What does Islam teach us about wars?
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The Ethics Of War In Islam\n\nIn The Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. \n\nAll praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.\n\nFirst of all, we would like to tell you that war is decreed in Islam in self defense. This indicates that aim behind war is to ward off aggression not to impose Islam as a religion. Referring to this, Allah Almighty says: “To those against whom war is made, permission is given (to fight), because they are wronged; and verily God is most powerful for their aid.” (Al-Hajj:39)\n\nTurning to the main topic of the question concerning war ethics in Islam, we would like to develop the whole issue while dealing with the following main points:\nPersonal Behavior of the Troops:\n\nIn war, as it is in peace, the instructions of Islam are to be observed. Worship does not cease in war. Islamic jurisprudence maintains that whatever is prohibited during peace is also prohibited during war. War is no excuse to be lenient with misbehaving troops. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is reported to have said: “Beware of the prayer of the oppressed; for there is no barrier between it and Allah.” Here, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, differentiates between the oppressed believers and non-believers.\nWhom to Fight:\n\nFighting should be directed only against fighting troops, and not to non- fighting personnel, and this is in compliance with the Qur’anic verse that reads: “ Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loveth not, aggressors.” (Al-Baqarah: 190)\n\nIn one of the battles, a woman was found killed, and this was denounced by the Prophet saying “She did not fight” This will be further detailed under the instructions given to the armies and their commanding chiefs by the Prophet and his Caliphs.\nThe Prophet’s instructions to Commanding Chiefs:\n\nThe Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to instruct his commanding chiefs saying: “Fight in the cause of Allah. Fight those who deny Allah; Do not be embittered. Do not be treacherous. Do not mutilate. Do not kill children or those (people) in convents.”\nAbu-Bakr’s instructions to Usama’s Campaign on Syria:\n\n“Do not betray or be treacherous or vindictive. Do not mutilate. Do not kill the children, the aged or the women. Do not cut or bum palm trees or fruitful trees. Don’t slay a sheep, a cow or camel except for your food. And you will come across people who confined themselves to worship in hermitages, leave them alone to what they devoted themselves for.”\nAbu-Bakr’s Instructions to Yazid ibn-Abi Sufian:\n\n“I give you ten commandments: don’t kill a woman or a child or an old person, and don’t cut trees or ruin dwellings or slay a sheep but for food. Dont burn palm trees or drown them. And don’t be spiteful or unjust.”\nMaintaining Justice and Avoidance of Blind Retaliation:\n\nNone can be more illustrative in this respect than the words of the Qurt’an. Allah Almighty says: “ O ye who believe! Be steadfast witnesses for Allah in equity, and let not hatred of any people seduce you that ye deal not justly. Deal justly, that is nearer to your duty. Observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is Informed of what ye do.” (Al-Maidah: 8)\nMedical and Nursing Services:\n\nFrom the early days of Islam the sanctity of the medical profession was recognized. Christian and Jewish doctors were employed by the Islamic state since the days of the Umayyads, and some of them were even court and personal physicians to caliphs. Under the tolerant attitude of Islam, some of them got the chance to unfold their full scientific potential and thus contributed to the progress of medical knowledge.\n\nMedical help was a right to all men in spite of religion or creed. That this was also extended to those amongst enemy. An example well known in the West is that of Saladin securing medical help to his opponent, Ric
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No I Don't think we need any lessons from Islam - What We need is a Government that has a realistic attitude to the Problem , by carrying out the Execution of these Murdering thugs that are Destroying the lives of so many people - not only the unfortunate Victims but their Families and Loved Ones whose lives are also destroyed -  These Murdering Thugs do not deserve to be allowed to live on this Earth - at Present the Victims and their Tragic Losses count for Nothing --- Time for a CHANGE
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It is very true that the Bible tells of very violent times. Even churches of today have times in their history of violence. But of all the Churches/Religions of today, only Islam teaches their followers that if someone is not a believer (Muslim) convert them, if they won't convert, kill them.\n\nTabari IX:69 “Arabs are the most noble people in lineage, the most prominent, and the best in deeds. We were the first to respond to the call of the Prophet. We are Allah’s helpers and the viziers of His Messenger. We fight people until they believe in Allah. He who believes in Allah and His Messenger has protected his life and possessions from us. As for one who disbelieves, we will fight him forever in the Cause of Allah. Killing him is a small matter to us.”
