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Asking for a king to fight (the notables of Banu Isra'il)

طلب الملك للجهاد

Sha'rawi tells how the notables of Banu Isra'il asked their prophet for a king to fight in God's cause. He holds that the prophet guides and does not command in the field, and that the request was in their own interest, which they then dragged out 1 2.

Depth

At a glance

Era
Pre-Islamic Arabia
Region
Global / Diaspora
Review
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Worship and the pillars

Summary

Sha'rawi recounts the notables of Banu Isra'il who asked their prophet to send them a king to fight under his command 1.

The place of the prophet and the king

He holds that prophethood oversees how matters are carried out but does not run them. The king does the work. So they asked for a king to take the blame for management, leaving prophethood as a reference for truth 3.

The reversal

He reports that the prophet warned them that if fighting were prescribed they might fail, and they answered that they had been driven from their homes and children. When fighting was prescribed, only a few stayed. He calls their turning away a wrong to themselves and to their cause 4 5.

Not yet checked

This is Sha'rawi's reading alone. The historical and exegetical sources on this episode, the academic view and any non-Sunni view have not been checked.

People and things also explored

The ruling on one who abandons prayer· Ada' (performance of an obligation within its time)· Adhan (the call to prayer: its ruling, wording, conditions, recommended features and the muezzin)· Bone (adhm): purity, use and retaliation· The adornment of desires and the goods of this world· The people of the bench (ahl al-suffa)· The earth made a place of prayer and purity· Spending in the way of God (infaq)

Sources

  1. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.1041
  2. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.1044
  3. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.1042
  4. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.1043
  5. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.1045
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Asking for a king to fight (the notables of Banu Isra'il)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/asking-for-a-king-for-jihad/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

The ruling on one who abandons prayer

Al-Sallabi quotes Ali: whoever does not pray is an unbeliever. He then reports from al-Nawawi the dispute over one who neglects prayer while believing it obligatory: the majority (Malik, al-Shafi'i) hold him a sinner to be asked to repent, others hold him an unbeliever, a view ascribed to Ali; Abu Hanifa and the Kufans hold him not an unbeliever but to be disciplined.