In response to this issue of one defending his country, the late Sheikh Ahmad Ash-Sharabasi, a professor at Al-Azhar University, states the following:
“Jihad in the Cause of Allah is among the ways through which we can achieve victory, restore dignity, power, and freedom of the Muslim nation. Struggling to defend one’s country against enemies, and protecting the holy places as well as honor, is regarded as Jihad in Allah’s Cause. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said: “By the One in Whose Hands the soul of Muhammad is, never a man fights them (i.e. the enemy of Islam) today while remaining steadfast in the battlefield and devoting his action solely for Allah’s Sake, and then is killed while fighting, except that Allah will admit him to Paradise.”
He (peace and blessings be upon him) is also reported to have said: “Whoever is killed in defense for his property is a martyr; whoever is killed in defense for his honor is a martyr; whoever is killed in defense for his people (i.e. his country) is a martyr; whoever is killed in defense for his religion is a martyr.”
According to the forgoing evidences, one who struggles for the defense of his nation is regarded as making Jihad in the Cause of Allah.”