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Question and Answer Details
Name of Questioner

Maryam - Japan

Title

Economic Jihad: A Legal Obligation and Religious Necessity

Question

Dear scholars, a friend of mine just told me that boycotting the America and Jewish products is a form of economic Jihad. What does that mean? And what is its significance?

Date

06/Aug/2006

Name of Counsellor

Hussein Shihata

Topic

Jihad: Rulings & Regulations

Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Thanks, dear brother, for forwarding this question to us, and we impolre Almighty Allah to make our efforts come up to your expectation.

Economic Jihad is given the same legal ruling as physical Jihad in its broadest sense. It is a legal obligation and religious necessity.Almighty Allah addresses all Muslims saying: (Make ready for them all thou canst of (armed) force.) (Al-Anfal 8: 60) Thus, while making Jihad Muslims should try their best and spare no efforts in accomplishing their pursued goal. Actually, boycotting Israeli and American products is the least thing one can do to stop the bloodshed of Muslim brothers and sisters throughout the world. In every part of the world, the boycott campaign will yield the desired fruits as long as there is serious intention and determination.

Responding to your question, Dr. Hussein Shihata, Professor of Islamic Economy at the Faculty of Commerce, al-Azhar University, states:
Since we are not allowed to engage in physical Jihad, we have to benefit from what we can call economic Jihad, which can take the following forms:

1- Financing the institution of Jihad and those who fight in Allah’s cause.

2-Staging the economic boycott whose primary aim is to weaken the economy of the Zionists, the Crusaders and their allies, while at the same time, it strengthens the Arab and Islamic economy in a way that make it a self-dependent economy.

3-Destroying the economic interests of the enemy, using all possible means, like urging all workers and employees to stop dealing with enemies.

The Significance of Economic Jihad:

Economic Jihad is given the same legal ruling as physical Jihad in its broadest sense. It is a legal obligation and religious necessity. In several Qur’anic verses, physical jihad is mentioned among the attributes of the believers: Allah says (The (true) believers are those only who believe in Allah and His messenger and afterward doubt not, but strive with their wealth and their lives for the cause of Allah. Such are the sincere.)(Al-Hujurat 49: 15)
He also says (O ye who believe! Shall I show you a commerce that will save you from a painful doom? Ye should believe in Allah and His messenger, and should strive for the cause of Allah with your wealth and your lives. That is better for you, if ye did but know. He will forgive you your sins and bring you into Gardens underneath which rivers flow, and pleasant dwellings in Gardens of Eden . That is the supreme triumph. And (He will give you) another blessing which ye love: help from Allah and present victory. Give good tidings (O Muhammad) to believers.)(As-Saff 61: 10-13)

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stressed the significance of economic Jihad saying: “Whoever helps a fighter in the cause of Allah is given the same reward as the fighter, and whoever takes care of his family (the fighter) is given a similar reward.” (narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

At the same time, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) warned Muslims from showing laxity when it comes to giving full support to those who strive in the cause of Allah. Doing so will render the person to severe punishment, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says: “Whoever does not fight in the cause of Allah, prepare a fighter or look after his family, Allah will inflict upon him a punishment before the Day of Judgement (i. e. in this world).” (agreed-upon Hadith)

Moreover, as we know that the disbelievers, the polytheists, the Crusaders, the Jews, etc. spend their money in order to attack Islam, Muslims are under obligation to spend their money in the cause of Allah for the protection of Muslims. In the Qur’an, Allah, the Almighty refers to this, saying, (Lo! those who disbelieve spend their wealth in order that they may debar (men) from the way of Allah. They will spend it, then it will become an anguish for them, then they will be conquered. And those who disbelieve will be gathered unto hell.) (Al-Anfal 8: 36)

Also Allah encourages Muslims to spend their money in His cause saying, (The likeness of those who spend their wealth in Allah’s way is as the likeness of a grain which groweth seven ears, in every ear a hundred grains. Allah giveth increase manifold to whom He will. Allah is All Embracing, All Knowing.)(Al-Baqarah 2: 261)

Requirements for the Activation and Success of Economic Jihad:

We do not use the term ‘economic Jihad’ as a mere motto or a resounding slogan with no action. Rather, we mean by it a practical Jihad that requires action to turn it into an effective and concrete reality. The aim behind that is to benefit all Muslims and to challenge the aggression staged by the US and Jews against Islam and Muslims. Among the requirements for the activation and success of this form of jihad are:

Considering it a test for human soul that loves money:

A believer should ask himself the following questions: Do I really need to spend this money, which dearest to me, in Allah’s cause? Shall I sacrifice the wealth that I love for the sake of Allah, the Beloved? So every Muslim in this case finds himself in the moment of real test.

Viewing it as a form of helping fellow Muslims:

Therefore, it is a religious, legal and national obligation. If the Israelis, the Americans, the atheists protect and support each other, then why not Muslims? In this respect, Allah says, concerning the disbelievers: (And those who disbelieve are protectors one of another If ye do not so, there will be confusion in the land, and great corruption.)(Al-Anfal: 73) Then He emphasizes that Muslims need to help themselves, saying (Lo! those who believed and left their homes and strove with their wealth and their lives for the cause of Allah, and those who took them in and helped them; these are protecting friends one of another.)(Al-Anfal: 72)

Viewing it as a form of religious obligation:

The economic boycott is a form of religious obligation, due to the fact that “any act upon which an obligation rests is, in itself, an obligation.” In this regard Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi says, ‘It is a legal obligation upon all Muslims to boycott Israel and all countries that support it, especially the United States of America for each dirham or dinar that reaches them turns to a bullet used in shooting our brothers in Palestine.”’