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Muslims
and Christians lived together peacefully. |
According
to the Qur’an, war represents an “unwanted obligation” which has to be
absolutely carried out with strict observance of particular humane and moral
values and resorted to only when it is inevitable.
In
a verse, it is explained that those who start wars are the disbelievers and that
God does not approve wars:
[…Each
time they kindle the fire of war, Allah extinguishes it. They rush about the
earth corrupting it. Allah does not love corrupters.] (Surat Al-Ma’idah 5:64)
A
closer examination of Prophet Muhammad’s life reveals that war is a method
resorted to for defensive purposes only in unavoidable situations.
The
revelation of the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad lasted for 23 years. During the
first 13 years of this period, Muslims lived as a minority under a pagan rule in
Makkah and faced much oppression. Many Muslims were harassed, abused, tortured,
and even murdered, their houses and possessions were plundered. Despite this,
Muslims led their lives without resorting to any violence and always called
pagans to peace.
When
the oppression of pagans escalated unbearably, Muslims emigrated to the town of
Yathrib, which was later to be renamed Madinah, where they could establish their
own order in a more friendly and free environment. Even establishing their own
political system did not prompt them to take up weapons against aggressive
pagans of Makkah. Only after the following revelation, the Prophet commanded his
people to get prepared for war:
[Permission
to fight is given to those who are fought against because they have been wronged
- truly God has the power to come to their support - those who were expelled
from their homes without any right, merely for saying, ‘Our Lord is God’…]
(Surat Al-Hajj 22:39-40)
In
brief, Muslims were allowed to wage war only because they were oppressed and
subjected to violence. To put it in another way, God granted permission for war
only for defensive purposes. In other verses, Muslims are warned against use of
unnecessary provocation or unnecessary violence:
[Fight
in the Way of God against those who fight you, but do not go beyond the limits.
God does not love those who go beyond the limits.] (Surat Al-Baqarah 2:190)
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For
more on war and Islam, read:
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After
the revelations of these verses, wars occurred between Muslims and pagan Arabs.
In none of these wars, however, were the Muslims the inciting party.
Furthermore,
Prophet Muhammad established a secure and peaceful social environment for
Muslims and pagans alike by signing a peace agreement (Hudaybiya) which conceded
to the pagans most of their requests. The party who violated the terms of the
agreement and started a new war was again the pagans.
However,
with rapid conversions into Islam, the Islamic armies attained great power
against the pagan Arabs and Prophet Muhammad conquered Makkah without bloodshed
and in a spirit of tolerance. If he willed, he could have taken revenge on pagan
leaders in the city. Yet, he did not do harm to any one of them, forgave them
and treated them with the utmost tolerance. Pagans, who would later convert to
Islam by their own will, could not help admiring such noble character of the
Prophet.
The
Islamic principles God proclaims in the Qur’an account for this peaceful and
temperate policy of Prophet Muhammad. In the Qur’an, God commands believers to
treat even the non-Muslims kindly and justly:
[...God
does not forbid you from being good to those who have not fought you over
religion or driven you from your homes, or from being just towards them. God
loves those who are just. God merely forbids you from taking as friends those
who have fought you over religion and driven you from your homes and who
supported your expulsion...]
(Surat Al-Mumtahanah 60:8-9)
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“Islam
recognizes that war is inevitable and sometimes a positive duty in order
to end oppressions and suffering.”
Karen Armstrong
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The
verses above specify the outlook of a Muslim on non-Muslims: A Muslim should
treat all non-Muslims kindly and avoid making friends only with those who show
enmity to Islam. In case this enmity causes violent attacks against the
existence of Muslims, that is, in case they wage a war against them, then
Muslims should respond them justly by considering the humane dimensions of the
situation. All forms of barbarism, unnecessary acts of violence and unjust
aggression are forbidden by Islam.
In
another verse, God warns Muslims against this and explains that rage felt for
enemies should not cause them to drift them into injustice:
[You
who believe! Show integrity for the sake of God, bearing witness with justice.
Do not let hatred for a people incite you into not being just. Be just. That is
closer to heedfulness. Heed God (alone). God is aware of what you do.] (Surat
Al-Ma’idah 5:8)
The
Meaning of “Jihad”
Another
concept that deserves clarification is that of “jihad”.
The
exact meaning of “jihad” is “effort”. That is, in Islam, “to carry out
jihad” is “to show efforts, to struggle”. Prophet Muhammad explained that
“the greatest jihad is the one a person carries out against his lower soul”.
What is meant by “lower soul” here is the selfish desires and ambitions. A
struggle given on intellectual grounds against anti-religious, atheist views is
also a form of jihad in its complete sense.
