Encyclopedia of Islam

jihad

  

397  J

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9:81–82, 48:16). Other quranic verses deal with 

exemption from military service (Q 9:91, 48:17), 

fighting during the holy months (Q 2:217) and 

in the holy lands (Q 2:191), prisoners of war (Q 

47:4), safe conduct (Q 9:6), and truce (Q 8:61).

The classical doctrine of jihad, developed 

during the eighth and ninth centuries, delineated 

between  dar al-Islam (house of Islam) and dar 

al-harb (house of war, i.e., those who did not 

submit to Islamic rule). Islamic law presumed an 

ongoing state of warfare between the two, except 

for limited truces under specific circumstances. 

Legal scholars defined who was obligated to par-

ticipate in jihad and who was a legitimate target 

(noncombatants such as 

Women

, 

children

, and 

the elderly were protected). A recognized Muslim 

government could declare jihad for legitimate 

reasons (defense or propagation of the faith), 

but jurists generally agreed that not all Muslims 

were required to go to war; a limited force could 

perform the duty on behalf of others. Before 

launching jihad, Muslims must offer unbelievers 

the chance to submit to Islamic rule without fight-

ing, either by converting to Islam or by paying a 

poll tax. Jihad was conducted only if unbelievers 

refused to submit.

After the conquest era (mid-seventh century 

to mid-eighth century), truce between Muslim 

and non-Muslim states became the norm. Some-

times Muslims allied with non-Muslims against 

other Muslim states. In fact, jihad has historically 

most often been launched against other profess-

ing Muslims or else has been defensive in nature. 

Governments used jihad to legitimize their reigns, 

labeling opponents as apostates, rebels, or unbe-

lievers and thus legitimate targets for jihad. Jihad 

during the modern era has been mostly an antico-

lonialist enterprise.

Jihad has not always meant actual warfare. 

Since the 12th century, Sufis and others have 

defined it from a spiritual point of view, refer-

ring to an individual’s inner struggle against 

unbelief and sin or to society’s struggle to bring 

Islamic community in line with God’s laws. Some 

invoke a 

hadith

 in which m

Uhammad

 addressed 

soldiers returning from battle: “You have come 

for the best, from the lesser jihad to the greater 

jihad.” When asked what the greater jihad was, 

he replied, “The servant’s struggle against selfish 

desire.” This pacifistic view is also supported by 

a verse in the Quran (Q 22:78). Modernists often 

argue that jihad is allowed only as defensive war-

fare or the foundation for Islamic international 

law. They maintain that Islamic law is superior to 

Western international law due to its venerable age 

of 13 centuries, its humane principles, its founda-

tion in divine dictates, and its clear-cut notions of 

just war and unjustifiable aggression.

Radical Islamists use jihad to challenge the 

status quo, which they accuse of selling out to 

Western dominance. After s

ayyid

 q

Utb

 (d. 1966), 

revivalists increasingly believed that society could 

not be changed from within. Rather, the oppres-

sive secularist regimes must be brought down so 

that true Islamic society could be established. By 

defining Egyptian society as J

ahiliyya

 (in a state of 

ignorance), Qutb opened the door for declarations 

of jihad against Muslim rulers who were perceived 

as hypocrites for failing to establish proper Islamic 

societies. Radical Islamic groups have recently dif-

ferentiated between the jihad against these rulers, 

whom they call “the near enemy,” from Western 

powers, including the United States, whom they 

call “the far enemy.” They have also reinterpreted 

Islamic law to justify terrorist attacks on individu-

als (including women and children) historically 

excluded as targets and to avoid the restriction 

that only a recognized Islamic government could 

launch jihad.

See also 

colonialism

; 

dar

 

al

-i

slam

 

and

 

dar

 

al

-

harb

; i

slamism

; 

martyrdom

; 

terrorism

.

Stephen Cory