In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Arguing the Just War in Islam
  • Reuven Firestone
Arguing the Just War in Islam. By John Kelsay. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-674-02639-1. Notes. Index. Pp. 263. $24.95.

John Kelsay is the foremost Western scholar of Islamic ethics in war, both in traditional and modern settings. In this, his latest book, he takes us into the post-9/11 world, and draws conclusions that may be disturbing but are extremely important for all concerned with the prosecution of war. His language is non-technical and her prose thoughtful and compelling, making the book accessible to non-specialists. It should be required reading for anyone interested in serious study of war ideology and tactics in Islam.

The book is divided into six chapters. The first is "Sources," which treats the origin of Islam and its emergence out of a sixth century Arabian context in which a variety of cultural and religious influences conditioned the reception of the revelation of the Qur'an. Certain general notions thus became deeply imbedded in the basic Islamic worldview. These include the belief that Islam is the natural religion of humanity, though most do not realize it, and that it is the moral purpose of the Muslim community to both remind humanity of its true nature and to warn of the consequences of not paying attention to it. The author provides a compelling description of a worldview that considers Islam to be, through divine providence, a liberation movement that is less interested in conquest than in a [End Page 329] kind of beneficent paternalism whose purpose is to enable humans to realize their purpose in life. The purpose of military force, therefore, is not to make new converts, but rather to extend or protect the hegemony of Islamic values of justice and peace under its righteous rule. It is a system that, in the view of its adherents seeks peace and justice while at the same time teaching the moral duty to engage in the struggle (meaning jihad) to bring its benefits to humanity at large.

Chapter two is "Shari'a Reasoning," which is Kelsay's term for Islamic jurisprudence, the ways in which Muslims constructed a system of law and ethics out of revelation and tradition. In fifty pages he takes the reader through the history of this development, concluding that shari'a reasoning represents a tradition of argument in which humans engage in the give-and-take of rationales in the hopes of ascertaining the guidance of God. There are limits to this process, and they boil down to three essentials: 1) acknowledging the authority of the Qur'an and the sunna of the Prophet, 2) responding to consensual precedents established in earlier generations, and 3) convincingly presenting the rationale by which a connection is established between those precedents and the contemporary context.

Chapter three examines how the most important and influential pre-modern legal scholars applied shari'a reasoning to statecraft in the prosecution of war. Kelsay convincingly demonstrates how historical context influenced their thinking. This sets the stage for the following chapter on modern militant Islamist movements, which treats the ways in which their ideologies conform with shari'a reasoning as established by centuries of precedent. Beginning with the Wahhabi movement in Arabia and opposition to the British in India, Kelsay quickly moves on to the writings of Sadat's assassins, Al-Qa'ida, and Hamas. Two major issues occupy his concern: the innovation of popular armed resistance in the modern period, and the problematic of honorable combat, meaning rules of engagement such as responsibility to non-combatants and reciprocity (including suicide bombings/martyrdom operations).

Chapter five takes up the association of military action with legitimate political authority in Islam. What does the conduct of war say about legitimate authority to govern? One of the most important parts of this chapter is Kelsay's treatment of "Muslim democrats," a cadre of contemporary Muslim thinkers who believe that Islam must not be associated with only one form of government such as the caliphate, but who find Islam compatible with democracy as well.

The book concludes with a sober examination of Muslim arguments on the...

pdf

Share