359. On whom is fighting a war mandatory?
Terrorism plays a very important role when criticizing Islam. The critics of Islam cite verses of the Quran that exhorts people to wage war against enemies, and misinterpret the verses as a license to kill non-Muslims. And some misguided Muslims who involve themselves in terrorist activities cite these verses to support their actions.
The reason for this state of affairs is the lack of knowledge about what war is.
Though the commandments in the Quran are directed towards Muslims at large, there are some commandments directed exclusively towards the rulers regarding rules and duties by them.
The duties assigned to governments cannot be carried out by individuals
The punishments to be awarded, such as severing of the hand for stealing, hundred lashes of whipping for adultery, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth etc… is mentioned in the Quran. These laws cannot be put into practice by any individual Muslim or a group of Muslims. Only an Islamic government can implement them. The verses of the Quran regarding war are duties to be shouldered by the Islamic governments, and not by individual Muslims or a group of Muslims. There is evidence found in the Quran regarding the same.
Verse 4:75 of the Quran says “And what is [the matter] with you that you not fight in the cause of Allah and [for] the oppressed among men, woman, and children who say, “Our Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people and appoint us from Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper?”
Here in this verse the oppressed refers to Muslims of that time, who were subjected to untold miseries in Makkah. They were subjected to torments, they wished they would leave the place to save their lives and belongings.
Still, the Quran did not command them to wage a war against them, but it questions the government of Prophet Muhammad why not fight on their behalf.
Had there been a mandate that the oppressed and victims can wage a war they would have been commanded to do so, but from this verse it can be noted that war is a subject that has to be handled by a government and not by an individual or a group of people.
Verse (8:60) of the Quran talks of getting ready with various armaments, a single person or a group which is a minority cannot carry out this task, and only the government has the ability to do it. When there is an Islamic government, and there exists all reasons to wage a war, and still the government does not have adequate facilities it is not incumbent upon it to start a war.
Verse (8:65) of the Quran talks about the existence of an earlier requirement of 1/10th of the strength of the enemy forces to go to war.
Later on it was declared taking into consideration the weakness of the people, through verse (8:66) the requirement that half the strength of the enemy forces is good enough, and anything less would require the Muslims to be submissive.
When there is a stipulation that waging war is not necessary, if the strength of Muslims is not half that of the enemy, how is war mandatory on the minority?
Because there will be a huge loss to the community, did God prescribe patience and not war. No one could have undergone troubles, tortures, and torments like Prophet Muhammad did while in Makkah, he did not mobilize a force, but maintained patience. He started to get ready for a war only after establishing a government in Madina.
If the Muslims could understand this, the other people will turn their attention towards Islam.
To know more about Islamic views on terrorism, Jihad etc, please refer points 53, 54, 55, 76, 89, 197, 198, 199, 203, 359.
