Offensive jihad

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (April 2012)

Part of the Politics series on
Islamism
Basic topics Political aspects of Islam Client state Internationalism Islamic fundamentalism Pan-Islamism Sharia law Ummah Antinationalism Postcolonialism
Movements All-India Muslim League Al-Qaeda Muslim Brotherhood Hamas Hizb-ut-Tahrir Jamaat-e-Islami Millî Görüş Taliban
Manifestations Islamization Islamic economics Sex segregation Resistance movements
Concepts Khilafah Ummah Sharia law
Key texts The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (Iqbal) Milestones (Qutb) Islamic Government (Khomeini)
Islam Portal Politics portal
v t e

Offensive Jihad (Arabic: جهاد الطلب‎, Jihād al-ṭalab), in contrast with defensive Jihad, is armed Jihad meant to expand the realm of Islam (Dar al Islam) at the expense of the House of War (Dar al-Harb). Although these world divisions were derived by jurists, they are not mentioned in the Qur'an and hadith.^[1] Offensive jihad requires the authorization and supervision of a legitimate Muslim leader.^[2]

Offensive jihad is the instrument to transform the Dar al-Harb into Dar al-Islam so as to achieve the ultimate aim of universalization of the Islamic faith and to establish its social order, Sharia law. This is seen by its advocates first as a collective duty but also an individual one. Since the goal can be accomplished by peaceful as well as by violent means, the participation could be fulfilled by the heart, the tongue, the hands, as well as the sword. Offensive jihad accordingly is a form of religious propaganda carried out by spiritual or material means.^[3]

Islamic scholars have differed on the issue of offensive jihad, to pursue non-Muslims in their own lands without any aggression on their part. Some scholars have even gone so far to say that it is illegitimate, while others say it is legitimate and even required. Most scholars agree that offensive jihad cannot be totally prohibited, since two schools of Islamic jurisprudence have ruled that offensive jihad is permissible in order to secure the borders of the Islamic lands, to spread the Islamic religion to people in cases where the governments do not allow it, and to remove every religion other than Islam from the Arabian peninsula.^{[4][unreliable source][5][verification needed]}

Classically and in the modern era however, a large number of jurists have upheld Islamic ideas, concepts and texts to justify offensive jihad against non-Muslims. Most prominent of these among classical scholars is Imam ash-Shafi`i, and among modern-day thinkers are Sayyid Qutb and Mawdudi, who support their view with evidence from the Quran and the Sunnah, and from historical practice.^[6]

The basic principle of fighting in the Qur'an is that other communities should be treated as one's own. Fighting is justified for legitimate self-defense, to aid other Muslims and after a violation in the terms of a treaty, but should be stopped if these circumstances cease to exist.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Notable Opponents

Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

Notable Proponents

Abdullah Yusuf Azzam

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (May 2012)

Azzam was a Sunni scholar, preacher and contemporary proponent of Jihad. Azzam issued a fatwa Defense of the Muslim lands, The First Obligation After Iman^[11], and other work on behalf of jihad against Afghan Marxists and Russian invaders in Afghanistan. Azzam's fatwa is primarily a call for defensive jihad in Afghanistan, but it also briefly describes offensive jihad, arguing that "jihad against the Kuffar is of two types" - defensive and offensive.

Azzam argued that although offensive jihad does not have the very high priority that jihad to defend Muslim lands has, it is a religious obligation. Offensive jihad differs from defensive in being fard al-kifaya - a religious obligation on Muslim society as a whole, rather than on every individual Muslim (fard al-ayn). According to Azzam, if the Islamic leader does not send out "an army at least once a year to terrorize" infidels, he "is in sin." Azzam believes that the goal of the jihad is to compel non-Muslims to pay Jizya, a tribute tax. Non-Muslims would not, however, pay the Zakah, which is for Muslims only.

Where the Kuffar ("infidels") are not gathering to fight the Muslims, the fighting becomes Fard Kifaya [religious obligation on Muslim society] with the minimum requirement of appointing believers to guard borders, and the sending of an army at least once a year to terrorise the enemies of Allah. It is a duty of the Imam to assemble and send out an army unit into the land of war once or twice every year. Moreover, it is the responsibility of the Muslim population to assist him, and if he does not send an army he is in sin. - And the Ulama have mentioned that this type of jihad is for maintaining the payment of Jizya. The scholars of the principles of religion have also said: "Jihad is Daw'ah with a force, and is obligatory to perform with all available capabilities, until there remains only Muslims or people who submit to Islam." ^[11]

Sayyid Qutb

In his famous book Milestones, Islamist theoretician Sayyid Qutb angrily and repeatedly denounces the idea that Jihad war "is merely for defense," blaming this foolish misconception on those Muslims "defeated by the attacks of the treacherous [Western] Orientalists!"

