SER 5 OF X SERIALS : Justification for Violence in Islam

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https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2020/03/understanding-complexity-of-j-i-h-d.html

SER  5  OF  X  SERIALS
https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2020/03/justification-for-violence-in-islam.html

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https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2020/02/islam-and-violence-r.html

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https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2020/02/ser-04-of-x-serials-islam-and-violence.html

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https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2020/02/spread-of-islam-r.html

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https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2020/02/history-of-arabia-r.html

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https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2020/02/muhammad-in-islam-continued.html

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https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2020/02/muhammad-in-islam.html

Justification for Violence in Islam

   Part I Introductory Remarks

Abdulaziz Sachedina

02/01/2003

[1] A note on comparative approach is appropriate in a study which, like this one1, attempts to identify common ground on a particular issue shared by the Western monotheistic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Comparative studies in religion have been generally criticized for oversimplifying the complex and intricate variations and divergences within each tradition for the purpose of typifying them in broad terms. Whereas it is not difficult to catalog broad categories like prophetic consciousness, the function of revelation and the religious-moral guidance based on it, and the salvation history shared by the Abrahamic faiths, special attention needs to be paid to the historical circumstances and social-political experiences of the respective communities that interacted with their religious orientation and shaped their attitudes, decisions, and actions.

[2] To be sure, the three basic ingredients of the religiously inspired world view are: (1) fundamental principles of the creed that provide the authoritative perspectives for interpreting contradictions and tensions in human existence; (2) the dispositions that are evoked by these perspectives; and, (3) the religious practices that reinforce both the creed and the disposition generated by it by means of special rituals and practices.2 When these basic ingredients are examined and verified against the relevant literature produced by the group within what Max Weber calls the "internal structure of cultural values" by which a religious community justifies its adoption of a practical solution to the ontological anxieties caused by existing fear of death and uncertain future, they may reveal the intricate relationship between the tradition and its contextual formulations and reinterpretations within a specific time and space.

[3] It is possible to assert from the outset that in investigating the particular attitude regarding political quietism3and pacifism4 in Western monotheistic traditions, the believers' opposition to or resignation in the face of all violent means of attaining a divinely ordained order would be settled in large measure by the way in which the religion maintained its relationship with power and legitimized the authority that exacted obedience to that power in the name of a sacred authority. In other words, Islamic views on activism or quietism, for instance, are part of a theory of statecraft which defines the state as a means to promoting the common good and as an instrument founded on the notions of an omnipotent, omniscient and just God, of a humanity endowed with volition and cognition, and of relations between the divine and human will and act. There is little doubt that the beliefs, attitudes, and practices of the religious subject demonstrate the intricate developing relationship within the context of socio-political history between the authoritative and determinative teachings of a tradition and the emerging power to implement them as normative for the creation of the religious polity. Moreover, the beliefs and attitudes also determine the way the followers of that tradition deal with the question of resistance and opposition to the abuse of power or submission to it. Furthermore, the ultimate outcome of this historical interplay between religion and power is also reflected in the way people have responded to the need to confront the obstacles to the realization of the idealized vision of a religious polity on earth. In other words, religious idealism has to interact with the realities that members of a given society must reckon with and continuingly reevaluate it to make it relevant in current circumstances.

Next:  Part II: The Interplay between Religion and Power in Islam

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End Notes

1  This article developed out of the two papers presented at two conferences held during 1993-94. The first part was presented at the "Conference on Quietism and Pacifism in the Western Monotheistic Traditions" at Washington University; and the second part was presented at the "Conference on Religious Perspectives on Pacifism and Non-Violence in Situations of International Conflict" at the United States Institute of Peace. I would like to acknowledge my appreciation of the suggestions offered by the readers of the early draft of the work, and incisive criticisms offered by my colleagues and friends Professors James Childress at UVa and David Little at USIP.

2  David Little and Sumner B. Twiss, Comparative Religious Ethics: A New Method (New York: Harper and Row, 1978), p. 54-55.

3  I assume that in the present context quietism refers to political quietism and hence, is not to be confused with the quietism in the meaning of the late seventeenth-century devotional movement of the Catholic Church in Italy and France. See article QUIETISM in The Encyclopedia of Religion, Ed. Mircea Eliade (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 19..), Vol. 12/153-155.

4  Pacifism in the sense of nonviolence in the context of the visions of a perfect society based on social harmony and peaceful living is a relatively new term in the English language. However, pacifism in the meaning of nonviolent approach to confrontation, even in oppressive situations has been present in the Abrahamic traditions as something divinely ordained in response to conflict. The corollary of such a requirement is the suffering of martyrdom (kiddush ha Shem in Judaism and shah_da in Islam connote bearing witness to the divine order) by sacrificing one&=javascript:goNote(39s life. See: article NONVIOLENCE in The Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 10/463-467.

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Justification for Violence in Islam

Part II: The Interplay between Religion and Power in Islam

[4] Islam emerged in seventh-century Arabia in the midst of a serious socio-economic imbalance between the rich and the poor, and between extreme forms of individualism and tribal solidarity. Moreover, it arose in the very spirit of populism of the Abrahamic faiths, that is, as a moral challenge to humanity to rise above its personal grudges and pettiness and to respond to God by affirming belief in God's plan for the whole of humanity and working for its ultimate realization. Abrahamic faiths tended to dominate the common expectations founded on the ordinary moral needs and abilities of the common people. This outlook may be summed up as "looking to justice in history through community." All the prophets had stressed just action as the most meritorious religious activity.1

[5] Accordingly, as a religion with a set of beliefs, decisions, and practices, Islam embarked on creating its own public order that would translate the Islamic revelation into a specifically religious-moral social universe. In this sense, Islam inherently functioned as an "activist" ideology within a specific social-political order which it constantly evaluated, calling upon its adherents either to defend and preserve or to overthrow and transform. In addition, Islam as a religious ideology is both a critical assessment of human corporate existence and also a divine blueprint that awaits implementation to realize God's will on earth to the fullest extent possible and, if necessary, through force.

[6] Nevertheless, in view of its recognition of human volition and innate disposition in negotiating its spiritual destiny, Islam did not overlook the problems of disbelief and the tensions and inner stresses it caused in human beings. Rejection of truth and impairment of moral consciousness were problems that in large measure had to be resolved by means of appeal to the innate disposition of human beings--the conscience--which was divinely guided and which possessed knowledge of good and evil, of godly existence and impiety. But there were times when this abnormal condition of human rejection of faith became a threat to the corporate well-being of the society and caused the spread of corruption on earth, a corruption that involved more than the damaging of the individual conscience. Unbelief came to signify not only a denial of truth, but a threat to the community of the faithful. Moreover, it came to be identified not only as a religious wrong, to be punished in the hereafter, but also a moral wrong, to be corrected in the here and now - by use of force if necessary.

Thus the Qur'anic command:

O believers, fight the unbelievers who are near you, and let them find in you harshness; and know that God is with the godfearing. (9:124)

The successive revelation of the Qur'an points to a growing awareness in the Muslim community that it would have to engage in armed resistance to the threat posed by those who did not share its faith and the socio-political implications of that faith.

[7] More immediately, the pre-Islamic Arab tribal culture had institutionalized military power on which depended the security of a tribe and even its existence. Primacy among the tribes belonged to those which were able to protect all their clients, and to avenge all insults, injuries, and deaths through their military strength. The Semitic system of retaliatory justice based on 'a life for a life' in the circumstances of desert life could not always ensure that crime would not be committed lightly and irresponsibly. In fact, show of military prowess through warlike expeditions in order to gain ascendancy among the tribal groupings was quite common in the pre-Islamic Arabia. Against this background, the legitimate use of force prescribed by the Qur'an was merely to provide appropriate moral restrictions on the use of military power to resolve conflicts.2

[8] Inasmuch as the Qur'an introduced the injunction legitimizing the use of force through the instrumentality of jih_d, it was responding to moral-religious and political conditions prevalent in the seventh century Arabia. The following passage of the Qur'an illustrates the moral restrictions and religious sanctions that were being introduced to curb prevalent violence in the tribal society: 

O believers, prescribed for you is retaliation, touching the slain; freeman for freeman, slave for slave, female for female. But if aught is pardoned a man by his brother, let the pursuing be honorable, and let the payment be with kindliness. That is a lightening granted you by your Lord, and a mercy; and for him who commits aggression after that - for him there awaits a painful chastisement. (2:178)

[9] To be sure, the Qur'anic legitimation of jih_d in the meaning of fighting in the verse 2:193 where the commandment is declared in no uncertain terms: "Fight them (i.e. those who fight with you), till there is no persecution and the religion be only for God" is concerned with the problem of eradication of unbelief that causes a breakdown in the Islamic public order.3

Fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! God loveth not aggressors. And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. (2:190-191)

The permission to fight in the above passage was a response to the problem posed by the powerful Meccan tribes. The Qur'an indicates that although unbelief is a religious problem, to be construed as one dimension of the work of God, unbelief can be, and in the case of the Meccans was, malicious - a willful act on the part of human beings who seek to deceive God or to deprive God of God's rights.

[10] This was a prescriptive measure to arrest the harm caused to the people at large and to redress the wrongs suffered by the weak at the hands of those who perpetrated immoral conduct in order to defeat the divine purposes on earth. In other words, the "struggle" and the "striving" (primary signification of the word jih_d) by means of force, as far as the religious attitude was concerned, underscored the divinely sanctioned endeavor as a response to actively hostile unbelief. It is not unbelievers as such who are the target of force, but unbelievers who demonstrate their hostility to Islam by, for example, persecution of the Muslims. In other words, it is not merely the negative attitude to religion per se that sanctions the use of force; it is the hostility to which it leads that makes it a prior moral offense and which requires a response with force.

