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Question: What is the Biblical
view on Jihad. Did the Prophet Moses (sws) and the Prophet Jesus
(sws) wage Jihad in their times?
Answer: As far as the Bible
is concerned, while the Old Testament contains explicit directives on Jihad,
the New Testament is devoid of them. The reason is that while the Prophet
Moses (sws) was bestowed with political authority by the Almighty, the
Prophet Jesus (sws) was not.
However, since the Bible we have today
has been tampered with and is not available in its pure and un-interpolated
form, it is necessary to interpret the directives of Jihad given
in the Old Testament in the light of the Qur’an. If interpreted
thus one finds a marked resemblance in these directives given by these
two great scriptures.
We know from the Qur’an that
the Almighty punished certain nations in history because they were guilty
of deliberately denying the truth1.
One form of this punishment assumed the shape of waging Jihad against
them by their respective Messenger. This form of punishment was meted out
by the Almighty in case of the Prophet Moses (sws). He waged Jihad
to punish people who were guilty of deliberately denying the truth. A study
of the Old Testament shows that the Jihad he waged was of
two forms. One form of Jihad was that nations who subscribed to
polytheism were to be put to death in all cases, while another form was
that some nations were spared in case they agreed to remain subservient.
The following verses depict the first
form of Jihad:
When the Lord your God brings you into the land
you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations – the
Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites,
seven nations larger and stronger than you – and when the Lord your God
has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must
destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.
Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your
sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other
gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy
you. This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash
their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols
in the fire. (Deuteronomy 7:1-5)
The following verses depict the second
form of Jihad:
When you march up to attack a city, make its
people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the
people in it shall be subject to forced labour and shall work for you.
If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to
that city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the
sword all the men in it. As for the women, and children, the livestock
and everything else in the city you may take these as plunder for yourselves.
And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies.
This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from
you and do not belong to the nations nearby. (Deuteronomy, 20:10-15)
Quite similarly, we determine from the
Qur’an,
on the basis of the Jihad waged by the Prophet (sws), that while
the polytheists were put to death, the monotheists among them (ie the People
of the Book) were allowed to live if they submitted to Islamic rule. If
the second form of Jihad waged by Moses (rta) as stated in (Deuteronomy,
7:1-5) is interpreted in the light of the Qur’an, one can conclude
that it must have been against those nations which basically subscribed
to monotheism.
Consequently, the two books are very
similar in this regard.
The comparison continues:
It is evident from the Qur’an (2:143)
that just as the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (sws) were conferred
the status of Shuhada ‘ala al-Nas (witnesses to the truth before
other peoples), the Israelites after Moses (sws), in their collective capacity
were conferred this status. In the Old Testament, the areas of Canaan,
on which the Israelites were to wage war after the Prophet Moses (sws)
were divinely demarcated:
The Lord said to Moses, ‘Command the Israelites
and say to them: When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted
to you as an inheritance will have these boundaries: Your southern side
will include some of the Desert of Zinalong the border of Edom. On the
east, your southern boundary will start form the end of the Salt Sea, cross
south of Scorpion Pass, continue on to Zin and go south of Kadesh Barnea.
Then it will go to Hazar Addar and over to Azmon, where it will turn, join
the Wadi of Egypt and end at the Sea. Your western boundary will be the
coast of the Great Sea. This will be your boundary on the west. For your
northern boundary, run a line from the Great Sea to Mount Hor and from
Mount Hor to Lebo Hamath. Then the boundary will go to Zedad, continue
to Ziphron and end at Hazar Enan. This will be your boundary on the north.
For your eastern boundary, run a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham. The boundary
will go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain and continue
along the slopes east of the Sea of Kinnereth. Then the boundary will go
down along the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea. This will be your land,
with its boundaries on every side.’ (Numbers, 34:1-12)
After Muhammad (sws), his immediate Companions
(rta) continued his mission and punished certain other nations who were
guilty of knowingly denying the truth. The area that came under this punishment
was demarcated by the Prophet (sws) when he wrote letters to the heads
of state of certain territories in this area.
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