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Jihad : the concept of Holy War in Islam\n\nThe Quranic term 'Jihad' means, "Holy fighting in the Cause of Allah or any other kind of effort to make Allah's Word (i.e. Islam) superior. Jihad is regarded as one of the fundamentals of Islam." \n\nMuslims refer to a 'greater Jihah' (the personal struggle against sin), and a 'lesser Jihad' (holy warfare against the enemies of Allah and Islam). This distinction is often lost in the media, in part because some Muslims deliberately misrepresent the concept of Islam.\n\nFor Christians:\nMany Christians talk about a "Just War", but the Gospel of Jesus is the Gospel of Peace, there is no way in the New Testament to justify any bloody War... it is difficult to justify even the just, defensive war if one takes seriously the message of the Sermon on the Mount, which is the heart of the Gospel (Mat.5:28-42).\n\n    Jesus changed the whole attitude on warfare:\n    For a Christian, the answer to any war will be to "turn the other cheek"...To Peter, and to you and me, Jesus said: "Put your sword back in its place", because Jesus will bring the sword, Jesus will take care of you, because “vengeance is mine,” says the Lord (Mat.5:39, 26:52, Rom.12:19).\n\n    However, indeed there have been hundreds of wars made by Christians against Christians and against non-Christians... I am sure you are thinking about Ireland, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Crusades... the wars of France, Italy, Spain, Germany, England, USA... all Christian countries, and dozens more... and that's all wrong for Christians, even if it has been done for centuries!.\n\n    Actually, things are changing, even the Pope John Paul II is a pacifist at heart, an activist against war... with 137 documents against war just in the 3 months before the war of Iraq (January to March, 2003)... before the war, the Pope sent a cardinal to Washington to plead with President Bush not to attack, and another cardinal to Baghdad to press Saddam Hussein to cooperate completely with U.N. weapons inspectors.\n\nThis is what Jesus said and did:\n\n   In the Sermon of the Mount:\n    This Sermon, called the Constitution of Christianity, contains in Mat. 5 the "Law of Christ" of Gal.6:2. In it Jesus fulfilled the Law introducing several changes in Matthew 5:17-48.\n    One of them is about aggression, defense and war:\n   You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. (Mat.5:33-41).\n    No "eye for eye" in Christianity, but "turn the other cheek"... no revenge, no war... it is difficult to justify even the just, defensive war if one takes seriously the message of the Sermon on the Mount, which is the heart of the Gospel.\n   Just Love!... put the other cheek... he steals your tunic?, give him your cloak as well... it sounds incredible... impossible to follow... it is the Law of Christ, the Prince of Peace and of joy and of love... This is Christianity!.\n\n    At Gethsemane:\n   Jesus is telling us what he told Peter:\n    "Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest, and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?. But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?"... "But Jesus said, "No more of this!" And he touched his ear and healed him." (Mat.26:50-54, Lk.22:51)...\n   The
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First verse in Quran that mention fighting makes it clear that Muslims are to fight only those who fight them\n\n"And fight in the way of Allah with those who fight with you, and do not exceed the limits, surely Allah does not love those who exceed the limits. " Quran 2:190. \n\nThe verse you are referring is 8:12 and not 8:2. \n\nThis verses was revealed during battle of Badr, which is the first war in Islam. Muslims after persecution had to leave their home town Mecca to Medina for safety and when enemies followed them to Medina with a huge force of around 1000 men, there were only 313 Muslims to defend this enemy army, who was all set to eradicate Muslims.\n\nSo in this instance God commanded them to either kill their enemies in one stroke on their neck or to render them unable to fight by cutting of their fingers. Muslims are fighting them only because enemies wanted to fight. God accepted prophet's prayer and enemies were instilled with fear and they lost the war.\n\nReading the above and below verses make the context clear. Given below Quran 8:9-13\n\n  8: 9.  When you sought aid from your Lord, so He answered you: I will assist you with a thousand of the angels following one another.  \n\n  8:10.  And Allah only gave it as a good news and that your hearts might be at ease thereby; and victory is only from Allah; surely Allah is Mighty, Wise.  \n\n  8:11.  When He caused calm to fall on you as a security from Him and sent down upon you water from the cloud that He might thereby purify you, and take away from you the uncleanness of the Shaitan, and that He might fortify your hearts and steady (your) footsteps thereby.  \n\n  8:12.  When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.  \n\n  8:13.  This is because they acted adversely to Allah and His Messenger; and whoever acts adversely to Allah and His Messenger-- then surely Allah is severe in requiting (evil).
