Jihad

Overview

Recall questions on the meaning of jihad, the greater and lesser jihad and the nafs, classical conditions and restraints on fighting, dar al-Islam and dar al-harb, Khadduri and Tariq Ramadan, the verse of the sword, and Nasr.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What does the word jihad actually mean?

   Model answer

   Striving or exertion. It is not the Arabic word for war, which is harb, nor for fighting, which is qital. The term covers any serious effort undertaken for Allah's sake, from resisting one's own impulses to speaking against injustice to armed defence of the community. Translating it as holy war imports a category from elsewhere, and Muslim scholars across the spectrum object to that translation.

2. 2

   What is the distinction between the greater and the lesser jihad?

   Model answer

   A report has the Prophet telling fighters returning from a campaign that they had come back from the smaller struggle to the greater one, meaning the struggle against the self. On that basis the inner effort is called the greater jihad and armed struggle the lesser. The report's chain is judged weak by many hadith critics, and this is itself part of the argument: those who emphasise the inner meaning lean on it heavily, while critics reply that the doctrine as the jurists actually developed it was about fighting.

3. 3

   What is the nafs, and why is subduing it called the harder struggle?

   Model answer

   The nafs is the self with its appetites and self-regard. The Qur'an distinguishes a self that drives towards wrong, a self that reproaches its own failings, and a self at peace with Allah, and the spiritual life is the movement between them. It is called harder because it offers no truce and no end: prayer at inconvenient hours, honesty when lying is cheaper, patience under provocation, restraint of anger and of the eyes, day after day.

4. 4

   What forms did classical jurists say jihad takes?

   Model answer

   Striving with the heart, against one's own wrongdoing and against temptation; with the tongue and the pen, by calling others to Islam and arguing for it; with the hand, by acting to correct what is wrong; and with the sword. Only the fourth generated a substantial body of law, but it was never presented by the jurists as the only meaning or the first one.

5. 5

   Under classical law, when is armed jihad legitimate and who may declare it?

   Model answer

   It is normally an obligation resting on the community as a whole and discharged if enough undertake it, rather than binding each individual; it becomes binding on individuals if Muslim territory is invaded. It is declared by the legitimate authority, not by private persons or self-appointed groups. Jurists also required that an invitation be issued before hostilities, and treated treaties and truces as fully binding instruments.

6. 6

   What restraints did the classical law impose on fighting?

   Model answer

   Non-combatants were not to be targeted: women, children, the old, the sick, the disabled, and those devoted to religious life. Bodies were not to be mutilated. Most schools forbade destroying crops, trees and livestock beyond military necessity. The treatment of prisoners was regulated, safe conduct could be granted to enemy nationals, and agreements were to be kept. Muslim critics of contemporary militant violence point out that it breaches every one of these rules.

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