Voices of Islam (114 page)

SEEKING PEACE

The Ruler, the political leader of the country, has the power to ratify peace treaties consistent with the interests of the Muslims.

God said:

Enter into peace completely and do not follow the steps of Satan.

(Qur’an 2:208)

And:

And if they incline to peace, incline thou also to it, and trust in God.

(Qur’an 8:60)

Sayyid Sabiq states:

This verse is the command to accept peace when the enemy accepts it, even if their acceptance is known beforehand to be deception and deceit.
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God says:

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And fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevails justice and faith in God; but if they cease, let there be no hostility except against those who practice oppression.

(Qur’an 2:193)

From this verse we see that fighting is exhorted until oppression is ended. Thus, with the words ‘‘but if they cease’’ God legislates that once justice prevails and no one is prevented from observing his or her belief in God, then fighting should end. God grants that arms be set aside, ‘‘except against those who practice oppression.’’

And fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in God altogether and everywhere; but if they cease, verily God doth see all that they do.

(Qur’an 8:39)

Thus, peace is not only permitted but called for, after the adversary, even if still antagonistic, ceases his aggression. However, precaution and watchfulness is not to be abandoned in this situation, for here God reminds the Muslims of His Own Attribute, ‘‘verily God doth see all that they do.’’

The Prophet said, after establishing the Islamic state in Medina, that the way of the Muslims is one. No single group can autonomously declare war or fi nor can any one group make peace by itself, but the entire country must make peace. A peace treaty can be made by the country’s leader, and all subjects of the country are bound by that decision, regardless of whether the leader was appointed or elected. The final decision is up to the ruler after his consultation with others.

If a state has no leader then it must select one, or all the neighboring states and nations may come together and agree on a treaty with any foreign country. This applies today in the case of the Middle East Crisis. This applies as much to peace as it does to war. No individual or group may come forth and declare a Jihad, for such will be a false Jihad. All Muslim nations and their leaders must come together for a decision of war or peace and that is the only accepted process.

It is imperative to keep in mind that all verses about Jihad were revealed at specific times and pertaining to specific historical events. Our concern to- day is that radical extremists employ these verses outside their proper his- torical and revelatory context, merely cutting and pasting together what suits their evil inclinations, without accurate or suffi knowledge of the applicability of such verses.

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TAXATION

Ibn Qudama said that a treaty of peace involves agreeing with combatant non-Muslims for an end to hostility for a period of time, whether it involves paying a tax or not. He asserted that Muslims are allowed to make peace treaties that do not require non-Muslims to pay a tax, because the Prophet of God did so on the occasion of the Hudaybiyya Treaty. Ibn Qudama says that Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal gave this opinion as did Imam Abu Hanifa.
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CONDUCT OF COMBAT

Prohibition of Killing Noncombatants

Islam prohibits utterly the killing of those who are not actual military personnel.

The Prophet sent the following message to his military leaders who were setting forth in the way of Jihad to stop hostile advances and defend Muslim territories:

Advance in the name of God, with God, on the pattern of the Messenger of God. That means do not kill the elderly, infants or children and women. Do not exceed the proper bounds. Gather your spoils and make peace ‘‘and do good. Lo! God loveth those who do good’’ (Qur’an 2:195).
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The Prophet passed by a woman who was killed and said, ‘‘She was not engaged in fighting.’’ The Prophet then sent to the Muslim leader Khalid ibn al-Walid the following message, ‘‘The Prophet orders you not to kill women or servants.’’
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This was to show that the reason for the prohibition of killing the woman was due to the fact that she was not with the fighters. The inference here is, ‘‘the reason we fight them is because they fight us, not on the simple principle that they are disbelievers.’’ This is clear evidence that the woman was not a fi and the Prophet prohibited her killing. From the strong expression the Prophet made, going so far as to send a letter to his topmost military commander, we see how concerned he was to prevent any such incidents and to insure that every single Muslim warrior was aware of the rules of combat.

Some questions arise here: When someone explodes a bomb or commits a suicide attack in a public place, how many innocent women, children, and elderly people are killed? If for one woman’s death, the Prophet scolded his top general, Khalid ibn al-Walid, what then about killing twenty, thirty, or even hundreds of noncombatants, some of whom may even be Muslims?

Just as the Messenger of God forbade the killing of women and the young, he forbade killing priests.

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The first caliph Abu Bakr as-Siddiq’s commandment to the leader of the fi Islamic military expedition after the Prophet was:

...
No hermit should be molested
...
Only those should be killed who take up arms against you.
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So we see from these various narrations of the Prophet—and there are many more like them—that the Prophet prohibited the Muslims from fi ng anyone, Muslims or non-Muslims, even if they are unbelievers, if they are not transgressors against the security of the nation.

This shows that terrorist acts, in particular suicide attacks which kill indiscriminately, are utterly unacceptable forms of combat, even during valid combat authorized for the defense of the nation.

Prohibition of Burning the Enemy

It is prohibited to burn the enemy with fi because the Messenger said, ‘‘Kill [the enemy] but do not burn him. For no one punishes with fi except the Lord of the Fire.’’
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This hadith illustrates the Prophet’s emphasis on mercy and avoidance of harm when he established laws of conduct on the battlefield. In modern times only were such rules of warfare established, as in the Geneva Conventions, in which it is impermissible to kill or torture prisoners of war. Similarly, we see that 1,400 years ago, the Prophet established details of the rules of warfare in which even using fire in combat was prohibited, something which modern legislators of warfare have been loathe to adopt.

According to this hadith, weapons of fire are not approved by God. God prohibited burning, yet the majority of attacks by Islamic groups today involve bombs and explosions, such as the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11, where 3,000 people were incinerated.

