Islam and violence

Islam's doctrines and texts have been associated with violence. Islam also contains peaceful doctrines, as well as laws requiring the eradication of evil, sometimes using violent means, exist in the Islamic tradition. This article deals with the juxtaposition of Islamic law and theology to violence and non-violence by groups and individuals. Attitudes and laws towards both peace and violence exist within the Islamic tradition. Throughout history, Islam's religious texts or precepts have been used to promote violence. Classically, and in the modern era, Muslims and their leaders, including a large number of jurists, have upheld Islamic ideas, concepts, texts, and themes to justify warfare against the disbelievers.

Perception of Islam

Regina Schwartz argues that all monotheistic religions are inherently violent because of an exclusivism that inevitably fosters violence against those that are considered outsiders.

Western stereotypes

Sutton and Vertigans describe Western views of Islam as based on a stereotype of it as an inherently violent religion, characterizing it as a 'religion of the sword'. They characterize the image of Islam in the Western world as "dominated by conflict, aggression, 'fundamentalism', and global-scale violent terrorism."

Juan Eduardo Campo writes that, "Europeans (have) viewed Islam in various ways: sometimes as a backward, violent religion; sometimes as an Arabian Nights fantasy; and sometimes as a complex and changing product of history and social life." Robert Gleave writes that, "at the centre of popular conceptions of Islam as a violent religion are the punishments carried out by regimes hoping to bolster both their domestic and international Islamic credentials.

Jawaid Quddus asserts that "Quotations from the Quran, cited out of historical context, are being used to prove the contention that Islam is by nature and design a violent religion."

The 9/11 attack on the US and other recent attacks by people who supposedly follow the Islamic faith, have led many non-Muslims to indict Islam as a violent religion. According to Corrigan and Hudson, "some conservative Christian leaders (have) complained that Islam (is) incompatible with what they believed to be a Christian America." Examples of Christian leaders who have expressed such sentiments include Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson. According to a survey conducted by a research group affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, two out of three Protestant pastors believe Islam is a "dangerous" religion.

Islamic views on violence

In response to these charges, Muslim apologists such as Ram Puniyani assert that, "Islam does not condone violence but like other religions does believe in self-defence."

Mark Juergensmeyer describes the teachings of Islam as ambiguous about violence. He asserts that, like all religions, Islam occasionally allows for force while stressing that the main spiritual goal is one of nonviolence and peace. Hood, Hill and Spika write that "(a)lthough it would be a mistake to think that Islam is inherently a violent religion, it would be equally inappropriate to fail to understand the conditions under which believers might feel justified in acting violently against those whom their tradition feels should be opposed."

Similarly, Chandra Muzaffar asserts that, "(t)he Quranic exposition on resisting aggression, oppression and injustice lays down the parameters within which fighting or the use of violence is legitimate. What this means is that one can use the Quran as the criterion for when violence is legitimate and when it is not."

Islamic sources

Qur'an

Main article: Qur'an and violence

See also: At-Tawba 5 and Criticism of the Qur'an

The Qur’an's teachings on matters of war and peace have become topics of heated discussion in recent years. On the one hand, some critics claim that certain verses of the Qur’an sanction military action against unbelievers as a whole both during the lifetime of Muhammad and after. The Qur'an says "Fight in the name of your religion with those who fight against you." On the other hand, other scholars argue that such verses of the Qur’an are interpreted out of context, and argue that when the verses are read in context it clearly appears that the Qur’an prohibits aggression, and allows fighting only in self defense.

According to Dipak Gupta, "(m)uch of the religious justification of violence against nonbelievers (Dar ul Kufr) by the promoters of jihad is based on the Quranic 'sword verses'...However opponents point out that these verses are said in the context of a desperate defensive war that the forces of Prophet Muhammad were waging at the time. According to this view, in the context of today's world, such a call for violent jihad is inappropriate".

Micheline R. Ishay has argued that "the Qur’an justifies wars for self-defense to protect Islamic communities against internal or external aggression by non-Islamic populations, and wars waged against those who 'violate their oaths' by breaking a treaty" (9:12-15,42:39). Mufti M. Mukarram Ahmed has also argued that the Qur’an encourages people to fight in self defence (9:38-41,9:36-37,4:74). He has also argued that the Qur’an has been used to direct Muslims to make all possible preparations to defend themselves against enemies (8:60).

