Its Shari'ah, Stupid #20

In this twentieth installment looking into offensive Jihad in Fiqh, we tap into a more modern source.

Al Azhar University, which can be seen as Sunni Islam's equivalent of the papacy, held a conference in 1968, after the Arab defeat in the U.S. war against Israel. The conference advocated for jihad as the only way to defeat Israel.

[Cit. ur Bat Ye’or, Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam, s. 391-4.]

Jihad is legislated in order to be one of the means of propagating Islam. Consequently Non-Muslims ought to embrace Islam either willingly or through wisdom and good advice or unwillingly through fight and Jihad. […] It is unlawful to give up Jihad and adopt peace and weakness instead of it, unless the purpose of giving up Jihad is for preparation, whenever there is something weak among Muslims, and their opponents are, on the other hand, strong. […] War is the basis of the relationship between Muslims and their opponents unless there are justifiable reason for peace, such as adopting Islam. [Shaikh Abdullah Ghoshah, chief judge of the hashemite kingdom of Jordan] Your honorable conference has been an Arab, Islamic and patriotic necessity in view of the present circumstances in which the Arabs and Muslims face the most serious difficulties. All Muslims expect you to expound Allah’s decree concerning the Palestine cause, to proclaim that decree, in all clarity, throughout the Arab and Muslim world. We do not think this decree absolves any Muslim or Arab from Jihad (Holy War) which has now become a duty incumbent upon the Arabs and Muslims to liberate the land, preserve honor, retaliate for [lost] dignity, restore the Aqsa mosque, the church of Resurrection, and to purge the birthplace of prophecy, the seat of revelation, the meeting-place of Prophets, the starting-point of Issa, and the scenes of the holy spirit, from the hands of Zionism – the enemy of man, of truth, of justice, and the enemy of Allah. […] The hoped-for judgment is that of Muslim Scholars who draw their conclusions from the Book of Allah, and the Summa of His prophet. […] May your decisive word rise to the occasion and enlighten the Arab and Muslim world, so that it may be a battle-cry, urging millions of Muslims and Arabs on to the field of Jihad, which will lead us to the place that once was ours. […] Muslims who are distant from the battle-field of Palestine […] are indeed sinful if they do not hasten to offer all possible means to achieve success and gain victory in the Islamic battle against their enemies and the enemies of their religion. Particularly, this battle is not a mere combat between two parties but it is a battle between two religions (namely, it is a religious battle). Zionism in fact represents a very perilous cancer, aiming at domineering the Arab countries and the whole Islamic world. [Sheikh Hassan Khalid, mufti of the republic of Lebanon]

Here you have Fiqh from modern scholars, a Jurist and a Mufti engaged in a conference at the most famous Islamic university. What do they base their opinions on?

• Allah’s decree
• The hoped-for judgment is that of Muslim Scholars who draw their conclusions from the Book of Allah, and the Summa of His prophet.

Lets cut the crap and drill down to the nitty gritty.

• Jihad is legislated in order to be one of the means of propagating Islam.[footnote]
• Non-Muslims ought to embrace Islam
• willingly
• through wisdom and good advice
• unwillingly through fight and Jihad
• It is unlawful to give up Jihad and adopt peace and weakness
• War is the basis of the relationship between Muslims and their opponents unless there are justifiable reason for peace, such as adopting Islam.
• We do not think this decree absolves any Muslim or Arab from Jihad
• urging millions of Muslims and Arabs on to the field of Jihad
• it is a battle between two religions

Back to the matter of Jihad: its purposes.

• means of propagating Islam
• to liberate the land,
• preserve honor,
• retaliate for [lost] dignity,
• restore
• the Aqsa mosque,
• the church of Resurrection,
• and to purge from the hands of Zionism
• the birthplace of prophecy,
• the seat of revelation,
• the meeting-place of Prophets,
• the starting-point of Issa,
• the scenes of the holy spirit, from the hands of Zionism.

Compare that list to the positive and negative lists in Hilali & Khan's footnote to 2:190 [ means of propagating Islam]