Justice, jihad and liberation

Overview

Recall questions on justice in the Qur'an, enjoining right and forbidding wrong, greater and lesser jihad and the conditions on armed jihad, terrorism, mercy, qisas, diya and maslaha, Ali Shari'ati and the Iranian revolution, and Abdal Hakim Murad's critique of Islamist revivalism.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What does the Qur'an require of Muslims regarding justice?

   Model answer

   It commands standing firm for justice as witnesses before God even when the testimony goes against oneself, one's parents or one's relatives, and it warns that hatred of a group must not lead to unfairness towards them. Justice is presented as an attribute of God that human society is to reflect, and prophets are described as sent so that people might uphold equity. The Qur'an also gives justice an economic dimension, condemning fraudulent measures, hoarding and the neglect of the poor, orphans and travellers, and making almsgiving an obligation rather than a favour.

2. 2

   What is meant by al-amr bil-ma'ruf, enjoining right, and al-nahy 'an al-munkar, forbidding wrong?

   Model answer

   It means enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong. The Qur'an describes the Muslim community as raised up for humanity precisely because it does this, so moral responsibility is not private. It requires believers to promote what is recognised as good and to oppose wrongdoing rather than acquiesce in it. A prophetic report sets out three levels of response: to change the wrong by hand, or if that is not possible by speech, or at least to reject it inwardly, which is described as the weakest form of faith.

3. 3

   Why is enjoining right and forbidding wrong classed as a collective duty, and what limits apply?

   Model answer

   It is a duty of sufficiency, fard kifaya: the obligation rests on the community, and if enough people discharge it the rest are excused, whereas if nobody does, all are at fault. Jurists set substantial limits to protect individuals. The wrong must be actually occurring and openly apparent, since the Qur'an forbids spying and prying into people's affairs and requires permission before entering homes, so no one may search out concealed sin. The person acting must know the ruling, must expect the intervention to do good rather than provoke greater harm, and physical correction is generally reserved to the authorities. Contemporary debates about religious police turn on exactly these limits.

4. 4

   What is jihad, and what are the greater and lesser forms?

   Model answer

   Jihad means struggle or exertion in the path of God, and the Qur'an and Sunna use it for effort of several kinds. The greater jihad is commonly identified as the struggle against one's own lower self, its appetites and its self-deception, a lifelong discipline. The lesser jihad is armed struggle, hedged about with legal conditions. The distinction comes from a report in which the Prophet, returning from fighting, is said to have told his companions they had come back from the lesser struggle to the greater one. It is important to note that hadith specialists have generally graded this report weak, even though the idea it expresses is thoroughly grounded in other sources on the soul's struggle.

5. 5

   What conditions did classical Islamic law place on armed jihad?

   Model answer

   It could be declared only by legitimate authority, not by individuals or private groups. Non-combatants were protected: jurists prohibited the killing of women, children, the elderly, the sick, and monks and other religious devotees, and Abu Bakr's instructions to his commanders are cited for the same rules along with prohibitions on destroying crops, trees and livestock. Mutilation, treachery and the breaking of treaties were forbidden, prisoners were to be treated humanely, and offers of peace were to be accepted. Normally it was a collective obligation; if Muslim territory was attacked it became binding on individuals.

6. 6

   How do Muslims argue that terrorism is not jihad, and what do critics say in reply?

   Model answer

   Mainstream Muslim scholars argue that attacks on civilians violate the explicit protection of non-combatants, that suicide is prohibited, that treaties and grants of safe conduct including visas are binding covenants, and that no private group may declare a war reserved to legitimate authority; on this basis such acts are aggression, not jihad. Critics reply that the classical tradition also contains an expansionary doctrine dividing the world into abodes of Islam and of war, that jurists permitted collateral harm in some circumstances, and that militants quote real texts rather than inventing them. A serious answer neither denies the presence of the martial category in the sources nor concedes that contemporary militants are applying it correctly.

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