| Acts of Terror and Suicide Attacks in the Light of the Koran and the Sunna |
|
|
| Written by Dr. Hamza Aktan | |
| Saturday, 07 January 2006 | |
|
It is a sad truth that Muslim countries are going through a period when acts of terror threaten their security both at home and abroad. Many negative conditions, such as economic backwardness, social and political dissolution, and cultural degeneration have prepared the ground for the formation of terrorist organizations in the Islamic world, and especially in the countries of the Middle East. It is recognized that some terrorist organizations are supported by various departments of the official administration in the countries where they operate; this is done so that such groups can be used against other terrorist organizations that are active in the same country. It is also another well-recognized fact that, over time, these organizations, made stronger with state support, have grown out of control. Some terrorist organizations, on the other hand, are supported for the political and economic interests of foreign powers, which direct them to particular goals. In this regard, the existence and formation of such organizations are derivatives of various "conspiracy theories"; yet, there is still much that is unclear concerning this issue. The backwardness of the Islamic world in science and technology, which has been the status quo for the last few centuries, and the consequent backwardness in the economy have resulted in many negative outcomes and weaknesses; most significantly, that of cultural crisis. In this world, where even countries have been divided into blocks, the failure of Islamic countries to form a united front has led them to become mere geographical entities that have left themselves wide open to foreign intervention and exploitation. As a result of the cultural crisis that is being experienced in this part of the world, a proportion of the population regards their intelligentsia and administrators as being alienated and has grown resentful of them. They are harboring growing feelings of rebellion against countries which they consider to be imperialist and against individuals and groups who seem to have interests or relations with these countries. Thus, the fact that terror should breed in such a scenario cannot come as a surprise. In other words, even if the people who lived in this part of the world were not Muslims, under the same circumstances the same reactions would have arisen; in this case, as well, terrorist organizations would have developed. It is a fact that in countries which have not been able to complete the process of development we can see ideological balkanization, i.e., internal conflicts and reactions against imperialist countries, and this reflects the situation that occurs in Muslim countries. Some people and circles interrelate Islamic teachings and the formation of terrorist groups in Islamic countries, calling acts of terror "Islamic terrorism." Others define acts of terror by basing them on the Muslim identity of the terrorist and call them "Islamist terror." It would be best to leave other aspects of terror to the specialists and to simply discuss the eventuality of terror as related to Islam and Muslims. It is clear that the use of some Islamic values by terrorist organizations and individuals who are parties to acts of terror—principally jihad—as slogans, has resulted in people speculating a relationship between terror and Islam. It is natural that terrorists should want to use every possible means, including religious values, to legitimize their actions in their own eyes and to win public sympathy. Terrorist organizations must certainly use religious values in order to persuade their militant members to commit acts of terror. They see no impropriety in exploiting any value they can. But let us not dwell on this. Our question in this dissertation is whether it is scientifically possible to relate acts of terror, as has been alleged, to the Qur'an and the Sunna (the Prophet's example as recorded in the Traditions), the two essential sources of Islam. In addition, we will investigate analytically whether it is just to dub a terrorist an "Islamist"; to be a terrorist means that one is about as far as one can be from comprehending the basic principles of Islam. The Concept of Jihad Since some terrorist groups call their acts jihad, we first have to examine and clarify this concept. Jihad is the name of all effort, exertion, and endurance that each Muslim demonstrates in order to be bestowed with the pleasure of God. In that respect, jihad is a form of worship that will continue without cessation until the end of time. Including the efforts that the individual exerts in subduing