Islam's Idea of "Holy War"

By Richard N. Ostling.

There is no exact Islamic equivalent to the concept of just war, but an equally complex notion stands in its place: jihad. The term has become disturbingly familiar to Westerners, but its meaning is far broader than holy war, the sense in which it has been brandished by Saddam Hussein and numerous Middle East militants. In the Koran the Prophet Muhammad is depicted as a divinely inspired military leader who unified formerly separate Arab tribes around his new faith. While the Koran most often uses the concept of jihad in the military sense, the word actually translates as "striving." According to an authoritative tradition, Muhammad returned from one of his early battles saying it was time to move from the "lesser jihad" (war) to the "greater jihad" of spiritual effort.

During the century after Muhammad's death in 632, Muslim conquerors established sway from Spain to the borders of India. Islamic scholars of the era emphasized militaristic verses of the Koran over those that counsel peacemaking. Muslims spoke of the earth as being divided between the dar ul- Islam (realm of Islam) and the dar ul-harb (realm of war), implying a need for ongoing combat to extend the faith's domain. In succeeding centuries, as Muslims consolidated a multinational empire, the language of militant jihad faded.

Believers revived the term in modern times as Muslim areas fell under Western control or influence. One of the first to do so was Muhammad Ahmad, the 19th century Mahdi who raised an Islamic insurgency against British colonialism in the Sudan in the 1880s. The Ottoman Turks declared jihad against Britain during World War I. Calls to holy war took on new urgency, and new meaning, with the creation of Israel in 1948. Since then the term has been used -- and abused -- to justify at least three regional wars plus terrorism and murder, not only against infidels but also toward fellow Muslims such as Egypt's President Anwar Sadat.

Who has the religious authority to declare jihad? In Islam's dominant Sunni branch, that power formerly belonged to the caliph, or political successor of Muhammad, who united religious and temporal rulership. But no caliphate has existed since 1924, and Sunni jurists today believe the power rests with any legitimate Muslim political authority. Lufti Dogan, a former Turkish Religious Affairs Minister, says all Muslims can be called to jihad, but there is greater receptivity to the call in Shi'ism, the minority branch of Islam that is dominant in Iran.

Few believers take seriously the jihad call issued last August by Saddam. For their part, Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic rulers obtained a fatwa (ruling) last month from their ranking religious figure, who declared that self-defense justified holy war against Saddam.

In addition to a theological framework for the use of force, Islam, like Christianity and Judaism, offers moral rules for the conduct of combat. Early Muslim authorities vigorously opposed the mistreatment of children, women, diplomats and hostages and inveighed against poisoned weapons or abuse of natural resources (in enemy territory "do not hew down a date palm nor burn it . . ."). On those matters, and many others, Saddam Hussein is not much of a Muslim, whatever his claims.

With reporting by David Aikman/Cairo