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From the time ofMuhammad, thefinal prophet of Islam, manyMuslim states and empires have been involved in warfare. The concept ofJihad, the religious duty to struggle, has long been associated with struggles for promoting a religion, although some observers refer to such struggle as "the lesser jihad" by comparison with inner spiritual striving.Islamic jurisprudence on war differentiates between illegitimate and legitimate warfare and prescribes proper and improper conduct by combatants. Numerous conquest wars as well as armed anti-colonial military campaigns were waged as jihads.
Islamic concepts concerning war refer to what have been accepted inSharia (Islamic law) andFiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) byUlama (Islamic scholars) as the correctIslamic manner which is expected to be obeyed byMuslims in times of war. Some scholars and Muslim religious figures claim that armed struggle based on Islamic principles is referred to as theLesser jihad. Fighting is justified for legitimateself-defense, to aid other Muslims, and after a violation in the terms of a treaty; but should be stopped if these circumstances cease to exist.[1][2][3][4] War should be conducted in a disciplined way, to avoid injuring non-combatants, with the minimum necessary force, without anger and with humane treatment towardsprisoners of war.[5]
The earliest forms of warfare by Muslims occurred after the migration (hijra) of Muhammad and his small group of followers toMedina fromMecca and the conversion of several inhabitants of the city to Islam. At this time, Muslims had been persecuted and oppressed by the Meccans.[6] There were still Muslims who could not flee from Mecca and were still oppressed because of their faith. The Meccans also refused to let the Muslims enter Mecca and by that denied them access to theKa'aba.
Major battles in the history of Islam arose between the Meccans and the Muslims; one of the most important to the latter was theBattle of Badr in 624 AD.[7][page needed] Other early battles included battles inUhud (625),Khandaq (627),Mecca (630),Khaybar (628) andHunayn (630). These battles, especiallyUhud was unsuccessful in comparison to theBattle of Badr.[7][page needed] In relating this battle, theQu'ran states that Allah sent an "unseen army ofangels" that helped the Muslims defeat the Meccans.[8][page needed]
TheUmayyad conquest ofHispania was the initial expansion of theUmayyad Caliphate overHispania (in theIberian Peninsula) from 711 to 718. The conquest resulted in the destruction of theVisigothic Kingdom and the establishment of the UmayyadWilayah ofAl-Andalus. The conquest marks the westernmost expansion of both theUmayyad Caliphate andMuslim rule into Europe. The conquest was followed by a period of several hundred years during which most of the Iberian peninsula was known asAl-Andalus, dominated by Muslim rulers. Only a handful of new small Christian realms managed to reassert their authority across the faraway mountainous north of the peninsula. Themedieval Iberian Peninsula was the scene of almost constant warfare between the Muslim al-Andalus (and laterTaifas) and Christian kingdoms.
TheAlmohad Dynasty was aBerber, Muslim dynasty that was founded in the 12th century, and conquered all Northern Africa as far asLibya, together withAl-Andalus (Moorish Iberian Peninsula). The Almohads, who declared an everlasting Jihad against the Christians, far surpassed theAlmoravides in fundamentalist outlook, and they treated thedhimmis harshly.[9] Faced with the choice of either death or conversion, many Jews and Christians emigrated.[10][11]
The Almohads soon embarked in a campaign to destroy the Catholic kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula and beyond. Outnumbered, the defending army led by KingAlfonso VIII of Castile, defeatedMuhammad al-Nasir nearLas Navas de Tolosa in1212. Las Navas de Tolosa is sought as the turning point of theReconquista and the end of the Muslim dominance in the Iberian Peninsula. In 1492, theGranada War marked the end of theReconquista, resulting in the defeat of theEmirate of Granada, ending all of Islamic rule in the Iberian peninsula.
