"If Jihad for Allah Is Defending the Faith... and Establishing the Pillars of Justice, Peace, Security, and Belief – Then We Wage Jihad for Allah"

"If jihad for Allah is waving the banner of monotheism, establishing shari'a rule, upholding the truth, defending the homelands, preserving values, and building [our] countries – then we are waging jihad for Allah. If jihad for Allah is defending the faith, struggling for a dignified life, and establishing the pillars of justice, peace, security, and belief – then we are waging jihad for Allah. If jihad for Allah is spreading beneficial knowledge; constructing the high edifices of universities; building the two holy cities [Mecca and Madina]; esteeming the Koran and printing, disseminating and sanctifying it; teaching the Prophet's sunna; helping the oppressed and the deprived; protecting the weak; feeling compassion for the downtrodden; and educating the ignorant – then we are waging jihad for Allah. If jihad for Allah is defending the religion and the homeland; unifying the people and the forces; abandoning division; fighting racist statements and tribal bigotry that dates back to the jahiliyya; fighting heresy, deviation from the religion, superstition, witchcraft, and deception – then we are waging jihad for Allah."

"If Jihad is Destruction... Blowing Up Property and Buildings... Killing [Non-Muslim] Allies... and Embittering Life... – Then We Ask Allah to Renounce Such Jihad"

"[But] if jihad is destruction of the homelands, sabotaging construction, blowing up property and buildings, disrupting growth, intimidating peaceful people, killing [non-Muslim] allies, betraying those to whom aid was promised, killing those whose lives are protected, stealing rightful property, and embittering the life and fouling the air of the ummah [Islamic nation] – then we ask Allah to renounce such jihad.

"If jihad is bearing arms against society; violating consensus; exposing children and innocent unarmed [people] to danger; spreading chaos, hatred, licentiousness, and disobedience to one's parents; severing family relations; causing harm to Muslims; and harming those [with whom there is] a contract – then we ask Allah to renounce such jihad.

"If jihad is fouling the image of Islam, discouraging people from joining it, befouling its virtues in the eyes of its enemies, giving its rivals an excuse to find fault with it, allowing hasty, childish deeds to invade the lands of Islam and to harm things that must not be harmed, disdaining [these countries'] sacred principles and humiliating their sons – then we ask Allah to renounce such jihad."

"Jihad for Allah Is... One of the Loftiest Rites and One of the Best and Most Beautiful Deeds"

"Jihad for Allah is a holy rite, one of the loftiest rites and one of the best and most beautiful deeds. This is because it protects the faith, the homeland and the message of Islam, [and preserves] virtue and achievements. All nations of the world have waged jihad and struggled, either in a divine or an earthly manner; all countries of the world are struggling to preserve their existence and their property; all the peoples will sacrifice their lives if anyone tries to harm their principles and their homelands.

"But the most honorable and loftiest jihad is jihad for Allah, and jihad for Allah is not just pursuing death – but pursuing an honorable life, because living for Allah is more beautiful than dying for Allah, and living for Allah means faith and erudition, work and profit, knowledge and benefit, invention and production. Living for Allah means worshipping the Lord of Heaven and Earth, accepting the knowledge of clerics, providing food and medicine, and making an effort to uncover distress, remove trouble, help the poor, and stand with the wretched. The cleric, the emir, the minister, the physician, the engineer, the lecturer, the soldier, and the farmer – they [all] wage jihad for Allah if they are honest with Him. Efforts to earn an honest profit and to provide a living for people; taking responsibility for the widow, the downtrodden, and the orphan; building mosques and digging wells; feeding the hungry and caring for the sick – [all] these are jihad for Allah.

"We have come as the best of nations, aiming to bring happiness to men, not make them wretched; for their lives, and not for their deaths; to calm them, not to exhaust them; to promise them security, not to frighten them; to guide them in the proper path, not to arouse revulsion in their hearts. As the Messenger of Allah said: 'Bring good tidings, do not arouse revulsion; ease, do not increase difficulty.'"

"Oh Muslims, Beware of Understanding Jihad for Allah as Aggression Towards Others"

"Oh Muslims, beware of understanding jihad for Allah as aggression towards others, as craving to kill people, as bearing arms without knowledge, understanding, insight or wisdom. Jihad for Allah is something decided upon by knowledgeable clerics and by sages of the divine law; it is not left to any young person seeking knowledge and to naïve youths and boys in crisis. It is best if these [young people] devote themselves to seeking knowledge and to making an honest living, even as sellers of wood and coal, as shepherds, as truck drivers, as tailors, and as carpenters. By Allah, these professions are more honorable by far than spilling forbidden blood, than killing those whose lives are protected, and than intimidating peaceful people and [non-Muslim] allies."