Conclusion
There is no doubt that the current literature on the subject of jihad is full of sweeping oversimplifications of such complex and purely contextual legal tradition. The above discussions of the four issues of the justifications for jihad, the territorial division of the world, sovereignty, and jurisdiction of Islamic law are key to understanding the nature of the doctrine ofjihad.
In fact, these four issues are inextricably linked. Apart from defensive jihad against the invasion of Muslim territories, the main justification for the doctrine of jihad is the persecution and oppression of Muslims because of their practice and application of Islam and its law. Hence, classical Muslim jurists devised their two- or threefold figurative territorial divisions of the world according to this criterion. As a practical consequence of these divisions, classical Muslim jurists discussed, deliberated and developed the rulings regulating the interaction between the ddr al-Isldm with the ddr al-kufr/ddr al-harb and ddr al-sulh in times of peace and war. These rules include, for example, the application of the Islamic penal codes over the crimes committed inside the ddr al-Isldm or committed by its citizens outside of its territories, international trade, and concluding covenants with dar al-kufr/dar al-harb and dar al-sulh. This purely pre-modern contextual structure upon which the doctrine ofjihad was based and developed has collapsed following, most prominently, the establishment of the UN. By signing the UN charter, member states agree to abide by the prohibition on the resort to offensive war and to respect and observe human rights and fundamental freedoms. As a consequence, the dar al-kufr/dar al-harb ceased to exist and the entire world, even according to the classical territorial division, became either a dar al-Islam, according to the majority of classical Muslim jurists, or dar al-sulh, according to al-Shafi'i. Disregarding these changes in the paradigms of international relations between the classical Muslim jurists and the post-UN world is to read jihad out of context and to underestimate the legal heritage of one of the world’s greatest, most complex, and richest legal traditions, pure and simple.Fortunately, the classical Islamic legal literature has left an immensely detailed and humane body of regulations on the use of force, in particular, that can have the greatest impact on preventing non-international armed conflicts and humanizing both international and non-international armed conflicts. Since most cases of jihad following the independence of the Muslim countries were invoked by non-state actors, including radical and terrorist groups mainly in non-international armed conflicts, Islamic rules on the use of force have been misinterpreted and selectively abused by terrorist groups such al-Qaeda and ISIS. This means that the since jihad as the Islamic just war theory will be utilized by Muslims, the question of what constitutes jihad and, more importantly and specifically, the Islamic rules on the use of force in contemporary war situations, which differ considerably from that of the primitive war situations of the classical Muslim jurists, will continue to be debated by Islamic scholars and the just war theorists.
Notes
1 For the fighting contexts see Qur’an 3:142; 4:95 (3 times); 9:16, 24, 41, 44, 81, 85, 88; 61:11. For the non-fighting context see Qur’an 2:218; 5:35, 53-4; 6:109; 8:72, 74, 75; 9:19-20, 73, 79; 16:110; 22:78 (2 times); 24:53; 25:52 (2 times); 29:6 (2 times), 8, 69; 31:15; 35:42; 47:31; 49:15; 60:1; 66:9.
2 Qur’an 22:39-40. All translations of the Qur’anic texts are mine.
3 Qur’an 4:75-6.
4 See, for example, Qur’an 2:191-3, 217; 8:39.
5 Qur’an 2:190, 193; 4:75; 22:39-40.
6 Qur’an 2:106.
7 Qur’an 16:106.
8 See, for example, M. Cherif Bassiouni, ed., A Manual on International Humanitarian Law and Arms Control Agreements (New York: Transnational Publishers, 2000), 9.
9 Qur’an 2:205. For further exploration, see Ahmed Al-Dawoody, The Islamic Law of War: Justifications and Regulations, Palgrave Series in Islamic Theology, Law, and History, vol. 2 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 126-9.
10 Ibid., 128.
11 Wahbah al-Zuhayli, Athar al-Harb fi al-Islam: Dirasa Muqarana, 3rd edn (Damascus: Dar al-Fikr, 1998), 172.
12 See Mahmud Shaltut, Al-Fatawa: Dirasa li-Mushkilat al-Muslim al-Muasirfi Hayatih al-Yawmiyya al- Amma, 19th edn (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 2009), 375.
