jihad and the islamic law of war - The Royal Islamic Strategic ...

jihad and the islamic law of war
sounding but distinct words are used in the Qur’anic verse
which says Kill the polytheists wherever you find them and the
hadith which reads, “I have been commanded to fight with
the people until …” In theArabic, the two verbs in question
are qatala, which means to fight, kill, or murder, and qaatala,
which means to fight, to combat, or to contend with something.
The resulting verbal nouns are qatl for qatala and
qitaal for qaatala. Qatl means killing, while qitaal means
combat. Saahat al-qitaal, for example, means “battlefield”.
The difference is crucial and is sadly sometimes ignored.
This is a case which demonstrates the importance of masteringArabic
before deciding on matters of Islamic law.
The Prophet did not say, “I will kill/slay/murder the
polytheists until …” He said, “I will fight with them/ combat
them/contend with them …” Qatl is an action which,
both linguistically and practically, requires only one agent.
Qitaal implies two agents, each contending with or resisting
the other. The use of qitaal implies a state of mutual
hostility, or, from the Prophet’s point of view, of a
response to the polytheists’ hostility.
Misunderstanding concerning such texts as these
can be corrected easily by referring to the traditional
law. It is one thing to hunt for quotes which serve a predetermined
purpose, and quite another to understand
a text in its proper context and in light of the tradition
that has dwelt upon it for over 1400 years. Such prob-
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