Canadian Imam Bilal Philips uploaded a lecture in 2017 explaining that a sword can be used to implement the moral message of Islam. Obtaining land and the spilling of blood is not the primary objective of jihad.
Shaykh Bilal Phillips, BA Islamic studies in Medina; MA theology in UK; lecturer of Islamic studies at American university in UAE; founded info center in Dubai in 2002; founder of Islamic department in Preston; launched open university free courses to 100,000 students; director of Preston college, India.
…and this was the Sunnah. Was the translation of the Quran into living practice. So the Sunnah is a living Sunnah, it represents a way of life, fundamentally a moral way of life. This is what Islam is, essentially, it is a moral message. To implement that message it might require weapons, so there is jihad. Jihad has a place. But ultimately the goal of jihad is not the spilling of blood. The goal of jihad is not primarily to take the lands of other people, though it may come as a part of the jihad. People’s lands and their properties may be taken. But that isn’t the goal. That is just the consequence of military struggle. The losers have to be dealt with and they’re dealt with in accordance with principles which Islam has set down.