the carnal desires, the effort to publicize the beliefs of Islam—which can be done by the learned through their profession, the healthy with their services, and the wealthy financially—and effort and perseverance to protect the honor and integrity of Muslims all are canvassed under the word jihad. Jihad can at times also manifest itself as armed struggle if Muslims are attacked, or when they have clear intelligence that they will be attacked, and are thus obliged to engage the enemy in order to abolish the threat and to protect their integrity and honor. The number of battles and military engagements that the Prophet himself commanded or sent one of his Companions to command numbers more than sixty. In none of these battles was God's Messenger on the attack. The Prophet never attacked a tribe solely on the basis that they had denied the oneness of God. All the military engagements that he entered were directed at either ending an attack that had already been started, or at stopping such attacks while they were still at the stage of preparation. The verses that encourage Muslims toward jihad were revealed concerning an unpreventable war that had already started. So, according to the Qur'an and the Sunna the essential element of international relations is peace. War is an exceptional situation. Wars that are waged to protect the existence and honor of Muslims are only small links in the chain that makes up the process of jihad; a chain that stretches to eternity. In this regard, jihad that manifests itself as war in circumstances of self-defense is a legitimate tool. It is permissible for Muslims to react to an invasion of their country, or to exploitation and oppression, and that they should fight against these; moreover, it is their most natural right and ultimate responsibility. But there is a very important matter that must be taken into account here: just as in any other legal system, the basic principle in Islamic law is that, just as the goal must be legitimate, so too must the means through which one reaches that goal. It is for this reason that the Qur'an does not merely encourage Muslims to resist and fight, but also tells them how war should be waged. Can one call jihad the killing of civilians, women, children, and the elderly, shooting into school buses with machine guns, burning houses, shops, and cars, kidnapping, and even killing people who have no relation to a specific incident? And what if the people killed and whose property has been damaged are Muslims? If the organizations that carry out these acts did not receive orders from one central authority, if they answer to no authority for what they have done and if they act only according to their personal wishes, how then can their acts be considered as jihad? Is it enough that people who detonate explosives hidden on their persons or in their cars to call themselves mujahids (the doers of jihad)? Is merely calling the acts they commit jihad enough for these people to be mujahids and for their acts to be jihad? Readers can decide for themselves whether these acts can be called jihad and whether those who commit them can be called mujahids based upon the examples below. Let us try to clarify the issue by giving examples from some acts of the Prophet, acts which form the basis for Islamic Rules of Engagement. Rules Concerning the Aspect of War in Jihad The rules concerning the aspect of jihad that is concerned with war in Islam can be summarized under the following headings that are based on the Sunna of the Prophet and taken in the light of the Qur'an: 1. Treating the enemy with mercy The Prophet never intended to crush the enemy, neither physically nor psychologically, under any circumstances, even in a time of war. We have learned from the Prophet that we have to show mercy to people when they are in a state that invokes our mercy and that calls for our pity, even if these people are our enemies. In AH 8 (629), in the month of Shawwal in the lunar calendar, the Prophet sent Khalid ibn Walid to fight the tribe of the Bani Jazima with a force of 300 men. He told Khalid ibn Walid not to wage war against them unless they were attacked first. When the Bani Jazima saw the forces of Khalid ibn Walid, they took up arms. During battle, a young man from a good family was killed in front of the woman he loved by the Muslim forces. The woman collapsed upon the man and she sobbed twice. Her heart stopped beating due to the deep sorrow she felt and she died, holding the dead man. This incident was later recounted to the Prophet. The Prophet was saddened and he said "Was there no one who had mercy among you?" When he was informed that Khalid had killed some of the prisoners of war he raised his two hands to the