There is no room to say that the basic aim of the Islamic movement was `defensive` in the narrow sense which some people ascribe to it today, defeated by the attacks of the treacherous Orientalists! ^[12]

... Those who say that Islamic Jihad was merely for the defense of the `homeland of Islam` diminish the greatness of the Islamic way of life ... ^[13]

A.E. Stahl purports that "an understanding of Qutb’s endorsement of jihad begins with an explanation of his immutable tenets", which are understood to be Hakimiyya (sovereignty), Ubudiyya (worship), and Jahiliyya.^[14] Stahl writes, "to Qutb, man’s sovereignty had supplanted Allah’s sovereignty, causing man to worship leaders and their ideologies, rather than the Divine. This was the illness, and offensive jihad would serve as the cure for societal reformation."^[15]

Qutb believes Muslims were restrained from fighting for a brief time "in Mecca and in the early period of their migration to Medina," but that following this "Muslims were permitted to fight, then they were commanded to fight against the aggressors; and finally they were commanded to fight against all the polytheists," (which Qutb believes to include Christians and Jews). According to Qutb, this command is the final one for Muslims and is the one operative today. ^[16]

See also

• Jihad
• Sixth pillar of Islam
• Ghazw
• Defensive jihad
• Rules of war in Islam
• Islam as a political movement

History:

• Spread of Islam
• Muslim conquests

References

1. ^ Campo, Juan Eduardo (2009). Encyclopedia of Islam. Infobase Publishing. pp. 182. http://books.google.dk/books?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
2. ^ Feldman, Noah (October 29, 2006). "Islam, Terror and the Second Nuclear Age". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/magazine/29islam.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 17 May 2012. 
3. ^ Khadduri, Majid (2002). The Islamic Law of Nations: Shaybani's Siyar. JHU Press. pp. 15–17. ISBN 0-8018-6975-7, 9780801869754. http://books.google.com/books?id=89spaKByt_MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=majid+khadduri+siyar&hl=en&ei=9LP0TfmOGZKGvAO05LHeBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=jihad&f=false. 
4. ^ RUBIN, BARRY. "The Region: Revolutions, walk-outs and fatwas". The Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=203876. Retrieved 23 June 2011. 
5. ^ Mustafa, 'Imad. "متى يجوز قتال غير المسلمين ومتى لا يجوز؟". IslamOnline. http://www.islamonline.net/ar/IOLCounsel_C/1278407253854/1278406720653/-%D9%82%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%BA%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%86..-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%83%D9%85. Retrieved 25 June 2011.  Archive of the page in available here
6. ^ Al Qaradawi, Yusuf (Sep 2009), What is New about Al-Qaradawi’s Jihad?, Ikhwan Web (Muslim brotherhoods official English website), http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=21082  Archive of the page in available here
7. ^ Patricia Crone, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, War article, p.456. Brill Publishers
8. ^ Micheline R. Ishay, The History of Human Rights: From Ancient Times to the Globalization Era, University of California Press, p.45
9. ^ Sohail H. Hashmi, David Miller, Boundaries and Justice: diverse ethical perspectives, Princeton University Press, p.197
10. ^ Douglas M. Johnston, Faith-Based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik, Oxford University Press, p.48
11. ^ ^{a b} Defense of the Muslim lands The First Obligation After Iman
12. ^ Qutb, Milestones, p.69
13. ^ Qutb, Milestones, p.71
14. ^ Stahl, A.E. "‘Offensive Jihad' in Sayyid Qutb's Ideology." International Institute for Counter-Terrorism. Commentary. 24/03/2011.
15. ^ Stahl, A.E. "‘Offensive Jihad' in Sayyid Qutb's Ideology." op. cit.
16. ^ Qutb, Milestones, p.64

Bibliography

• Qutb, Sayyid (2003). Milestones. Kazi Publications. ISBN 1-56744-494-6.