Defensive Nature of Jihad

[Zaheer]

This brief sketch of the defensive wars of Mohammad with the Koreish
will fully show, that those who assert that Mohammad was aggressive or
revengeful in his wars, or that he made war to force his religion upon
the people, are altogether in the wrong.

I will now quote some verses of the Koran, showing that all the wars
of Mohammad with the Koreish were defensive wars.

39. "Verily, God will ward off[1] mischief from believers: lo, God
loveth not the false, the unbeliever."

40. "A sanction is given to those who have been fought,[2] because
they have suffered outrages, and verily, God is well able to succour
them"--

41. "Those who have been driven forth from their homes wrongfully,
only because they say, 'Our Lord is the God.' And if God had not
repelled some men by others, cloisters and churches and oratories and
mosques wherein the name of God is ever commemorated, would surely
have been destroyed! And him who helpeth God will God surely help:
Verily, God is Strong, Mighty."

42. "They who, if We established them in this land, will observe
prayer and pay the alms of obligation and enjoin what is recognized as
right--and forbid what is unlawful. And the final issue of all things
is unto God."--Sura, xxii.

186. "And fight for the cause of God against those who fight against
you: but commit not the injustice of attacking them first: verily, God
loveth not the unjust."

187. "And kill them wherever ye find them, and eject them from
whatever place they have ejected you, for (fitnah)[3] persecution is
worse than slaughter: yet attack them not at the sacred mosque, until
they attack you therein; but if they attack you, then slay them--Such
is the recompense of the infidels!"--

188. "But if they desist,[4] then verily God is Gracious, Merciful!"

189. "And do battle against them until there be no more (fitnah)
persecution, and the worship be that of God: but if they desist, then
let there be no hostility, save against wrong-doers."

214. "They will ask thee concerning war in the Sacred Month. Say: The
act of fighting therein is a grave crime; but the act of turning
others aside from the path of God, and unbelief in Him, and to prevent
access to the Sacred Mosque, and to drive out his people, is worse in
the sight of God; and persecution[5] (fitnah[6]) is worse than
bloodshed. But they will not cease to war against you until they turn
you from your religion, if they be able: but whoever of you shall turn
from his religion, and die an infidel, their works shall be fruitless
in this world and in the next: and they shall be consigned to the
fire; therein to abide for aye."

215. "But they who believe, and who fly their country, and do their
utmost in the cause of God, may hope for God's mercy: and God is
Gracious, Merciful."

245. "And fight in the cause of God; and know that God is He who
Heareth, Knoweth."

247. "Hast thou not considered the assembly of the children of Israel
after the death of Moses, when they said to a prophet of theirs,
--'Raise up for us a king; we will do battle for the cause of God?' He
said, 'May it not be that if to fight were ordained you, ye would not
fight?' They said, 'And why should we not fight in the cause of God,
since we are driven forth from our dwellings and our children?' But
when fighting was commanded them they turned back, save a few of them:
But God knew the offenders!"

252. "And by the will of God they routed them; and (Dâood) David slew
Goliath; and God gave him the kingship and wisdom, and taught him
according to his will: and were it not for the restraint of one by the
means of the other imposed on men by God, verily the earth had
assuredly gone to ruin, but God is bounteous to his creatures."--Sura,
ii.

76. "Let those then fight in the cause of God who barter this present
life for that which is to come; for whoever fighteth on God's path,
whether he be slain or conquer, We will in the end give him a great
reward."

77. "But what hath come to you that ye fight not on the path of God,
and for the weak among men, women and children, who say, 'O our Lord!
bring us forth from this City whose inhabitants are oppressors; give
us a champion from thy presence; and give us from thy presence a
defender?'"

78. "They who believe, fight on the path of God; and they who believe
not, fight on the path of Thâgoot: Fight then against the friends of
Satan--Verily, the craft of Satan shall be powerless!"

86. "Fight then on the path of God: lay not burdens on any but
thyself; and stir up the faithful. The prowess of the infidels, God
will haply restrain; for God is the stronger in prowess, and the
stronger to punish."

91. "They desire that ye should be unbelievers as they are
unbelievers, and that ye should be alike. Take therefore none of them
for friends, until they have fled their homes for the cause of God. If
they turn back, then seize them and slay them wherever ye find them;
but take none of them as friends or helpers."

92. "Except those who seek asylum among your allies, and those who
come over to you--prevented by their own hearts by making war on you,
or from making war on their own people. Had God pleased, He would
certainly have given them power against you, and they would certainly
have made war upon you! But, if they depart from you, and make not war
against you and offer you peace, then God alloweth you no occasion
against them."

93. "Ye will find others who seek to gain your confidence as well as
that of their own people: So oft as they return to sedition, they
shall be overthrown in it: But if they leave you not, nor propose
terms of peace to you, nor withhold their hands, then seize them, and
slay them wherever ye find them. Over these have We given you
undoubted power."--Sura, iv.

