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Jihad in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions
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{{Quote|{{Quran|9|5}}|And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|9|5}}|And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.}} | ||
The same language (capture them and kill them wherever you find them) is directed at the hypocrites in {{Quran-range|4|88|90}}, with reprieve for those who do not want to fight the believers or who flee to a place where they are protected by treaty. Unlike in Q 9:5, they do not need to convert to Islam, which is a condition not present in earlier fighting verses. A similar phrase appears also in Q 2:191, in the passage discussed above where they need only cease fighting and oppression. In the early part of surah 9, patience has run out for those proven untrustworthy to abide by their treaties. They must repent and join the religion (or perhaps | The same language (capture them and kill them wherever you find them) is directed at the hypocrites in {{Quran-range|4|88|90}}, with reprieve for those who do not want to fight the believers or who flee to a place where they are protected by treaty. Unlike in Q 9:5, they do not need to convert to Islam, which is a condition not present in earlier fighting verses. A similar phrase appears also in Q 2:191, in the passage discussed above where they need only cease fighting and oppression. In the early part of surah 9, patience has run out for those proven untrustworthy to abide by their treaties. They must repent and join the religion (or perhaps just observe prayer and zakat<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l_9WwaoDYQ Jihad, War and Peace in Islam by Dr. Javad Hashmi (Part 1)] - Youtube.com, April 2020 (see 2 hours 35 minutes)</ref>), individually seek protection, or die. | ||
Khalil writes that Q 9:5 was interpreted by scholars in the Umayyad and Abbasid imperial centres as abrogating certain earlier verses and opening the door for expansionst warfare against pagans, not just the treaty breakers who are explicitly the target of the verse. In contrast, scholars who did not live near these centres or lived at later times did not hold such a view and had a far more conservative opinion on abrogation generally.<ref>Mohammad Hassan Khalil, ''Jihad'' p. 13</ref> A minority extreme view was that "all" peaceful passages were abrogated.<ref>Mohammad Hassan Khalil, ''Jihad'' p. 16</ref> See also the introductory discussion in [[List of Abrogations in the Qur'an]]. | Khalil writes that Q 9:5 was interpreted by scholars in the Umayyad and Abbasid imperial centres as abrogating certain earlier verses and opening the door for expansionst warfare against pagans, not just the treaty breakers who are explicitly the target of the verse. In contrast, scholars who did not live near these centres or lived at later times did not hold such a view and had a far more conservative opinion on abrogation generally.<ref>Mohammad Hassan Khalil, ''Jihad'' p. 13</ref> A minority extreme view was that "all" peaceful passages were abrogated.<ref>Mohammad Hassan Khalil, ''Jihad'' p. 16</ref> See also the introductory discussion in [[List of Abrogations in the Qur'an]]. | ||
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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]], 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). | 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=== | ||