Whythe Crusades Were Called
Just Like Today: Defenders of Islam?
In Islamic law, jihad is obligatory whenever aMuslim territory is attacked: 'When non-Muslims
inva de a Musl im coun try or near to one. ...jih adis pers onal ly obli gato ry upon the inha bita ntsof
that country, who must repel the non-Muslims with whatever they can."
The calltojiha d has occu rred thr ough out the hist ory of Islam. When the Hamd anid rule r Seyf
al-Dawla waged annua l jihad campa igns again st the Byzan tines in the mid-tenth centu ry, Musli ms
came from farandwide to part icip ate. They came beca use. in thei r view, the Byzan tine s were
waging aggressive wars to seize Muslim lands. Later, during the First Crusade, a poet exhortedMusl ims
to resp ond: "Do you not owe an obli gati on to God and Isla m. defe ndin g ther eby youn gme n an d
ol d? Re sp on d to Go d! Wo e to yo u!Re sp on d' Th evene ra bl e Is la mi c ju ri st mo stbeloved of
today'sjihadi sts, kbh Taymi yya (Taqi al-Din Ahmed Ibn Taymi yya,12 63-1328) consid ered jihad an
abso lute : "If the enem y want s to atta ck the Musl ims, then repe llin g him beco mes a dutyfor all
those under attack and for the others in order to help them."'
Som e oth erexa mpl es of cal ks to jih ad dur ing the las t hun dre d yea rs:In191 4, the Ott oma n
cal iph Sult an Mehm et V iss ued a fat wa (re ligi ousrul ing) cal ling for jih ad at the out bre ak of Worl d
WarI; in 2003 , a Chec hen jiha dist grou p anno unce d: "Whe n the enem y ente red aterr itor y, a city
or a villa ge wher e Musl ims are livin g, then ever ybod y is obli gat ed to go towarin 2003 , the Isla rnic
Cent er for Rese arch at Al-Azha r Univ ersi ty in Cair o issu ed a decl arat ion; It is in acco rdanc e with
logi c and with Isla mic reli giou s lawthat ifthe enem y raid s the land of the Musl ims,Jihad becom es
an indiv idual 's comma ndrne nt, appl ying to every Musl im man and woman , becau seour Mus li m
nat ion wil l be sub jec t to a new Cru sad er inv asi on tar get ing the lan d, hon or, bel ief ,and
home land :" and when Shei kh Omar Bakr i Muh amma d, the noto riou s Lond on-base d jiha dist imam ,
sa id in la te 20 02, "wh en the ene my ent ers Mus li m lan d, su ch as Pa le sti ne , Ch ec hny a, Kosova
[sic] or Kashmir," "all Muslimslivingwithintravelingdistance of the aggression" mustfight, with all
possible support from Muslims worldwide.'