19. "O Meccans! If ye desired a decision, now hath the decision come
to you. It will be better for you if ye give over the struggle (or
attacking upon Medina or the Moslem). If ye return to it we will
return; and your forces, though they may be many, shall by no means
avail you aught, because God is with the faithful."

39. "Say to the infidels: If they desist (from persecuting,
obstructing, and attacking the Moslems), what is now past shall be
forgiven them; but if they return to it (commit again the
hostilities), they have already before them the doom of the ancients!"

40. "Fight then against them till civil strife be at an end, and the
religion be all of it God's; and if they desist, verily God beholdeth
what they do."

41. "But if they turn their back, know ye that God is your protector:
Excellent protector! and excellent helper!"

73. "... And they who have believed, but have not fled their homes,
shall have no rights of kindred with you at all, until they too fly
their country. Yet if they seek aid from you on account of the faith,
your part it is to give them aid, except against a people between whom
and yourselves there may be a treaty. And God beholdeth your actions."

74. "And the infidels have the like relationships one with another.
Unless ye do the same (i.e., aid the oppressed and repel the
oppressor), there will be discord in the land and great corruption."--
Sura, viii.

(When the Meccans broke the Hodeibia treaty mentioned in the above
paragraph, the Koreish and Bani Bakr attacked Bani Khozaá, who were in
alliance with Mohammad. It became incumbent on him to assist Bani Bakr
and to chastize the aggressors. The following verses were published on
that occasion, but happily, before the expiration of the fixed period,
the Koreish submitted and Mecca was taken without bloodshed, and these
verses were not acted upon:--)

1. "An immunity from God and His Apostle to those with whom ye are in
league (and they have violated the same--compare verses 4, 8 and 10)
among the polytheist Meccans."

2. "Go ye therefore at large in the land four months (i.e., four
sacred months from Shaw-wal. The treaty was violated by the Koreish in
Ramzan, a month immediately previous to the sacred months. It is
announced here that four months' time is given to the aggressors, who
violated the treaty of Hodeibia, to make terms. After the time is over
(verse 5) the Moslems will commence hostilities to defend their
allies, the Bani Khozaá), but know that ye shall not find God feeble,
and that those who believe not, God will put to shame."

3. "And a proclamation on the part of God and His Apostle to the
people on the day of the greater pilgrimage, that God is free from any
engagement with those who worship other gods with God, as is his
Apostle. If then, ye turn to God, it will be better for you; but if ye
turn back, then know that ye shall not find God feeble: and to those
who believe not, announce thou a grievous punishment."

4. "But this concerneth not those Polytheists with whom ye are in
league, and who have afterwards in no way failed you, and not yet
aided any one against you. Observe, therefore, your engagement with
them through the whole time of their treaty. Verily, God loveth those
who fear Him."

5. "And when the sacred months are passed[7] kill those who join other
gods with God[8] wherever ye find them; and seize them, and besiege
them, and lay wait for them with every kind of ambush; but if they
repent and observe prayer and pay the obligatory alms, then let them
go their way.[9] Verily, God is Gracious, Merciful."

6. "If any one of those who join gods with God ask an asylum of thee,
grant him an asylum, in order that he hear the Word of God; then let
him reach his place of safety. This, for that they are people devoid
of knowledge."

7. "How can they who add gods to God be in league with God and His
Apostle, save those with whom ye made a league at the sacred temple?
So long as they are true to you,[10] be ye true to them: verily, God
loveth those who fear Him."

8. "How can they? since if they prevail against you, they will not
regard in their dealing with you, either ties of blood or good faith:
With their mouths they content you, but their hearts are averse, and
most of them are perverse doers."

9. "They sell the signs of God for a mean price, and turn others aside
from his way; of a truth, evil is it that they do!"

10. "They respect not with a believer either ties of blood or good
faith; and these are the transgressors!"

11. "Yet if they turn to God and observe prayer, and pay the impost,
then are they your brethren in religion: and We make clear the signs
for men of knowledge."[11]

12. "But if, after alliance made, they violate their covenant and
revile your religion, then do battle with the ringleaders of infidelity
--verily there is no faith in them! Haply they will desist."

13. "Will ye not do battle with a people (the Meccans) who have broken
their covenant and aimed to expel your Apostle and attacked you first?
Will ye dread them? God truly is more worthy of your fear if ye are
believers!"

14. "Make war on them: By your hands will God chastize them and put
them to shame, and give victory over them, and heal the bosom of a
people who believe."

36. "... and attack those who join gods with God one and all, as they
attack you one and all."--Sura, ix.
What the above-quoted verses show.

I need not repeat here what these verses and the facts related above
show, that the wars of Mohammad with the Koreish were merely
defensive, and the Koreish were the aggressors, and that Mohammad was
quite justified in taking up arms against them.