sky and pleaded, "Dear God! I swear to you that I am in no way involved in what Khalid has done. I did not order him to do so!" (Ibn Kathir 1976, 3/591) After the conquest of the Khaybar Castle, Safiyya binti Huyay and her cousin were escorted to the Prophet by Bilal, passing among the dead of the Jews on the way. When Safiyya's cousin saw the corpses of her relatives she started to wail and struck her face with her hands. The Prophet remonstrated with Bilal: "O, Bilal! Has the feeling of mercy so abandoned your heart that you have led these women to where the corpses were?" Bilal said "Prophet of God! I did not know that you would not approve." As is known, the Prophet invited Safiyya binti Huyay to convert to Islam and when she accepted, he married her; in this way Safiyya attained the honor of becoming a mother of believers.[1] 2. The ban on torture The Prophet did not allow the enemy to be tortured in any way. Suhayl ibn 'Amr was one of the prominent individuals of Makkan pagans. He was among those who had insulted and oppressed the Prophet before his Emigration to Madina. He was taken as a prisoner of war in the Battle of Badr. At one point he tried to escape, but was caught and taken back. Suhayl was a good speaker. He was capable of influencing people with his words. 'Umar said to the Prophet: "O, Messenger of God! Allow me to take out his two front teeth so that he will not be able to speak against you again." To which the Prophet replied: "No, I will not have him tortured. If I did, God would punish me. Moreover, we should always have the hope that one day he will act in a way that will not seem unsympathetic to you."[2] Indeed, after the death of the Prophet, when there were cases of apostasy in Makka, Suhayl ibn 'Amr called out to the Makkans "O, Makkans! You were the last to accept the religion of God. Do not let yourselves now be among the first to leave it." and thus prevented many people of Makka from leaving Islam.[3] Nabbash ibn Qays, a Jew from the Bani Qurayza tribe, who had been sentenced to death due to his treachery in the Battle of the Trench was brought before the Prophet. Nabbash's nose had been broken. The Prophet remonstrated with the person who had brought him: "Why did you do this to him? Is it not enough that he will be killed?" The man made the following excuse: "He pushed me in order to escape. We had a scuffle."[4] Eight people came to Madina, saying they wanted to become Muslims. They were ill and were in need of help. Madina's air worsened their health. The Prophet sent them to the pasture where the camels of zakat[5] were kept. They stayed there for about three months and recovered their health. Then they cut off the hands and feet of the shepherd who was looking after the camels, stuffed thorns into his eyes and tongue and tortured him to death. They also took away the camels. When the news reached Madina, 20 horsemen were immediately sent after them under the command of Kurz ibn Jabir. The horsemen arrested all the criminals and brought them back to Madina. They were found guilty of robbery, murder, treachery, and apostasy. They were punished on the order of the Prophet,[6] who after this event banned the use of torture, whatever the cause may be.[7] 3. Respecting the enemy's dead Pagans at the time of the Prophet had the habit of mutilating the bodies of the people they killed in battle, and disemboweling them for revenge. This act was known as musla. When the Prophet saw the disemboweled and defiled body of his uncle Hamza during the Battle of Uhud, he was deeply saddened. He said "If God allows me victory, I will do the same to thirty pagans in return for what they have done to Hamza." Upon this the following verse was revealed:
The Prophet renounced his oath and paid the appropriate amount for atonement as set down by Islamic law.[8] To Abu Qatada, enraged by the musla carried out on Hamza and who was about to perform the same to the bodies of the pagans, the Prophet said: "Sit down! Wish for the reward you will get from God! The dead of the Qurayshi pagans are entrusted to our care... Would you rather your name was remembered with what you did and resented along with what they have done?"[9] While the Makkan army was approaching Madina to confront Muslims at Uhud, they arrived at the village of Abwa, where the grave of the Prophet's mother, Amina, was. Some of them suggested that they should dig up the grave and take her bones with them. "If Muhammad gets hold of our women, we could use these bones to barter with, and give him these bones back if he gives us our women. If no such situation arises, he will pay a high price for the return of these bones." But those with common sense said, "No, this would not be right. If we do such a thing, the people of Huzaa and the Bani Bakr will dig up the bones of our dead in return." And thus they had enough foresight not to start an evil tradition.