At-Tawbah 9:16

In the present world, when a man makes something the purpose of his life, he encounters many problems and demands in his efforts to achieve it. If the man is bent upon his purpose, he utilizes all his strength in overcoming these problems and fulfilling these demands. This is called jihad. In this world everyone has to face this jihad. Everyone has to prove how ardent he is about his purpose at the level of jihad; only then is it possible for him to succeed in achieving it. It is this struggle in the path of God which indicates to what extent the individual is serious about his purpose. To one who claims to have faith, events which test his faith occur again and again. Sometimes his heart becomes influenced by feelings of ill-will and jealousy towards somebody but his faith urges him to rid himself of all such feelings. Sometimes unpleasant words are on the tip of his tongue but his faith requires that he should hold his tongue at that time. Sometimes, in the course of his dealings, a right has to be honoured which is unpleasant to him, but faith exhorts him to fulfil all entitlements as a matter of justice, whether pleasant or unpleasant. Moreover, the call for truth sometimes reaches the stage when faith commands him to sacrifice his life and property to ensure its success. Going on fulfilling the requirements of faith at any cost, is known as jihad. In the present world, when a man adopts a broad-based purpose, he has necessarily to focus on the centralism of his purpose; he has to be loyal to his leader; and he should completely identify himself with the fellow-travellers on the same path. These things are fraught with a sense of purposefulness. Without these, the claim to lead a purposeful life would be false. Similarly, when a man seriously introduces religion into his life, it will necessarily happen that God, His Prophet and the faithful will become his friends and supporters (walijah); he will be at one with them in every respect. This matter becomes more critical when it is kept in view that its Assessor has full knowledge of its open and the hidden aspects. He will, therefore, deal with every individual in accordance with inner reality and not in accordance with his apparent outward aspect.