[11] The need for the use of force first became evident when the Muslims under the leadership of the Prophet established the first Islamic polity, in Medina. As willful disobedience, the unbelief of the Meccan tribes became a problem with moral as well as religious dimensions for the public order. The Qur'an indicates that various kinds of action were appropriate for the Prophet and the community to deal with this situation. The important point to underscore here is that the more the Qur'an stresses the moral aspects of the problem of unbelief (e.g., Meccan persecution of the Muslims, their expulsion of the innocent from their homes) the more the use of force is justified.

[12] The use of force, then, as far as the Qur'an is concerned is defensive, and limited to the violation of interpersonal human conduct. For the Qur'an it is crucial to emphasize its defensive strategy in dealing with the problem of human violence stemming from human rejection of faith. Nonetheless, in the historical development of the relationship between Islam and power, Muslim jurists regarded this explicitly Qur'anic principle of defensive warfare as abrogated. They maintained that fighting was obligatory for the Muslims, even when the unbelievers had not begun hostilities.4 This accommodation with the historical practice of jih_d is not uncommon in the works of the jurists.

[13] What happens when unbelief among the Peoples of the Book (Jews and Christians), who are otherwise tolerated as non-Muslim monotheists, takes the form of disregard for the moral standards prescribed by the Islamic public order?

The Qur'an prescribes:

 Fight those who believe not in God and the Last Day and do not forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden - such men as practice not the religion of truth, being those who have been given the Book - until they pay the tribute out of hand and have been humbled. (9:29)

[14] There is no other place in the Qur'an than this above-cited verse where there remains room to interpret its directive to combat disbelief as going beyond the consistent defensive posture that must be adopted by the Muslim public order. And, yet it is the moral clause in the verse ("do not forbid what God and His messenger have forbidden") which is within the jurisdiction of the community to assess its negative impact and respond accordingly. Although Muslim community, according to the Qur'an, was one among many divinely guided communities such as the Jewish and Christian, all equally sharing in their blessed Abrahamic origin, soon after the establishment of Muslim political power, Muslim community saw Islam as a political ideology that was first to rule over and then to supersede all other communities. Islam was to usher the true and uncorrupted divine guidance to humankind, creating the world-wide society in which the Qur'an and the Prophetic paradigm, the Sunna, would be the everyday norm of all the nations. Islam, Muslims believed, must guide the practical policies of a cosmopolitan world under its sphere of influence, the d_r al-isl_m.


Next:   Part III: Jih_d as a Defensive Strategy or a Means of "Calling"?

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End Notes

1  Marshall G. S. Hodgson, on "The World Before Islam," Venture of Islam (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974) I, 103ff provides one of the most detailed introductions to Islam by undertaking the discussion of the Abrahamic roots of the Islamic tradition and highlighting the populist as well as confessional characteristics of Islam that it shares with the other Semitic religions.

2  See our joint venture entitled: Human Rights and the Conflict of Cultures: Western and Islamic Perspectives on Religious Liberty, co-authored with David Little and John Kelsay (University of South Carolina Press, 1988) for the justification and restriction in use of force.

3  According to Mumammad b. JarAr al-mabarA, TafsAr (Beirut: D_r al-Ma&=javascript:goNote(39_rif, 1972), takes the word fimna ('dissension') to mean shirk, that is, a form of disbelief in which a person would ascribe divinity to things not worthy of such ascription. Other Qur'anic exegetes agree with mabarA on this point. See, for instance, al-BaymawA, Anw_r al-tanzAl (Cairo, 1887), p. 41.

4  See the article "Djih_d" in Encyclopedia of Islam (London: E. J. Brill, 1970), 2nd edition, 2/538 for the opinions of Muslim jurists.

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Justification for Violence in Islam

Part III: Jih_d as a Defensive Strategy or a Means of "Calling"?

[15] Long before the Muslim jurists undertook to provide religious rationale for the historical practice of jih_d by developing political-legal terminology like (i) d_r al-isl_m (the sphere of "submission" [to God]) and (ii) d_r al-harb (the sphere of war), the Qur'an had implicitly divided the world into (iii) d_r al-im_n (the sphere of belief) and (iv) d_r al-kufr (the sphere of disbelief). There is, however, a difference in the way the revealed law, the Shari'a, defined the two spheres and the way the Qur'an projected the realm of "belief" and "disbelief." For Islamic law the division of the world into the spheres of "submission to God" and "war" was in terms of spatial-temporal as well as religious hegemony of Islam; whereas for the Qur'an the spatial division was simply in terms of spiritual and moral distinction between the spheres of "belief" and "disbelief."

[16] Mecca was regarded as the sphere of "disbelief" as long as the people of Mecca had not accepted Islam. The "submission" of the people to the Islamic order brought about the conversion of Mecca to the sphere of "belief." The religious distinction is thus attached to the spiritual-moral condition of the people, and not necessarily to the land where everyone should aspire to return as part of the divine promise. There are no prophetic promises in Islam, resembling those in Judaism, for instance, that would make Muslims undertake jih_d to return from the "diaspora" to their "holy land" located somewhere in Arabia. Moreover, there are no divine guarantees that once the sphere of "belief" is established it will not revert to the sphere of "disbelief." The maintenance of the sphere of "belief" from turning into a corrupt and tyrannical sphere of "disbelief" is a human responsibility. Furthermore, there is no covenant between God and Muslims that certain parts of earth will be immune from becoming corrupt and unjust. Ultimately, human response to the divine challenge of becoming morally and spiritually attentive would decide the sacredness or otherwise of any part of earth. It was in such a conception of Islam as a political ideology for the entire world that the tension between the Qur'anic sanction of jih_d as a defensive strategy in the face of persecution, and jih_d as a means of "calling" (al-da'wa) people to divine path was discernible.1 The tension is between the religious destiny of humanity which must be negotiated between God and individuals without coercion from any human agency, including that of the Prophet, and the moral responsibility of living as a member of a society with well defined rights and obligations. Muslim jurists and exegetes were engaged in legitimizing the jih_d for purposes of "calling" persons to Islam - thus rendering the jih_d a form of holy war. On the one hand, there was the problem of reconciling an evident discrepancy between the Qur'anic treatment of the jih_d as means to make "God's cause succeed" (8:39) and the manipulation of jih_d by the de facto Muslim authorities to increase the "sphere of submission [to God]" by engaging in territorial expansion. There is, further, the tension between religious and moral justifications for the jih_d, which although not explicitly distinguished in Islamic jurisprudence are, at any rate, alluded to in the Qur'an. Undoubtedly, tangible political circumstances forced the jurists to be pragmatic and realistic in their formulation of the justifications for undertaking jih_d, especially if the de facto rulers were willing to uphold the supremacy of Islamic law in a Muslim public order. In the process of providing a religious legitimation for the territorial expansionism of the Muslim rulers, the jurists preferred on many occasions to overlook those passages of the Qur'an that point toward moral justifications of jih_d ('fight until there is no persecution'). Consequently, their rationalization of the jih_d as the means by which the entire world might be converted to the "sphere of Islam" obscures the Qur'anic concept of the jih_d in the meaning of a defensive war fought to stop persecution.

[17] The difficulty of keeping the moral and religious justifications for engaging in jih_d separate in Islamic jurisprudence was inevitable because at no point did Muslim jurists ever undertake to distinctly define the ethical and religious foundations of the Islamic legal thought. Moreover, because of the interdependence between religion and politics in the creation of an Islamic world order, Muslim legal authority was envisaged as a comprehensive power that exacted moral and civil obedience in the name of God. The promise of the creation of a just and equitable public order under the normative Shari'a that embodied the will of God was central to Islamic revelation and also to the social, political, and economic activity of the Muslim community. The connection between the divine will and the creation of such an order was fundamental in the jurists' regarding of the jih_d as an instrument in the fulfillment of the ideal Muslim society. Thus, it was not difficult to interpret the Qur'an in such a way that the relatively limited justification for jih_d contained in the sacred text was broadened to associate jih_d with the concept of justice and divine guidance and with the desire to secure the well-being of the entire humanity.

[18] In the wake of the phenomenal conquests achieved by Muslims during the 1st/7th century, the jurists began to apply the term jih_d to military action and to efforts to expand the "sphere of Islam" through the extension of the boundaries of the Islamic polity. The juridical works produced during the 2nd/8th century provide the evidence that the treatment of the jih_d in connection with the task of converting the "sphere of war" (d_r al-harb) to the sphere of Islam was, in effect, an ex post facto legitimation of the early conquests. In fact, the division of the world into two spheres of "war" and "peace (isl_m)" was a legal construct based on the Muslim jurists' inference from the implicit Qur'anic division of the world into the spheres of "belief" (im_n) and "disbelief" (kufr).

[19] That there is a relationship between the "call to faith" (al-da'wa) and the undertaking of jih_d is supported by the insistence of the Qur'an that it has been revealed for the purpose of making the entire world aware of the divine path, and of requiring humanity to obey God and the Prophet. But what are the means that the Prophet may use to exact this obedience? Does the Qur'an justify jih_d in this connection?

[20] The Qur'an gives the Prophet, in his capacity as the leader of the Muslim community, the right to control "discord on earth" by means of jih_d. This right points to the possibility -even obligation- for the Prophet to resort to jih_d when, in his judgement, such action is necessary as a means to combat a breakdown of the public order. In particular, the Prophet may resort to the sword in response to a situation of general lawlessness that results from someone's "taking up arms against God and His messenger" (9:33-34), that is, from a rebellion against the established Islamic order. The repeated injunction to eradicate "corruption on earth," taken together with the Qur'anic justification of a human institution that has the power to carry out the function of "enjoining the good and forbidding the evil," (3:104, 110; 9:71) represents a religiously sanctioned basic moral-civil requirement to protect the well-being of a human community.

