Washington D.C. area Shi'ite Imam Dr. Sulayman Ali Hassan said that all Muslims should strive to wage jihad and be prepared to defend Islam when it is attacked. He made his remarks in a Friday sermon delivered on August 27, 2021, at the Shahe Najaf Islamic Center in Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington D.C., which also aired on the Islamic Center's YouTube channel. Dr. Hassan said: "May Allah allow all of us to enter Paradise through the gates of jihad."
He said that if Islam is under physical attack, one should prepare with "martial training," but if Islam is under an intellectual attack, Muslims should wage jihad with the "weapons" of intellect and reasoning. Dr. Hassan added that jihad can be through funding or "struggling in person." He then went on to say that according to the hadith, a person who is al-ghazi, waging jihad on the battlefield, must be important to all Muslims, and that they must care for the families and dependents of those waging Jihad on the battlefield. Dr. Sulayman Ali Hassan is an American-born Shi'ite imam, and he spent ten years studying at a religious seminary in Qom, Iran.
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"May Allah Allow All Of Us To Enter Paradise Through The Gates Of Jihad... If There Is A Physical Attack [On Islam], Then We Should All Be Ready With Martial Training And Self-Defense Training"
Dr. Sulayman Ali Hassan: "Islam has emphasized that we should all be mujahid[een]. When the time calls for one type of sacrifice, we should be ready for that type of sacrifice.
"If Islam is under attack, then we should make sure that all of us are preparing and readying ourselves to be able to defend Islam in the way that it is being attacked.
"If there is a physical attack, then we should all be ready with martial training and self-defense training so that we can stand up for our rights and our dignity. If it is an intellectual attack, then all of us should be armed with the weapons of intellect and reasoning.
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"May Allah allow all of us to enter Paradise through the gates of jihad.
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"Jihad can be through funding and jihad can be through struggling in person. Both of them are needed and both of them are important.
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The Sacrifice Of Those Who Wage Jihad, Particularly On The Battlefield Should Be Important To You; "Try To Make Their Life Easier By Helping Their Family"
"Somebody who is al-ghazi, who is doing jihad, in particular on the battlefield – you should consider their sacrifice and their struggle to be something that is important to you and pray for them and try to make their life easier, by helping their family, by helping those dependents of theirs, who may not have their father, their husband, or their person present for them.
"According to the hadith, jihad is one of those things that brings a special grace of Allah, a mercy of Allah, and a fulfillment of prayers. This hadith is particular to those, who are in a military battle for defense of Islam, but that principle applies in general to all forms of jihad.
"May Allah make us among the mujahideen for the sake of Allah, with our possessions, and with ourselves."
