Save

Share

Muslims scholars’ reply to the Pope for his explanation of the “holy war” as he related to Islam.

We would like to point out that “holy war” is a term that does not exist in Islamic languages. Jihad, it must be emphasized, means struggle, and specifically struggle in the way of God. This struggle may take many forms, including the use of force. Though a jihad may be sacred in the sense of being directed towards a sacred ideal, it is not necessarily a “war”. Moreover, it is noteworthy that Manuel II Paleologus says that “violence” goes against God’s nature, since Christ himself used violence against the money-changers in the temple, and said “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword…” (Matthew 10:34-36). When God drowned Pharaoh, was He going against His own Nature? Perhaps the emperor meant to say that cruelty, brutality, and aggression are against God’s Will, in which case the classical and traditional law of jihad in Islam would bear him out completely.

Here is a response of many Muslim

You say that “naturally the emperor knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the Quran, concerning holy war.” However, as we pointed out above concerning There is no compulsion in religion, the aforementioned instructions were not later at all.  Moreover, the emperor’s statements about violent conversion show that he did not know what those instructions are and have always been.

The authoritative and traditional Islamic rules of war can be summarized in the following principles:

1)      Non-combatants are not permitted or legitimate targets.  This was emphasized explicitly time and again by the Prophet, his Companions, and by the learned tradition since then.

2)      Religious belief alone does not make anyone the object of attack.  The original Muslim community was fighting against pagans who had also expelled them from their homes, persecuted, tortured, and murdered them.  Thereafter, the Islamic conquests were political in nature.

3)      Muslims can and should live peacefully with their neighbors.  And if they incline to peace, do thou incline to it; and put thy trust in God (al-Anfal 8:61). However, this does not exclude legitimate self-defense and maintenance of sovereignty.

Muslims are just as bound to obey these rules as they are to refrain from theft and adultery.  If a religion regulates war and describes circumstances where it is necessary and just, that does not make that religion war-like, anymore than regulating sexuality makes a religion prurient.  If some have disregarded a long and well-established tradition in favor of utopian dreams where the end justifies the means, they have done so of their own accord and without the sanction of God, His Prophet, or the learned tradition.  God says in the Holy Qur’an: Let not hatred of any people seduce you into being unjust. Be just, that is nearer to piety (al-Ma’idah 5:8). In this context we must state that the murder on September 17^th of a innocent Catholic nun in Somalia—and any other similar acts of wanton individual violence—‘in reaction to’ your lecture at the University of Regensburg, is completely un-Islamic, and we totally condemn such acts.

Related posts:

1. Muslim scholars’ letter to Pope Benedict: an intellectual response
2. How miracle of Iron is explained in the holy Quran
3. Answering a Jizya tax opponent: a wake up response
4. Does Jizya verse 9:29 of Quran invite Muslims to violence?: commentary on Islamic Jizya state tax
5. Proof that Islam advocates religious tolerance and freedom: Dismissing the misconception