Europeancrusaders re-conquered much of the territory seized by the Islamic state, dividing it into four kingdoms, the most important being theKingdom of Jerusalem. The Crusades originally had the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and theHoly Land (formerChristian territory) from Muslim rule and were originally launched in response to a call from theEastern OrthodoxByzantine Empire for help against the expansion of the MuslimSeljuk Turks intoAnatolia. There was little drive to retake the lands from the crusaders, save the few attacks made by theEgyptianFatimids. This changed, however, with the first recorded use of jihad during theBattle of Sarmada in 1119, where a united Muslim army under the Turkish warlordIlghazi were victorious over Outremer's force, destabilising thePrincipality of Antioch by killing their leader,Roger. Though, the first instance where jihad was effectively used against the Crusaders to regain land was with the coming ofZangi, ruler of what is today northernIraq. He tookEdessa, which triggered theSecond Crusade, which was little more than a 47-year stalemate. The stalemate was ended with the victory ofSalah al-Din al-Ayyubi (known in the west as Saladin) over the forces of Jerusalem at theHorns of Hattin in 1187. It was during the course of the stalemate that a great deal of literature regarding Jihad was written.[7][page needed] While amassing his armies inSyria, Saladin had to create a doctrine which would unite his forces and make them fight until the bitter end, which would be the only way they could re-conquer the lands taken in theFirst Crusade. It stated that any one who would abandon the Jihad would be committing asin that could not be washed away by any means. It also put hisamirs at the center of power, just under his rule.[12]
SirJadunath Sarkar contends that several Muslim invaders were waging a systematic Jihad against Hindus in India to the effect that "Every device short ofmassacre in cold blood was resorted to in order to convert heathen subjects."[13][14][15] In particular the records kept by al-Utbi,Mahmud al-Ghazni's secretary, in theTarikh-i-Yamini document several episodes of bloody military campaigns. In the late tenth century, a story spread that before Muhammad destroyed the idols at theKaaba, that ofManāt was secretly sent to a Hindu temple in India; and the place was renamed asSo-Manāt orSomnath. Acting on this, theShivaidol at theSomnath temple was destroyed in a raid by Mahmud Ghazni in CE 1024; which is considered the first act of Jihad in India.[16] In 1527,Babur ordered a Jihad againstRajputs andMeenas at thebattle of Khanwa. Publicly addressing his men, he declared the forthcoming battle a Jihad. His soldiers were facing a non-Muslim army for the first time ever. This, he said, was their chance to become either aGhazi (soldier of Islam) or aShaheed (Martyr of Islam).
In 1567,Babur's grandsonAkbar declaredJihad against theSisodiya rulerUday Singh andbeiseged his capital in October 1567. The garrison of Chittor was slaughtered to the last men and the city was taken after a gallant resistance by the defenders. After the fort was captured, the inhabitants of Chittor numbered around 30,000 were massacred and the restwere enslaved. Akbar, proclaimed the conquest of Chittor as victory ofIslam over theidolaters and issued a victory letter expressing about his victory in sentiments ofIslamic inconoclasm.[17][18]
Akbar's grandson emperorAurangzeb waged a Jihad against those identified as heterodox within India's Islamic community, such asShi'a Muslims.[19][20][page needed]
After the Spanish reconqueredGranada from the Moors in 1492, many Moors exiled from theSpanish Inquisition fled to North Africa. After attacks against Spanish shipping took place from North Africa, the Spanish retaliated by seizingOran,Algiers, andTunis. By 1518, the pirates were serving in the navies of North African Sultans, conducting activities that included attacks on enemy (especially Christian) trade and raiding European coastlines for potential slaves. However, by 1587, their activity became much more decentralized, and more like traditional piracy.[21]
Much of the Barbary activity was funded through the enslavement of European Christians. In the beginning of the 17th Century, there were more than 20,000 captives to be sold intoslavery in Algiers alone. Although people from all over Christendom suffered Barbary attacks, the people who were the most likely victims were fromSicily. However, any Christian nation that refused to pay tribute to Islam and either theSultanate of Morocco,Eyalet of Tripolitania, or theRegency of Algiers could have been subject to attack.[21]