Chiba and Schoenbaum argue that Islam "does not allow Muslims to fight against those who disagree with them regardless of belief system", but instead "urges it's followers to treat such people kindly" (4:90,8:61,60:8). Yohanan Friedmann has argued that the Qur’an does not promote fighting for the purposes of religious coercion, although the war as described is "religious" in the sense that the enemies of the Muslims are described as "enemies of God" (8:57-62).

A critic has argued that in "duty to halt aggression or to strive for the preservation of Islamic principles", fighting may be involved, where the Qur’an encourages them to "fight courageously and steadfastly against recalcitrant states, be they Muslim or non-Muslim." He also argues that the "Qur’anic statement is clear" on the issue of fighting in defence of Islam as "a duty that is to be carried out at all costs", where "God grants security to those Muslims who fight in order to halt or repel aggression" (22:39-42).

Arvind Kumar writes:

The Quran sanctions violence to counter violence. If one studies history of Arab tribes before Islam and fierce fighting they indulged in one would be convinced that the philosophy of passive resistance would not have worked in that environment.

One example is:

"And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution [of Muslims] is worse than slaughter [of non-believers]...and fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah."

According to Fawzy Abdelmalek, "many Muslim scholars speak of Islam as a religion of peace and not of violence. They say that the non-Muslims misunderstand the Quran verses about Jihad and the conduct of war in Islam,

Nissim Rejwan asserts that, "violence and cruelty are not in the spirit of the Quran, nor are they found in the life of the Prophet, nor in the lives of saintly Muslims."

According to Feisal Abdul Rauf, "the Quran expressly and unambiguously prohibits the use of coercion in faith because coercion would violate a fundamentl human right—the right to a free conscience. A different belief system is not deemed a legitimate cause for violence or war under Islamic law. The Quran is categorical on this: "There shall be no compulsion in religion" (2:256); "Say to the disbelievers [that is, atheists, or polytheists, namely those who reject God] "To you, your beliefs, to me, mine" (109:1-6)"

Jihad

Main article: Jihad

In Arabic, the word jihād translates into English as struggle. Jihad appears in the Qur'an and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of Allah(al-jihad fi sabil Allah)". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is mujahideen. Jihad is an important religious duty for Muslims. A minority among the Sunni scholars sometimes refer to this duty as the sixth pillar of Islam, though it occupies no such official status. In Twelver Shi'a Islam, however, Jihad is one of the 10 Practices of the Religion. A.H. Qasmi writes that "Both the Quran and the hadith have attached great importance to jihad. ... Jihad means struggle. It must be appreciated from the outset that this word is used for non-violent struggle as opposed to violent struggle."

Halim Rane asserts that the concept of jihad has evolved. According to Rane, the Islamic scholar Sarakhsi defines jihad as a "progression towards increasingly aggressive use of force."

Today Jihad is widening its range or holy war, against impure Muslims, against infidels, or non-Muslim / unbelievers. Calls for violence against non-Muslims has accompanied sharia implementation.

L. Ali Khan writes, "not every act of violence committed in the name of Islam is jihad. Over the centuries, Islam has restrained its followers from unleashing unlawfulviolence for which there is no clear basis in the teachings of the Quran."

Domestic violence

Main articles: Islam and Domestic violence and An-Nisa, 34

Verse 4:34 of the Qur'an as translated by Mohammed Habib Shakir reads:

Men are the maintainers of women because God has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as God has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely God is High, Great.

The 2004 film Submission, which rose to fame after the murder of its director Theo van Gogh critiqued this and similar verses of the Qur'an by displaying them painted on the bodies of abused Muslim women. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the film's writer, said "It is written in the Koran a woman may be slapped if she is disobedient. This is one of the evils I wish to point out in the film."

Scholars and other defenders of Islam have a variety of responses to these criticisms. (See An-Nisa, 34 for a fuller exegesis on the meaning of the text.) Although the Qur'an does allow a husband to punish his wife for transgressing the bounds given to her by God, it prescribes that the man is only allowed to hit the woman so lightly that it would not leave as much as a faint mark upon her, otherwise the man has himself transgressed divine bounds. Some Muslims argue that beating is only appropriate if a woman has done "an unrighteous, wicked and rebellious act" beyond mere disobedience. In many modern interpretations of the Qur'an, the actions prescribed in 4:34 are to be taken in sequence, and beating is only to be used as a last resort.

