Issue: February 2003

[1] After filling up on a recent trip from Ohio, I had my wife calculate the gasoline consumption of our spiffy new Honda Civic. “You’re going to like this,” she said, “It comes out to 45 miles per gallon.” Though aided by a strong tailwind, I was still enthused. But not enthused as I was […]

Copyright © 2001, Islamic Political Ethics: Civil Society, Pluralism, and Conflict. Used with permission. [1] If their discourse on the Persian Gulf War is any indication, Muslims are hopelessly divided on the Islamic ethics of war and peace. One graphic indication of this division is found in the deliberations of the People’s Islamic Conference, a […]

[1] A note on comparative approach is appropriate in a study which, like this one1, attempts to identify common ground on a particular issue shared by the Western monotheistic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Comparative studies in religion have been generally criticized for oversimplifying the complex and intricate variations and divergences within each tradition […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part I: Introductory Remarks [4] Islam emerged in seventh-century Arabia in the midst of a serious socio-economic imbalance between the rich and the poor, and between extreme forms of individualism and tribal solidarity. Moreover, it arose in the very spirit of populism of the Abrahamic faiths, that is, as […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part II: The Interplay between Religion and Power in Islam [15] Long before the Muslim jurists undertook to provide religious rationale for the historical practice of jih_d by developing political-legal terminology like d_r al-isl_m (the sphere of “submission” [to God]) and d_r al-harb (the sphere of war), the Qur’an […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part III: Jih_d as a Defensive Strategy or a Means of “Calling”? [26] The Prophet through the revelation, then, was not only representing divine goals on earth; he was also engaged in interpreting them to make them relevant in the given cultural context. Any armed struggle like jih_d which, […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part IV: The Need for Legitimate Authority to Sanction Violence in the Nam​e of God [36] The Prophet’s injunction to avoid strife and wrongdoing has served as an important principle in the adoption of political quietism or pacifist activism in some sectors of the Muslim community. In general, the […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part V: The Law of Rebellion [43] Undoubtedly, Islam provides a complex relationship between the principles undergirding private acts of self-defense with principles supporting public legal systems to promulgate order. It is important to bear in mind that even when concerns such as proportionality and self-preservation are present in […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part VI: Pacifist Activism in Islamic Legal System [56] In the legal heritage of Islam, as discussed above, it emerges that majority of the Muslim community maintains pacifist activism, ‘striving’ (literal sense of jih_d) for peace by upholding the religious-moral law of Islam that promises lasting peace by redressing […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part VII: Martyrdom, the Peak of Activism in Islam [60] I have traversed a long way to demonstrate that Islam is not monolithic in its response to the central question about the relationship between Islamic ideals for an ethical world order and the obstacles that were encountered by those […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part VIII: Quietism rather than Pacifism in Islam [64] The readiness to give up one’s life for a goal beyond oneself presupposes a free human agent who could engage in risk- benefit analysis and decide to risk his life for a just cause. There is considerable agreement among Muslims […]

Previous: Justification for Violence in Islam, Part IX: Quietist Authoritarianism and Activist Radicalism [83] Historical development of Islam as a power-faith tradition with its ideology firmly based on creating the ethical order that embodied divine will on earth provided a detailed and thoroughly developed vision of peace with justice. The basis for such a commitment […]

Authority in General [1] The term “authority” has many possible meanings.1 In regard to our topic here, however, the list of possibilities is relatively short. When a person speaks of the authority of the church in the world (as distinct from the church’s authority among its own members), he or she is likely to be […]