13 See ibid., 175.
14 Majid Khadduri, War and Peace in the Law of Islam (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955), 51.
15 Al-Zuhayli, Athar al-Harb fi al-Islam, 181.
16 See, for example, 'Abd al-Halim Mahmud, ‘Al-Jihad’, Kitab al-Mu tamar al-Rabi‘ li-Majma‘ al- Buhuth al-Islamiyya (Cairo: Majma' al-Buhuth al-Islamiyya, 1968), 36; Isma'il R. al-Faruqi, ‘Islam and Other Faiths: The World’s Need for Humane Universalism’, in The Challenge of Islam, ed. Altaf Gauhar (London: Islamic Council of Europe, 1978), 100; Tawfiq Wahba, Al-Harbfi al-Islam wa-fi al-Mujtama" al-Dawli al-Muasir, Kutub Islamiyya, Issue 145 (Cairo: Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, 1973), 21 ff
17 See 'Abd al-'Aziz Saqr, Al-Alaqat al-Dawliyyafi al-Islam Waqt al-Harb: Dirasa lil-Qawa id al-Munazzima li-Sayr al-Qital, Mashru' al-'Alaqat al-Dawliyya fi al-Islam 6 (Cairo: Al-Ma'had al-'Alami li-l-Fikr al-Islami, 1996), 7-29.
18 Wael B. Hallaq, The Impossible State: Islam, Politics, and Modernity’s Moral Predicament (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014), 49.
19 Majid Khadduri, ‘Islam and the Modern Law of Nations’, The American Journal of International Law 50(2) (April 1956): 359.
20 Hallaq, The Impossible State, 48.
21 Ibid., 50ff.
22 See Sayyid Qutb, Fi Zilal al-Quran, vol. 3 (Beirut: Dar al-Shuruq, 1982), 1432-47.
23 Sohail H. Hashmi, ‘Islam, Sunni’, in Encyclopedia of Religion and War, ed. Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez (New York: Routledge, 2004), 221.
24 See Muhammad 'Abd al-Salam Faraj, ‘Translation of Muhammad 'Abd al-Salam Faraj’s Text Entitled Al-Farida Al-Gha’iba’, in J. J. G. Jansen, The Neglected Duty: The Creed of Sadat’s Assassins and Islamic Resurgence in the Middle East (New York: Macmillan, 1986), 159-234.
25 https://ia902505.us.archive.org/28/items/poa_25984/EN.pdf (accessed 29 August 2015).
26 Khaled Abou El Fadl, Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law, paperback edn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 177.
Selected bibliography and further reading
Abou El Fadl, Khaled. Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006).
Bassiouni, M. Cherif (ed.). A Manual on International Humanitarian Law and Arms Control Agreements (New York: Transnational Publishers, 2000).
Dawoody, Ahmed al-. The Islamic Law of War: Justifications and Regulations. Palgrave Series in Islamic Theology, Law, and History (New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
Faraj, Muhammad 'Abd al-Salam. ‘Translation of Muhammad 'Abd al-Salam Faraj’s Text Entitled Al-Faridah Al-Gha’ibah’. In The Neglected Duty: The Creed of Sadat’s Assassins and Islamic Resurgence in the Middle East, trans. J. J. G. Jansen (New York: Macmillan, 1986), 159-234.
Faruqi, Isma'il R. al-. ‘Islam and Other Faiths: The World’s Need for Humane Universalism’. In The Challenge of Islam, ed. Altaf Gauhar (London: Islamic Council of Europe, 1978), 196-218.
Hallaq, Wael B. The Impossible State: Islam, Politics, and Modernity’s Moral Predicament (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014).
Hashmi, Sohail H. ‘Islam, Sunni’. In Encyclopedia of Religion and War, ed. Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez (New York: Routledge, 2004), 217-21.
Khadduri, Majid. War and Peace in the Law of Islam (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955).
Khadduri, Majid. ‘Islam and the Modern Law of Nations’. The American Journal of International Law 50(2) (April 1956): 358-72.
Mahmud, 'Abd al-Halim. ‘Al-Jihad’. Kitab al-Mutamar al-Rabi ' li-Majma' al-Buhuth al-Islamiyya (Cairo: Majma' al-Buhuth al-Islamiyya, 1968).
Qutb, Sayyid. Fi Zilal al-Quran (Beirut: Dar al-Shuruq, 1982).
Saqr, 'Abd al-'Aziz. Al- 'Alaqat al-Dawliyya fi al-Islam Waqt al-Harb: Dirasa li-l-Qawa"id al-Munazzima li-Sayr al-Qital. Mashru' al-'Alaqat al-Dawliyya fi al-Islam 6 (Cairo: Al-Ma'had al-'Alami li-l-Fikr al-Islami, 1996).
Wahba, Tawfiq. Al-Harbfi al-Islam wa-fi al-Mujtama' al-Dawli al-Mu'asir. Kutub Islamiyya, Issue 145 (Cairo: Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, 1973).
Zuhayli, Wahbah al-. Athar al-Harb fi al-Islam: Dirasa Muqarana, 3rd edn (Damascus: Dar al-Fikr, 1998).
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