[10] 4. Not attacking civilians and innocent targets The fact that the Prophet warned his friends and followers many times about sparing the lives of those who were not involved in a war has been often cited in the literature of both tabaqat[11] and maghazi.[12] After the conquest of Makka, and the Quraysh's submission to Islam, the Hawazin, especially Bani Hanifa, who regarded themselves as the greatest tribe after Quraysh, called for war against Muslims, and they were supported by the tribe of Thaqif. At the end of the battle which was joined at Hunayn, the Prophet saw the body of a dead woman among the dead of the pagans. "What is this that I see?" he asked. Those who were present answered: "This is a woman, killed by the forces of Khalid ibn Walid." The Prophet said to one of them "Run to Khalid! Tell him that the Messenger of God forbids him to kill children, women, and servants." One of those present said "Dear Messenger of God! But are they not the children of the pagans?" The Prophet answered: "Were not the best of you, too, once the children of pagans? All children are born with their true nature and are innocent."[13] At a time near the death of the Prophet, when he was gravely ill, news came that the Northern Arabs, along with the Byzantine, were preparing an attack on Madina. The Prophet immediately ordered for the preparations of an army and appointed Usama ibn Zayd as the commander. He gave the following instructions to Usama: "Fight in God's path, fight for God. Fight the aggressors who deny God. Do not be cruel to people. Do not go against your covenant. Do not cut down fruit bearing trees. Do not slaughter livestock. Do not kill the pious who are secluded in monasteries, engaged in worship, children, or women. Do not wish to encounter the enemy. You may not be aware of it, but you may face a test with them."[14] The Prophet decided to send a force of fifteen people to the Ghatafan tribe, who were in the alliance against Muslims at the Battle of Muta. He appointed Abu Qatada as the commander of the unit. He ordered him "Do not kill women and children!" Likewise, the Prophet decided to send a force of seven hundred upon the people of Dumat al-jandal, who were reported to be preparing for an attack. To 'Abd al-Rahman ibn al-'Awf, whom he had appointed as the commander of the unit, he gave the following order: "Do not spoil the goods that you have seized, do not go against your covenant, and do not amputate the organs of the corpses. Do not kill children. This is the covenant you have made with God and it is the way of His Prophet."[15] One of the most striking examples of this was the behavior of Hubayb ibn Adiyy. Abu Bara', the leader of the tribe of Amir came to Madina in AH 4 (625). He requested that he be allowed to take some people who could teach Islam to the people of Najid and he said he would stand as guarantor for the life of these people. Upon his word, the Prophet sent 40 people (according to some reports, 70) under the command of Munzir ibn 'Amr.[16] But Amir ibn Tufayl, the nephew of Abu Bara', did not honor the guarantee of his uncle. Amir ibn Tufayl requested help from some branches of the Bani Sulaym tribe. He besieged the group of teachers in Bi'r al-Mauna and almost all of them were martyred.[17] Hubayb ibn Adiyy and Zayd ibn Dassina were taken to Makka as prisoners and were sold to the pagans of the Quraysh, who were in a crazed state, seeking revenge for their dead. Hubayb ibn Adiyy was shackled with chains on his feet. He was waiting to be killed. He asked for a razor from a freed slave woman named Mawiya in order to shave and clean himself. Mawiya gave a razor to her three year old stepson and said "Go give this to the prisoner." Mawiya recounts what followed thus: "The boy brought the razor to the prisoner. I said to myself 'Dear God, what have I done?' and ran after the boy. When I arrived near them I saw the boy sitting on Hubayb's lap and talking to him, and I cried out. Hubayb looked at me and said: 'Do you fear that I will kill this child? God forbid that I should ever commit such an act. Taking life for no reason is not our manner of behavior and is unfitting to our name. You are not the ones who want to kill me.'" They took Hubayb ibn Adiyy and Zayd ibn Dassina to Tanim, a distance of 10 kilometers from Makka and killed them there with spears.[18] All of the above examples given here are nothing more than the application of the basic principle of jihad, a principle that has been immutably established in the Qur'an: fight only those who fight and do not attack civilian or innocent targets that are not engaged in the war:
