Sunday, October 5, 2003		Books

Jehad did not always mean holy war
Rakesh Datta

War and Peace in Islam
Delhi Policy Group. Harman Publishing House. Pages 251. Rs 400.

THE history of Islam is marked with bloodshed and unfortunately people who write about it actually take pride in the fact. This needs correction because, according to the Koran, war in Islam is an aberration rather than a rule.

There are about 52 countries in the world which officially call themselves Islamic. The influence of Islam in the political space occupied by Islamic countries is, therefore, becoming an issue of debate. However, the terrorist attack on the United States of America on 9/11 has led to Islam being presented as a hostile religion to the followers of other religions and political systems.

The position of Islam on the issue of conflict and peace figured at a seminar organised by the Delhi Policy Group as a part of "Comprehensive Security Dialogue Project" with the support of the Ford Foundation. The book has an introduction by Lt Gen V.P. Raghavan (retd) and is divided into four sections. Those who have contributed to the book were panellists at the seminar.

Giving an Islamic perspective on war and peace, the book discusses Akbar’s theory of Sulhe Kul or absolute peace and its roots in early Islam. It examines the concept of jehad in the 19^th century when jehad did not indicate a communal polarisation of people.

The chapter on war and peace in Islam deals with Koranic assertions, which say that violence is not permissible in Islam. War is abhorred in Islam. Islam teaches one to "eliminate enmity not the enemy". Only established governments are allowed to fight defensive wars. Undeclared wars, guerrilla wars and proxy wars are unlawful according to Islam. According to the book, initially the term jehad was never used with reference to war. Rather jehad meant a spiritual striving to attain oneness with God. This is in contrast with its present meaning of ‘holy war’. According to the western media, terror is perceived to be directed at the West from Islam, yet paradoxically it is the Muslim world which is at the receiving end of terror from the West.

The Islamic world offers a variety of regimes from monarchy to military dictatorship to controlled democracy. No Muslim country has complete democracy even though a dynamic and creative interpretation of Islamic laws is permitted under ijtihad. The major blame for this goes to western powers which, for their own geopolitical and economic interests, frustrate any attempt at democratisation of Muslim regimes. The notion of jehad has undergone a change to suit changing circumstances.

India has a vast Muslim minority. In a chapter on the new agenda for Indian Muslims in the wake of Islamic militancy, cross-border terrorism, jehad and the Babri incidence, the author recommends payam-i-insaniyat for providing means for a dialogue and for carrying out the Islamic duty of tabligh or missionary work to solve common problems.

The book also focuses on the pluralism of Islam in Kashmir, which allows the creation of a homogeneous Kashmiri identity in which differences of belief, are not effaced but recognised. It is this resilience which explains why Islam in the Valley has, by and large, survived the onslaught from fundamentalists, unlike Islam in the Arab world.

The author attributes the rise of Islamic militancy in the world to the Iranian revolution. Later, however, with the spread of violent jehad, four-fifths of the world population fell victim to jehadis. It also put a question mark on the integrity and patriotism of Muslims in many countries. Even though the history of Islamic tyranny in India goes back to the times of the Mughals, its rise in the modern times through the Students Islamic Movement in India (SIMI) began in 1977. While the nature and extent of militancy amongst Muslims in India is related to the rise of the Hindutva wave, it is the ISI of Pakistan which encourages Islamic Sevak Sangh and other Muslim fundamentalist organisations in the North-East, Kashmir and rest of India. Indian official sources claim that there are 14 Muslim fundamentalist organisations operating in Assam. However, Muslims in India have ruled out the option of any armed struggle and stray acts of terrorism are attributed to individual frustration.

The book, though poorly bound, has a rich collection of well-researched papers, views, opinions and expert comments. A useful book for ideologues, researchers and political scientists for gaining an objective perspective on Islamic thought.