One finds it repeated by apparently authoritative sources that Muslims are
permitted to fight wars only in defence of Islam. The Muslim propaganda
machine is active in disseminating similar examples of taqiyya, such as
"Islam is the religion of peace", "'Islam' means peace", "The word 'jihad'
is not found in the Koran", "'Jihad' means spiritual struggle' etc. The
BBC
even published, in internet material, the statement that Muslims can only
fight defensive wars; they were scrupulous enough to remove it when the
falsehood was pointed out.
I have come across a definitive Muslim source - the classical manual of
the
Hanafi school of law, the Hedaya, which states explicitly that jihad is to
be fought against infidels even if they are not the aggressors:
"The destruction of the sword is incurred by infidels, although they be
not
the first aggressors, as appears from various passages in the sacred
writings which are generally received to this effect.(Ali ibn Abi Bakr
al-Marghinani, "The Hedaya: Commentary on the Islamic laws" tr Hamilton,
Vol
II, BookIX. chapter 4, p141).
The Shafi'i law manual, "Reliance of the Traveller", states:
"The caliph makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians (provided he
has first invited them to enter Islam in faith and practice, and if they
will not, then invited them to enter the social order of Islam by paying
the
non-Muslim poll-tax... while remaining in their ancestral religion)... The
caliph fights other peoples until they become Muslims."
According to Patrick Sookhdeo the vast majority of contem****ary Muslim
scholars holds to this classical Islamic theory of war.
One such scholar is Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradhawi, who agrees that jihad may
be
an offensive means of extending the Islamic state:
"A jihad which you seek, and a jihad in which you repulse an attack. In
the
jihad which you are seeking, you look for the enemy and invade him. This
type of jihad takes place only when the Islamic state is invading other
[countries] in order to spread the word of Islam and to remove obstacles
standing in its way." ("The Prophet Muhammad as a Jihad Model", MEMRI
Special Dispatches Series, no 246, 24 July 2001).
While progressive Muslims reject the aggressive stance, most Muslims agree
that there is a religious duty to defend any Muslim territory, and all
Muslims from any kind of aggression. The varied interpretations that can
be
given to this position leave the doors wide open to war-making.
|
