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together
and agree on a treaty with any foreign country. This applies
as much to peace as it does to war. No individual or group
may come forth and declare a Jihad: such will be a false Jihad.
All Muslim nations and their leaders must come together for
a decision of war or peace and that is the only accepted process.
Naturally every community has the right to self-defense and
in the case of Islam, where religion is the primary dimension
of human existence, war in defense of the nation becomes a
religious act. A lack of understanding of this quality of
Islam, its non-secularism; has also contributed considerably
to the fear that when Islam talks about war it means going
to war to convert. This might be true in other cultures, but
Islam must be allowed to speak for itself.
Al-Dardir
says of this, “Jihad becomes a duty when the enemy takes
[Muslims] by surprise”9.
Said Ramadan al-Buti shows that fighting in this case is an
obligation of the community as a whole. This is based on the
Prophet’s r saying “He who is killed in defence
of his belongings, or in self-defence, or for his religion,
is a martyr”.10
This verse
mentions a fundamental principle of Islam regarding Muslim/Non-Muslim
relationships. Muslims are enjoined to act kindly and justly
towards members of other faiths except in two circumstances;
firstly, if they dispossess Muslims of their legitimate land-rights,
and; secondly, if they engage in hostilities towards Muslims
or show clear intent to do so (al-hirabah) because of their
religion with a clear intention to destroy the Islamic nation
as a whole. In the second eventuality, it is the duty of the
Muslim ruler to declare the Jihad as a defensive action to
repel such attacks.
It is
evident from the Qur’an and other sources that the armed
struggle against the polytheists was legislated in the context
of specific circumstances after the Prophet (saws) had migrated
from Makkah to Madina. There he secured a pact with the Jewish
and Arab tribes of the city, who accepted him as the leader
of their community. In the milieu of this newly-founded base
of operations, under the governance of Divine legislation
and the leadership of the Prophet (saws), Islam attained the
status of a nation with its corequisite territory and the
accompanying need to protect its self-interests. At that time
the divine command was revealed permitting Jihad, but this
occurred only after:
- Persistent
refusal of the Makkan leadership (the Prophet being in Madina
at the time) to allow the peaceful propagation of Islam
in Makkah. This is in fact the most basic reason for armed
Jihad.
- Continuous
unabated persecution of Muslims remaining at Makkah after
the Prophet’s r emigration to Madina triggered an armed
insurrection against Qurayshite interests in the Hijaz.
- Makkans
themselves starting off military campaigns against the Muslims
at Madinah with the sole objective of eradicating Islam.
- Key
security pledges being abrogated unilaterally by a number
of tribes allied to the Prophet (saws), forcing him into
a vulnerable position.
These
conditions for Jihad involving armed struggle were then clearly
specified in the Qur’an:
“And
fight in the way of Allah those who fight against you, and
do not transgress [limits] for Allah likes not the transgressors”
[2:190] and “Will you not fight a people who have violated
their oaths and intended to expel the Messenger while they
did attack you first…?” [9:13]
The picture
that emerges here is that the command to fight was given in
relation to specific conditions. Thus the declaration of war
is not an arbitrary act at all. A further implication here,
as the Hanafi school in fact argues, is that war was declared
by the Prophet (saws) as the head of the Islamic nation, and
as such no one else can legitimately declare Jihad except
a ruler who is head of an Islamic state. The duty lies squarely
with the religious/political leadership to determine whether
the conditions for Jihad exist and to then give the appropriate
judgement.
In later
times, the Muslims engaged in warfare to establish the “Pax
Islamica” or Islamic Order. The legal and political order
must flow from the divine imperative (Qur’an, Sunnah,
etc.). It alone guarantees the rights of every individual
by keeping in check all the dark psychic tendencies of man
and so preventing him from indulging in anti-social behaviors,
from political aggression, right down to the commonest criminal
act. It is for this that the Qur’an calls on the believers
to go forth in defense of those whose rights and liberty have
been trampled by the unbridled tyranny of oppressors and conquering
armies, or who are prevented from freely hearing the word
of Allah espoused to them by preachers and educators. Allah
says, “How should ye not fight for the cause of Allah
and of the feeble among men and of the women and the children
who are crying: Our Lord! Bring us forth from out this town
of which the people are oppressors! Oh, give us from Thy presence
some protecting friend! Oh, give us from Thy presence some
defender!” [4:75]
No reliable
evidence exists that Muslims ever intended or attempted to
impose the specific rites and beliefs of Islam. The histories
of Spain, India and the Balkans are concrete proof of this.
The idea,
often postulated in the media, that Islam is hostile to non-Muslims
simply because they are non-Muslims, is a major misconception.11
Beyond the conditions described above there exists no valid
reason to hold any hostility towards them for the Qur’an
states: “Allah does not forbid you from those who do
not remove you from your homes (by force) and who do not fight
you because of your religion, that you act kindly and justly
towards them ...” [60:8] The reference in this verse
is to the non-Muslims in general.
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