Jihad:Its meaning and motives by Dr. Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari.
The fact that much stress has been laid by the Quran on fighting for the sake of God and that martyrdom has been considered one of the greatest achievement of a Muslim has given rise to the misconception among the ignorant that Islam offered two alternatives to the world-Acceptance of the Faith or Death. Under the influence of this belief many a biased-mind has interpreted Jihad as an offensive war meant to spread Islam by force.
The Quran emphatically asserts that there can be no compulsion in matters of faith. It is therefore wrong to believe that the Holy Prophet of Islam (Peace on him) could make or cause others to make war a means of spreading the new faith. There is no doubt that God loves those who fight for His cause but He commands them to fight with those who fight them and does not allow them to exceed the limits. The Holy Quran says: "permission to fight is given to those who have been wronged " who have been driven forth from their homes undeservedly, only for that they said our Lord is Allah". It again says: "fight them until there is no more persecution." These Quranic verses fully explain the situation in which the Muslim took the sword. It was to
protect them against aggression and persecution. To classify the points we might say (1) that Muslims are to fight those who fight against them; (2) that they are to fight for the freedom of conscience; (3) that they can continue the war so long as aggression and persecution exist and freedom of conscience and freedom of faith is not established.
The fact is that Islam has commanded its followers in clear terms not to fight against any non-Muslim community or country, which is not actively hostile to them. The Holy Quran says: "God does not forbid you in respect of those who have not fought against you on grounds of faith and who have not expelled you from your homes that you act kindly or generously towards them."
Covenants and treaties: Very great stress has been laid by the Quran in acting on high and noble principles even against the deadliest enemy or even at the time of actual war. When a Muslim community or country wages war against a
non-Muslim people it has been prohibited from following the principle of Western Nations, which says "everything is fair in love and war". As against this maxim Islam considers it a crime if the Muslim army does the slightest injury to anyone from amongst the hostile nation excepting those who come to the battlefield to fight. The civilians of the enemy country, the women and children and all persons and the farms and places of worship of the
enemy are to remain safe from the hands of the Muslim enemy or even with combatants the principle of absolute justice and humanity is to be observed e.g. Muslim soldiers can fight with their enemy on the battlefield only so long as the enemies themselves want to fight. According to the Holy Quran " if the enemy offers truce Muslims must be ready to accept it " to end the war even though it may injure their cause from the point of view of strategy. Similarly Muslims have been forbidden from mutilating the bodies of the enemy -dead.
There is a very important problem, which comes in connection with Jihad, that is the treatment that is to be meted out to the captives of war. The hostile critics of Islam have raised much storm over it saying that Islam has instituted slavery. The truth is that Islam believes
in the birthright of every human being to be free. It places limits on the freedom of human beings only to punish certain crimes - to meet certain emergencies, as is the case with every other system of law in the world. Slavery as such is unknown to the Islamic law. It is only the captivity of war which exists in Islam and which is a very natural institution. When a non-Muslim country commits an act of aggression against a Muslim country and suffers defeat, a number of soldiers of the enemy must naturally become captives in the hands of Muslims. The treatment which enlightened states of the modern world have meted out to those prisoners of war whom they capture on the battlefield and even those civilians whom they wrongly arrested or made them slaves, stands no comparison with the humane treatment meted out by Islam to its captives of war.
ABDUL WAHID OSMAN BELAL
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{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.}
(Holy Quran-16:125)
{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all."
[Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah]
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