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Jihad in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions
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The hadith and sῑra-maghāzī literature speak frequently of the dominion (mulk) of the prophet and his community (ummah). This triumphalist view of the emergence of the early Islamic community "served to sustain and legitimize that community's hegemony, the supremacy of its ruling elite, and the expansionist policy of the burgeoning polity."<ref>Sean Anthony, ''Muhammad and the Empires of Faith'', p. 177</ref> | The hadith and sῑra-maghāzī literature speak frequently of the dominion (mulk) of the prophet and his community (ummah). This triumphalist view of the emergence of the early Islamic community "served to sustain and legitimize that community's hegemony, the supremacy of its ruling elite, and the expansionist policy of the burgeoning polity."<ref>Sean Anthony, ''Muhammad and the Empires of Faith'', p. 177</ref> | ||
The concept of the Prophet's dominion became important to the early Caliphates. Quranic verses such as {{Quran|24|55}} (quoted below) were interpreted from Umayyad times and by later scholars such as al-Tabari in terms of this triumphalist vision, along with verses such as {{Quran|4|54}} which refers to the kingdom ( | The concept of the Prophet's dominion became important to the early Caliphates. Quranic verses such as {{Quran|24|55}} (quoted below) were interpreted from at least Umayyad times and by later scholars such as al-Tabari in terms of this triumphalist vision, along with verses such as {{Quran|4|54}} which refers to the kingdom (mulk) bestowed upon the family of Abraham, {{Quran|22|78}} which tells the believers that they were chosen to follow the faith (millah) of their father Abraham, and {{Quran-range|2|124|130}} where Abraham is told that his covenant does not include wrongdoers among his descendants. Abraham and Ishmael then pray for a nation of submitters among their descendants with their own messenger (a few verses later, the believers are told to say that they follow the faith (millah) of Abraham, who was neither a Jew nor a Christian {{Quran|2|135}}). | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran|24|55}}|Allah has promised those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession [to authority] upon the earth just as He granted it to those before them and that He will surely establish for them [therein] their religion which He has preferred for them [...]"}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|24|55}}|Allah has promised those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession [to authority] upon the earth just as He granted it to those before them and that He will surely establish for them [therein] their religion which He has preferred for them [...]"}} | ||
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Islamic Modernists tend to count all of the battles as defensive, especially in the overarching context of the danger from the Meccans. Khalil cites modern academic scholar Ahmed al Dawoody (who also taught at the famous al-Azhar University in Cairo) for arguing in his book, ''The Islamic Law of War'', that all Muhammad's major battles and sieges were defensive in nature (Dawoody defines these as Badr, Uhud, the Ditch, Khaybar, Hunayn and Ta'if). Such a view is, of course, contested. Khalil quotes Reuven Firestone as an example of a contrasting view who maintains that "it was Muhammad and not the Meccan Quraysh who initiated the battles" between them.<ref>Reuven Firestone, ''Jihad'' p. 110 cited in Mohammad Hassan Khalil, ''Jihad'' p. 15</ref> | Islamic Modernists tend to count all of the battles as defensive, especially in the overarching context of the danger from the Meccans. Khalil cites modern academic scholar Ahmed al Dawoody (who also taught at the famous al-Azhar University in Cairo) for arguing in his book, ''The Islamic Law of War'', that all Muhammad's major battles and sieges were defensive in nature (Dawoody defines these as Badr, Uhud, the Ditch, Khaybar, Hunayn and Ta'if). Such a view is, of course, contested. Khalil quotes Reuven Firestone as an example of a contrasting view who maintains that "it was Muhammad and not the Meccan Quraysh who initiated the battles" between them.<ref>Reuven Firestone, ''Jihad'' p. 110 cited in Mohammad Hassan Khalil, ''Jihad'' p. 15</ref> | ||
According to the sῑra-maghāzī literature, near the end of his life Muhammad also launched expeditions to the north in an attempt to fight the Byzantines at Tabuk, and following the killing of his emissary bearing [[Invitation_to_Islam_Prior_to_Jihad|an ultimatum letter to Harith ibn Abi Shamir, King of Damascus]], against their Ghassanid vassals resulting in the battle of Mu'tah, and to the south to destroy the idol of Dhu'l Khalasa. As discussed above, there are difficulties with the details of some of these accounts causing doubt and uncertainty among historians. The northern expeditions seem consistent with the ideology that the Ishmaelites were the righteous inheritors of the lands of Abraham, which they interpreted from certain verses of the Quran as mentioned above, and is seen in the ultimatum reportedly sent [[Invitation_to_Islam_Prior_to_Jihad|from the Ishmaelites to Heraclius]], recorded by a Christian historian in the 660s CE. The northern expedition stories could be a back-projection of this ideology, though both are reported as failures rather than triumphs (the Byzantines were nowhere to be seen at Tabuk, and the Ghassanids won at Mu'tah). | According to the sῑra-maghāzī literature, near the end of his life Muhammad also launched expeditions to the north in an attempt to fight the Byzantines at Tabuk, and following the killing of his emissary bearing [[Invitation_to_Islam_Prior_to_Jihad|an ultimatum letter to Harith ibn Abi Shamir, King of Damascus]], also against their Ghassanid vassals resulting in the battle of Mu'tah, and to the south to destroy the idol of Dhu'l Khalasa. As discussed above, there are difficulties with the details of some of these accounts causing doubt and uncertainty among historians. The northern expeditions seem consistent with the ideology that the Ishmaelites were the righteous inheritors of the lands of Abraham, which they interpreted from certain verses of the Quran as mentioned above, and is seen in the ultimatum reportedly sent [[Invitation_to_Islam_Prior_to_Jihad|from the Ishmaelites to Heraclius]], recorded by a Christian historian writing in the 660s CE. The northern expedition stories could be a back-projection of this ideology, though both are reported as failures rather than triumphs (the Byzantines were nowhere to be seen at Tabuk, and the Ghassanids won at Mu'tah). | ||
===Jihad in the Hadith=== | ===Jihad in the Hadith=== | ||