In 1800, theEyalet of Tripolitania demanded an increase of tribute in order to "prevent" future attacks against the fledgling United States. However, the U.S. refused to pay the tribute, and this led to theFirst Barbary War. When the U.S. defeated the Tripolitanians in theBattle of Derne in 1805, the two nations signed a treaty that had favorable terms for the United States. However, a resurgence in Barbary attacks in 1815 led to theU.S. Navy being used again in theSecond Barbary War, which also resulted in a US victory and the ceasing of all Barbary attacks on American shipping without tribute.[22]
Upon succeeding his father,Suleiman the Magnificent began a series ofmilitary conquests in Europe.[23] On August 29, 1526, he defeatedLouis II of Hungary (1516–26) at thebattle of Mohács. In its wake, Hungarian resistance collapsed and theOttoman Empire became the preeminent power in South-Eastern Europe.[24] In July 1683 SultanMehmet IV proclaimed a Jihad and the Turkish grand vizier,Kara Mustafa Pasha,laid siege to Vienna with an army of 138,000 men.[25]
On November 14, 1914, inConstantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, the religious leaderSheikh-ul-Islam declares Jihad on behalf of the Ottoman government, urging Muslims all over the world—including in theAllied countries—to take up arms against Britain,Russia,France,Serbia andMontenegro in World War I.[26] On the other hand,SheikhHussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, refused to accommodate Ottoman requests that he endorse this jihad, a requirement that was necessary were a jihad to become popular, due to British pressure and on the grounds that:
the Holy War was doctrinally incompatible with an aggressive war, and absurd with a Christian ally: Germany[27]
Ahmad Shah, founder of theDurrani Empire, declared a jihad against theMarathas, and warriors from variousPashtun tribes, as well as other tribes answered his call. TheThird battle of Panipat (January 1761), fought between largelyMuslim and largelyHindu armies who numbered as many as 100,000 troops each, was waged along a twelve-kilometre front, and resulted in a victory for Ahmad Shah.[28]
In response to theHazara uprising of 1892, the Afghan EmirAbdur Rahman Khan declared a "Jihad" against theShiites. The large army defeated the rebellion at its center, inOruzgan, by 1892 and the local population was severely massacred. According to S. A. Mousavi, "thousands of Hazara men, women, and children weresold as slaves in the markets of Kabul and Qandahar, while numerous towers of human heads were made from the defeated rebels as a warning to others who might challenge the rule of the Amir". Until the 20th century, some Hazaras were still kept as slaves by thePashtuns; althoughAmanullah Khan bannedslavery in Afghanistan during his reign,[29] the tradition carried on unofficially for many more years.[30]
TheSaudiSalafi sheiks were convinced that it was their religious mission to wage Jihad against all other forms of Islam. In 1801 or 1802, the Saudi Wahhabists underAbdul Aziz ibn Muhammad ibn Saud attacked and captured the holyShia cities ofKarbala andNajaf inIraq, massacred the Shiites and destroyed the tombs of the ShiiteImam Husayn andAli bin Abu Talib. In 1802 they overtookTaif. In 1803 and 1804 the Wahhabis overtook Mecca and Medina.[31][32][33][34]
The Fula orFulani jihads, were a series of independent but loosely connected events acrossWest Africa between the late 17th century andEuropean colonization, in which MuslimFulas took control of various parts of the region.[35] Between 1750 and 1900, one-third to two-thirds of the entire population of the Fulani jihad states consisted of slaves.[36]
In 1784, ImamSheikh Mansur, aChechen warrior andMuslim mystic, led a coalition of MuslimCaucasian tribes from throughout theCaucasus in a ghazavat, or holy war, against the Russian invaders.[37] Sheikh Mansur was captured in 1791 and died in theSchlüsselburg Fortress.Avarian Islamic scholarGhazi Muhammad preached that Jihad would not occur until the Caucasians followedSharia completely rather than following a mixture of Islamic laws andadat (customary traditions). By 1829, Mullah began proselytizing and claiming that obeying Sharia, givingzakat, prayer, andhajj would not be accepted by Allah if the Russians were still present in the area. He even went on to claim that marriages would become void and children bastards if any Russians were still in the Caucasus. In 1829 he was proclaimedimam inGhimry, where he formally made the call for a holy war. In 1834, Ghazi Muhammad died at the battle of Ghimri, andImam Shamil took his place as the premier leader of the Caucasian resistance. Imam Shamil succeeded in accomplishing what Sheik Mansur had started: to unite North Caucasian highlanders in their struggle against theRussian Empire. He was a leader of anti-Russian resistance in theCaucasian War and was the thirdImam ofDagestan andChechnya (1834–1859).[38][39]
