Jihad is better than 50 hajj

Ibn Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) said: “One trip on jihad is better than 50 hajjs” [Ibn al Mubarak; ibn Abi Shaybah] [This narration to ibn Umar is authentic]

Dhirar bin Amr (R.A) said: “I have spent a very long time in jihad and my heart was longing to hajj. I made my preparations to go and then went to greet my brothers. I visited Ishaaq bin Abu Farwah to tell him good-bye. He asked me, “Where are you going?” I said: “I am going on hajj,” He said: “Has your opinion on jihad changed or what?” I said: “No! Its just that I have been here on jihad for a long time and I was longing for hajj and visiting the House of Allah”

“He told me: Dhirar! You should not do what you love, but you should do what Allah loves. O Dhirar, don’t you know that the Messenger of Allah only made hajj once, but then spend his life fighting in jihad until he met Allah. O Dhirar! If you make hajj then you are rewarded for your hajj or umrah. But if you are posted in jihad or fighting and protecting the backs of Muslims, then if that House is visited by 100,000 pilgrims or whatever number, you would be getting the reward of everyone of their hajjs and the hajj of every believing man or woman until the Day of Judgment! Because whoever protects the believers is like the one who protects them from the time of Adam until the Day of Judgment. You are also rewarded for fighting the nonbelievers from the day Adam was created until the Day of Judgment because whoever fights them today is like the one who fights them from the day Adam was created until the Day of Judgment. You are also rewarded for every letter revealed in the Torah, Gospel and Quran because you are fighting to protect the light of Allah from being extinguished.”

“O Dhirar bin Amr! Don’t you know that there is no one closer to the status of prophethood than the scholars and mujahideen? I said, “And how is that?” He said: “Because the scholars are the ones who fulfill the role of the Prophets in guiding others to the truth and teaching it to them. While the mujahideen are the ones who fight for what the Prophets have brought and strive to make the word of Allah the highest and the word of the nonbelievers the lowest” Dhirar said: “I decided to give up hajj and remain in jihad until I die and meet Allah”