[21] In the light of the need to eradicate "corruption on earth" and to "command the good and forbid the evil," the Qur'an provides a sort of rationally derived moral basis for jih_d in Islam. To be sure, the permission to use force in any form occurred, according to the jurists, during the Medina period of the Prophet's ministry (622 CE) when Muslims were given permission to fight back against the "folk who broke their solemn pledges":

Will ye not fight a folk who broke their solemn pledges, and purposed to drive out the Messenger and did attack you first? (9:13)

If they withdraw not from you, and offer you not peace, and refrain not their hand take them, and slay them wherever you come to them; against them We have given you a clear authority. (4:91-93)

[22] It is not difficult to adduce strictly defensive warfare, justified on moral grounds (breach of contract, retaliation, self-defense and so on), from this permission given to the Muslims to use force. That is, the permission is to respond to the rationally derived obligation to fight in retaliation for attacks upon Muslims. Hence, the Qur'an justifies defensive jih_d, allowing the Muslims to fight against and subdue hostile unbelievers who are dangerous to the community, and whose actions show them to be inimical to the success of God's cause. My categorization of the Qur'anic jih_d as strictly a "defensive" jihad is based on the absolute absence of any reference in the Qur'an that would justify an "offensive" jih_d, that is, a jih_d undertaken to "convert" all of humanity to Islam. As I shall demonstrate, the Muslim jurists, especially the Shi'ites, had great difficulty in justifying the "offensive" jih_d without the presence of a legitimate, divinely designated authority of the infallible Imam who could protect against the shedding of innocent blood.

[23] However, if the Qur'an had stopped at this duty of self-defense against hostile forces, then the possibility of offensive jih_d would have been altogether out of question. It also requires the Prophet to strive to make "God's cause succeed." At this point, the jih_d (the "struggle") becomes an offensive endeavor in connection with efforts to bring about the kind of world order that the Qur'an envisions.

[24] The possibility of offensive jih_d as a means in the creation of the Islamic world order gives rise to the tension between the tolerance advocated in the matters of religious destiny of human beings, on the one hand, and active response encouraged and even required against unbelievers "until there is no persecution (fitna) and the religion be only for God,"(8:39), on the other. If the divine commandment in 8:39 is interpreted in the context provided by the general Qur'anic justification for engaging in jih_d (as a response to aggression or moral wrong), it can be construed in terms of a moral-civil duty to fight "persecution" which, according to 2:191 "is worse than slaughter." On the other hand, if the verse is interpreted in terms of the development of Muslim political power, then it may be said to provide a warrant for wars of expansion. Undoubtedly, Sunni jurists, in providing the legitimacy of the Muslim conquests, duly regarded them as the outcome of a Qur'anic jih_d. However, Muslim political history clearly demonstrates that these conquests were undertaken with the explicit aim of expanding Islamic hegemony, not with the goal, as stated in the Qur'an, of ensuring that "the religion be only for God." (8:39-40) This verse clearly states that fighting cannot be started until the adversaries are first invited to come to the right path. If they accept the call, there will be no fighting; but if they reject it then "know that God is your Master; the most excellent Master, and most excellent Helper." That means their rejection of responding to the call of religion is beyond human remedy. Only God can guide them to the right path. Further evidence that the injunction to fight in this verse was morally restricted is provided by the fact that some Muslim commentators regarded it as abrogated by the more general command that requires Muslims to fight in the verse 9:29, against "those who believe not in God and the Last Day..." However, this verse refers to an entirely different group of unbelievers. It speaks about the Peoples of the Book. And, as pointed out earlier, offensive jih_d against the Jews and the Christians "until they pay jizya (poll-tax)" (9:29) points more to the complex relationship and interdependence of religious and moral considerations in the treatment of the "Peoples of the Book" than to their conversion to "God's religion," Islam.

[25] To recapitulate, if jih_d is understood within the notion of human responsibility to strive for the success of God's cause, consistently maintained by the Qur'an (9:41), then legitimizing the use of force against moral and political offenses cannot be regarded as contradicting the Qur'anic dictum of 2:256: "No compulsion is there in religion." The Qur'an justifies the use of force in the establishment of an order that protects the basic welfare of the Muslim community against "internal" and "external" enemies. The "internal" enemies include "tyrants" who, according to the Qur'an, "fight against God and His messenger, and hasten about the earth, to do corruption there" (5:33). "Fight" or "take up arms" as the Arabic verb suggests, is taken to mean "subverting a Muslim public order under God and His Messenger" leading to "chaos and lawlessness." Hence, "tyrants" are those engaged in seditious activity against the Muslim public order. The "external" enemies include the "leaders of unbelief" who "break their oaths after their covenant and thrust at your religion" (9:12) (i.e., non-Muslim Arabs) and the Peoples of the Book (i.e., Jews and Christians), who "do not forbid what God and His messenger have forbidden" (9:29), thereby obstructing the struggle to make "God's cause succeed."

Next: Part IV: The Need for Legitimate Authority to Sanction Violence in the Name of God

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End Notes

1  Discussion in this and the following section is based on my earlier research on "The Development of Jihad in Islamic Revelation and History," in Cross, Crescent, and Sword: The Justification and Limitation of War in Western and Islamic Tradition, ed. James Turner Johnson and John Kelsay (New York: Greenwood Press, 1990), pp. 35-50.

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Justification for Violence in Islam

Part IV:  The Need for Legitimate Authority to Sanction Violence in the Name of God

[26] The Prophet through the revelation, then, was not only representing divine goals on earth; he was also engaged in interpreting them to make them relevant in the given cultural context. Any armed struggle like jih_d which, as the Qur'an admits, was by nature reprehensible to humanity since it endangered its sense of security and well-being, presupposed the existence of a divinely designated authority that could resolve the problems of the interpretability of supernaturally ordained obligation involving violence and destruction of human life. Jih_d, as the Muslim jurists correctly inferred, could not be waged without the divine authority being invested in the Prophet or his successor, who alone could justify the reasons and the ends for its undertaking. No bloodshed was warranted if the religious-moral goals were unclear or if there was no guarantee that it would eradicate causes of corruption.

[27] It is in connection with this last statement that Shi'i jurists, by contrast with the Sunni scholars, argued that the presence of a divinely appointed leader (the Imam) would be a necessary precondition of any offensive jih_d. The Sunni jurists did not consider it a necessity that the leader of the Muslims be divinely appointed Imam. Rather, they argued that any de facto Muslim authority ought to advance the purposes of God in the jih_d. This difference of opinion points to the fundamental differences between the two schools of thought in the matter of right authority. It also demonstrates their understanding of the political history of Islam and of the connections of the Qur'anic jih_d with that history.

[28] The Sunni jurists maintained that in the area of constitutional affairs, the community should have a sovereign head in charge of all its affairs, including the declaration of jih_d, and bound to give effect to the general purposes of God for Islamic society by ruling in accordance with the revealed law. This is known as the legal doctrine of "governance in accordance with the Shari'a (siy_sa shar'iyya)." The sovereign in the management of all the affairs of state should always be prepared to consult the community and to listen to the representations of the community. Neither side was to act independently of the other or to impose its own point of view. This was the tradition of the early Muslim caliphs following the Prophet's death. However, ways to assure such consultation and representation were not laid down in the juridical texts to avoid rigidity in the matter of "governance in accordance with the Shari'a" and to allow the political institution necessary flexibility to adapt itself to varying future situations.

[29] Under the legal doctrine of the "governance in accordance with the Shari'a," the Sunni jurists thought of the jih_d as a war for the expansion of Islamic territory- i.e., the sphere where the norms prescribed by the Shari'a would be paramount. In so doing, they offered a religious rationale for the historic practice of Muslim rulers, who are afforded an over-riding personal discretion to determine, according to time and circumstances, how the purposes of God for the Islamic community might be best effected.

[30] The Shi'i jurists did not regard the wars of expansion as motivated by the Qur'an. In fact, it was the Shi'i scrutiny of the Sunni explications of jih_d that gave rise to questions concerning right authority: Who can declare the jih_d? While the majoritarian Sunni jurisprudence is always conditioned by the historic practice of the community, working out its ideas about jih_d with respect to the reality of wars of conquest in the name of Islam, the minority Shi'i jurisprudence characteristically focused on the ideal.1 In the absence of any need to rationalize political power, Shi'ite juridical tradition could remain adamant concerning the questions of right authority and just cause. The Shi'i jurists, therefore, questioned the motives of the Sunni caliphs with respect to the practice of war.2 The original purpose of jih_d, they contended, was not preserved under the Sunni rulers.

[31] For the Shi'i, offensive jih_d -the jih_d for the purpose of calling upon people to respond to God's guidance by accepting Islam- required the presence of the just, divinely appointed Imam, not (as the Sunnites argued) just any de facto ruler under the "governance of the Shari'a"; or, in the absence of the Imam, as is the case with the last of the Shi'ite Imam in concealment, the person deputized by him could authorize such a struggle. The Shi'ite jurists made an explicit distinction between this offensive jih_d and the defensive jih_d, which would protect the welfare of the Muslim community against hostile aggression. The requirement of just authority (in the case of offensive war) was supposed to guarantee that the jih_d against the unbelievers would be waged strictly for the cause of God. In fact, it is only the just Imam who, by virtue of his divinely protected knowledge of Islamic revelation, could initiate the jih_d against the unbelievers. More importantly, it is only the just leader who can avoid errors of judgement in critical matters like shedding of blood and ensure that the jih_d is truly in accord with the goals of Islam. Sunni jurists, although in agreement that there should be an Imam (in the ordinary sense of a ruler and not a divinely appointed leader) to lead the jih_d for the purpose of calling people to Islam, are in disagreement with the Shi'i in regard to the necessity of the infallible Imam's permission for the initiation of such a jih_d.

