According to the Qur'an, war represents an
"unwanted obligation" which has to be absolutely carried out with strict
observance of particular humane and moral values and resorted only when it
is inevitable.
In a verse, it is explained that those who
start wars are the disbelievers and that God does not approve wars:
…Each time they kindle the fire of war,
Allah extinguishes it. They rush about the earth corrupting it. Allah
does not love corrupters.(Surat al-Ma'ida: 64)
A closer examination of Prophet Muhammad’s
life reveals that war is a method resorted for defensive purposes only in
unavoidable situations.
The revelation of the Qur'an to our Prophet
lasted for 23 years. During the first 13 years of this period, Muslims
lived as a minority under a pagan order in Mecca and faced much
oppression. Many Muslims were harassed, abused, tortured, and even
murdered, their houses and possessions were plundered. Despite this
however, Muslims led their lives without resorting to any violence and
always called pagans to peace.
When the oppression of pagans escalated
unbearably, Muslims emigrated to the town of Yathrib, which was later to
be renamed Medina, where they could establish their own order in a more
friendly and free environment. Even establishing their own system did not
prompt them to take up weapons against aggressive pagans of Mecca. Only
after the following revelation, the Prophet commanded his people to get
prepared for war:
Permission to fight is given to those
who are fought against because they have been wronged – truly God has
the power to come to their support – those who were expelled from
their homes without any right, merely for saying, ‘Our Lord is God’…(Surat
al-Hajj: 39-40)
In brief, Muslims were allowed to wage war
only because they were oppressed and subjected to violence. To put it in
another way, God granted permission for war only for defensive purposes.
In other verses, Muslims are warned against use of unnecessary provocation
or unnecessary violence:
Fight in the Way of God against those
who fight you, but do not go beyond the limits. God does not love
those who go beyond the limits.(Surat al-Baqara: 190)
After the revelations of these verses, wars
occurred between Muslims and pagan Arabs. In none of these wars, however,
were the Muslims the inciting party. Furthermore, our Prophet established
a secure and peaceful social environment for Muslims and pagans alike by
signing a peace agreement (Hudaybiya) which conceded to the pagans most of
their requests. The party who violated the terms of the agreement and
started a new war was again the pagans. However, with rapid conversions
into Islam, the Islamic armies attained great power against the pagan
Arabs and our Prophet conquered Mecca without bloodshed and in a spirit of
tolerance. If he willed, our Prophet could have taken revenge on pagan
leaders in the city. Yet, he did not do harm to any one of them, forgave
them and treated them with the utmost tolerance. Pagans, who would later
convert to Islam by their own will, could not help admiring such noble
character of the Prophet.
The Islamic principles God proclaims in the
Qur’an account for this peaceful and temperate policy of Prophet Muhammad.
In the Qur’an, God commands believers to treat even the non-Muslims kindly
and justly:
...God does not forbid you from being
good to those who have not fought you over religion or driven you from
your homes,or from being just towards them. God loves those who are
just. God merely forbids you from taking as friends those who have
fought you over religion and driven you from your homes and who
supported your expulsion...(Surat al-Mumtahana: 8-9)
The verses above specify the outlook of a
Muslim on non-Muslims: A Muslim should treat all non-Muslims kindly and
avoid making friends only with those who show enmity to Islam. In case
this enmity causes violent attacks against the existence of Muslims, that
is, in case they wage a war against them, then Muslims should respond them
justly by considering the humane dimensions of the situation. All forms of
barbarism, unnecessary acts of violence and unjust aggression are
forbidden by Islam. In another verse, God warns Muslims against this and
explains that rage felt for enemies should not cause them to drift them
into injustice:
You who believe! Show integrity for the
sake of God, bearing witness with justice. Do not let hatred for a
people incite you into not being just. Be just. That is closer to
heedfulness. Heed God (alone). God is aware of what you do.(Surat al-Ma'ida:
8)
The Meaning of the Concept of "Jihad"
Another concept that deserves clarification
due to the content of this report is the concept of "jihad".
The exact meaning of "Jihad" is "effort".
That is, in Islam, "to carry out jihad" is "to show efforts, to struggle".
Our Prophet explained that "the greatest jihad is the one a person carries
out against his lower soul". What is meant by "lower soul" here is the
selfish desires and ambitions. A struggle given on intellectual grounds
against anti-religious, atheist views is also a form of jihad in its
complete sense.
Apart from these ideological and spiritual
meanings, struggle in the physical sense is also considered as "jihad".
However, as explained above, this has to be a struggle carried out solely
for defensive purposes. The use of the concept of "jihad" for acts of
aggression against innocent people, that is for terror, would be unjust
and a great distortion.
