Fiqh al Jihad Sheikh Yusuf al Qaradhawi

Children of Adam”. It never addressed non-Muslims as disbelievers, except in
a few exceptional cases where there were negotiations regarding creed.
4. Islam recognized freedom of belief and each individual’s responsibility for his
belief before God. On that basis, its societies, on the whole, did not
experience religious wars. Under it, various monotheistic and pagan religions
coexisted and continue to coexist, under the system of Dhimma which
granted citizenship to non-Muslims regardless of religion. All they needed to
do in order to enjoy the rights of protection by the Muslim state alongside
Muslims was for those able to pay the jizyah tax to do so, which is equivalent
to the military service tax in some modern systems. According to Al-
Qaradawi, unifying the tax rate and generalizing military service make such a
system which has been misunderstood and misused unnecessary.
5.
6. It was historical conditions, rather
than the texts of Islam, that made
many jurists believe preemptive jihad
to invade non-Muslim lands to be
obligatory. The Ummah was
constantly threatened by its powerful
neighbours, the Persians and Romans
(p. 82), and there were no
international laws based on mutual
recognition of state sovereignty and
prohibition of hostility as is the case
today - despite their contravention by the powerful.
7. The natural state of affairs in relations between Muslim and others is peace
and cooperation in goodness. Islam abhors war and only engages in it
unwillingly and as a necessity “Fighting is prescribed for you, though it is
hateful to you” (Qur'an, 2:216). Peace is the essential character of Islam; it is
the greeting of Muslims, the greeting of the people of Paradise, it is one of the
names of Allah. The most hated name in Allah’s sight is Harb - which means
war, one of the ancient Arab names, as Arabs were warriors. However, when
the Prophet, blessing band peace be upon him, was told by his son-in-law
that his daughter Fatimah had given birth to a boy and that he called him
Harb, he commanded him to name him Hasan (meaning good).
8. Islam welcomes international conventions that prohibit transgression and
promote peace between nations, and welcomes international bodies that
protect such laws, such as the United Nations, UNESCO, etc. However, the
West still maintains its belief in the principle of power in its relation with other
states and other nations. An example of that is the exclusive enjoyment of its
major states of the right to veto, in a flagrant disregard for the principle of
equality, thus guaranteeing the protection of their interest and the avoidance
of any condemnation of its violations, as the US and UK did in their invasion
of Iraq, without any legitimacy, with full impunity from any condemnation,
and similarly with their continuous protection of the Zionists’ various forms of
hostility against Palestine and its people.
9. Under international recognition of human rights, including freedom of belief
and preaching, as well as freedom to establish institutions and protect
minorities, one of the principal justifications of jihad al-talab becomes
redundant, that is invasion in order to enable the call to Islam by dismantling
oppressive regimes which used to prevent their people from thinking freely or