Boreal

ISLAMOPHOBIA

Jihad as Penance

Abdallah b. al-Mubarak [726-797 author of the Kitab al-Jihad (Book of Holy War) summarized the redemptive value of killing and dying in the name of God as follows:

The slain [in jihad] are three [types of] men. A believer, who struggles with himself and his possessions in the path of God, such that when he meets the enemy [in battle] he fights them until he is killed. This martyr (shahid) is tested, [and is] in the camp of God under His throne; the prophets do not exceed him [in merit] except by the level of prophecy. [Then] a believer, committing offences and sins against himself, who struggles with himself and his possessions in the path of God; such that when he meets the enemy [in battle] he fights until he is killed. This cleansing wipes away his offences and his sins – behold the sword wipes [away] sins! – and he will be let into heaven by whatever gate he wishes. … [Then] a hypocrite who struggles with himself and his possessions in the path of God; such that when he meets the enemy [in battle] he fights until he is killed. This [man] is in hell since the sword does not wipe away hypocrisy.

David Cook, cf. Ibn al-Mubarak, Understanding Jihad, p.14.

Later writings would expand on his concept that killing and being killed “in the path of Allah” has two redeeming features: atonement for your sins and rank in heaven. The highest level is where Allah sits on His Throne with Muhammad and Abraham at His side. In the Christian gospels, Jesus of Nazareth shed his blood to redeem the sins of mankind; in the Islamic variation, it is the shedding of one’s own blood, while killing the enemies of God that wipes away sins—the exception being one who dies in “the path of Allah” but whose loyalty was not always constant: the hypocrite. The most willing to die and the most bloodthirsty get the most benefits:

There is a man who fights in the path of Allah and does not want to kill or be killed, but is struck by an arrow. The first drop of blood from him is atonement for every sin he has committed; for every drop he sheds he gains levels in paradise. The second type of man is one who fights desiring to kill but not to be killed, and is struck by an arrow. The first drop of blood from him is for every sin; for every drop he sheds he gains a level in paradise until he bumps Abraham’s knee. The third type of man is one who fights in the path of Allah desiring to kill and be killed and is struck by an arrow. The first drop of blood from him is atonement for every sin; he will come to the Day of Resurrection with a drawn sword [able to] intercede.

David Cook, cf. Ibn al-Mubarak, Understanding Jihad,p.15.

A killer in his own cause would, under normal circumstances, burn in Hell for an eternity. However, if he commits a murder in Allah’s Cause, and is killed in the process, all previous self-serving homicides are forgiven and he gets to join a grateful god in Paradise.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah's Apostle said, "Allah welcomes two men with a smile; one of whom kills the other and both of them enter Paradise. One fights in Allah's Cause and gets killed. Later on Allah forgives the killer who also gets martyred (In Allah's Cause)."

Bukhari 52.80

You can add this belief in the atonement properties of killing and dying in Allah’s Cause—that also avoids life in the grave—and the way you died having an influence on your ranking in heaven to the promise of boundless post-mortem sex with female facsimiles as a further, not insignificant, incentive to kill and die to bring about a world where Allah is supreme.