The Christian’s Jihad (Steel-manning Surah 9:111)
The Quran in Surah 9:111 says,
“Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties [in exchange] for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah , so they kill and are killed. [It is] a true promise [binding] upon Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Qur’an. And who is truer to his covenant than Allah ? So rejoice in your transaction which you have contracted. And it is that which is the great attainment.”
The Quran claims that this promise, fighting in the cause of God in exchange for paradise is a promise in the Torah and the Gospel as well? There is no such promise in the Torah or the Gospel. But if one potentially wanted to take an overly liberal view of that verse, we can say there are in fact two kinds of Jihad Christians are exhorted to wage in scripture.
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
(Ephesians 6:10–13)
Christians are to wage Jihad to resist the devil and his devices. Now before we get overly excited about putting swords to the necks of atheists and forcing them to “yield to Christ!”, the verse clarifies that this battle is not a physical one, but rather a spiritual one because we do not wrestle against flesh and blood!
The Christian must fight to resist the allures of sins and the trials or temptations of the evil one. It is not for nothing the writer of Hebrews says,
“For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.”
(Hebrews 12:3–4)
The second Jihad which Christians must wage is Jihad against IDEAS that are contrary to the gospel,
“or though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”
(2 Corinthians 10:3–5)
Again, I love how the writers of scripture make sure to emphasize that the war is not a physical one. it says even if we walk in the flesh (i.e. operationally in the flesh as human beings not to be confused with ‘walk in the flesh’ as in following the lusts of the flesh as we are all prone to do), our war is not a fleshly one. We are to pull down mental (and dare I say cultural) strongholds and cast down arguments that run contrary to the gospel. Now personally, Islam and to a far less degree atheism (which is “literally nothing”, a joke of a belief system) , are my strongholds of choice, my Jihad is against those ideas but that does not have to be every Christian’s Jihad. Now every Christian should hate Islam and resist it by every legal means possible before it takes over their societies but that is not necessarily everybody’s Jihad!
There are cultural strongholds regarding the “alphabet stew” ideology, the “you can be anything you want as long as you say it” crowd, the “my body my choice” folks, false teachers within the church, heretical and cultish doctrines. Imagine if we have committed Christians waging non-stop Jihad against these ideas, by default terrible ideas (like Islam) will not stand a chance.
Remember, the gospel is not only a salvation issue at this point, it is also fast becoming a civilisational issue. Jesus tells Paul exactly why he will be safe in Corinth,
“Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.”
(Acts 18:9–10)
Now permit me to do a midrash on the above verse.
Paul was permitted to speak freely because the people of the city were followers of Jesus. This is especially key in 2025 Europe where to borrow the words of JD Vance, free speech is in retreat. Why is free speech under attack in the UK and Germany? Why in the UK, was there the audacity to push out a sentencing guideline that would outrightly discriminate against white Christian straight people? Could it be that the Christian message of the gospel and the church which is supposed to be the pillar and the ground of the truth were in retreat way in Europe and the UK way before free speech was? Could it be that because there are less and less people of Jesus in the city, Paul is less and less able to freely speak?
But I digress…
In conclusion, while Surah 9:111 lies about the Torah and the Gospel, there is a sense in which Christians are exhorted to war. They ought to wage a spiritual war against the devil and a war against ideas contrary to the gospel. Waging this Jihad for the cause of the gospel might be Europe’s last chance to save free speech.
