Islam and the Holy War

1. Islam and the Holy War

2. Overview • Recap: Liberalism (again) • Khomeini and the Islamic Republic • Jihad

3. Islamic Political Thought • Islamic political thought has, for the past half-century or so, been most closely associated with political violence • Historically, that has not always been the case • We want to explore the rationale underlying that new wave of violence

4. The Islamic Republic • Ruhollah Khomeini (1900 [?] - 1989) • Led the Islamic Revolution in Iran and revived the idea of political Islam

5. The Islamic Republic • Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919-1980) • Came to power in 1941 • 1951 Iranian parliament, led by Mohammad Mosadeq moves to nationalize oil industry • 1953 Anglo-US coup to remove nationalist Iranian prime minister fails, Shah goes into exile 2 years later, he is reinstated

6. The Islamic Republic • Shah begins to Westernize Iran, alienates both the socialist left and the conservative clerics • Khomeini emerges as leading critic and is forced into exile, first to Baghdad, then, when Saddam Hussein comes to power, to Paris

7. The Islamic Republic • By mid 1970s, massive rallies form against the Shah and his American supporters • Shah goes into exile (1979), Khomeini returns

8. The Islamic Republic • After much street fighting, the military opts not to intervene • Shah’s government collapses and Khomeini becomes leader of newly declared Islamic Republic of Iran

9. The Islamic Republic • Khomeini was Time magazine Man of the Year (1979) • Ruled Iran until his death in 1989

10. The Islamic Republic “A body of laws alone is not sufficient for a society to be reformed. In order for law to ensure the reform and happiness of man, there must be an executive power and an executor.” -- Khomeini

11. The Islamic Republic • The Qur’an (Koran) provides a body of law to guide all action: “The Glorious Qu’ran and the Sunna contain all the laws and ordinances man needs in order to attain happiness and the perfection of the his state”

12. The Islamic Republic • In other words, because we have shari’a, we can infer that we are meant to have a government. • For to have laws means we also need the means of their enforcement • That means we need a government

13. The Islamic Republic “The nature and character of Islamic law and the divine ordinances of the shari’a furnish additional proof of the necessity for establishing government, for they indicate that the laws were laid down for the purpose of creating a state and administering the political, economic, and cultural affairs of society.”

14. The Islamic Republic “[T]he laws of shari’a embrace a diverse body of laws and regulations, which amounts to a complete social system. In this system of laws, all the needs of man have been met: his dealings with his neighbors, fellow citizens, and clan, as well as children and relatives; the concerns of private and marital life; regulations concerning war and peace and intercourse with other nations; penal and commercial law; and regulations pertaining to trade and agriculture.”

15. The Islamic Republic • Contrast that with liberalism and the role of religion and politics • No separation of church and state • Role of the state is to support and advance religious institutions of Islam

16. The Islamic Republic “Islam provides laws and instructions for all of these matters, aiming, as it does, to produce integrated and virtuous human beings who are walking embodiments of the law, or to put it differently, the law’s voluntary and instinctive executors.”

17. The Islamic Republic “It is obvious, then, how much care Islam devotes to government and the political and economic relations of society, with the goal of creating conditions conducive to the production of morally upright and virtuous human beings.”

18. The Islamic Republic • Because the laws are given (and received) already, the legislature is relatively less important than the other branches • Need executive to enforce and judiciary to interpret

19. The Islamic Republic “[If] we examine closely the nature and character of the provisions of the law, we realize that their execution and implementation depend upon the formation of a government, and that it is impossible to fulfill the duty of executing God’s command without there being established properly comprehensive administrative and executive organs.”

20. The Islamic Republic • Regimes which fail in this duty are not worthy of our respect and should be replaced “Both law and reason require that we not permit governments to retain this non-Islamic character…It is also our duty to create a favorable social environment for the education of believing and virtuous individuals…”

21. The Islamic Republic “In order to assure the unity of the Islamic umma, in order to liberate the Islamic homeland from occupation and penetration by the imperialists and their puppet governments, it is imperative that we establish a government. In order to attain the unity and freedom of the Muslim people, we must overthrow the oppressive governments installed by the imperialists and bring into existence an Islamic government of justice that will be in the service of the people.”

22. The Islamic Republic • Note, the government is not a hereditary monarchy • Rather it is democracy, but not a mass democracy since ultimate power must rest with the “trustee” of the people, one ruler

23. The Islamic Republic “The wisdom of the Creator has decreed that men should live in accordance with justice and act within the limits set by divine law. This wisdom is eternal and immutable, and constitutes one of the norms of God Almighty. Today and always, therefore, the existence of a holder of authority, a ruler who acts as trustee and maintains the institutions and laws of Islam, is a necessity…”

24. The Islamic Republic “[A] ruler who prevents cruelty, oppression, and violation of the rights of others; who is a trustworthy and vigilant guardian of God’s creatures; who guides men to the teachings, doctrines, laws, and institutions of Islam; and who prevents the undesirable changes that atheists and enemies of religion wish to introduce in the laws and institutions of Islam…”

25. The Islamic Republic “It is a righteous government, of course, that is needed, one presided over by a ruler who will be a trustworthy and righteous trustee. Those who presently govern us are of no use at all for they are tyrannical, corrupt, and highly incompetent.”

26. The Islamic Republic “It was our lack of a leader, a guardian, and our lack of institutions of leadership that made all this [the degradation of Islam and the Islamic nation] possible. We need righteous and proper organs of government; that much is self-evident.”

27. Jihad • In order to protect and restore the Islamic nation two issues need to be addressed: • replace non-Islamic regimes at home • remove non-Islamic regimes from the region

28. Jihad “The Arabian Peninsula has never been stormed by any forces like the crusader armies spreading in it like locusts, eating its riches and wiping out its planations. All this is happening at a time in which nations are attacking Muslims like people fighting over a plate of food.” -- Osama bin Laden“Jihad AGainst Jews and Crusaders” (1998)

29. Jihad • In 1998, Bin Laden argued that we can take 3 facts as given in the Middle East: • “For over 7 years the US has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its based in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.”

30. Jihan • “Despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the Americans are once again trying to repeat the horrific massacres...”

31. Jihad • And finally: • “If the Americans’ aims behind these wars are religious and economic, the aim is also to serve the Jews’ petty state [Israel] and divert attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there. The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest neighboring Arab state, and the endeavor to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel’s survival...”

32. Jihad • When combined, each of these, Bin Laden argues, amounts to a declaration of war on Islam and Allah and that Islamic scholars have always recognized “that jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries.” • Therefore it follows that...

33. Jihad • “We issue the following fatwa to all Muslims: The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim.”

34. Jihad “We -- with Allah’s help -- call on every Muslim who belies in Allah and wishes to be rewarded to comply with Allah’s order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it.”

35. Jihad “We also call on Muslim ulema [scholars], leaders, youths, and soldiers, to launch the raid on Satan’s US troops and the devil’s supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them so that they may learn a lesson.”

36. Jihad • From bin-Laden’s perspective, then, the 9/11 attacks would be a defensive reaction to American and western incursions in the area.