Arguing the Just War in Islam

272 Pages·2007·0.9 MB·English

by  John Kelsay

A r g u i n g
Arguing
t h e J u s t Wa r
the Just War
ini nIs Ilsalma m
J O H N K E L S A Y
ARGUING THE JUST WAR IN ISLAM

(cid:2)
J O H N K E L S A Y
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge,Massachusetts&London,England
Copyright©2007bythePresidentandFellowsofHarvardCollege
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
FirstHarvardUniversityPresspaperbackedition,2009.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Kelsay,John,1953–
ArguingthejustwarinIslam/JohnKelsay.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-674-02639-1(cloth:alk.paper)
ISBN978-0-674-03234-7(pbk.)
1.War—Religiousaspects—Islam. 2.Jihad. 3.Justwardoctrine.
4.Islamandpolitics. I.Title.
BP190.5.W35K434 2007
297.5′6242—dc22 2007011930
tomyparents

C O N T E N T S
Introduction 1
1. Sources 8
2. ShariéaReasoning 43
3. Politics,Ethics,andWarinPremodernIslam 97
4. ArmedResistanceandIslamicTradition 125
5. MilitaryActionandPoliticalAuthority 155
6. MuslimArgumentandtheWaronTerror 198
Notes 227
Acknowledgments 251
Index 255

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I N T R O D U C T I O N
OnJune18,2005,PresidentGeorgeW.Bushaddressedmilitaryper-
sonnel stationed at Fort Bragg,North Carolina,and also,by way of
television,the nation and the world.Although the announced topic
of thespeechwaspolicyinIraq,duringhisaddressthepresidentas-
serted that the conflict there is part of something much larger. The
UnitedStatesanditsallies,hedeclared,arefightingaglobalwar,one
between democratic nation-states, dedicated to the protection and
spread of liberty, and movements determined to resist those ef-
forts. The war thus has an ideological dimension. Although the
antidemocratic forces had taken aim at the United States and its al-
lies much earlier,that war came home to the United States on Sep-
tember 11, 2001, along with the message that there are people who
hate the United States and the values it espouses. They are not
only determined to resist the spread of those values; they are also