Interpreting Jihad
by James A. Beverley
Every discussion of Islamic
militancy turns eventually to two fundamental
concerns. First, how much is Islamism (that
practiced by fundamentalist Muslims open
to violence) rooted in the teaching and practice
of the prophet Muhammad?
Would he celebrate the work of Osama
bin Laden? Second, are the violent jihads of
our day sanctioned by the Qur'an and
by the actions of early Muslim leaders?
The prophet himself engaged
in many military battles and could be merciless
to his enemies, even those who simply attacked
him verbally. His original sympathies with
Jews and Christians as “Peoples
of the Book” gave way to a harsher
treatment when they did not follow Islam.
In one infamous episode, Muhammad cut the
heads off hundreds of Jewish males of the
Beni Quraiza tribe who did not side with
him in battle. The prophet is quoted as saying, “The
sword is the key of heaven and hell; a drop
of blood shed in the cause of Allah, a night
spent in arms, is of more avail than two
months of fasting or prayer: whosoever falls
in battle, his sins are forgiven, and at
the day of judgment his limbs shall be supplied
by the wings of angels and cherubim.”
In reference to the Qur'an,
many have drawn attention to the famous passage
in Surah 2:256:
“Let there be no compulsion in religion.”
This verse fits well with other Qur'an verses
in which jihad means personal and communal
spiritual struggle or striving. But the Qur'an
also uses jihad to mean “holy war,”
and the language can be extreme. Surah 5:33
reads, “The punishment of those who
wage war against God and His Messenger, and
strive with might and main for mischief through
the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or
cutting off of hands and feet from opposite
sides, or exile from the land: that is their
disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment
is theirs in the Hereafter.”
Both the example of the
prophet and some emphases in the Qur'an provided
warrant for Islam's earliest leaders to spread
Islam by military conquest. Bloody expansionism
was also justified through original Islamic
law that divided the world into two realms: Dar
al-Harb (the land of war) and Dar
al-Islam (land under Islamic rule). Both
Paul Fregosi's Jihad
in the West and Jewish scholar Bat
Ye'or's Decline of Eastern Christianity
Under Islam document the reality of Muslim
crusades long before the notorious Christian crusades of
the Middle Ages.
Out of the vortex of these
realities emerge two different perspectives
among modern Muslims. Islamists consider
their actions a true jihad or “holy
war” against infidels and the enemies
of Islam. They believe it is right to target
America, “the great Satan.” Osama
bin Laden believes that the Qur'an supports
his campaign, that the prophet would bless
his cause, and that Allah is on his side.
But the vast majority of Muslims believe
that nothing in Muhammad's life or in the
Qur'an or Islamic law justifies terrorism.
Bernard Lewis, the great
historian of Islam, noted in The Wall
Street Journal that throughout history,
Muslims have given jihad both spiritual
and military meaning. Lewis also pays particular
attention to the legal traditions in Islam
about what constitutes just war. After noting
the many limitations placed on military jihad,
he writes, “What the classical jurists
of Islam never remotely considered is the
kind of unprovoked, unannounced mass slaughter
of uninvolved civil populations that we saw
in New York [on September 11, 2001]. For
this there is no precedent and no authority
in Islam.”
Sources: Excerpted from Christianity Today, (January
7, 2002)
James A. Beverley is
professor of theology and ethics at Tyndale
Seminary in Toronto. He is author of Understanding
Islam
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