"In the state of nature every man has a right to defend," writes Mr.
Edward Gibbon,[1] "by force of arms, his person and his possessions;
to repel, or even to repeat, the violence of his enemies, and to
extend his hostilities to a reasonable measure of satisfaction and
retaliation. In the free society of the Arabs, the duties of subject
and citizen imposed a feeble restraint; and Mahommed, in the exercise
of a peaceful and benevolent mission, had been despoiled and banished
by the injustice of his countrymen." It has been fully shown in the
foregoing paragraphs that the Moslems in Mecca enjoyed neither safety
nor security. Religious freedom was denied to them, though they were
harmless and peaceful members of the community. Besides this they were
expelled from their homes, leaving their families and their property
in the hands of their persecutors, and were prevented from returning
to Mecca, and were refused access to the Sacred Mosque; and, above
all, they were attacked by the Meccans in force at Medina.
Justification of the Moslems in taking up arms against their
aggressors.
The persecution of the early Moslems by the Koreish was on religious
grounds. They would not allow the believers to renounce the religion
of their forefathers and profess Islam. Their intolerance was so
strong and harsh that they tortured some of the professors of the new
faith to renounce the same and to rejoin their former idolatry.
"Taking away the lives, the fortune, the liberty, any of the rights of
our brethren, merely for serving their Maker in such manner as they
are persuaded they ought, when by so doing they hurt not human
society, or any member of it, materially, is evidently inconsistent
with all justice and humanity: for it is punishing those who have not
injured us, and who, if they mistake, deserve only pity from us. The
early Moslems had had every international right to resent persecution
and intolerance of the Meccans and to establish themselves by force of
arms, to enjoy their religious liberty and to practise their religion
freely.

The first aggression after the Hegira was not on the part of Mohammad
(saw).
Some of the European biographers of Mohammad say, "that the first
aggressions after the Hegira were solely on the part of Mahomet and
his followers. It was not until several of their caravans had been
waylaid and plundered, and blood had thus been shed, that the people
of Mecca were forced in self-defence to resort to arms.

This is not correct. The aggressors, in the first instance, were the
Koreish, who, as already shown, followed up their persecution of the
Moslems by an attack upon the city in which the Prophet and his
followers had taken refuge. Even taking it for granted that the
Moslems were the first aggressors after the Hegira, was not the
Hegira, or expulsion itself (leaving aside the previous persecutions
and oppressions at Mecca), a sufficient reason for the commencement of
hostilities by the Moslems, who were anxious to secure their moral and
religious freedom, and to protect themselves and their relatives from
further aggressions?
Sir William Muir admits, that "hostilities, indeed, were justified by
the 'expulsion' of the believers from Mecca. "It may be said," says
Major Vans Kennedy, "that, in these wars, Mohammad was the aggressor
by his having, soon after his flight, attempted to intercept the
caravans of Mecca. But the first aggression was, undoubtedly, the
conspiracy of the Koreish to assassinate Mohammad, and when to save
his life he fled from Mecca, himself and his followers were thus
deprived of their property, and obliged to depend for their
subsistence on the hospitality of the men of Medina, it could not be
reasonably expected that they would allow the caravans of their
enemies to pass unmolested."

The alleged instances examined:
There is no proof that Mohammad, after the Hegira, commenced
hostilities against the Koreish by intercepting their caravans. The
alleged instances of the caravans being waylaid by the Moslems at
Medina are not corroborated by authentic and trustworthy traditions.
They have also internal evidences of their improbability. The Medina
people had pledged themselves only to defend the Prophet from attack,
and not to join him in any aggressive steps against the Koreish.
Therefore, it seems impossible that they should have allowed Mohammad
to take any aggressive steps against the Koreish which would have
involved them in great trouble.

Hamza and Obeida expedition:
The alleged expeditions against the Koreish caravans by Hamza and the
other by Obeida in pursuit of caravans which escaped, are in
themselves improbable. Mohammad (saw) would not send fifty or sixty
persons to waylay a caravan guarded by two or three hundred armed men.

The Abwa, Bowat, & Osheira expeditions:
The alleged expeditions of Abwa, Bowat, and Osheira, said to have been
led by Mohammad (saw) himself to intercept the Mecca caravans, but in
vain, are altogether without foundation. He might have gone, if he had
gone at all, to Abwa, and Osheira to negotiate friendly terms with
Bani Dhumra and Bani Mudlij, as his biographers say, he did.

