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Jihad in Islam Printable Version PRINTABLE VERSION
by Khalid, Afghanistan May 7, 2007
Peace & Conflict   Opinions
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islamic Jus ad bellum!

Jihad: why to wage war?

Naturally, every creature on the earth needs to defend himself from the internal or external aggressions on him or his fellows. Humans are surviving by virtue of the same ability given by Allah almighty, they defend themselves from aggression. Muslims calle it Jihad; they fight with non-Muslims, so that they could protect themselves.

Jihad being the command of Allah almighty required certain prerequisites and rules of commencing, ending and conduct during the war (Jihad). In other words, why to go to war? And how to go to war? In number of verses in the Qura’an, however, Allah almighty prescribes the principle; that the original and permanent nature of relationship between the Muslims and the non-Muslims is peace and understanding rather than war and hostility.
The Quran clearly requires that the Muslims should opt for peace as soon as the enemy opts for it. (8:61), it declares that the Muslims are not allowed to take up arms against a people who re neutral; they are required instead to offer peace (4:94). Moreover, it encourages the Muslims to be kind and generous to those who did not fight against the Muslims and did not treat them with injustice (60:8). Similar examples may also be cited from Hadith literature.
Let’s start with the question: WHY TO GO TO WAR?
Islam is derived from Salam “peace”, so Allah is Salam, paradise is the house of peace, regards of Islam is Salam, regards of angels and Allah for the residents of paradise is Salam, Muslims are asked to advertise Salam and fight the illegal terrorism. The basis is the general principle that the relations of Muslims are based on peace and not war, and the cause of war is the aggression from non-Muslims, the affirmation of war despite the forbiddance of aggression is due to the necessity, the bringing peace, and withstanding the aggressors and occupants from the Muslim states.., because Allah almighty said: { وَقَاتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ الَّذِينَ يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ وَلَا تَعْتَدُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُعْتَدِينَ } (1:190)
“And fight in the way of Allah with those who fight you, but transgress not the limits. Truly, Allah likes not the transgressors”.
Some of the Shafi’is and Hanbalis considered the cause of jihad, or why to go to war, the infidelity “Kufr”. Primarily they base their opinion on the texts of the Qura’an and Sunnah that prescribe Qital (war) as a punishment for the opponents of the holy prophet (May Allah’s blessings be upon him). On the other hand, majority of the jurists were of the opinion that the cause of jihad is muharabah (aggression). They also base their opinion on the texts of the holy Qur’an and Sunnah. Further, they say that if kufr were the cause of qital then non Muslims women, children, aged people as well as priests and monks would not have been given immunity from attacks during war.
I believe, the position taken by the majority of the jurists is in accordance with the essence of Islam. The term “Islam” being an Arabic word; is derived from Salam which means peace. So an inference could be taken, primarily, from the name of the religion we follow; the continuity of a war for 12 months in a year will damage the claim of being a religion of Salam (peace) or the claim that Islamic state must be a welfare state!
The misconception, principally, is the result of a tradition which is usually presented as a prove for continued jihad امرت ان اقاتل الناس حتى يقولوا لا اله الا الله , as a clarification it is necessary to say that, this tradition is not a general because of the "ال" attached with "الناس" which makes it for specialization or ال التبعيض (specifying few out of group-of things-) so the tradition is about the idolaters of Arabia. Why they are killed till they become Muslims? The answer could be found in another tradition of the holy prophet PBUH "لا يجتمع دينان فى جزيرة العرب" followers of two religions cant live in Arabian Peninsula, therefore the infidels of Mecca had to become Muslims or get out of the Arabia, because of the sacredness and sentiments attacked to the pure territory.
To sum up this issue: most Quranic verses in Surah-e-Tauba which imply continual war with the disbelievers; apply only to the infidels of Arabia-the prophet’s own people and the immediate addressees. These verses have been generalized by some western scholars and their application has been extended to all categories of non-Muslims.
Coming to the word اقاتل, it is a feature of Arabic language that its every verb has some special characteristics. Muqatala (مقاتلة) (war) is derived from the verb-class of mufa’ala مفاعلةand the characteristics of this class is that it is used for a bilateral act. Like Mukalama, Musafaha, Munaqasha, Mushajaraمشاجرة، مناقشة، مصافحة، مكالمه، (dialogue, shacking hands, discussion and dispute) etc, all of the aforementioned acts take place between two or more parties. The same is with مقاتلة it must be between two or more parties, when Allah almighty saidوقاتلوا فى سبيل الله الذين يقاتلونكم و لا تعتدوا and fight those who fight you and don’t exaggerate, It is inferred that Muslims will fight those who fight them and will not commence the war, it is the basis of Islamic jus ad bellum.





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Khalid


Khalid, Afghanistan, Kabul.
Comments


jamal siddiqui | May 10th, 2007
you have rightly said...

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