Prohibition of Mutilating the Dead

‘Imran ibn Husayn said the Messenger of God encouraged us to give charity and forbade us from mutilation.
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Prohibition of Despoiling

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq commanded the leader of the first Islamic military expedition after the Prophet saying:

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‘‘No fruit-bearing trees are to be cut down and no crops should be set on fire. No animal should be killed except those slaughtered for eating
.. .
Only those should be killed who take up arms against you.’’
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Suicide Attacks

One of Islam’s fundamental principles is the sanctity of life. Islam prohibits the killing of noncombatants, except those involved in a direct battle face-to- face between warriors. There is simply no room for maneuver in Islam to justify the killing of innocents, even as a form of mass retribution, which many radicals today use as justifi on for their large-scale attacks on civilians, for Islam prohibits blood feuds and specifies retribution only toward the one who commits a crime.

God says:

Slay not the life which God has made sacrosanct unless it be in a just cause.

(Qur’an 6:151)

And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell to abide therein, and the Wrath and the Curse of God are upon him, and a great punishment is prepared for him.

(Qur’an 4:93)

Since no one can say for sure that a specifi person is not a believer, it becomes forbidden to kill any human being without just cause.

Suicide itself is specifically prohibited:

Kill yourselves not, for God is truly merciful to you.

(Qur’an 4:29)

and:

Throw not yourselves into the mouth of danger.

(Qur’an 2:195)

Thus, we see the general principle enunciated here that killing oneself is forbidden. The Qur’an did not leave anything without an explanation. This is a general principle that no one is permitted to kill another or to kill himself.

Killing Noncombatants

The one who attacks the enemy in repelling his aggression, fighting under the authorized leader of the Muslims, and fi and is killed becomes a

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martyr (
shahid
). But to attack a public location where the ones killed are killed randomly without knowing if they are combatants or not is forbidden. Today’s militant radical Islamists cite a ruling by the Shafi scholar Mawardi in which he stated that when involved in combative Jihad, if the enemy has mixed noncombatants among warriors either by chance or inten- tionally as ‘‘human shields’’ then Muslim archers are allowed to fire on the enemy, despite the fact that due to the randomness of shooting, noncomba- tants might die. Expanding on this point, they argue that this ruling justifies

bomb attacks against civilian areas.

This is nothing but a distortion of the law to suit their purposes. The ruling is very specific in that it allows such attacks on the assumption that it is only the combatants that are targeted by the archers, not the civilians, who only happen to be present or, in the worst case, have been placed as ‘‘human shields.’’ The assumption of the jurist is also that the Muslims and the enemy are engaged in face-to-face fi , between combatants. However, the attacks carried out by such militants in fact do not target combatants: rather they are typically placed in public locations more frequented by civilians, including innocent women, children, and nonmilitary persons.

In Islamic law, one cannot build a case on doubtful assumptions, such as ‘‘those people are likely all engaged in fighting Muslims.’’ Such an argument is false, and the result is the killing of innocents without justification.

Prohibition of Suicide

Islam utterly forbids suicide. On this the Prophet said:

Whoever kills himself in the world with anything, then God will punish him by that same thing on the Day of Judgment.
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The Prophet said:

Among those who were before you, there was a man who was infl with wounds. He felt despair, so he took a knife and with it he cut his hand; blood kept fl wing until the man died. God the Exalted said, ‘‘My slave has caused death on himself hurriedly; I forbid Paradise to him.’’
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Abu Hurayra narrated:

We were in the company of God’s Messenger on an expedition, and he remarked about a man who claimed to be a Muslim, saying, ‘‘This (man) is from the people of the (Hell) Fire.’’ When the battle started, the man fought valiantly until he was wounded. Somebody said, ‘‘O God’s Apostle! The man whom you described as being from the people of the (Hell) Fire fought valiantly today and died.’’ The Prophet said, ‘‘He will go to the (Hell) Fire.’’ Some people were on the point

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of doubting (the truth of what the Prophet had said). Suddenly someone said that the man was still alive but severely wounded. When night fell, he lost patience and committed suicide. The Prophet was informed of this, and he said, ‘‘God is Greater! I testify that I am God’s Slave and His Apostle.’’ Then he ordered Bilal to announce amongst the people:‘‘None will enter Paradise but a Muslim, and God may support this religion (i.e. Islam) even with a disobedient man.’’

The Prophet said:

Whoever throws himself down from a high mountain and kills himself will be throwing himself down from a mountain in the Fire of Hell for all eternity. Who- ever takes poison and kills himself will be taking poison in the Fire of Hell for all eternity. Whoever kills himself with a weapon (literally, iron) will be holding it in his hand and stabbing himself in the stomach in the Fire of Hell for all eternity.
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The Prophet said:

Indeed, whoever (intentionally) kills himself, then certainly he will be punished in the Fire of Hell, wherein he shall dwell forever.
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A person [engaged in battle] killed himself with a broad-headed arrow.

The Messenger of God said, ‘‘As for me, I will not pray over him.’’

Even a Mufti of the most fundamentalist school of law in Islam, the ‘‘Wahhabi/Salafi’’ school of thought, declared that suicide bombings have never been an accepted method of fi ng in Islam. The Mufti of Saudi Arabia Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Al Shaykh declared, ‘‘To my knowledge so-called ‘suicide missions’ do not have any legal basis in Islam and do not constitute a form of Jihad. I fear that they are nothing but a form of suicide, and suicide is prohibited in Islam.’’ This echoes an earlier
fatwa
by his predecessor, the late Saudi Mufti Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Baz.

Like the suicide attackers of September 11, those who commit such atrocities in the name of religion are offenders. They can find no support for their actions in our creed. Nor can those who blow up themselves and others indiscriminately in shopping centers, theaters, or houses of worship find any justification in the faith’s pristine teachings.