Treating the enemy without mercy, committing musla, torture, killing women and children means going beyond the boundaries, the legitimate limits that have been set; that is why they all have been forbidden by God in the verses quoted above. 5. Not targeting Muslims Having established that it is forbidden to kill innocent non-Muslims, even during war, it is inconceivable to think that it would be permissible to kill innocent Muslims under any circumstances. Whether Muslims can fire against the enemy who are shielding themselves with Muslim captives is still a topic of debate among scholars of Islamic law—even if not shooting means defeat and the utmost care is taken not to hit the Muslim captives. During the lifetime of the Messenger of God there was never a case of Muslims killing Muslims in a state of war. There was only once such an incident, and this was the result of error and misunderstanding. During the incident of Bi'r al-Mauna, recounted above, 'Amr ibn Umayya, one of the teachers taken prisoner, was freed as part of the fulfillment of an oath. On the way back to Madina he killed two people from the tribe of the Bani 'Amr, thinking they were the enemy. In fact, they had recently converted to Islam, and their lives had been guaranteed by the Prophet. The Prophet was greatly saddened by this incident. He paid the blood money of these people who had been killed.[19] After the conquest of Makka, Harith ibn Dhirar, a member of the Bani Mustaliq tribe, came to Madina and became Muslim. He also played an important role in his whole tribe becoming Muslim. The Prophet appointed Walid ibn Uqba for the collection of taxes from the tribe of Bani Mustaliq. The people of Bani Mustaliq who saw Walid went out to welcome him as the official of the Prophet of God. Walid was frightened to see them come toward him and returned to Madina, saying to the Prophet: "Prophet of God! The Bani Mustaliq have prevented me from collecting the taxes. They wanted to kill me. They gathered together to fight you." The Prophet sent Khalid ibn Walid to investigate the situation. It was understood that things were not as Walid ibn Uqba had understood them to be.[20] Concerning this incident the following verse was revealed: You who believe! If an evil-doer comes to you with a report, look carefully into it, lest you harm some people unwittingly, then be sorry for what you have done. (Hujurat 49:6) All-Just God never condoned the killing of Muslims by Muslims in the battlefield, even in error. In AH 6 (627), the Prophet arrived at Hudaybiya near Makka with his followers, on their way to perform umra (minor pilgrimage). The pagans of Makka did not allow them into the city. Upon this, the Prophet put his seal to a treaty that guaranteed a ten-year peace. In the treaty were clauses that were adverse for the Muslims, but the Prophet chose to sign it with his own seal rather than go to war. Thus, imminent war was prevented. One of the hidden truths of the Hudaybiya Peace Treaty is explained in the Qur'an as follows:
That is, by Hudaybiya Treaty, the unwitting killing of Muslims in Makka and an armed struggle, which would have resulted in much bloodshed, were prevented. God did not condone the idea of Muslim soldiers killing any Muslims who may not have been able to leave Makka. But today, Muslims are knowingly killed as a result of acts that some call jihad. How can one possibly think that God would condone such acts? 6. Acting within the hierarchy of order and command Another very important principle concerning the aspect of war in jihad is to act according to a centralized plan accepted by all Muslims. If individuals or groups should act without taking orders from a central authority, if they should act according to their own discretion, the fact that they are not responsible to anyone for their actions will result in chaos. Even if central authority has been lost, this cannot justify acting in a disparate or irresponsible manner. Chaos cannot possibly be condoned in the name of jihad. In these situations, it is highly probable that any movement will degenerate, become diverted from its original goal, and cause more harm than good. In the Age of Happiness, no act of jihad, in terms of armed struggle, occurred without the Prophet's order or permission. There have only ever been a few incidents of this kind where conflicts arose due to misunderstanding. These incidents grieved the Prophet, and their perpetrators were warned. He chided 'Abd Allah ibn Jahsh for doing something that he was not ordered to do; Khalid ibn Walid was warned against killing women and children; 'Amr ibn Umayya paid the blood money of the Muslims that he killed. Even