Some Islamic scholars and commentators have emphasized that beatings, where permitted, are not to be harsh or even that they should be "more or less symbolic." According to Abdullah Yusuf Ali and Ibn Kathir, the consensus of Islamic scholars is that the above verse describes a light beating. Some jurists argue that even when beating is acceptable under the Qur'an, it is still discountenanced.

Shabbir Akhtar has argued that the Qur'an introduced prohibitions against "the pre-Islamic practice of female infanticide" (16:58, 17:31, 81:8).

Modern violence

See also: Criticism of Islam

According to Islamic scholar Khaleel Mohammed, throughout the world, Muslim intellectuals are punished for criticizing various aspects of traditional and contemporary Islam, citing the case of Muhammad Said al-Ashmawy, who is being held in Egypt under house arrest for his own protection; Abdel Karim Soroush who was beaten in Iran for raising the voice of inquiry, and Mahmoud Tahawho was killed in Sudan. Rifat Hassan, Fatima Mernissi, Abdallah an-Na'im, Mohammed Arkoun, and Amina Wadud were all vilified by the imams for asking Muslims to use their intellect.

Other Examples:

• Hashem Aghajari, an Iranian university professor, was initially sentenced to death because of a speech that criticized some of the present Islamic practices in Iran being in contradiction with the original practices and ideology of Islam, and particularly for stating that Muslims were not "monkeys" and "should not blindly follow" the clerics. The sentence was later commuted to three years in jail, and he was released in 2004 after serving two years of that sentence.

• Christoph Luxenberg feels compelled to work under a pseudonym to protect himself because of fears that a new book on the origins of the Qur'an, may make him a target for violence.

he goes/went by this assumed name in order to protect himself.

• In recent times fatwas calling for execution have been issued against novelist Salman Rushdie and activist Taslima Nasreen for pejorative comments on Islam.
• On 2 November 2004, Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was assassinated by Dutch-born Mohammed Bouyeri for producing the 10-minute film Submission critical of the abusive treatment of women by Muslims. A letter threatening the author of the screenplay, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, was pinned to his body by a knife. Hirsi Ali entered into hiding immediately following the assassination, and now is protected by bodyguards.

• On 30 September 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published editorial cartoons, many of which caricatured the Islamic prophet Mohammed. The publication was intended to contribute to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship; objectives which manifested themselves in the public outcry from Muslim communities within Denmark and the subsequent apology by the paper. However, the controversy deepened when further examples of the cartoons were reprinted in newspapers in more than fifty other countries. This led to protests across the Muslim world, some of which escalated into violence, including setting fire to the Norwegian and Danish Embassies in Syria, and the storming of European buildings and desecration of the Danish and German flags in Gaza City. Globally, at least 139 people were killed and 823 injured.

• On 19 September 2006 French writer and philosophy teacher Robert Redeker wrote an editorial for Le Figaro, a French conservative newspaper, in which he attacked Islam and Muhammad, writing: "Pitiless war leader, pillager, butcher of Jews and polygamous, this is how Mohammed is revealed by the Qur'an." He received death threats and went into hiding. The teacher was forced into hiding after describing the Qu'ran as a "book of extraordinary violence" and Islam as "a religion which ... exalts violence and hate."

• On 4 August 2007, Ehsan Jami was attacked in his hometown of Voorburg in The Netherlands by three men. The attack is widely believed to be linked to his activities for the Central Committee for Ex-Muslims. The national anti-terrorism coordinator's office, the public prosecution department and the police decided during a meeting on 6 August that "additional measures" were necessary for the protection of Jami, who subsequently received extra security.

"Hatred towards people who follow other religions such as Jews and Christians, as well as Hindus and other polytheists, are a part of the teachings of the Islamic holy book, the Qur'an."

Ayatollah

"Perhaps the most resounding call to jihad in modern times occurred on January 21, 1979," suggest authors, as the Ayatollah Khomeini announced a Jihad against the U.S. "The people have absolute confidence in their victory in this holy war (jihad-e moqaddas)," said the Islamic icon.

Ayatollah Khomeini's "Radical Islamic Revolution executed and killed hundreds of thousands of people in the name of Radical Islam."

Iran, under the Ayatollah Khomeini, categorized the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war as a 'Holy war'. "Khomeini's call to jihad incited thousands of Iranian teenagers to volunteer for martyrdom missions." The Basiji movement 'created' child and adult sacrifice as "holy soldiers," Blessed by Iranian mullahs' regime.

