. Christians very often criticize Jihad in Islam and do not understand, or pretend not to understand, that war may become inevitable in certain situations, and even necessary. Yet it suffices to look at history to realize that war has always been part of the lot of human beings.
A religion that has no law governing war cannot be a religion of love for the simple reason that in conflict situations its followers risk overindulging. The History of Christianity is a fine example of this case. Indeed, having no law governing war, Christianity was guilty of the Crusades, Colonization, Slavery, Inquisition, exterminations of American Indians and Australian Aborigines. , the apartheid situation in
South Africa, etc. Would a religion of love, as argued by Christian polemicists, give so much rotten fruit?
These polemicists absolutely do not understand the notion of abandoning oneself to fight in the way of God and to protect the weak as the Holy Quran says:
And what is it with you? You do not fight in the cause of Allah and for oppressed men, women, and children who cry out, “Our Lord! Deliver us from this land of oppressors! Appoint for us a saviour; appoint for us a helper—all by Your grace.”
Holy Quran, Sura an-Nisâ (Women) 4, 75
It is therefore from the perspective of fighting for God and for the cause of the weak that Islam conceives of war. It is with realism that we read in the book of Islamic jurisprudence, Fiqh As-Sunna:
War is an ineluctable social phenomenon which touches all Nations and all times, or nearly so; the earlier revealed Laws recognize this fact: we find in the Torah which the Jews meditate on the legal recognition of the concept of war in its most abrupt form. As for international law, it defines the situations in which war becomes legitimate, codifying for it laws and customs that mitigate its effects, in addition to the fact that these laws have never been applied. "
Source: Sayyid Sabiq, Fiqh As-Sunna, ENNOUR editions, Volume 3, p.25
If Islam governed the war, it was quite simply to limit its misdeeds. Would we be foolish enough to decry the Geneva Conventions and claim that they legitimize war? Clearly not. In Islam, God does not like war and even Christian historian Karen Armstrong understood this when she said:
[...] The word Islam comes from the same Arabic root as the word peace and the Koran condemns war as an abnormal event contrary to the will of God: "Whenever they kindle the fire of war, Allah puts it out. And they strive to spread corruption in the land. And Allah does not like corruptors. " (The Quran, sura al-Ma'ida, verse 64)
Islam does not justify aggressive war or extermination, as the Torah does in the first five books of the Bible. A more realistic religion than Christianity, Islam declares that war is inevitable and sometimes a positive obligation to end oppression and suffering. The Qur'an teaches that war should be limited and conducted in the most humane way possible. Mohammed had to fight not only the inhabitants of Mecca but also the Jewish tribes in the region and the Christian tribes in
Syria who allied with the Jews were planning an attack against him. Yet this did not make Mohammed denounce the people of the book.
We will conclude this short study with the glorification of the warriors by the sanctified champion of Christians, Paul of Tarsus, who affirms in the book attributed to him (Hebrews 11: 32-34): " And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
It is therefore by Faith, and for the fulfillment of the divine promises, that these prophets-mujahedin accomplished all these exploits and destroyed their enemies, although they often committed barbarities, and killed the infants who do not 'had not made any mistakes (which is forbidden in Islam by the way).
Christians should spend more time in front of their Bibles and studying it instead of following preconceptions that ultimately backfire
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