[32] However, the question of obtaining the permission of the Imam does not arise in defensive warfare, because defense, the Shi'i argue, is a moral requirement founded upon such Qur'anic passages as 2:190-91. Moreover, the Shi'i jurists assert that from the tenth century on when the last Imam went in concealment the obligation to engage in offensive jih_d has lapsed until the messianic leader reappears in future. But the Imam's absence has no connection to the discharging of the obligation of self-defense. Whenever the Muslims are attacked by enemies, and they fear for the safety of the boundaries and peoples of Islam, it is their duty to undertake defensive measures and defend themselves against those who threaten their security. This defense, as the Shi'ite jurists remind their followers, should be undertaken with the intention of repelling the enemy only. All forms of defense, against those who attacked Muslims, against those who want to kill and drive away people from their homes, and against those who rise up against a just ruler, were regarded as "defense" rather than strict jih_d in the meaning of furthering the cause of God against unbelief among the human race. It was also in this sense of defense, that Muslims living in d_r al-sulh (the "sphere of peace"), as a minority under non-Muslim government in peace and were able to practice their religion freely, had the military obligation to fight in defence of d_r al-sulh.3 Evidently, the obligation of self-defense was regarded universal enough to require Muslims, whether Shi'i or Sunni, living under any government to undertake proper measures for self-preservation.

[34] Sunni jurisprudence based its notions of jih_d on the existence of an authority invested with political power to preserve and maintain the public order and to protect the Islamic norms from being infringed or tampered with from inside or from outside. Consequently, Sunni jurists did not feel the need to pursue the discussion concerning the various types of jih_d or the diverse justifications for it, because all types of warfare were afforded religious legitimation. By contrast, Shi'i jurists presupposed their own lack of power. Hence, their indulgence in the exercise of defining the goals, the preconditions, the various types of jih_d, and so on. Moreover, Shi'i political jurisprudence was not justified in its theoretical formulations about jih_d by the actual historic practice of the Muslim community. Consequently, there is a substantial discussion in the works of the Shi'i jurists concerning moral and religious restrictions on use of violence in making God's cause succeed- the knowledge of that being restricted to the infallible Imam.

[35] In the final analysis, from the point of comparative perspectives on the ethics of war, jih_d in its Qur'anic ordainment made it possible for Muslims to assert that the only "just" war is one fought for religious purposes under the legitimate political authority.4 The reason is that concern for peace which has led to the visions of a just society has also required the proscriptions on use of force, in particular legal force to procure that peace. Just war tradition even in the West in general is connected with the desire to strive and to achieve true peace by removing the causes of conflict. Accordingly, violent or nonviolent approaches to confrontation in Islam has depended upon the ultimate outcome of the conflict.

Next: Justification for Violence in Islam,  Part V: The Law of Rebellion


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End Notes

1   In the chapter on the Shi'ite theory of political authority in my The Just Ruler in Shi'ite Islam: The Comprehensive Authority of the Jurist in Imamite Jurisprudence (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), pp. 105-117 I have discussed the intimate relationship between jih_d and the question of right authority in Twelver Shi'ite jurisprudence.

2  There are a number of narratives related in the Shi&=javascript:goNote(39ite sources that question the legitimacy of the various jih_ds of the Sunni caliphs as motivated by the Qur'anic demand to make God's cause succeed. See: Mumammad B_qir al-MajlisA, Bim_r al-anw_r (Tehran: Kit_bfur_shA-yi Isl_miyya, 1957), Volume 100, p. 18f.

3  Dar al-sulh as a spatial-religious conception conveys the essence of Muslim cognition of their emigration in the non-Muslim countries. It provides a Muslim minority with the legal and ethical sources for furthering the ways that are necessary to relate themselves as members of a family and a community in predominantly non-Muslim environment. Closely related to this concept is the notion of d_r al-mijra (the sphere of emigration) which not only suggests that every corner of the earth is open to such emigration to seek God's universal bounty; it also considers any part of the earth unrestrictedly and potentially capable of providing humanity with all necessary conditions to direct it toward obedience to God. See my article on: "Islam and Muslims in Diaspora," in the Bulletin of the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, International University of Japan, Volume 7, March 1993, pp. 109-146.

4  John Kelsay, Islam and War: The Gulf War and Beyond, A Study in Comparative Ethics (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993), p. 2.

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Justification for Violence in Islam

 Part V:  The Law of Rebellion

[36] The Prophet's injunction to avoid strife and wrongdoing has served as an important principle in the adoption of political quietism or pacifist activism in some sectors of the Muslim community. In general, the law in Islam prohibits rebellion under almost any condition because it expresses a requirement of proportionality by warning that opposition to an unjust government should not result in greater discord than that which is being suffered. The government as an instrument for the common good, with its legitimacy hinging on the condition of providing means of fulfilling the religious-moral obligations of Islam under a just authority, was always an important consideration in conceding the right of rebellion. In situations of rebellion against the Muslim government, the law discusses the criteria relevant to rebellion (al-baghy) which serve to distinguish its participants from apostates and brigands. Muslim jurists define an insurgent as someone who commits an act of insurrection (khur_j), with a reason or interpretation, while enjoying wide support or power (shawka). In the absence of a 'reason' or 'power', the party in question is treated as a common criminal and not an insurgent.

[37] A rebellion may be justified because of what is ascribed to the Prophet who said: "If people see an oppressor and they do not hinder him, then God will punish all of them."1 The tradition somehow requires a communitarian response to the oppressive situation in the society. Accordingly, the criterion of 'power'(shawka) functions as a safeguard against an individual taking upon himself to correct the social and political ill. The insurgent group must demonstrate wide support in order to be recognized as having somewhat equal standing with the authority against which it is rising. The form of organization, leadership and membership reduces the possibility of anarchy and lawlessness arising from a corrupt person inventing a justification and claiming to be a rebel. This requirement is consistent with the Islamic concern for the community and the protection of Islamic order. In the case of collective rebellion the group itself essentially functions as a community and is concerned with the preservation of Islamic values rather than motivated by individual self-interest. The action is undertaken by public mandate, not by private initiative. It is only then and only if the justification for rebellion provided by the legitimate group that wishes to oppose the state is valid and the Imam concedes it, that the law rules that the Imam should be liable for disorder, not the rebels. Additionally, even though both sides of the conflict may have some legitimacy, Islamic law acknowledges the likely power discrepancy between the state and the opposition by exempting the rebels from liability for any harm to property or life occurring during the course of rebellion.2

[38] However, rebels should not use this power discrepancy as a way to justify the use of any violent means necessary to achieve their goals. There are some among Muslim jurists who taking the side of the insurgent group argue that the justness of the rebellion renders considerations of moral restriction on the use of violent means irrelevant, thereby allowing acts of terrorism and the like. On the other hand, there are those jurists who support the state in reasoning that the legitimate authority of the state, i.e. the Imam, when compared with the lack of such authority among the rebels, has the right to put down insurrections using any means necessary as well.3 Moreover, in terms of the balance of power, those engaging in guerilla or terrorist practices commonly argue that their weaker position necessitates the use of such violent tactics in order for their resistance to the state to be possible.

[39] These arguments embody the concern evident in the debates about the Qur'anic jih_d and jih_d in Islamic history where the overemphasis on the importance of the justifications of war led to the relative neglect of limits on use of violence to secure victory. However, in the law of rebellion in Islam the emphasis is on the means of resistance employed by rebels than the ends they seek. After all, in essence, the law is actually engaged in regulating rebellion by Muslims living under an Islamic order. The rebels are not legally classified as criminals and are required to observe moral restrictions in seeking redress to injustices. Thus, the primary concern when rebellion occurs in the Muslim community is to find ways of reconciling the contending parties and reestablish order.

[40] In sum, the law dealing with rebellion in Islam is comprehensive and coherent, which does not negate the possibility of rebellion, but encompasses it within a framework designed to be just and to promote a stable community whatever adversary prevails. Since one cannot resist an unjust tyrant unless such resistance would result in less harm to common good than that suffered under the unjust government itself, the law takes the position that the means of such resistance must be ordered toward preserving the common good as well. Therefore, it views acts of terrorism as illicit in that they would tend to create more societal disorder than that caused by the unjust government. Despite the potential difficulty of implementing the right conduct, especially the criterion of discrimination, in irregular warfare, Muslim jurists tend to place more emphasis on the means of resistance employed by the rebels rather than the ends they seek, by using the same principle of proportionality which they invoke in the defensive jih_d.

[41] The law of rebellion in Islam, accordingly, points to the activist response demanded by the Qur'an to eradicate "corruption on earth." As a reaction to the recognized right of the people to prevent acts of injustices, within the limits imposed by concerns of proportionality and forewarning, a new opinion removing such a responsibility from the people emerged. A number of Muslim scholars believed in the postponement of the decisive judgement upon a Muslim's belief or conduct until the Day of Judgement when God Himself would deal with such individuals and reward or punish them for their behavior. This attitude led to some kind of moral complacency because what it meant was that a Muslim retains his/her membership in the community even if he/she fails to uphold the moral conduct prescribed by the faith. It also suggested that no one beside God can judge a person's real faith and conduct. In support of this attitude many traditions attributed to the Prophet were circulated to justify the tyrannical rule of the Muslim dynasty like that of the Umayyads. Most of these traditions, although accepted by the community at large, are in direct contradiction to the teachings of the Qur'an. Thus, for instance, the Prophet is reported to have advised one of his close associates, Hudhayfa:

"After me there shall be political leaders who will not be guided by my instruction nor shall they follow my custom (sunna). Moreover, there shall rise among them men whose hearts shall be the hearts of devil in the frame of human bodies."

Hudhayfa asked: "What shall I do when I find myself in such a situation?"

The Prophet replied: "You must listen and obey the political leader; even if he beats you on the back and confiscates your property, you must listen and obey."4

Such traditions were actually used to rationalize the concrete situ
ation in the community and to argue for the prohibition of rebellion against an established state.