The Basiji ideology enjoys a revival under Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. who's a member, and the movement with a nominal strength of 12.6 million, has been present in schools since it was first created in 1979 by the Ayatollah. Basijis were used in crackdowns in 1999, in 2003 and in the brutality of 2009 on protesters in Iran.

The group demands in training intense Quran studies, it calls for “Basij Ethics and Etiquette” and “Major Islamic Commandments.” The Basijis have been known to act in defending a strict Islamic conduct." and enforcing Sharia law. often "merging" with Ansar-e Hezbollah men in enforcing Sharia law. In one example, Human rights activists charged that Basiji Islamic militiamen have raped and murderd 26 years old Elnaz Babazadeh for wearing an improper dress.

On August 19, 1979 the Ayatollah declared a jihad against the Kurds in Iran. "Once jihad is declared, all males over 15 must join the fight, the enemy's property is open to confiscation."

"Ayatollah Khomeini played on the messianic overtones of this belief during the Iranian revolution." The ideology of "Twelver" in Shiite Islam (return of the 12th Imam - belief) was invoked by many who believed that the Ayatollah will "return" as their Mahdi (Islamic Messiah). Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad refocuses this belief of the Mahdi's return by public statements and various symbolic actions, Iraq's Shiite al-Sadr's army is called the Mahdi army.

Mujahedin

In 1979 Afghanistan, local Muslim rebels began fighting the Soviets army, calling themselves mujahideen (holy warriors), they used guerrilla war.

Author of the book Holy war Wilhelm Dietl accounted how one Mujahed fighter told him en route to an armed attack in Herat: "We love to kill Russians and to be killed."

Taliban

Some of the Taliban - Afghanistan's "holy warriors," have fought against the Soviets in the 1980s. They battle to conquer the country. Many Madrassas (Islamic schools) endorse Jihad in Pakistan and in Afghanistan.

In the 1980s, the Afghan jihad has been financed by the Saudis.

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein warned of a jihad, holy war against the United States in 1991. In 2003, after the March 20 US, British led invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein called for a holy war against "an aggression on the land of Islam." (invoking the Quranic theme: "Fight them everywhere...") The statement accused the coalition forces of waging a war against Islam. His information Minister conlcuding: "Therefore, jihad is a duty in confronting them... Those who are martyred will be rewarded in heaven. Seize the opportunity, my brothers."

Laskar Jihad

The paramilitary organisation Laskar Jihad called "to wage a jihad or holy war" into Indonesia's Moluccan islands, and carried out anti-Christian attacks in Sulawesi, the same group was involved in the 1999 violence against Christians and Chinese in East Timor. It has been categorized as "Indonesia's Dirty Little Holy War Holy Terror.

Hezbollah

Hezbollah's spiritual guidance, Sheik Muhammed Hussein Fadlallah, who witnessing journalist says was behind the hostage crisis in Lebanon in the 1980s, said: "We see ourselves as mujihadeen who fight a Holy War." Justifying bombings, kidnapping, murder.

However British journalist Robert Fisk disputes these claims about Fadlallh:

The Americans put it about that he had blessed the suicide bomber who struck the US marine base in Beirut in 1983, killing 241 service personnel. Fadlallah always denied this to me and I believe him. Suicide bombers, however insane we regard them, don't need to be blessed; they think they are doing God's duty without any help from a marja like Fadlallah.

Omar al-Bashir

"In the present conflict in Darfur, jihad is usually interpreted as holy war by the government in Khartoum." The Sudanese National Islamic Front declared in 1992 a jihad, or holy war, against all in the Nuba Mountains who supported the SPLA."

Sudan's leader Omar Al-Bashir, in 1997 "declared a jihad (holy war) against" Ethiopia. Accused of genocide he threatened in 2007 "to mount a jihad against United Nations peacekeepers."

Wahabbists

The Whabbists have a long history of fundamentalism and jihad, declaring holy wars on others, to force them into accepting their purified version of Islam

In 2010, a 'Glut of fatwas spurred Saudi king to impose curbs,' Saudi political analyst explaining: "If you endorse jihad, it means you are searching for a war with the rest of the world."

Some militant Islamic movements cite Saudi Wahhabi clerics to justify violence.

