Aslam

Praise be to Allah.It was narrated that the

Prophet (peace and blessings of

Allaah be upon him), said to his companions when they returned from

a military campaign, “We have come back from the lesser jihaad to the

greater jihaad.” They said, “Is there any greater jihaad than jihaad

against the kuffaar?” he said, “Yes, jihaad al-nafs (jihaad against

the self).”

This hadeeth is not saheeh.

Undoubtedly jihaad against

the self comes before jihaad against the kuffaar, because one cannot

strive against the kuffaar until after one has striven against one’s

own self, because fighting is something which the self dislikes. Allaah

says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Jihaad (holy fighting in

Allaah’s Cause) is ordained for you (Muslims) though you dislike it,

and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that

you like a thing which is bad for you. Allaah knows but you do not know”[al-Baqarah

2:216]

The point is that jihaad

against the enemy cannot take place until one strives and forces oneself

to do it, until one’s self submits and accepts that.

Fataawa Manaar al-Islam by Shaykh

Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him), 2/421

Ibn al-Qayyim said: “Jihaad

is of four stages: jihaad al-nafs (striving against the self),

jihaad al-shayaateen (striving against the shayaateen or devils),

jihaad al-kuffaar (striving against the disbelievers) and jihaad

al-munaafiqeen (striving against the hypocrites).

Jihaad al-nafs

means striving to make oneself learn true guidance, and to follow it

after coming to know it, calling others to it, and bearing with patience

the difficulties of calling others to Allaah. Jihaad al-Shaytaan

means striving against him and warding off the doubts and desires that

he throws at a person, and the doubts that undermine faith, and striving

against the corrupt desires that he tries to inspire in a person. Jihaad

against the kuffaar and munaafiqeen is done in the heart and on the

tongue, with one’s wealth and oneself. Jihaad against the kuffaar mostly

takes the form of physical action, and jihaad against the munaafiqeen

mostly takes the form of words… The most perfect of people are those

who have completed all the stages of jihaad. People vary in their status

before Allaah according to their status in jihaad.”(Zaad al-Ma’aad

3/9-12)

And Allaah knows best.