[42] Nevertheless, such admonitions must be understood within the internal structures of the cultural values that require a connection of peace with justice and encourage the achievement of an ideal just social order ensuring that war, whether regular or irregular, will not be more destructive to society. Peace which not only signifies the absence of warfare but also a perfect state of well-being and harmony, as Islam sees it, is the product of order with justice. Just as private individuals must show proper restraint in self-defense, public officials must also ensure that judicial rulings are reflective of justice and equity. While one ought not despise the peace that comes from a simple avoidance of strife, one must always be aware that such peace is uneasy, and that conflict is always a possibility in oppressive situations.

Next: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part VI: Pacifist Activism in Islamic Legal System

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End Notes

1  The tradition occurs in many variant forms, with a clear permission to enjoin the oppressor. See: al-NawawA, Riy_m al-m_limAn (Beirut, D_r al-madAth, 1974), p. 109.

2  Khalid Abou El Fadl, "Amk_m Al-Bugh_t: Irregular Warfare and the Law of Rebellion in Islam," in Cross, Crescent, and Sword: The Justification and Limitation of War in Western and Islamic Tradition, ed. by James Turner Johnson and John Kelsay (New York: Greenwood Press, 1990), pp. 162 cites all the relevant juridical sources on the issue.

3  Anwar Sadat&=javascript:goNote(39s assassins relied on the righteousness of the duty of jih_d to validate their questionable method of irregular warfare against the Egyptian state. See: Johannes J. G. Jansen, The Neglected Duty: The Creed of Sadat's Assassins and Islamic Resurgence in the Middle East (New York: MacMillan, 1986), pp. 25-29.

4  mamAm al-Bukh_rA, Kit_b al-fitan, madAth, 206.

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Justification for Violence in Islam

 Part VI: Pacifist Activism in Islamic Legal System

[43] Undoubtedly, Islam provides a complex relationship between the principles undergirding private acts of self-defense with principles supporting public legal systems to promulgate order. It is important to bear in mind that even when concerns such as proportionality and self-preservation are present in different schools of legal-theological thought within Islam, these principles vary in scope, weight, and how they are applied in practice. With the existence of the Islamic legal tradition which grants concessions to the accused beyond those of the presumption of innocence and the requirement to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, it is inconceivable to propose a purely pacifist attitude inspired by politically quietist prophetic traditions, like the one cited above.

[44] When the Qur'an and the Shari'a allow self-defense by appealing to the instinct of self-preservation and when the agent who is empowered to save his life undertakes to do so without intending to harm or kill the attacker, then it is difficult to maintain a position opposed to bear arms from the Islamic perspective. The alternative to that kind of "turn the other cheek" pacifism need not necessarily be the jih_d-oriented activism. Rather, on the basis of historically autonomous existence of the Muslim community (autonomous from any sense of loyalty to de facto Muslim political authority), faithful to the divinely ordained Shari'a and aspiring to live in accord with its norms, one might be able to speak about its pacifist activism inspired by the legal heritage of Islam.

[45] This pacifist activism in this context is characterized by the demand in the Shari'a for balancing the violence with the concerns of proportionality. The Qur'an admits human ability to cause harm to others and it, therefore, includes the "eye for an eye" limit on retaliation, although such retaliation is not commanded but merely permitted (5:45). The principle of legality requires that no one accused of a crime can be punished unless he has been forewarned of the criminal nature of his conduct.

[46] There are four purposes to punishment in Islamic criminal law: prevention, deterrence, retribution/revenge, and rehabilitation through repentance as a process of self-purification for one's crime.1 Although deterrence is an underlying purpose in both private and public categories of crime, retributive justice and rehabilitation play important roles in qim_m ("retaliation") crimes that require redressing of wrong by equalizing the crime, and ta'zAr ("chastisement," "deterrence") crimes for which discretionary punishment is instituted by the legitimate authority to deter the offender himself or others from similar conduct. Death penalty which falls under the (God's "restrictive ordinances") crime constitutes acts directly prohibited by God for which severe penalty such as capital punishment is sanctioned in the Qur'an.2

[47] Islam proclaims that a crime may affect not only humans, but God as well. There is a sense in which both humans and God may have claims in the same criminal act, even if the event seems to harm only one of them. Although punishment of crimes against religion are beyond human jurisdiction, the juridical body in Islam is empowered to impose sanctions only when it can be demonstrated beyond doubt that the grievous crime included infringing a right of humans. There are six offenses which are treated as crimes against religion and for which the law prescribes the specific punishments:

1. Illicit sexual relations
2. Slanderous allegations of unchastity
3. Wine-drinking
4. Theft
5. Armed robbery
6. Apostasy (irtid_d)3

The punishments laid down for them are:

(a) the death penalty, either by stoning (the more severe punishment for unlawful intercourse) or by crucifixion or with sword (for armed robbery with homicide);
(b) cutting off hand and/or foot (for armed robbery without homicide and for theft, depending upon the conditions under which the offender had committed the crime);
(c) flogging with various number of lashes, depending upon the circumstances and the methods used in establishing the guilt.

[48] The underlying principle in the penal code is that the punishment should fit the nature of crime and the character of the offender because the purpose of punishment is the prevention of any conduct prejudicial to the good order of the state. Here the supreme duty of the Muslim ruler is to protect the public interest for which the law afforded him an overriding personal discretion to determine how the purposes of God for the Muslim community might best be achieved.

[49] Since criminal law in Islam represented a system of private law which was conceived to fall under the purview of established political power to ratify and enforce, prosecutions for offenses like false accusation of unlawful intercourse and for theft, crimes which include infringing a right of God and a private claim of humans, take place only on demand of the person concerned, and the applicant must be present both at trial and the execution. In the case of unlawful intercourse the witness play a crucial role. There should be four witnesses to the actual act of intercourse. Moreover, at the time of execution of the punishment, if the witnesses are not present (and, if the punishment is stoning, if they do not throw the first stones) the punishment is not carried out. If the thief returns the stolen object before an application for prosecution has been made, the prescribed punishment lapses; repentance from highway robbery before arrest causes the punishment to lapse, and any offenses committed are treated as ordinary delict (jin_y_t) so that, if the person entitled to demand retaliation is willing to pardon, blood-money may be paid instead or the punishment remitted altogether. In the cases of offenses against religion which are not sanctioned by specific punishments, like apostasy (for which there is no definite punishment in the Qur'an), the effects of repentance are even more far-reaching.

[50] Over all, there is a strong tendency in the penal code to restrict the applicability of the capital punishments as much as possible, except in the case of false accusation of illicit sexual relations with its wider social implications. But even in this case the applicability of the capital punishment is circumvented by the requirement of the four witnesses for unlawful intercourse itself.

[51] The treatment of apostasy as an impingement on the right of God and humanity in Islam presents an interesting case of interdependency between the religious and political in the laws that govern the status of an apostate in the Muslim community.4 Although classified as a capital offense in the Islamic penal code, apostasy was and remains the only crime that presented Muslim legal authorities with a serious dilemma of treating it as such. The verse of the Qur'an which provides the jurists with the original ruling leaves no ambiguity as to its being a non-capital offense. The Qur'an says: "And, whosoever turns (yartadid) from his religion, and dies disbelieving - their works have failed in this world and the next; those are the inhabitants of the Fire; therein they shall dwell forever (2:217)."  Clearly, the problem was that while the Qur'an favored an overall tolerance of religious pluralism, the social ethics delineated by the Muslim jurists regarded that pluralism to be a source of instability for the Muslim public order. The so-called wars of 'apostasy' (ridda) in the aftermath of the Prophet's death had served as a grievous reminder to the jurists to provide measures that would desist those engaged in similar disrputive activity in the community.

[52] It is important to bear in mind that based on this early paradigmatic case of wars of 'apostasy' (ridda) the use of the term in Islam is not without a problem. To be sure, in its denotation the term carries the experience of the Christian church in dealing with public abandonment of the institutionalized religion. Hence, in the Christian-Western context 'apostasy' presupposes the existence of the 'church' which determines both the nature and occurrence of apostasy to institute appropriate punishment for an individual's public abandonment of an exclusive and institutionalized religion for another. On the other hand, the Arabic term ridda or irtid_d (usually translated as 'apostasy'), in Islamic context, presupposes the existence of a Muslim political authority, which is solely responsible to determine that the act of ridda (in the meaning of 'rejection of' 'turning away from' Muslim public order) has indeed occurred. Accordingly, in Islam ridda crime necessarily falls under the jurisdiction of political authority that is empowered to determine only the civil aspect of the crime. In the absence of the church and the ecclesiastical body, no one, not even the Prophet, has the power to negotiate the basic religious relationship between the divine and individual human. Thus, when an act of irtid_d ('rejection') occurs in the community, it is the responsibility of the civil authority to determine its criminality and take appropriate measure to deal with it. Since its jurisdiction was restricted to the political authority empowered to protect the common good of the community, a number of Muslim juristclassified irtid_d as part of the ("chastisement," "deterrence") crimes "which infringe on private or community interests of the public order," and for which punishment is instituted by the legitimate political authority to deter the offender from such a conduct. Consequently, the burden is placed on the public authority to lay down rules which penalize all conduct that seem contrary to the public interest, social tranquility, or public order.5

[53] Hence, civil considerations surrounding the question of sedition have dominated in determining the act of apostasy in Islam. The ensuing harsh treatment of an apostate in Islamic law is promulgated without making an indispensable distinction between the freedom of religion granted by the Qur'anic insistence that no human agency can negotiate an individual's spiritual destiny, and the legitimate concerns of the Muslim public order. As long as apostasy remains a private matter and does not disrupt the society at large, there is no particular punishment in the Qur'an. However, when it violates the sanctity and the rights of the society to practice their belief, then it is treated as a physical aggression towards the faith. At that point it is no more a case of apostasy; rather, it is treated as an act of sedition that had caused discord and threatened the unity of Islamic community. It is only in this case that 'apostasy' is punishable by the severest penalties instituted in the form of necessary self-defense. The Qur'an treats it as a violent rebellion against God and the Prophet and violent rebellion must be countered with violence if necessary: "The punishment of those who take up arms against God and His Messenger and devote themselves to [corruption], creating discord on earth, is that they should be killed....or exiled (5:33)."