Saudi Grand Mufti Ibn Baz repudiated violence. He stated:

From that which is known to everyone who has the slightest bit of common sense is that hijacking airplanes and kidnapping children and the like are extremely great crimes, the world over. Their evil effects are far and wide, as is the great harm and inconvenience caused to the innocent; the total effect of which none can comprehend except Allaah.

Terrorism

Main article: Islam and terrorism

Islamic terrorism is terrorism committed by Muslims, and aimed at achieving varying political ends and the advancement of Islamist goals; for example, Osama bin Laden's stated goal of ending American military presence in the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula, overthrowing Arab regimes he considers corrupt and insufficiently religious, and stopping American support for Israel. Bombing in London 7/7 are said to be in retaliation for UK's support in the war in Iraq that began in 2003, though it can't be linked as a motive for Islamic terror plots on London, December, 2001. The Islamic terrorism attack in Madrid were "explained" as "inspired by al-Qaeda's call to punish Spain's government for supporting the Iraq war," another motive was given that Spain holds a strong appeal to Islamic militants because the southern region of Andalucia was under Muslim control for almost 800 years, and "Al-Qaeda has called on jihadists to reconquer Spain as part of a broader Muslim caliphate, or kingdom under Islamic rule."

At the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Islamic terrorists were told by their handlers in Pakistan "that the lives of Jews were worth 50 times those of non-Jews."

The Qur'an: (8:12): "...cast terror in their hearts and strike upon their necks." The commanded to terrorize the disbelievers have been cited in motivation of Jihadi terror.

A Jihadi cleric:

"Another aim and objective of jihad is to drive terror in the hearts of the [infidels]. To terrorize them. Did you know that we were commanded in the Qur'an with terrorism? ...Allah said, and prepare for them to the best of your ability with power, and with horses of war. To drive terror in the hearts of my enemies, Allah's enemies, and your enemies. And other enemies which you don't know, only Allah knows them... So we were commanded to drive terror into the hearts of the [infidels], to prepare for them with the best of our abilities with power. Then the Prophet said, nay, the power is your ability to shoot. The power which you are commanded with here, is your ability to shoot. Another aim and objective of jihad is to kill the [infidels], to lessen the population of the [infidels]... it is not right for a Prophet to have captives until he makes the Earth warm with blood... so, you should always seek to lessen the population of the [infidels]."

Observers have also argued that the attacks are aimed at propagating Islamic culture, society and values in opposition to perceived political, imperialistic, and/or cultural influences of non-Muslims, and the Western world in particular.

There are also historical dimensions to the phenomenon, and the history of Western influence and control after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, is a common stated reason used within some terrorist groups to justify and explain its use of violence as resistive and retributive against western influences.

World domination

The strive to an 'Islamic Caliphate.' Caliph is translated from the Arabic Khalifa (خليفة ẖalīfä) meaning "successor", "substitute", or "lieutenant". It is used in the Qur'an to establish Adam's role as representative of Allah on earth. Kalifa is also used to describe the belief that man's role, in his real nature, is as khalifa or viceroy to Allah. The word is also most commonly used for the Islamic leader of the Ummah; starting with Muhammad and his line of successors.

ndeed domination's Jihadists' ultimate goal. Al-Qaeda revealed its grand plan towards an Islamic caliphate, - global domination. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Al-Qaeda in Iraq, has released a statement in which it explains the reasons for its terror campaign:

"We are not fighting to chase out the occupier or to save national unity and keep the borders outlined by the infidels intact," [...] "We are fighting because it is a religious duty to do it, just as it is a duty to take the Sharia [Islamic law] to the government and create an Islamic state."

"Al-Qaeda has called on jihadists to reconquer Spain as part of a broader Muslim caliphate, or kingdom under Islamic rule." Explaining why even Hamas has an eye on Spain. In the early 1990s, the GIA Algerian Armed Islamist Group, which is "well known for its radical positions and the barbaric violence of its operations, announced the restoration of the caliphate and the appointment of a caliph." With Palestinian Islamic party Hamas victory in the 2007 election, a mass gathering followed with Hamas' spokesman calling for a Caliphate. The official said Hamas seeks to create an "Islamic caliphate" in the land. Barack Obama said about radical Islamists terrorists:

The terrorists are at war with us... They kill man, woman and child; Christian and Hindu, Jew and Muslim. They seek to create a repressive caliphate. To defeat this enemy, we must understand who we are fighting against, and what we are fighting for.

See also

• Islamic Jihad
• Islamic terrorism