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Ok..Islam is religion of the peace. Its book is Quran.Our prophet is Muhammed..We can pray to Allah at home or in a mosque.We read some parts from Quran with some actions.We must do it 5 times in a day..We have some special days..For example born of our prophet, the day of starting Quran becoming..The famous of them is called Ramazan..We don't eat something from the morning to the evening to understand poor people..We must go Kabe (our holy place) once if we are rich..Now let's come some bad sayings about Islam:\n1. We are not satans and we aren't all like terrorists.We love peace.\n\n2. Our prophet was a good man like the other prophet..6 years old girl or other bad things about him are lies.\n\n3. Our purpose isn't to kill non-Muslims.It's impossible.We respect everyone's beliefs.\n\nNow I remembered these..But there are more..Don't believe some lies about Islam.I'm very happy for you because first you wanted to learn Islam.Some people say bad things without knowledge.\nI hope it helps.\n\nHave a nice day! :-) Peace.
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I believe Islam means Peace.According to the "Holy Quran", the book from Allah for Muslims, Islam is the complete code of life. I don't know what made u ask this question, but I will tell u, Islam is peace.Islam teaches muslims to be truthful, to be kind to weak and suffering people.Islam says dont go to bed, having your neighbours hungry.Islam says dont cheat people...........And a lot.If you really want to about Islam try collecting history books.May be u wonder, if Islam means peace, then why are muslims bombing in cities, attacking and killing peoples! My answer is Muslims are attacked, so they r protesting.But some are trying to kill innocent peoples, dont count them as Muslims, they are just spys, trying to worse the image of muslims, and want to destroy them.Its really hard to take their mask off.
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YOu have to look at what Islam teaches you.\nFor jut a moment, disregard what others tell you about the violence people are accusing islam of.\n\nIslam teaches to respect life. IT is forbidden to harm anything, human, plant, insect, animals for no reason\n\nIT is forbidden to lie, backbite.\nIts a duty of every muslim, to help the needy, the poor, orphans, visit the sick.\n-Be good to ones neighbour.\n-Vist others and have food with them, regardless of faith.\n-Respect others faith, muslim or not.\n-Have patience, and enjoin the good, forbid the evil\n-Believe in one and only one God.\n-It is forbidden to commit any sort of crime, robbery.\n-Do not hurt another person, physically or emotionally.\n-Respect ones parents to the utmost- do not talk back to them, do not talk loud infront of them, walk behind them as a sign of respect.\n-Acquire knowlege, \n-Use this life in the most beneficial way possible.\n-Society and house manners should be maintained.\n-Be humble and have humility, do not be arrogant.\n\nSo you see, Islam is a beutiful religion, and it teaches one to be good and humble.\n\nAs for the violence, its a shame that some muslims do not understand the rules of Islam and tend to interprete it themselves the wrong way.\nYou cannot really blame the religion for how its followers are not following it correctly.