Compassion, Tolerance and Humanism in Islam
To state briefly, the Islamic "political
doctrine" (that is, Islamic principles and decrees about political issues)
is extremely peaceful and moderate. This fact is also confirmed by many
non-Muslim historians and theologians. One of these is the British
historian,
Karen Armstrong, a former nun and a renowned expert on Middle
East history. In her book,
Holy War, in which she examines the
history of the three great divine religions, she comments:
... The word Islam comes from the same
Arabic root as the word peace and the Koran condemns war as an
abnormal state of affairs opposed to God's will: "When the enemies of
the Muslims kindle a fire for war, Allah extinguishes it. They strive
to create disorder in earth, and Allah loves not those who create
disorder." (Koran 28:78). Islam does not justify a total aggressive
war or extermination, as the Torah does in the first five books of the
Bible. A more realistic religion than Christianity, Islam recognizes
that war is inevitable and sometimes a positive duty in order to and
oppressions and suffering. The Koran teaches that war must be limited
and be conducted in as humane a way of possible. Mohammed had to fight
not only the Meccans but also the Jewish tribes in the area and
Christian tribes in Syria who planned on offensive against him in
alliance with the Jews. Yet this did not make Mohammed denounce the
People of the Book. His Muslims were forced to defend themselves but
they were not fighting a holy war against the religion of their
enemies. When Mohammed sent his freedman Zaid against the Christians
at the head of a Muslim army, he told them to fight in the cause of
God bravely but humanely. They must not molest priests, monks and nuns
nor the weak and helpless people who were unable to fight. There must
be no massacre of civilians nor should they cut down a single tree nor
pull down any building. This was very different from the wars of
Joshua.[1]
Following the death of our Prophet, Muslims
continued to treat the members of other religions with tolerance and
respect. Islamic states became the secure and free home of both Jews and
Christians. After the conquest of Jerusalem, Omar calmed the Christians
who were in fear of a massacre and explained to them that they were
secure. Furthermore, he visited their churches and declared that they
could continue to practise their worship freely.
In 1099, 4 centuries after the conquest of
Jerusalem by Muslims, Crusaders invaded Jerusalem and put all Muslims
inhabitants to the sword. Again, contrary to the fears of Christians,
Saladin, the Muslim general who captured Jerusalem and saved the city from
invasion in 1187, did not touch even a single civilian and did not allow a
single soldier to plunder. Moreover, he allowed the invading Christians to
take all their possessions and leave the city in security.
The periods of Seljuk Turks and the Ottoman
Empire were also marked by the tolerance and justice of Islam. As is
known, Jews who were expelled from Catholic Spain found the peace they
sought on the lands of Ottoman Empire, where they took refuge in 1492.
Sultan Mehmed, the conqueror of Istanbul, also allowed Jews and Christians
religious freedom. Regarding the tolerant and just practises of Muslims,
historian A. Miquel states the following:
The Christians were ruled by a very
well administered state which was something that did not exist in the
Byzantium or Latin sovereignty. They were never subjected to a
systematized oppression. On the contrary, the Empire, and foremost
Istanbul, became a refuge for the much tortured Spanish Jews. They
were never forced to accept Islam. [2]
John L. Esposito,
a professor of Religion and International Politics at the Georgetown
University, makes a similar comment:
For many non-Muslim populations in
Byzantine and Persian territories already subjugated to foreign
rulers, Islamic rule meant an exchange of rulers, the new ones often
more flexible and tolerant, rather than a loss of independence. Many
of these populations now enjoyed greater local autonomy and often paid
lower taxes... Religiously, Islam proved a more tolerant religion,
providing greater religious freedom for Jews and indigenous
Christians.[3]
As is clarified in these words, history
never witnessed Muslims as "makers of mischief". On the contrary, they
brought security and peace to the people from all nations and beliefs
inhabiting the large territory over which they reigned. (For further
reference, see Justice and Tolerance in the Qur'an, by Harun Yahya,
2000)
In brief, compassion, peace and tolerance
constitute the very basis of the values of the Qur'an and Islam aims to
wipe mischief out of the earth. The commands of the Qur'an and the ways
Muslims practised them throughout history are so clear as to leave no room
for dispute.
[2] Feridun Emecen, Kemal Beydilli, Mehmet
İpşirli, Mehmet Akif Aydın, İlber Ortaylı, Abdülkadir Özcan, Bahaeddin
Yediyıldız, Mübahat Kütükoğlu, Osmanlı Devleti Medeniyeti Tarihi, (The
History of the Ottoman State), Istanbul: 1994, İslam Tarih, Sanat ve
Kültür Araştırma Merkezi, p. 467
