وَجَاهِدُوا فِي اللَّهِ حَقَّ جِهَادِهِ ۚ هُوَ اجْتَبَاكُمْ وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍ ۚ مِّلَّةَ أَبِيكُمْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ ۚ هُوَ سَمَّاكُمُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ مِن قَبْلُ وَفِي هَٰذَا لِيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ شَهِيدًا عَلَيْكُمْ وَتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ ۚ فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِاللَّهِ هُوَ مَوْلَاكُمْ ۖ فَنِعْمَ الْمَوْلَىٰ وَنِعْمَ النَّصِيرُ (78)
(22:78) Exert your utmost for the cause of Allah as one should. *128 He has chosen you for His service *129 and has not laid on you any hardship in your religion. *130 Therefore, be steadfast in the religion of your father Abraham *131 . Allah had called you "Muslims" before this and has called you *132 (by the same name) in this (Qur'an) also so that the Messenger may be a witness in regard to you and you may be witnesses in regard to the rest of mankind. *133 Therefore, establish Salat and pay the Zakat dues, and hold fast to Allah, *134 for He is your Guardian: What an excellent Guardian and what an excellent Helper!
*128) The Arabic word Jihad is very comprehensive. It includes every kind of effort, exertion, conflict and war. Jihad for the cause of Allah means that it should be performed for .His service and for His approval against those who prevent others from following His Way. The performance of Jihad also requires that one should first of all fight against one's own self in order to subdue it. For there can be no true Jihad unless one fights against one's evil self and subdues one's desires and lusts to the obedience of AIIah. The Holy Prophet himself has emphasized the need for this Jihad. Once when the warriors for the cause of Allah returned from Jihad, he said: "You have returned from the lesser Jihad to the' greater Jihad." They asked, "What is that greater Jihad.'" The Holy Prophet replied, "It is the Jihad against one's own desires and lusts."
Moreover, the battlefield for Jihad is, in fact, the whole world, and Islam demands that one should exert one's utmost against all the rebels of Allah and the wicked powers with all of one's heart and mind and body and wealth.
*129) The direct addressees of this were the Companions of the Holy Prophet, for they were the first who had the honour to be chosen for this service; others have been addressed only indirectly being their followers. This thing has been mentioned in the Qur'an in other ways as well. For reference, see II: 143 and III: 110.
*130) "..........(Allah) has not laid on you any hardship in your religion." That is, "The creed you have been given is very simple and straightforward and the laws and regulations you have to obey are practicable. You are free within its bounds to make as much progress as you cap." This was to impress that the lives of the Muslims were free from all those useless and unnatural restrictions which had been imposed upon the former communities by their priests and law-givers. The negative aspect of the same thing has been mentioned in V1I: 157: ". . . He enjoins them to follow virtue and forbids them from evil: He makes pure things lawful for them and impure things unlawful. He relieves them of their burdens and frees thetas from the shackles that bound them."
*131) Though Islam tray be called the religion of Prophets Noah, Moses, Jesus, etc., yet the Qur'an emphasizes over and over again that it is the religion of Prophet Abraham. Therefore, "You should follow it." This is for three reasons:
(1) The first addressees of the Qur'an were the Arabs who were more familiar with Prophet Abraham than with any other Prophet and acknowledged him to be a holy personage and their leader.
(2) Prophet Abraham alone was the person whom the Jews, the Christians, the Muslims and the mushriks of Arabia and of the adjoining countries unanimously acknowledged as a great Prophet.
(3) When the Qur'an invites all these communities to follow the way of Abraham, it in fact, admonishes them that all their religions had been invented long after Prophet Abraham and, therefore, were not trustworthy because they contradicted many things taught by him. As for the mushriks of Arabia, they also acknowledged that idol-worship among them had been started by 'Amr bin Luhayy, who was a leader of Bani Khuza`ah, and had brought an idol, called Hubal, from Moab in about 600 B.C. So the religion to which Prophet Muhammad (Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) invited them was the same pure, un-adulterated religion which was taught by Prophet Abraham (Allah's peace be upon him).
For further details, see E.N.'s 134, 135 of Chapter II (AI-Baqarah) and E.N.'s 58, 79 of Chapter III (Al-`Imran) and E.N.'s 119, 120 of Chapter XVI (An-Nahl)
*132) Here the word "you" has not been addressed exclusively to those Believers who lived at the time of the revelation of this verse, or those who believed after its revelation. It includes all those human beings, who, from the beginning of human history, believed in Tauhid, the Hereafter, Prophethood and the Divine Books. They were not "Jews", "Christians", etc., but "Muslims" in the sense that they had surrendered themselves to Allah. Likewise the followers of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) are not Muhammadens but ",Muslims".
*133) For Explanation, see E. N. 144 of Chapter II (Al-Baqarah).
*134) ".... hold fast to Allah": Follow exclusively the Guidance and the law of Allah: obey Him alone: fear Him and have all your hopes and expectations in Him: invoke Him alone for help: trust in Him and pray to Him for all your needs.