Apart
from these ideological and spiritual meanings, struggle in the physical sense is
also considered as “jihad”. However, as explained above, this has to be a
struggle carried out solely for defensive purposes. The use of the concept of
“jihad” for acts of aggression against innocent people, that is for terror,
would be unjust and a great distortion.
Compassion,
Tolerance and Pacifism in Islam
The
Islamic political doctrine is both peaceful and moderate. The British historian,
Karen Armstrong, a former nun and a renowned expert on Middle East history,
wrote in her book, Holy War, in which she examines the history of the three
great divine religions:
...
The
word Islam comes from the same Arabic root as the word peace and the Qur’an
condemns war as an abnormal state of affairs opposed to God’s will: “When
the enemies of the Muslims kindle a fire for war, Allah extinguishes it. They
strive to create disorder in earth, and Allah loves not those who create
disorder.” (Qur’an 28:78). Islam does not justify a total aggressive war or
extermination, as the Torah does in the first five books of the Bible. A more
realistic religion than Christianity, Islam recognizes that war is inevitable
and sometimes a positive duty in order to end oppressions and suffering. The
Qur’an teaches that war must be limited and be conducted in as humane a way of
possible. Mohammed had to fight not only the Meccans but also the Jewish tribes
in the area and Christian tribes in Syria who planned on offensive against him
in alliance with the Jews. Yet this did not make Mohammed denounce the People of
the Book. His Muslims were forced to defend themselves but they were not
fighting a holy war against the religion of their enemies. When Mohammed sent
his freedman Zaid against the Christians at the head of a Muslim army, he told
them to fight in the cause of God bravely but humanely. They must not molest
priests, monks and nuns nor the weak and helpless people who were unable to
fight. There must be no massacre of civilians nor should they cut down a single
tree nor pull down any building. This was very different from the wars of
Joshua.1
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“Religiously,
Islam proved a more tolerant religion, providing greater religious freedom
for Jews and indigenous Christians.”
John L. Esposito
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Following
the death of Prophet Muhammad, Muslims continued to treat the members of other
religions with tolerance and respect. Islamic states became the secure and free
home of both Jews and Christians. After the conquest of Jerusalem, Caliph Omar
calmed the Christians who were in fear of a massacre and explained to them that
they were secure. Furthermore, he visited their churches and declared that they
could continue to practice their worship freely.
In
1099, four centuries after the conquest of Jerusalem by Muslims, Crusaders
invaded Jerusalem and put all Muslim inhabitants to the sword. Again, contrary
to the fears of Christians, Salah El-Deen, the Muslim general who captured
Jerusalem and saved the city from invasion in 1187, did not touch even a single
civilian and did not allow a single soldier to plunder. Moreover, he allowed the
invading Christians to take all their possessions and leave the city in
security. The periods of Seljuk Turks and the Ottoman Empire were also marked by
the tolerance and justice of Islam. As is known, Jews who were expelled from
Catholic Spain found the peace they sought on the lands of Ottoman Empire, where
they took refuge in 1492. Sultan Mehmed, the conqueror of Istanbul, also allowed
Jews and Christians religious freedom. Regarding the tolerant and just practices
of Muslims, historian A. Miquel states the following:
The
Christians were ruled by a very well administered state which was something that
did not exist in the Byzantium or Latin sovereignty. They were never subjected
to a systematized oppression. On the contrary, the Empire, and foremost
Istanbul, became a refuge for the much tortured Spanish Jews. They were never
forced to accept Islam.2
John
L. Esposito, a professor of Religion and International Politics at the
Georgetown University, makes a similar comment:
For
many non-Muslim populations in Byzantine and Persian territories already
subjugated to foreign rulers, Islamic rule meant an exchange of rulers, the new
ones often more flexible and tolerant, rather than a loss of independence. Many
of these populations now enjoyed greater local autonomy and often paid lower
taxes... Religiously, Islam proved a more tolerant religion, providing greater
religious freedom for Jews and indigenous Christians.3
*Reprinted
with permission from the author. Slight editorial changes have been made to the
article. To see the original, visit www.harunyahya.com.
1-
Karen Armstrong, Holy War,
MacMillian London Limited, 1988, p. 25
2-
Feridun Emecen, Kemal Beydilli,
Mehmet İpşirli, Mehmet Akif Aydın, İlber Ortaylı, Abdülkadir Özcan,
Bahaeddin Yediyıldız, Mübahat Kütükoğlu, Osmanlı Devleti Medeniyeti
Tarihi, (The History of the Ottoman State), Istanbul: 1994, İslam Tarih,
Sanat ve Kültür Araştırma Merkezi, p. 467.
3-
John L. Esposito, The Islamic
Threat: Myth or Reality, Oxford University Press, New York, 1992, p. 39.