The affair at Nakhla:
The affair of the Nakhla marauding party, as related in the
traditions, is full of discrepancies, and is altogether inconsistent
and untrustworthy. The very verse (Sura, ii, verse 214) which the
biographers say was revealed on the occasion, and which I have quoted
above (para. 16), contains a reference to the Meccans' fighting
against the Moslems, which runs counter to the assumption of the
European biographers, who make it an aggressive attack on the part of
Mohammad (saw). It is probable that Mohammad (saw) might have sent
some six or eight scouts to bring in news of the movements and
condition of the Koreish, whose attitude towards Mohammad (saw) had
become more hostile since his flight to Medina. As the Koreish had a
regular and uninterrupted route to Syria for traffic, it was only
reasonable on the part of Mohammad (saw) to take precautions, and he
was always on his guard. The biographers "Ibn Is-hak", "Ibn
Hisham" (p. 424), Tabri (Vol. II, p. 422), Ibnal Athir in
"Kamil" (Vol. II, p. 87), Halabi in Insanul Oyoon (Vol. III, p. 318),
say, that Mohammad (saw) had given written instructions to Abdoollah-
bin-Jahsh, which was to the effect "bring me intelligence of their
affairs." They also say that Mohammad (saw) was displeased with
Abdoollah's affair at Nakhla, and said, "I never commanded thee to
fight in the Sacred Month." The biographers also relate that Mohammad
even paid blood-money for the slain.

At Badr Mohammad (saw) had come only in his defence:

Some of the European biographers of Mohammad allege, that the battle
of Badr was brought by Mohammad himself. They appear to hesitate to
justify Mohammad(saw) in defending himself against the superior
numbers of the Koreish, who had advanced to attack him as far as Badr,
three stages from Medina. It is alleged that Mohammad (saw) intended
to attack the caravans returning from Syria, conducted by Abu Sofian,
his arch-enemy, therefore he set out upon his march with eighty
refugees and two hundred and twenty-five people of Medina, and halted
at Safra to waylay the caravan. Abu Sofian, warned of Mohammad's (saw)
intention, sent some one to Mecca for succour. The Koreish, with nine
hundred and fifty strong, marched forth to rescue the caravan. In the
meantime, the caravan had passed unmolested, but the Koreish held a
council whether to return or go to war. On the one hand, the
biographers say, it was argued that the object for which they had set
out having been secured, the army should at once retrace its steps.
Others demanded that the army should advance. Two tribes returned to
Mecca, the rest marched onwards; but it is not fair to allege that
Mohammad (saw) had set forth to attack the caravan. Had he any such
intention, the people of Medina, who had pledged themselves only to
defend him against personal attack, would not have accompanied him.
The presence of a large number of the Ansárs, the people of Medina,
more than double that of the Mohajirins, the refugees, is a strong
proof that they had come out only in their defence.

Mohammad (saw), on receiving intelligence of the advancing force of
the Koreish, set out from Medina to check the advance of the Meccan
force, and encountered it at Badr, three days' journey from Medina.
The Meccan army had advanced nine days' journey from Mecca towards
Medina. The forces met at Badr on the 17th of Ramzan (13th January
623), the Meccans had left Mecca on the 8th of Ramzan (4th January),
and Mohammad (saw) started only on the 12th of Ramzan (8th January),
about four days after the Meccan army had actually set out to attack
him. Supposing Abu Sofian had some reason for apprehending an attack
from Medina, and sent for succour from Mecca, but the object of the
Meccan army of the Koreish for which they had set out having been
secured, the caravan having passed unmolested, they ought at once to
have retraced their steps. The fact that Mohammad (saw) left Medina
four days after the Koreish had left Mecca with a large army advancing
towards Medina, is strongly in his favour.
The first aggressions after the Hegira, if from Mohammad, might fairly
be looked upon as retaliation.
Even taking it for granted that the first aggressions after the Hegira
were solely on the part of the Moslems, and that several of the
caravans of the Koreish had been waylaid and plundered, and blood had
been shed, it would be unfair to condemn Mohammad. Such attacks, had
they been made, might fairly be looked upon as a retaliation for the
ill-treatment of the Moslems before the flight from Mecca. "Public war
is a state of armed hostility between sovereign nations or
governments. It is a law and requisite of civilized existence that men
live in political continuous societies, forming organized units called
states or nations, whose constituents bear, enjoy and suffer, advance
and retrograde together, in peace and in war. The citizen or native of
hostile country is thus an enemy, as one of the constituents of the
hostile state or nation, and as such is subjected to the hardships of
war."[1] The almost universal rule of most remote times was, and
continues to be with barbarous nations, that the private individual of
a hostile country is destined to suffer every privation of liberty and
protection, and every description of family ties. But Mohammad
protected the inoffensive citizen or private individual of the hostile
country. He even protected those who had actually come out of Mecca to
fight at Badr, but were reluctant to do so. Mohammad had desired
quarters to be given to several persons in the Koreish army at Badr.
Abul Bakhtari, Zamaa, Hárith Ibn Amir, Abbás and other Bani Háshim
were amongst those named.