The Islamic Doctrine of War: Jihad

I am taking a class in Seminary called: Christianity and Islam. I have always loved studying Middle Eastern politics, history and religion and this class has been highly informative.
I took a class taught by Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, a former Muslim who is now a Christian living in England. He was absolutely brilliant. He is a top consultant to the British Military, Scotland Yard and NATO. I was required to read one of his books and do a short book review. If your interested in knowing more about what Islam teaches about jihad and war then please read on.
I think its important that we all become more knowledgable of Islam and the immense threat that it is against Western civilization.
If you dont feel up to reading a longer post then check out this website.
The Religion of "Peace".

If you want to know more about the persecuted Church in Islamic lands and how you can help.
The Barnabas Fund Website.

The book I read was called, Understanding Islamic Terrorism, written by Rev. Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, the director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, a Christian research institute specializing in current trends in Islam and their effects on non-Muslim minorities.

The purpose of the book is found on the title page, Understanding Islamic Terrorism and the Islamic doctrine of war and in doing so learn how to better deal with Islamic terrorism. This scholarly book explores in powerful detail how Islamic terrorists today are in fact embracing classical interpretations of Islam rather than some fringe doctrine. Dr. Sookhdeo points out that modern day government leaders, and media have failed to see and define the connection of terrorism to traditional Islamic doctrine and practices. And in doing so will not be able to deal with the threat of Islamic terrorism properly.

Although Dr. Sookhdeo uses the Qur’an and Hadith extensively in showing us the Islamic doctrine of war he also focuses heavily on Muslim sources throughout history who have interpreted and applied these doctrines and in doing so Dr. Sookhdeo has weaved an enormous summary of how the doctrine of war in Islam is intricately connected to what it intrinsically means to be a Muslim.

There are so many enlightening and contributing points to this book that helps us understand the Islamic terrorism and the doctrine of war but I will focus on a couple that really stood out in my mind.

One of the key doctrinal truths pointed out about Islam was their concept of the world being divided into two parts; Dar al-Islam, the house of Islam where Muslims are in power and the part where Muslims are not in power, Dar al-Harb, the house of war. The reason this is important is because within Islam Muslims have a duty to change Dar al-Harb into Dar al-Islam. The way this was done throughout Islam’s history was through conquest, jihad and violence. Muhammad operated this way along with hisuccessors, and this was how the Islamic Empire was built thus we can see how terrorists are simply following in Muhammad’s footsteps. The philosopher-historian Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) points out how war is a key part of being a Muslim when he defined jihad as “a religious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and the obligation to convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or force.”

This Muslim worldview of House of Islam and House of War makes it more clear how Muslims perceive it as a religious duty to dominate the world through any means possible, including war and violence. It is an inbuilt theological urge at their very core to expand and dominate. There really is no concept of peace in Islam. Peace is generally dealt with in classical Islam as an interlude in the jihad process that must go on until the whole world has become Muslim.
Another driving force behind terrorism other than seeking Dar al-Islam is the status given to those who participate in jihad and the martyr status they receive. Someone who participates in jihad and dies, he or she is declared a martyr goes straight to paradise. (A normal Muslim must be questioned and judged.) Their families actually celebrate at their deaths and receive financial support from the community and from Saudi Arabia. Martyr’s become public heroes.

I have touched only a very few amount of topics discussed in this book that brings light to the doctrine of war and Islamic terrorism. With this knowledge in hand the question is what do we do about Islam’s goal of Dar al-Islam and their method of bringing it through war, violence and terrorism?

Dr. Sookhdeo finishes his book with a chapter on responses to Islamic terrorism, both historical and current. The following are the responses to Islamic terrorism that he mentions: colonialism, elimination, military defeat, brutal repression, denial of human rights, financial restrictions, economic uplift, yielding to terrorist requests, peace treaty, theological undermining, and reform of Islam from within.

The option that Dr. Sookhdeo views as creating long term hope would be Islamic reform from within. A push from the West for Islamic reform he says will be futile and antagonistic, although we can help by supporting liberal Muslims secretly. For short-term options he suggests economic sanctions, good diplomacy and the right use of force. But it is his hope for Islamic reform from within that he believes will deliver long term results. He says, “If terrorism is going to be dealt with at is source, Islam has to change and undergo a transformation.” He continues by stating, “…the most realistic way to provide a permanent solution to the problem of Islamic violence in the long term is the reform of the Islamic doctrine of jihad for one of the peaceable non-classical variations to supersede the classical interpretation and be acknowledged as the new norm.”

The book was wonderful up until this point. I cannot fathom how someone writes an entire book discussing how Islam at its core is violent and seeks domination through violence and yet thinks it can or will reform. It is changing the religion completely. It would cease to be Islam. I believe his long-term assessment is nothing but what he says; a hope.

One doctrine that is highly important to all Muslims is ijtihad. Itjtihad is the process of interpreting and making deductions about the Qu’ran and the Hadith, which formulated Classical Islamic theology and created the Shari’ah. This would seem to indicate that there might be room for Islamic reform using ijtihad but there is one major problem, the door of ijtihad has been closed for over 1,000 years. The five schools of Islamic law claimed that ijtihad is to stop and this has created a huge reluctance to any kind of rethought, questioning or reforming of Islam from then until today. “Hence it is that the majority of today’s Sunni Muslims see it as a heresy to consider altering or updating the Shari’ah.”

There may be a good number of peace loving Muslims and intellectually liberal minded Muslim scholars who want to embrace the ideas of democracy, toleration, freedom and equality but these values fly in the face of traditional Islam. Noticing the trends of radical Islam today I cannot fathom Islamic reform from within ever succeeding. But I am not fatalistic and I do believe a combination of short-term objectives should be tried to promote peaceful stability in the world. In agreement with Dr. Sookhdeo some immediate options we should employ should be diplomacy that understands the nature of classical Islam, timely use of force and at times brutal repression of radicals may be needed, both economic sanctions and uplifts and support for liberal Muslims, both scholars and laymen.

Dr. Sookhdeo pointed out the eschatological mindedness of the Islamic terrorists and I can’t help but agree with them. They do seem to be ushering in the end times but they are on the wrong team. God told Abraham he would create great nations from both Isaac and Ishmael. Considering Ishmael it says in Genesis 16:12 “He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” Ishmael was conceived through works, Abram tried to work out his own “salvation”, an heir, whereas Isaac was conceived through the law of grace where Abram did have faith. Islam is a religion of works, which lives in hostility towards all brothers. Whereas Christianity is a religion based on faith in Gods grace, which directs us to love others. In my mind there is no long-term hope for Islam and its ability to adopt true peace into its religion. It would be interesting to hear Dr. Sookhdeo beliefs in Islam’s part in Christian eschatology.

In conclusion, this book coupled with the lectures I attended by Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo was a wake up call to the seriousness and danger of Islamic terrorism. Knowing that “Jihad is the signature tune of Islamic history” as mentioned by M.J. Akbar has radically changed my perspective whenever I encounter and weigh in not just on terrorism but current events worldwide.