[54] By now the problem of treating 'apostasy' in the strict meaning of public abandonment of an institutionalized religion for another in Islam is self-evident. In the final analysis, a mere expression of religious dissent against the established community, according to the Qur'an, cannot constitute a criminal act punishable in this world. Muslim civil authority has the ultimate responsibility to use its discretionary power to assess the level of discord created by a public declaration of an apostasy and lay down the appropriate measures to deal with it.

[55] The ordinary delict, that is, homicide, bodily harm, and damage to property is treated as a private and not as a public offense, although it is painstakingly regulated. Whatever liability is incurred through them, be it retaliation or blood-money or damages, is the subject of private claim. There is no prosecution or execution ex officio, not even for homicide, only a guarantee of the right of private vengeance, combined with safeguards against its exceeding legal limits. Pardon and agreeable settlement are possible, but repentance has no effect because the prosecutions are based on private claim. Unlike the crimes against religion, in the case of the delicta there is no tendency to restrict liability. The detailed regulations to verify culpability is undertaken to make sure that deliberate intent, quasi-deliberate intent, mistake, and direct causation are distinguished adequately without minimizing the gravity of the delict. At the same time, the juridical body responsible to administer justice undertakes to assure that the exacted retaliation or blood-money will not exceed legal limits and will not be destructive to the parties concerned.

Next: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part VII: Martyrdom, the Peak of Activism in Islam

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End Notes

1  Information in this section is derived from several articles that deal with Islamic criminal law in the volume The Islamic Criminal Justice System, ed. M. Cherif Bassiouni (New York: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1982).

2  N. J. Coulson, A History of Islamic Law (Edinburgh: University Press, 1964) and Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979) provide the most adequate definitions of the terminology and their discussion in the context of Muslim penal law.

3  There is a fundamental problem in rendering the Arabic word irtid_d as &=javascript:goNote(39apostasy.' The term irtid_d, meaning 'rejection' or 'turning away from,' was historically applied to the battles that were fought against those Muslims who had refused to pay taxes to the Muslim political authority after the Prophet's death. Hence, the murtadd_n were those who had rebelled against the established order. Compare this with the way the term 'apostasy' is understood in Christianity, where it suggests historically a whole range of different religious experience of abandoning an exclusive and institutionalized religion for another. In this sense apostasy occurs when different religions compete with each other in one public arena. Irtid_d, on the other hand, occurs within the communal order, which is threatened by its public manifestation. At that point it is no more a religious offense against which only God provides sanctions. Depending upon the interpretation of the act, which should be undertaken by the political authority, and not the 'church' or 'ecclesiastical' body, the appropriate punishment is carried out. See article APOSTASY in The Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 1, p. 353ff. and fn. 20.

4  I have dealt with the problem of legal definition of apostasy in Islamic jurisprudence in my chapter on "Freedon of Conscience and Religion in the Qur&=javascript:goNote(39an," in Human Rights and the Conflict of Cultures: Western and Islamic Perspectives on Religious Liberty, co-authored with David Little and John Kelsay (Columbia: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1988), pp. 53-90. Here, I am once again confronted with the complexity of the entire question about 'apostacy' in Islam, more particularly, in the light of consistent and obvious Qur'anic treatment of that offense as being beyond human jurisdiction. There is no doubt in my mind that the Qur'an supports freedom of religion and not just tolerance of religions other than Islam. Hence, it does not see itself in competition with other religions in winning converts. The irtid_d or ridda of the Qur'an is strictly speaking 'turning away' from God and, hence, punishable in the hereafter only. Whereas the irtid_d in jurisprudence, depending upon its public manifestation and its adverse impact upon the Muslim public order, denotes 'turning away' from the community. Hence, the determination of the gravity of the offense is strictly under the jurisdiction of legitimate Muslim authority.

5  Mansour, A. A., "Hudud Crimes," in The Islamic Criminal Justice System, ed. M. Cerif Bassiouni (New York: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1982), pp. 195-196.

​

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Justification for Violence in Islam

Part VII:Martyrdom, the Peak of Activism in Islam

[56] In the legal heritage of Islam, as discussed above, it emerges that majority of the Muslim community maintains pacifist activism, 'striving' (literal sense of jih_d) for peace by upholding the religious-moral law of Islam that promises lasting peace by redressing violated justice. That being the case, our focus in the Islamic tradition and its views on quietism or pacifist activism, should be on its view of the nature and requirements of a summons to struggle for justice in general. In this connection it is pertinent to raise questions about violence that erupts in the form of willingness to end one's life in the name of God. How different it is from suicide which would seem to be rooted in a tendency to lose the ability to ascribe meaning to life in light of the amount of suffering in it? Inasmuch as decision to terminate one's life indicates certain condition of human will, there is a tension in Islam's approach to the prohibition of suicide and the affirmation of martyrdom.1

[57] Affirmation of Islamic faith requires obedience to God. True piety is expressed in one's adherence to Islamic precepts. One should be ready to die for one's faith. That is the meaning of martyrdom in Islam. Shah_da, literally meaning "witness," implies willingness of those who exalt the divine command to give their lives for the divine purposes. It involved a kind of confrontation which necessitated resistance with courage and faithfulness even at the risk of their lives. But should one court death when those in power are insensitive to the common expectations cultivated in the tradition? Should one risk one's life when the procurement of justice is in doubt?

[58] To begin with, Islamic denial of personal autonomy in the matter of suicide is based on the conviction that one's life is a trust from God which demands an ongoing relationship between the Creator and the caretaker. The primacy of the God-human relationship necessitates its maintenance through human submission to the divine will. Human being is entitled to utilize the bounties of God only when he marches forward on the path of evolution prescribed for him by nature, that is path of faith, piety and good deeds. Moreover, nature also requires him to seek the perfection of the self as a responsible member of the community of the believers. There is no difference between actions towards the self and actions toward the other on this path of evolution. Suicide, as self-murder, is judged accordingly as an affront to God, the individual, and the community. Martyrdom, as self-sacrifice, is seen as virtuous because it bears witness to God's existence and strengthens the community. Moreover, martyrdom is regarded heroic and admirable because it results out of a voluntary, conscious, and selfless action.

[59] Besides the language of voluntariness of self-sacrifice there is, however, the language of duty and responsibility found in connection with martyrdom in Islam. It is here that one can sense the tension between a voluntary and an obligatory act of giving one's life. The zealous seeking of martyrdom when engaged in jih_d appears to be in tension with the definition of it as a voluntary act of piety. Since participation in jih_d is required by the Shari'a could it give rise in the community of a situation of desperation to find opportunity to be a martyr? The process of self-justification towards use of jih_d as a means to attain martyrdom has historically led to the adoption of extreme violent posture in the name of God. Those engaged in suicidal acts of terrorism continue to regard their violent acts as a struggle for the cause of God, in which death is seen as martyrdom. There is no doubt that the value of human life is totally connected with how one serves God. If by giving one's life one can serve God, then human life has no greater value than the purpose for which such a struggle is undertaken. On the other hand, the fundamental question of proportionality serves as an important criterion in determining whether such a self-sacrifice or sacrifice of other innocent human lives is worth the cause. The tactics of achieving the divine goal could not justify indiscriminate destruction of human life, however irregular the warfare might be. Ultimately, the readiness to use violent means and even wage war to meet and overcome the oppression used by those already in power, carries with it the burden of establishing the validity of one's own position with the ever present temptation of excluding others as having a share in that truth. Violence in the name of religion necessarily involves the claim to exclusive validity for one's own position. Every perception of truth is accompanied by its own characteristic defects. A unique test of Islam as a religion that was led by the vision of ethical order through the use of force lies in explaining the supreme virtue of dedication to a goal beyond oneself to the point of readiness to give up one's life, that is, martyrdom in jih_d, without falling prey to a spirit of exclusivity that led to the vision of the ideal community and that found expression in violent death.
Next:  Justification for Violence in Islam, Part VIII: Quietism rather than Pacifism in Islam

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End Notes

1  For Islamic views on `suicide see: Franz Rosenthal, "On Suicide in Islam," in Journal of the American Oriental Society, Volume 66 (1946), pp. 239-259; For views on `martyrdom' see: Todd B. Lawson, "Martyrdom," in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), Vol. 3/54-59.

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Justification for Violence in Islam

Part VIII:Quietism rather than Pacifism in Islam

[60] I have traversed a long way to demonstrate that Islam is not monolithic in its response to the central question about the relationship between Islamic ideals for an ethical world order and the obstacles that were encountered by those who brought to the fore methods of producing changes in social power. A serious commitment to social reform on the part of those who wielded authority "to command good and forbid evil" implied their readiness to use any means to overcome forces that threatened its realization. This commitment as an active ingredient of the faith, I believe, reveals the Islamic views on activism or pacifist activism or quietism.

[61] So far I have intentionally avoided using the term "pacifism" in the way it has been used by pacifist Christian movements dedicated to a life of poverty and simplicity and opposed to bear arms. The reason is obvious. Islam views human existence caught up in the midst of contradictory forces of light and darkness, guidance and misguidance, justice and injustice as an ongoing and unending moral struggle for the creation of a just society on earth. The attention is focused on problems of interpersonal justice. The fundamental doctrine of the impending Last Judgement at which every individual would reap the fruits of his actions, good or evil, in his lifetime, clearly emphasizes the consequential nature of moral choice which is decisive in determining one's eternal fate. As such, pacifism in the sense of rejection of all forms of violence and opposition to all war and armed hostility before justice is established, has no place in the Qur'anic doctrine of human faith and its inevitable projection not only in identifying with the cause of justice but in working for it on earth. Social justice accordingly took on implications more challenging to the established order and tended to be egalitarian justice for effective equality among social classes found in Judaism and other Abrahamic traditions. In these traditions there was an active sense of the equal dignity and ultimate rights of the less privileged in society. It is this characteristic of Islam as an Abrahamic tradition which negates pacifism in the sense of opposition to all forms of violence, including that generated by insistence on justice and equality in interpersonal relations.

