Chapter One

Peace and Islam and hearts so that they love just the one God, fear Him alone and make Him their biggest concern. A mission of this sort that invites people to the path of God simply cannot accept violent confrontation. This is because violence or war destroys the conducive atmosphere essential to any movement that seeks to reform people’s thinking in order to bring about a spiritual revolution. The fact of the matter is that peaceful conditions invariably promote an atmosphere favourable to the mission of Islam. On the contrary, violent conditions cannot but produce an atmosphere inimical to Islam. War, a State Action In Islam, war is not the duty of members of the general public, whether individuals or groups. Rather, it is the task of a properly established government. Individuals do not have the right to engage in war on their own. On the contrary, war can be declared only by an established government. It is permissible for the government to call upon the general public to assist it in a war, but members of the public do not have the right to declare war on their own. The Quran lays down as a general commandment that in the face of threats or where there is the danger of an external attack, the public should not take any action on their own. On such occasions, the only thing to do is take the matter to what the Quran (4:83) refers to as ulul-amr, or those in authority—in other words, their rulers. And it is for the latter to decide on an appropriate response. The same point is made in a hadith mentioned in the Sahih al-Bukhari. According to this report, the rulers are like a shield. War is fought under their leadership, and they protect the people. This indicates that the planning and declaration of qital, or war, is entirely the prerogative of a properly established government. The general Muslim populace can, remaining