Thursday, February 3, 2011

Morals of Islam in War


According to teachings of Islam, war is an unwanted obligation which has to be carried out under strict moral and humane values. War is an option taken only when inevitable. According to Quran wars are started by those who are unbelievers and Allah Almighty does not approve that. Islam stresses the fact wars should be for defensive purposes in unavoidable circumstances.
Quran was revealed in a period of twenty three years and out of these twenty three, for thirteen years Muslims were living in Makkah. They were in minority and faced oppression from others. Muslims were tortured, abused and even murdered. Despite all of this, Muslims never resorted to violence and lived in peace. Muslims migrated to Madinah when oppression was unbearable where they established a free and just community. Only after mischief and oppression of unbelievers continued in Madinah that Allah permitted them to fight in defense of Islam. As the following verses were revealed in Quran,
                Permission to fight is given to those who are fought against because they have been wronged - truly God has the power to come to their support - those who were expelled from their homes without any right, merely for saying, 'Our Lord is God'…(22:39.40)
To summarize Muslims are allowed to start a war only when they are oppressed and abused. In other words, war is only allowed for defensive purposes. But even in wars Muslims are ordered to be humane and keep up the moral values Islam teach. As it is said in Quran,
                Fight in the Way of God against those who fight you, but do not go beyond the limits. God does not love those who go beyond the limits.(2:190)
A Muslim should treat a non-Muslim kindly. Muslims should only fight in a humane way.

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