Messenger of Allah was close to me, and when he saw me and how difficult the place was for me, he descended [into the trench] and took the pick from my hands. He struck the rock with force that caused lightning to flash from the pick…then he struck again, and lightning flashed from beneath the pick…and then struck a third time and again lightning flashed from beneath it. I said; “May my father and mother [be a redemption for you], O Messenger of Allah, what was that I saw beneath the pick when you struck?” He said: you see that, O “Did Salman?” I said: He said: the first [flash] Allah gave me the Yemen, “Yes.” “With with the second Allah gave me Syria and the Maghrib [Morocco] and with the third, Allah gave me the East.” This account is meant to relay the message that God had planned to deliver certain lands to Muhammad (or Muhammad’s followers) and it is easy to see how such an account could serve as a motivation for jihad. Although the result of this early was the conversion of a vast number of people to jihad Islam, the conversions (probably) were not forced upon the conquered people. As seen above there were several options listed in the Qur’an for many conquered people other than conversion, and there was also the command in Qur’an 2:256 that should be no compulsion in “there religion.” Rather, the early conquests created the preconditions for the spread of “necessary Islam,” and thus played a crucial role in the early development of Islam. The early jihad conquest movement also created a necessity for later Muslim scholars to continue to find ways to reconcile their faith with war, and also to outline situations for the licit use of violence. Jihad Jihad The Greater and the Lesser The multiple commands in the Qur’an to go and fight the unbelievers coupled with the early use of violent and widely successful conquests of a rapidly growing Islamic empire led to taking a prominent role in Islam.Jihad was seen primarily as a war against unbelievers for jihad the sake of establishing Islam, but there are also multiple mentions in early literature of as a jihad nonviolent movement as well. One of the most prominent of these texts is a which can be hadith traced to the first half of the ninth century:
Messenger of Allah was close to me, and when he saw me and how difficult the place was for me, he descended [into the trench] and took the pick from my hands. He struck the rock with force that caused lightning to flash from the pick…then he struck again, and lightning flashed from beneath the pick…and then struck a third time and again lightning flashed from beneath it. I said; “May my father and mother [be a redemption for you], O Messenger of Allah, what was that I saw beneath the pick when you struck?” He said: “Did you see that, O Salman?” I said: “Yes.” He said: “With the first [flash] Allah gave me the Yemen, with the second Allah gave me Syria and the Maghrib [Morocco] and with the third, Allah gave me the East.” This account is meant to relay the message that God had planned to deliver certain lands to Muhammad (or Muhammad’s followers) and it is easy to see how such an account could serve as a motivation for jihad. Although the result of this early jihad was the conversion of a vast number of people to Islam, the conversions (probably) were not forced upon the conquered people. As seen above there were several options listed in the Qur’an for many conquered people other than conversion, and there was also the command in Qur’an 2:256 that “there should be no compulsion in religion.” Rather, the early conquests created the “necessary preconditions for the spread of Islam,” and thus jihad played a crucial role in the early development of Islam. The early conquest movement also created a necessity for later Muslim scholars to continue to find ways to reconcile their faith with war, and also to outline situations for the licit use of violence. The Greater Jihad and the Lesser Jihad The multiple commands in the Qur’an to go and fight the unbelievers coupled with the early use of violent and widely successful conquests of a rapidly growing Islamic empire led to jihad taking a prominent role in Islam.Jihad was seen primarily as a war against unbelievers for the sake of establishing Islam, but there are also multiple mentions in early literature of jihad as a nonviolent movement as well. One of the most prominent of these texts is a hadith which can be traced to the first half of the ninth century:
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