews have seized our lands, we have disintegrated, and people of disbelief from among the Christians and non-Christians have entered the scale of this nationality, while Muslim people from non-Arabs have exited it, so we have lost millions of people, millions of people for the sake of this nationality. And people who bring no good have entered it; people who, when they enter into something, write upon it defeat and loss. Also, the second tribal loyalty or the second passion: loyalty to the homeland, that we fight for the sake of the homeland. If we fight for the sake of the homeland, there is no difference between our fighting and the fighting of the disbeliever for his homeland, even the disbeliever fights for his homeland and defends his homeland. And the one who is killed only for the defense of the homeland is not a martyr. But it is obligatory upon us, and we are Muslims in an Islamic land, and praise be to Allah, we ask Allah to keep us firm upon that, it is obligatory that we fight for the sake of Islam in our lands. Pay attention to the difference: we fight for the sake of Islam in our lands, we protect the Islam that is in our lands, we protect Islam even if we were in the farthest east or west. If our lands were in the farthest east or west, we would fight for Islam, not just for our homeland. So it is necessary to correct this tone and say: We fight for the sake of Islam in our homeland, or for the sake of our homeland because it is Islamic, we defend the Islam that is in it. As for mere patriotism, it is an invalid intention, it does not benefit the person in any way, and there is no difference between the person who says he is a Muslim and the person who says he is a disbeliever if the fighting is for the sake of the homeland because it is his homeland. And what is mentioned that “love of the homeland is part of faith,” and that this is a hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), is a lie. This is a lie, it is not a hadith from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Love of the homeland, if it is because it is an Islamic homeland, then you love it because it is an Islamic homeland, and there is no difference between your homeland which is your birthplace and the distant homeland from the lands of the Muslims; they are all an Islamic homeland that we must protect. In any case, we must know that the correct intention is that we fight for the defense of Islam in our land, or for our homeland because it is an Islamic homeland, not for mere patriotism. This is regarding fighting for the homeland; it must be corrected.
As for defensive fighting, meaning if someone attacks you in your home wanting to take your wealth or wanting to violate the honor of your family, for example, then you fight him. Fight him as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded you to do. He was asked about a man who comes to him and says: Give me your wealth. He said: , because he is an aggressor and a wrongdoer, even if he is a Muslim. If a Muslim comes wanting to fight you and drive you out of your country and your home, fight him. If you kill him, he is in the Fire, and if he kills you, you are a martyr. Do not say, “By Allah, how can I kill a Muslim? How can I proceed to kill a Muslim?!”
He is the aggressor. And if we had tied our hands in front of the aggressive wrongdoers who do not respect any covenant or trust or religion with a believer, the aggressors would have had power and would have corrupted the earth after its reform. And therefore we say: This matter is not from the category of offensive fighting. Offensive fighting is known to be that I do not go to fight a Muslim whom I seek out. But I defend myself, my wealth, and my family, even if he is a believer, not just a Muslim, even if he were of the greatest people in faith. Although it is absolutely impossible for a person with faith to proceed to fight a Muslim to seize his family and wealth, absolutely. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . There is no faith for a person who fights the Muslims, absolutely. So if this man is devoid of faith or deficient in faith, then it is obligatory that we fight him in defense of the self, as an obligation, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And he said: : Because you are fighting for your wealth, for your family, and for your self.
So the result is that there are two types of fighting: offensive fighting, where I go to fight people, for example, in their lands. This is not permissible except under certain conditions. For example, the scholars said: “If the people of a village abandon the adhan (the adhan is not one of the pillars of Islam), if the people of a village abandon the adhan, it is obligatory upon the one in authority to fight them until they call the adhan”, because they have abandoned a symbol of the symbols of Islam. If they abandon the festival prayer, they say: We do not pray the festival prayer, not in our homes and not in the desert. It is obligatory to fight them, even if it were assumed that a group said: “O people, come, is the adhan one of the pillars of Islam?” We would say: No, but it is one of the symbols of Islam, so we fight you until you call the adhan. If two groups of believers, such as two tribes with tribalism between them, fight, it is obligatory upon us to reconcile between them. If one of them transgresses against the other, it is obligatory that we fight it until it returns to the command of Allah, even though it is a believer, but there is a difference between defensive fighting and offensive fighting. Offensive fighting: we do not seek out except a Muslim or one whom the Shari'ah has permitted to be fought. As for defense, we must defend. The summary of the speech in this lesson: It is obligatory upon us to correct the intention. We fight in defense of the Islam that is in our lands, or for our homelands that contain Islam, for the sake of the Islam that is in them. As for fighting for the homeland only because it is our soil and it is where our heads were born, and the like of that, this is pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) fighting, there is no good in it, and whoever is killed in it is not among the martyrs. Therefore, we ask you to point out this matter.