During the 1870s, European initiatives against theslave trade caused an economic crisis in northernSudan, precipitating the rise ofMahdist forces.[40][41]Muhammad Ahmed Al Mahdi was a religious leader, who proclaimed himself theMahdi—the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will appear atend times—in 1881, and declared a Jihad againstOttoman rulers. He declared all "Turks" infidels and called for theirexecution.[42] The Mahdi raised an army and led a successful religious war to topple theOttoman-Egyptian occupation of Sudan. Victory created an Islamic state, one that quickly reinstitutedslavery in Sudan. In the West he is most famous for defeating and later killingBritish generalCharles George Gordon, in thefall of Khartoum.[43]
TheFirst Anglo-Afghan War (1838–42) was one of Britain's most ill-advised and disastrous wars.William Brydon was the sole survivor of the invading British army of 16,500 soldiers and civilians.[44]
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was also a disaster and considered to be their "Vietnam".[45] The invasion and atrocities compelled the west into providing aid to the mujaheddin. The Russian invasion was also the historical event that provokedOsama bin Laden into migrating to Afghanistan in 1979, the same year he graduated from University.[46]
As in the earlierwars against the British andSoviets, Afghan Resistance to theAmerican invaders took the traditional form of a Muslim holy war against the infidels.[47]
During September 2002, the remnants of theTaliban forces began a recruitment drive inPashtun areas in bothAfghanistan andPakistan to launch a renewed "jihad" or holy war against the pro-Western Afghan government and the US-led coalition.Pamphlets distributed in secret during the night also began to appear in many villages in the former Taliban heartland in southeastern Afghanistan that called for jihad.[48] Small mobile training camps were established along the border with Pakistan by al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives to train new recruits inguerrilla warfare andterrorist tactics, according to Afghan sources and a United Nations report.[49]
Most of the new recruits were drawn from themadrassas or religious schools of the tribal areas of Pakistan, from which the Taliban had originally arisen. Theinsurgency continued in the form of theTaliban guerrilla war, up until its conclusion in 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S forces.[50][citation needed]
Although there is no evidence that theCIA directly supported the Taliban orAl Qaeda, some basis for military support of the Taliban was provided when, in the early 1980s, the CIA and the ISI (Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence Agency) provided arms toAfghan mujahideens resisting theSoviet invasion of Afghanistan,[51] and the ISI assisted the process of gathering radical Muslims from around the world to fight against the Soviets.Osama bin Laden was one of the key players in organizing training camps for the foreign Muslim volunteers.[citation needed]
The Soviets completely withdrew from Afghanistan by 1989, ending a war which had become an embarrassment for politicians in Moscow.[52]
In 1830,Algeria wasinvaded by France; Frenchcolonial domination over Algeria supplanted what had been domination in name by theOttoman Empire. Within two years,Abd al-Qādir was made anamir and with the loyalty of a number oftribes began a jihad against the French. He was effective at usingguerrilla warfare and for a decade, up until 1842, scored many victories. He was noted for hischivalry. On December 21, 1847, Abd al-Qādir was forced to surrender.[53]
Abd al-Qādir is recognized and venerated as the first hero of Algerian independence. Not without cause, his green and white standard was adopted by theAlgerian Liberation Front during theWar of Independence and became the national flag of independent Algeria.[citation needed]
TheAlgerian Civil War (1991–2002) was an armed conflict between the Algerian government and variousIslamist rebel groups which began in 1991. By 1997, the organized jihad in Algeria had disintegrated into criminal thuggery and Algeria was wracked bymassacres of intense brutality and unprecedented size.[54][55]
