Someone asked, "Messenger of Allah, what equals jihad?"He replied, "You cannot do it."They repeated the question to him two or three times, and each time he answered, "You cannot do it."On the third occasion he said, "The one who fights in the path of Allah is like a person standing in prayer and fasting, never tiring of prayer or fasting, until the fighter returns."
حدثنا قتيبة بن سعيد حدثنا أبو عوانة عن سهيل بن أبي صالح عن أبيه
قيل يا رسول الله ما يعدل الجهاد قال إنكم لا تستطيعونه فردوا عليه مرتين أو ثلاثا كل ذلك يقول لا تستطيعونه فقال في الثالثة مثل المجاهد في سبيل الله مثل القائم الصائم الذي لا يفتر من صلاة ولا صيام حتى يرجع المجاهد
Muslim also narrated it, in the book of Leadership, chapter on the merit of martyrdom for the sake of Allah the Exalted, hadith no. 1878, from the hadith of Abu Awana through this same chain.On this topic there are also narrations from Shifa [Ahmad: 6/372, and Abd bin Humayd, hadith no. 1591], Abdullah bin Hubshi [Abu Dawud, hadith no. 1325], Abu Musa [coming up: 1659], Abu Saeed [Ibn Majah, hadith no. 2754], Umm Malik Bahziyyah [coming up: 2177], and Anas bin Malik [coming up: 1620].