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This is not an exhaustive list..... \n\n1 : Our belief is simple , One God . Mohammed (SAW) is His last Prophet.\n\n2 : Islam is a religion of peace , there is no doubt about that. The fault is in the follower not the the religion itself just like any other religion.\n\n3 : We mean no harm , we come in peace :)\n\n4 : Our woman arent as down trodden as think they are.\n\n5 : We dont live in mountains , arent poor and dont live in really backward areas like most of you imagine.\n\n6 : Live and Let Live.\n\n7 : Islam opposes transgressors openly and without doubt.\n\n8 : we do get satellite and watch ( and sometimes laugh ) CNN and Fox\n\n9 : If we hold some values sacred , you should atleast respect that and not make fun of it.\n\n10 : Social liberties do not include making mockery out of any other religion. West calls it civilized , so should act like it.\n\n11 :We all wonder and think the west has become more barbaric and is killing ALOT of innocent ppl in the name of war on terror.\n\n12 : You can not go around taking over countries just because you felt like it.\n\n13 : Dont believe everything you read or watch in the media. Try to do some research of your own.\n\n!4 : We donot treat our women like commodities and respect and protect them. There are some extreme cases but where doesnt that happen ? Cannt judge the whole society based on a few test cases.\n\n15 : Suicide bombing is an act of cowardice , muslims history shows clearly that muslims have fought wars with bravery and openly. Which is totally the opposite of these suicide attacks.
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Most wars have been over land or political ideology.  Religion gets tacked on as an afterthought or an excuse to give the war an air of legitimacy when no other reason exists.  Very few wars have been soley over religion, although I do believe the current war is...whether western nations, ie christian, believe it or not....the islamists do.
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Given that so many wars have started, and continue because of religious beliefs, I would say religion is extremely important in society.  Anything that can evoke the kind of passion necessary to maintain the level of intensity needed to sustain a war is important.
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Any war in the name of religion is a Holy War
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NO !!!!\n\ni think moslem should learn more about peace , love and tolerant from buddhism.\n\nu can see that in buddhism history, there is no even one single war.. but u see in islam's history... \n\nthere is never a single murder in the name of buddhism, but u can see many suicide bombing in the name of islam..\n\nbuddha never asked people to kill, but u can see in koran that mohamed himself killed people or asked his followers to kill people.
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I don't think you are a middle eastern or a muslim when I read your questions.  The first thought that came into my mind was a very heavy-handed and one-sided bias.  I am glad that you are doing the necessary research to justify and re-affirm your convictions, but I somehow get the feeling that you are specifically researching to judge and condemn.  Don't get me wrong, I get what you are trying to do, I just can't seem to shake the impression of rabid.\n\nI am anti-war too, and I grew up amongst muslims; some have been my best friends and some my worst religious and cultural enemies, but I still seek out, talk to, and most importantly, listen to both sides of the conflict.\n\nAcknowledging the bad is good, but acknowledging the good is also crucial, although the most important is learning from your mistakes and rectifying it (and trying not to crow in the process).\n\nThat was a general statement, it was not directed at you specifically, if you are so inclined to take offense.\n\nMay God and His Word dictate your actions.
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there are radicals in every religon\nthe majority which are peaceful do not make newspapers.... the muslim relgion does not inherently teach war.. it has been perverted into many sects like many other religons
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Muhammad does what God command him to do without arguing. \n\nif you lived during that time and converted to Islam, they will take you and tortured you. they used to give muslims hard time. \n\none of the punishment for muslim converter was a big heavy rock setting on your cheast till you die. God Order Muhammad to fight for protection. \n\nMuhammad never lost a war. he was supported by God indeed.
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Yes, far less war and conflict. If we want peace, we need to set our differences aside, and religion is included. Just look at the major cause of conflict over human history (crusades, etc). Religion is the true evil.