In 1527, an invasion from the Demak Sultanate caused the destruction of the Hindu and Buddhist Majapahit empire.[56] TheCham Muslims under Katip Suma declared a Jihad against the Vietnamese invasion of Champa in 1832 under EmperorMinh Mang.[57][58][59]
Turkic Kokandi Uzbek Muslim forces underYaqub Beg declared a Jihad againstChinese Muslims under T'o Ming during theDungan revolt. Yaqub Beg enlisted non Muslim Han Chinese militia under Hsu Hsuehkung in order to fight against the Chinese Muslims. T'o Ming's forces were defeated by Yaqub, who planned to conquer Dzungharia. Yaqub intended to seize all Dungan territory.[60][61]
TheBoxer Rebellion was considered a Jihad by the MuslimKansu Braves in the Chinese Imperial Army underDong Fuxiang, fighting against theEight-Nation Alliance.[62][63]
Jihad was declared obligatory and a religious duty for all Chinese Muslims against Japan after 1937 during theSecond Sino-Japanese War.[64]
Among the Nazi leadership, the greatest interest in the idea of creating Muslim units under German command was shown by Heinrich Himmler, who viewed the Islamic world as a potential ally against the British Empire.[65] Himmler had a romantic vision of Islam as a faith ‘fostering fearless soldiers’, and this probably played a significant role[66][67] in his decision to raise three Muslim divisions under German leadership in theBalkans fromBosnian Muslims andAlbanians:[68] the Waffen SS 13thHandschar ("Knife"), the 23rdKama ("Dagger") and the 21stSkenderbeg, although only Handschar reached fulldivision strength. The Skenderbeg was an Albanian unit of around 4,000 men, and the Kama was composed of Muslims from Bosnia, containing 3,793 men at its peak. The Handschar was the largest unit, around 20,000 Bosnian Muslim volunteers. Recruitment was aided by the Grand Mufti of JerusalemHaj Amin al-Husseini, who fled from British-controlled Palestine in 1941 to Baghdad and then to Berlin. He participated in the German war effort "by broadcasting anti-British, jihadist propaganda to the Middle East and by recruitingBosnian Muslims" for the German Armed Forces orWehrmacht.[69]
TheEncyclopedia of the Holocaust states "These Muslim volunteer units, called Handschar, were put in Waffen SS units, fought Yugoslav partisans in Bosnia and carried out police and security duties in Hungary. They participated in the massacre of civilians in Bosnia and volunteered to join in the hunt for Jews in Croatia." Part of the division also escorted Hungarian Jews from the forced labor in mine inBor on their way back to Hungary. "The division was also employed against Serbs, who as Orthodox Christians were seen by the Bosnian Muslims as enemies." Husseini asked that Muslim divisional operations to be restricted to the defense of the Moslem heartland ofBosnia and Herzegovina.[70] The Handschar earned a repute for brutality in ridding north-eastern Bosnia of Serbs and partisans: many local Muslims, observing the violence, were driven to go over to the communist partisans.[71][72] Once redeployed outside Bosnia, and as the fortunes of war turned, mass defections and desertions took place, andVolksdeutsche were drafted to replace the losses.[73]
There were at least 70,000 Bosnian Muslims captured by the British. Some of these Muslim ex-soldiers participated in aiding Arabs in the1948 Arab-Israeli war.[74]
The public manifestation of Akbar's attitude during the siege of Chittor (1568) is in this connection quite instructive. The fall of Chittor was proclaimed by him as the victory of Islam over infidels. A fathnama issued on 9th March, 1568, conveying the news of his victory at Chittor to the officers of the Punjab is so full of intolerant professions and sentiments and couched in such aggressive language that it could compete favourably with similar documents issued by the most orthodox of the Muslim rulers of India
Akbar's siege of Chittor, the gallant Rajput resistance led by Jaimal and Patta, the subsequent Jauhar on the part of the Rajputs and Akbar's conquest of the fort has been the saga of many tales and ballads in Rajasthan (ii) Exaspered by the stiffness of the resistance, Akbar ordered a general massacre in the course of which about 30,000 persons were killed including the defenders and a large number of peasants who had taken shelter in the fort. A large number of people were taken prisoners.(iii):-Although Raja Bhagwant Singh was at Akbar's side throughout the siege, the proctrated Rajput resistance led Akbar to hail the battle against the Rana a Jihad, and all those who fell in the battle as ghazis. The aspect was further emphasised in the fatahnama, which Akbar issued after the victory, almost on the model of the fathanama issued by Babur after his victory over Sanga
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