An Analysis and Elucidation of Ayatollah Khamenei's Views with Regard to Jihad Kabir

Jihad Kabir (Mighty Struggle) means not to obey the unbelievers and mushriks (polytheists); it is a divine command which was revealed to Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in Mecca to confront mushriks at the time. In fact, by this command- which Allah mentions in the Quran, He calls for an Islamic society that its people would not give in to the demands of enemies going through various junctures of life. The believers should strive diligently to uphold and promote the status and authority of the Islamic society so that the enemy would not be able to establish dominance over the society through its political, economic, and cultural measures and make people abide by them. This article analyzes Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei’s viewpoints with respect to Jihad Kabir, employing an analytical-descriptive method. Data have been collected through the library method and thematic analysis has been used to analyze the data. The result shows that the Leader- in his works and comments- has highlighted a number of issues including the enemy and its plots as well as disobeying the enemies and standing against them. Ayatollah Khamenei’s viewpoints regarding Jihad Kabir pivot around conceptology, requirements, actors, fields, consequences, and impacts of Jihad Kabir.