[62] However, if pacifism is taken in its other signification, namely, exhausting all peaceful means in order to resolve human conflicts, then, its adoption in Islamic community could be nothing more than a temporary decision for giving peace a chance. Pacifist silence in the face of continuous violation of justice amounted to being accomplice to unjust forces, and that was regarded as a major sin of associating other beings to God.

[63] On the other hand, quietism, which has been a strategy for survival in minority communities with the hope of regrouping and reasserting one's ideals of justice, was a legitimate posture in Islam from its early history. In Mecca, Muslims constituted a minority and despite the fact that jih_d (as armed defense) was ordained at this stage, quietism was adopted as a precautionary strategy to shield the true intent of the faithful community from the unbelievers. It signified the will of the community to continue to strive for the realization of the ideal Islamic polity by preparing the way without confrontation in the future. It was consequently a temporary measure until the achievement of God's purposes on earth became possible, either through an internal revival of individual believers or by launching the revolution under a divinely guided person to establish the rule of justice and equity. In view of the activist response demanded by the Islamic revelation we have already seen a posture of pacifist activism generated by a sense of dedication to the Shari'a as an embodiment of divine scales of justice for the Muslim community. However, there is one more attitudinal posture that has continued to influence large sectors of the Muslim community around the world even today. This is quietism, more specifically, quietist authoritarianism, the by product of predestinarian doctrinal stance advocated and disseminated by scholars who supported any de facto Muslim authority as lesser evil than general lawlessness created by sedition.

Next: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part IX: Quietist Authoritarianism and Activist Radicalism

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Justification for Violence in Islam

Part IX: Quietist Authoritarianism and Activist Radicalism

[64] The readiness to give up one's life for a goal beyond oneself presupposes a free human agent who could engage in risk- benefit analysis and decide to risk his life for a just cause. There is considerable agreement among Muslims that the precise direction in the matter involving endangering one's own or the lives of other in the community should be determined with a renewed commitment to the activist precepts of Islam. It was not always possible to undertake the moral obligation of "commanding good and forbidding evil" without actively seeking to order society in a manner consistent with the guidance given to humanity by its Creator. Moreover, the existence of the legitimate authority invested with God's sovereignty to fulfil divine purposes was important in view of the Qur'anic injunction requiring obedience to God, the Prophet and to those invested with political authority. (4:59) In other words, as pointed out earlier, in Islam it was not possible to gain the authoritative and determinative guidance for the common good without considering constitutional questions as to who is authorized to determine a quietist or an activist direction and by what procedures.

[65] It is important to emphasize that the question of legitimate authority in determining the goals of divine revelation and the means to implement them has been central to Islam as a comprehensive social and political system. At no time did the Muslim community abandon its vision of a qualified leadership to create the Islamic polity. Indeed, religious leadership is the single most important issue that has divided the community and has provoked debates about the justification of engaging in religiously sanctioned violence to establish or dethrone it. Political activism in Islam has been intimately related to the establishment of Islamic public order under the qualified leadership of a Caliph or an Imam. On the other hand, quietism as a legitimate tactic for the community living under adverse settings was always determined by the religious leadership (either of the caliph/imam or the ulema, the jurist-theologians, who acted as juridical authority in the community) that was denied the right to head the Islamic polity.

[66] There were precedents in the political history of Islam as well as the teachings of the Qur'an for the exponents of both the postures of activism and quietism. A close examination of the arguments used to support one or the other posture reveals that the problem was related to government and obedience. The sole justification for the existence of the government, according to the Qur'an, was "commanding the good and forbidding the evil." This moral justification also made it morally as well as religiously obligatory to obey the government that undertook to implement that duty.

[67] The Sunni and Shi'i division of the Muslim community was based on their respective views about the legitimate government under the Caliph/Imam. The problem faced by the Muslim community was a classic one in the world history, namely, how to reconcile the discrepancy between the promised ideal and the existing real? In other words, how should the faithful respond to the existing problems of injustices and distortions that had propped up in upholding the duty of "commanding the good and forbidding the evil"?

[68] The obvious question that arises in the minds of pious Muslims when they confront unjust government that fails to command good and interdict evil, whether personally or collectively, is: "Do Muslims have an obligation to take arms to oppose or expunge tyranny and corruption within the community?" In other words: "Is obedience to the government that leads to disobedience to God to be tolerated?" The response to the question of perceived injustices has depended upon the current socio-political circumstances and has been determined by the political and religious leadership.

[69] Bernard Lewis in his lectures on The Political Language of Islam1 has traced the development of activist and quietist tradition in the political writings of the classical age. In earlier times, as he has shown, the question of obedience to the legitimate authority and the legality of those who exacted obedience in his name was critical for the community. In other words, the manner in which authority was acquired was important to determine the level of obedience that accrued to that authority. With the passage of time, more particularly, when power was seized by force, the question of legality of power was abandoned in favor of the manner in which power was exercised, because the reality was that political leadership had passed on to those who possessed little legitimacy in their claim to obedience. The only source of their legal claim to obedience, as the Muslim jurists came to recognize and require of the community, was their respect for the Islamic legal norms. The concept of the sovereign being bound to rule according to the legal norms, the Shari'a, meant that his supreme duty was the protection of public interest. To this end he was given an overriding personal discretion to decide how the Islamic norms for the community might be best effected. This principle, as discussed earlier, is known as "government in accordance with the revealed law (siy_sa shar'iyya)." As a legal accommodation with existing political power it became the precedent for activist pacifism, as discussed above.

[70] Throughout this development Muslim jurists in their endeavors to rationalize the existing power had required obedience on the part of the Muslim subject. Thus, in addition to the numerous traditions like the one cited on the authority of the Prophet, who advised Hudhayfa, his close associate, to listen and obey the political leader "even if he beats you on the back and confiscates your property, you must only listen and obey," the tenth-century manbali jurist Ibn Bamma (d. 387/997) observed:

You must abstain and refrain from sedition (fitna). You must not rise in arms against the imams, even if they be unjust. 'Umar b. al-Khamm_b, may God be pleased with him, said: "If he oppresses you be patient; if he dispossess you, be patient." The Prophet, may God bless and save him, said to Ab_ Dharr: "Be patient, even if he be an Ethiopian slave."2

[71] There are other traditions that contradict the above narratives attributed to the Caliph 'Umar and the Prophet himself. But their purpose in the tenth century is obvious, namely, it was to justify the authoritarian power of the ruling sovereign and to give unquestioning obedience however unjust the sovereign might be. In fact, majority of the writers on statecraft argued for the rights of authority and the necessity of obedience rather than the duty of challenging authority. Such challenging on balance proved to be more harmful to the common good. Thus, at times tolerance of injustice was necessary to avoid civil strife (fitna).

[72] The use of the word fitna in Sunni traditions carries the notion of quietist passivity and hence, a negative connotation as far as Islamic teaching on just ethical order is concerned. Moreover, for the Sunni majority, it is a term that evokes bitter recollection of the great rift in the Muslim community shortly after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. This conflict, later dubbed the "Great fitna" (al-fitna al-kubr_) or the "first fitna," pitted some of the closest associates of the Prophet against each other and led to major schisms in the community. The conflict was never fully resolved, but its memory in retrospect left a deep impression among the Sunnis that the best stance in a conflict situation was simply to adopt quietist passivity.

[73] The alternative, namely, fighting injustice and "forbidding the evil," as the Qur'anic ethics required, was regarded by these scholars to lead to some scandal in the shape of a serious ensuing disturbance or strife.3 Thus, fitna was associated with undesirable change and consequently, it implied reliving the political experiences connected with leadership struggles, disputes and conflict of interests. It was to be avoided at any cost, even if it meant side-stepping the Qur'anic demand for "commanding the good and forbidding the evil," and the ensuing defensive jih_d to restore peace with justice.

[74] Nevertheless, fitna as an experience of the first Muslim community has not, as an idea, entirely shaped Muslim attitude of authoritarian quietism. Rather, actual social changes and historical recollection together produced the consciousness of fitna as a delimiting and debilitating factor in social exigencies. The consciousness of fitna has grown and matured around a continual series of historical re-interpretations of the first civil strife in the light of new emerging sedition. While the first civil strife has acted as a prototype, other civil wars and disturbances have continually affected the Muslims' historical perception of it. The term fitna, therefore, acts and continues to act as a description, a justification and a recipe for quietism, and even inaction.

[75] Emmanuel Sivan has rightly alluded to this situation as a "trauma" in Muslim attempts to redress grave social and political injustices.4 The apprehension involved in taking an activist stand looms so large in Sunni political understanding that even contemporary revolutionary ideologues like Sayyid Qumb and Sa'Ad mawwa have had to go to great lengths to justify revolutionary activity if it may lead to some form of civil disturbance. The only way they could justify activism was to declare the disbelief of modern governments and Muslim societies against whom waging jih_d was a legitimate step. Even that was a departure from the generally held Sunni position that the ruler, even if he be a sinner, must be obeyed as long as he respects the basic minimum. Some jurists, however, conceded that while a sinful sovereign must be obeyed, the same privilege might not be extended to agents of the sovereign who are sinful.

[76] Sinful rule and tyrannical government, according to the authoritarian quietist view, are not the greatest evils, because the alternative to such a rule is chaos. Anything that disrupted the authority that was necessary to guarantee the unity of community and to provide the legality to the execution of the most fundamental objective of government, namely, to enable Muslims to live the good Muslim life was to be regarded as sinful deviation from the right tradition. Hence, through the centuries, quietism has been legitimized as a religious duty to maintain order in Muslim community.