the incident involving Abu Basir is no exception to this rule. Abu Basir was from the Bani Thakif tribe. After becoming a Muslim he was imprisoned by the Makkan pagans. He found the opportunity to escape after the Hudaybiya Treaty and came to Madina, seeking refuge within the Islamic community. According to the Hudaybiya Treaty, the Muslims in Madina were not to provide refuge for Makkans who had become Muslims and fled to Madina. Two people came from Makka to collect Abu Basir. The Prophet obeyed the clauses of the treaty and handed Abu Basir over to the Makkans. Saddened by the situation Abu Basir was comforted by the Prophet: "Abu Basir! Go now. God will provide a consolation and a way out for you and those like you" (Ibn Hisham 1971, 3/337). Abu Basir killed one of the two people who were taking him to Makka. The other one fled. Abu Basir came back to Madina and said to the Prophet: "O Prophet of God! You have kept your promise. And God rescued me from their hands." The Prophet replied: "You are amazingly brave! If you have some men with you, perhaps, no one will be able to stop you. Go now, wherever you will" (Waqidi 1966, 2/626-627). Abu Basir took some men with him and garrisoned them in the coastal town of Is, which is located on the caravan route from Makka to Damascus. People who had converted to Islam and who were not able to seek refuge in Madina gathered around Abu Basir. They did not let any Makkan caravans pass. It was the Makkans themselves who at last went to Madina and asked the Prophet to accept Abu Basir and his friends into the Islamic community there. It was then that the Prophet called Abu Basir and his friends to Madina. Abu Basir had to protect himself and he succeeded; he had no intention of acting independently. When the written order from the Prophet calling him to Madina arrived, he was on his death bed. After he was buried, according to the written order of the Prophet, seventy of his friends returned to Madina, while the remaining ones returned home (Ibn Abdulbarr, 4/20; Diyarbakri, 2/25). 7. Humanitarian aid to the enemy Jihad does not always mean that the enemy must be harmed. Helping the enemy in moments of dire need is within the scope of jihad. Such behavior can also lessen enmity, and break down the resolve of the enemy. In the years of draught and famine in Makka after the Muslims left for Madina, the Prophet sent gold to Makka so that they could buy wheat, dates, and animal feed; these contributions helped them to make up the cash shortage. Even though the leading pagans of the Quraysh, like Umayya ibn Halaf and Safwan ibn Umayya, did not want to accept this aid, Abu Sufyan voiced his gratitude in the following manner: "May God reward the son of my brother with favors, for he has taken into consideration the dues of kinship" (Köksal 1981, 14/304). Another example of helping the enemy is the incident of Sumama ibn Usal from the Yamama tribe. After becoming a Muslim, Sumama paid a visit to Makka. The pagans understood from the prayers and verses he was reciting that he was a Muslim; they captured him and tried to kill him. But some of the leading figures of the pagans ordered his release, stating that to do otherwise would cut off the food supply from the Yamama. When Sumama returned to his homeland of Yamama, he cut off the supply of food to Makka. The Makkans found themselves in a very difficult situation. They sent envoys to the Prophet, asking him to order Sumama not to cut off the supply of food to Makka. With a written order, the Prophet ordered Sumama to cease his blockade. And so Sumama let his people start to send food to the Makkans.[21] 8. War as the last resort Using force in the context of jihad is not always the right thing to do. The fact that armed conflict was not allowed until the Battle of Badr attests to this fact. In the second 'Aqaba Pledge,[22] which took place three months before the Prophet's emigration to Madina, Abbas ibn Ubada said "O, the Prophet of God! I swear by God who sent you with the true faith and the Book, if you should ask me, we shall put all the people in Mina to the sword." Although the Prophet had suffered at the hands of the people of Makka who came to 'Aqaba for the fair, he answered: "This is not what we have been ordered to do; now return to your goods." This should be sufficient to make it clear that the response to oppression, insult, and torture need not always be crude force. Why did the Prophet remonstrate with Abdullah ibn Jahsh, who had been sent on an intelligence mission to the ramparts of Makka in the seventeenth month of the Prophet's emigration, and who had attacked a caravan belonging to the Quraysh, killing some people and taking others prisoner? Clearly, it is