TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/021191/02119910.000

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                                                                                THE GULF WAR, Page 51

Islam's Idea of "Holy War"



    There is no exact Islamic equivalent to the concept of just
war, but an equally complex notion stands in its place: jihad.
The term has become disturbingly familiar to Westerners, but
its meaning is far broader than holy war, the sense in which
it has been brandished by Saddam Hussein and numerous Middle
East militants. In the Koran the Prophet Muhammad is depicted
as a divinely inspired military leader who unified formerly
separate Arab tribes around his new faith. While the Koran most
often uses the concept of jihad in the military sense, the word
actually translates as "striving." According to an
authoritative tradition, Muhammad returned from one of his early
battles saying it was time to move from the "lesser jihad"
(war)  to the "greater jihad" of spiritual effort.

    During the century after Muhammad's death in 632, Muslim
conquerors established sway from Spain to the borders of India.
Islamic scholars of the era emphasized militaristic verses of
the Koran over those that counsel peacemaking. Muslims spoke
of the earth as being divided between the dar ul-Islam (realm
of Islam) and the dar ul-harb (realm of war), implying a need
for ongoing combat to extend the faith's domain. In succeeding
centuries, as Muslims consolidated a multinational empire, the
language of militant jihad faded.

    Believers revived the term in modern times as Muslim areas
fell under Western control or influence. One of the first to
do so was Muhammad Ahmad, the 19th century Mahdi who raised an
Islamic insurgency against British colonialism in the Sudan in
the 1880s. The Ottoman Turks declared jihad against Britain
during World War I. Calls to holy war took on new urgency, and
new meaning, with the creation of Israel in 1948. Since then
the term has been used -- and abused -- to justify at least
three regional wars plus terrorism and murder, not only against
infidels but also toward fellow Muslims such as Egypt's
President Anwar Sadat.

    Who has the religious authority to declare jihad? In Islam's
dominant Sunni branch, that power formerly belonged to the
caliph, or political successor of Muhammad, who united
religious and temporal rulership. But no caliphate has existed
since 1924, and Sunni jurists today believe the power rests
with any legitimate Muslim political authority. Lufti Dogan,
a former Turkish Religious Affairs Minister, says all Muslims
can be called to jihad, but there is greater receptivity to the
call in Shi`ism, the minority branch of Islam that is dominant
in Iran.

    Few believers take seriously the jihad call issued last
August by Saddam. For their part, Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic
rulers obtained a fatwa (ruling) last month from their ranking
religious figure, who declared that self-defense justified holy
war against Saddam.

    In addition to a theological framework for the use of force,
Islam, like Christianity and Judaism, offers moral rules for
the conduct of combat. Early Muslim authorities vigorously
opposed the mistreatment of children, women, diplomats and
hostages and inveighed against poisoned weapons or abuse of
natural resources (in enemy territory "do not hew down a date
palm nor burn it . . ."). On those matters, and many others,
Saddam Hussein is not much of a Muslim, whatever his claims.


By Richard N. Ostling. With reporting by David Aikman/Cairo.