Islam at War: A History

ISLAM AND JIHAD 213

Surah VIII, 39–42. Say to the Infidels: If they desist from their unbelief,

what is now past shall be forgiven them; but if they return to it, they have

already before them the doom of the ancients! Fight then against them till

strife be at an end, and the religion be all of it Allah’s.

Surah II, 256. But they who believe, and who fly their country, and fight

in the cause of Allah may hope for Allah’s mercy: and Allah is Gracious,

Merciful.

Surah V, 33. The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His

messenger (Muhammad) and strive after corruption in the land will be that

they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate

sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degra-

dation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom.”

Aside from those scriptures, other scriptures declare it a mortal sin for a
Muslim to shirk the battle against the unbelievers, “those who do will
roast in hell”:

Surah VIII, 15, 16. Believers, when you meet the unbelievers preparing for

battle do not turn your backs to them. [Anyone who does] shall incur the

wrath of Allah and hell shall be his home: an evil dwelling indeed.

Surah IX, 39. If you do not fight, He will punish you severely, and put

others in your place.

Surah IV, 74. Let those fight in the cause of Allah who barter the life of

this world for that which is to come; for whoever fights on Allah’s path,

whether he is killed or triumphs, We will give him a handsome reward.

It is abundantly clear from the preceding verses that the Koran is not
talking of metaphorical battles or of moral crusades; it speaks of the bat-
tlefield in all its horrors as mandated to all the faithful Muslims. These
passages establish the rules and concepts of the jihad and set them in the
concrete of holy, divinely revealed scripture.
Various Islamic schools of thought differ on the application of the jihad.
These are found within the four main schools of Islamic law. However,
these differences are and must be on superficial issues only, because of
the Koranic roots of the jihad.
The Koran divides mankind into two groups—Muslims and non-
Muslims. The Muslims are members of the Islamic community, theumma,
who possess territories in the Dar ul-Islam, the Land of Islam. In these
lands the edicts of Islam are fully promulgated. The non-Muslims are the