[77] Yet this legitimization would not have been possible without creating a creed that viewed the divine being as the Absolute Sovereign, the All-Powerful God, who determined every action of humanity, leaving it completely helpless in the divine plan for human history. When God, as the Omnipotent Being, could do as he willed, so could the ruler, who was symbolized as the "Shadow of God on earth." All these ideas were part of the doctrinal development in Sunni theology and the related field of political thought.

[78] For the exponents of an activist posture in the community the question of obedience and disobedience was posed in the context of early divisive civil wars that split the Islamic state and community, and ultimately the Islamic religion. The paradigm was provided by the second fitna, when the Caliph 'Uthm_n (d. 656 A.D.) was attacked and killed by Muslim Arab rebels. In the course of the argument two basic positions emerged. According to the one, 'Uthm_n was both a rightful and just ruler, and his killing was therefore both a crime and a sin. According to the other, 'Uthm_n was a wrongful and unjust ruler, and his killing was therefore a lawful and a necessary act. In time, and after a long and complex evolution, these two viewpoints became associated with two traditions: the one with the Sunni, the other with Shi'ite Islam. It would be an oversimplification to identify the Sunnis with the quietist and the Shi'a with the activist tradition. The Sunnis, throughout their history, produced their own radicals. The Shi'a evolved their own doctrines, decisions, and practices of passive submission.

[79] To be sure, activist radicalism was at times invoked in specific legal terms to make lawful disobedience to existing unjust regimes, or their forcible overthrow. However, the response to the armed revolt against unjust government in Shi'ism was offered by examining whether such an action is justifiable without the leadership of a divinely appointed Imam, or whether any individual qualified Shi'ite could undertake to fight the tyranny and corruption of his time when it reached an intolerable level. Historically the guidance of the Shi'ite jurists, whether leading to radical political action or otherwise, turned on their interpretation of the two basic doctrines intrinsic to an authoritative perspective that organizes the mundane existence of Shi'ite Muslims. These two doctrines are the justice of God and the leadership of the righteous individuals. Undergirding the social, political, and economic activity in the early centuries was the promise of Islamic revelation that only through obedience to God could believers accomplish the establishment of a just and equitable public order embodying the will of God. The promise was buttressed by the certainty that God is just and truthful. Divine justice demanded that God do what was best for humanity, and divine truthfulness generated the faith that God's promise would be fulfilled if humanity kept its covenant of working toward a truly godly life.

[80] The proof that God is just and truthful was provided by his creating the rational faculty in human beings and sending revelation through the prophets to guide them toward the creation of an ethical world order. The indispensable connection between divine guidance and the creation of an ethical world order provided an ideological mandate for the interdependency of the religious and the political in Islam. It also pointed to some sort of divine intervention being necessary in the creation of a just society. Consequently, the focal point of the Islamic belief system envisions the Prophet and his properly designated successors as representing God on earth--the God who invested authority in them in order for them to rule over mankind rightly. In other words, the linkage between the divine investiture and the creation of an Islamic world order became a salient feature of Islamic ideological discourse almost from the beginning.

[81] However, the essential connection between the religious and the political became an underlying source of crises in the Muslim community. The early history of Islam witnessed discontent among all Muslims. Some were moved by profound religious conviction and deep moral purpose to seek activist political steps to confront injustices. The period, moreover, generated much discussion and deliberation regarding the duty of obedience to an unjust ruler who caused disobedience to God.

[82] The notion of revolution to overthrow unjust authority favored by radical elements in the Shi'ite community took a different turn when the manifest leadership of their Imams came to an end in the tenth century. With this end the activist ideology took on an apocalyptic cast: the revolution would come in a future time of fulfillment when the restorer of pristine Islam, the Mahdi, would appear. This belief in the future messianic role of the Imam has served a complex, and seemingly paradoxical function. It has been the guiding doctrine behind both an activist political posture, calling upon believers to remain alert and prepared at all times to launch the revolution with the messianic Imam who might appear at any time, and behind a quietist waiting for God's decree, in almost fatalistic resignation, in the matter of the return of this Imam at the End of Time.5 In both cases the main problem was to determine the right course of action at a given time in a given social and political setting. The adoption of the activist or quietist solution depended upon the interpretation of conflicting traditions attributed to the Shi'ite Imams about the circumstances that justified radical action. Resolution of the contradiction in these traditions in turn was contingent upon the agreement about, and acknowledgement of, the existence of an authority who could make the messianic Imam's will known to the community. Without such a learned authority among the Shi'ites, it was practically impossible to acquire reliable knowledge about whether a government had indeed become evil, and whether a radical solution was an appropriate form of struggle against it.

Next: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part X: Concluding Remarks

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End Notes

1  Published by University of Chicago Press, 1988, particularly Chapter 5.

2  'Ubayd All_h b. Muhammad b. Bamma Kit_b al-sharm wa al-ib_na 'al_ um_l al-sunna wa al-diy_na (Damascus, 1958), p. 66ff.

3  See A. K. S. Lambton, State and Government in Medieval Islam: An introduction to the study of Islamic political theory: the jurists (Oxford University Press, 1981), pp. 15-16.

4  Emmanuel Sivan, Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics (Yale University Press, 1985), pp. 90, 96-7.

5  For detailed treatment of the messianic idea in Shi&=javascript:goNote(39ism see my Islamic Messianism: The Idea of Mahdi in Twelver Shi'ism (Albany: State University of New York, 1981).

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Justification for Violence in Islam

Part X: Concluding Remarks

[83] Historical development of Islam as a power-faith tradition with its ideology firmly based on creating the ethical order that embodied divine will on earth provided a detailed and thoroughly developed vision of peace with justice. The basis for such a commitment to peace with justice was the act of faith which required active response to the moral challenge of working towards the perfect existence. That perfect existence was conceivable by promoting the divinely ordained scales of justice in the religious-moral law, the Shari'a. Accordingly, peace was not possible in a society that self-righteously disregarded the evil of injustice. Struggle against injustice was the sole justification for engaging in jih_d. Peace is an outcome of a society in which there is concern for justice and not just the absence of conflict.

[84] However, Islam also acknowledged the existence of obstacles to the divine plan and its realization stemming in large measure from human volition and cognition. It pointed out ways in which those who willfully rejected the faith and its entailment in the moral realm conspired to defeat the divine purposes. To meet this challenge to the divine order, the use of force, even armed struggle, was sanctioned as a legitimate defensive measure to subdue those who were hostile to the establishment of justice. However, at no time was human life to be destroyed without justification because the Qur'an commanded time and again: "Slay not the life that God has made sacred."(6:152)

[85] Precisely at this crucial juncture in sanctioning violence, including readiness to give up one's life for the religious cause, the role of the Prophet or the rightly guided Imam, as the interpreter of the divine purposes for which such a sacrifice was inevitable, becomes indispensable. Without the Prophet or the Imam, humanity, through its divinely endowed cognition of self-subsistent good and evil, could not expect to determine the level and the appropriate time for such sacrifices to preserve God's purposes for the creation.

[86] To be sure, Muslim community did not always live under what the Muslims came to regard as the ideal leadership of the Prophet and his righteous successors. The time came when Islam and Muslims became entangled with unjust rulers and their misrule and tyranny. These rulers frustrated the very ideological demand of Islam, namely, the creation of the just order on earth. The Muslim community could either choose to oppose and overthrow these rulers; or tolerate them with patience until God changed its situation; or, foster a distinct identity independent of its unjust political system, with an active affirmation that the revealed norms of the Shari'a would be promulgated in an ideal Islamic polity.

[87] The solution to individual cases of injustice through an aggressive response was an activist interpretation of the Islamic ideology that served to incite some of the most radical revolutions throughout the history of Muslim peoples. The attitude of tolerance to disorder with a sense of resignation, on the other hand, was a quietist solution favored and institutionalized by those whose interests were served under the changing basis of power in expanding Islamic empire. The third alternative, while maintaining sufficient ability to mobilize necessary force to put down opposition to the promulgation of the divinely ordained legal norms, believed in social transformation through individual moral and spiritual reform. This was a pacifist activism that was expressed in terms of the expectations which had been fostered by the Islamic revelation for the guidance of humankind and the practical policies of a cosmopolitan world.

[88] It is important to emphasize that both the quietist authoritarian and pacifist activist postures were potentially radical solution, awaiting the right time and conditions to realize adequately just society. In the final analysis, Islamic revelation by its very emphasis upon justice and equity on earth calls upon its followers to evaluate a specific sociopolitical order and to defend and preserve or to overthrow and transform it. The specific response to the existing social and political situation is extricated within a cultural setting whose most powerful symbols are garnered to articulate the subtle and even complex religious ideas in the discourse that speaks to a community of ordinary people.

[89] Accordingly, Islamic ideology is both a critical assessment of human society and a program of action, to realize God's will on earth to the fullest extent possible. In such a strategy absolute pacifism as understood by some Christian pacifist movements had no place in Islam. Islamic ideal of social harmony and peaceful living was dependent on faith in God that entailed the moral challenge of creating a just and equitable society on earth. Nevertheless, resort to violence in any form, without uncompromising adherence to the twin principles of self-preservation and proportionality, remained a central problem in Islam as its followers demonstrated readiness to wage war for a goal beyond acts of individual justice. In creating a total religious community, Muslim leaders were confronted with the temptation to a spirit of exclusivity that sought suitable expression in warfare. The readiness to use violent means when other creative non-violent methods of resolving problems of injustice have been suggested in Islamic revelation, has always raised the persistent question in Islamic ethics: Is violence inevitable to transform the human society? Not necessarily, if humanity would respond to the divine call to heed to its own sense of preservation. Ultimately, 'submission' to God promises peace and security for which humanity has aspired from the time its first representative was put on earth. It is, undoubtedly, the search for peace and integral existence without 'submission' that has proven to be fatal in human history.