both because this act was committed during, Rajab, one of the sacred months when fighting was prohibited, and because the conditions for engaging in war with the Quraysh and their affiliates had not yet been fully determined. The righteousness of the policy held by the Prophet was soon proven when he put his seal under the treaty of Hudaybiya, as explained above (Fath 48:25). Makka was conquered after two years of patience, with no bloodshed, due to this policy which was based primarily on peace. The invaluable Sunna of the Prophet proves that reaching a goal through other means than armed conflict is possible. The Prophet abandoned the siege of Taif, which promised to be a long one, to prevent the deaths of women and children, who would be at the receiving end of the blind shots of the catapults; he wanted to prevent many deaths on both sides. This was a wise policy and strategy that allowed for the goal to be reached with no battle being engaged; the result was that the people of Taif—people who realized their homeland become an isolated island of unbelievers in the Arabian peninsula—came to Madina before the end of the same year, saying that they had converted to Islam. In short, the acts of those who kill civilians, women, children and the elderly on crowded streets of our cities, those who burn or bomb vehicles and buildings, those who torture and kill people that they have kidnapped or taken as hostage, the acts of suicide bombers who kill themselves and innocent people with explosives placed on their persons or in automobiles—all of these acts, for which no legal authority is responsible—cannot be seen as being jihad and these people cannot be seen as being mujahids. There is no foundation for these acts in either the Qur'an or the Sunna. What is important is the structure and character of a thing; it does not matter what people call it. There is no way that Muslims could have come up with such a bloody and contaminated form of struggle in order to make their voices heard. Rather, this is a method that was principally adopted by non-Muslim anarchist terrorist groups. These acts have not helped Muslims in any way to date. On the contrary, they have destroyed the good image of Islam—an image which is founded on science and knowledge, rights and justice, love and peace. At the same time, these acts have led people to postulate a connection between Islam, Muslims, and terrorism. These actions, known as jihad, have done more harm to Islam than anything else could have done. As has been analyzed above in detail, terror has no place in the varying aspects of jihad. The conditions under which Muslims should behave and how they should behave, and how and with whom they should engage in combat have all been strictly established by the Qur'an and the Sunna. No Muslim can be a true Muslim and at the same time diverge from or go against the path that God and His Prophet have established. References
Dr. Hamza Aktan, Professor of Islamic Law at Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey [1] Ibn Hisham 1971, 3/350-351; Waqidi 1966, 2/673. [2] Ibn Hisham 1971, 2/304; Tabari 1967, 2/465, 561. [3] Ibid. [4] Köksal 1981, 1/353. [5] Zakat is one of the five foundations of Islam. Every believer is required to bestow a portion of their property in alms. Zakat of camels is due upon at least five camels, and it is one goat or sheep, provided they subsist upon pasture throughout the year. [6] Bukhari, Hudhu, 17-18; Muslim, Qusama, 9-11. [7] Waqidi, 2/570; Köksal 1981, 13/127. [8] Ibn Hisham, 3/101; Haythami, 6/120. [9] Waqidi, 1/290. [10] Ibid, 1/206. [11] Tabaqat: A general name for books which study contemporaneous scholars, members of the same school of thought or a Sufi group covering a time frame of 10-20 years. Tabaqat has mainly been studied under the domain of hadith. The first book of Tabaqat is Ibn Sa'd's Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, which gave accounts of the lives of the Companions and their followers (tabi'un). [12] Maghazi: Books on the military campaigns of the Prophet. [13] Abu Dawud, Jihad, 111. [14] Waqidi, 3/117-118. [15] Ibn Hisham, 4/280-281. [16] Köksal 1981, 35. [17] Ibid. 41. [18] Bukhari, Maghazi, 28; Ibn Hajar 1328; 1/418. [19] Ibn Sa'd, 2/53; Waqidi, 1/351-352. [20] Ahmad ibn Hanbal 1985, 4/279; Zurkani 1973, 3/47. [21] I. Hisham 4/228. [22] 'Aqaba is a location at the entrance of a valley located between two hill ranges leading to Mina, near Makka, where an annual fair took place. The Prophet met people from Madina at 'Aqaba, and they swore allegiance to him and pledged to protect him whatever the cost. Related Items: |
|
| Last Updated ( Sunday, 08 January 2006 ) |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|