Chapter Fifteen

Hijacking and Hostage-Taking: Heinous Crimes it is incumbent on it to make an open declaration of its decision. Proxy war is not at all permissible in Islam. To pursue one’s aims by resorting to lies and deception—which is what hijacking entails—is thus an enormous crime according to Islam. A hadith in the Sahih Muslim relates that a person who engages in deception is not to be counted among the Muslims. Hijacking entails loss, or the threat of loss, of life and property. Taking control of an airplane involves seizing someone else’s property. It also involves killing, or threatening to kill, scores of innocent people. For the hijackers, hijacking is synonymous with committing suicide, which in itself is such an enormous sin that according to the Islamic shariah, a person who deliberately kills himself dies a haraam death. And, according to Islam, there can be no worse death than such a death. There have been cases in recent years of hijackers claiming that their action is part of what they call an ‘Islamic jihad’. Their claim is criminally false. Islamic jihad in the path of God is engaged in for purposes of defense, while the so-called wars that these hijackers are waging are for the sake of power and pelf. Such a war definitely cannot be a jihad in the cause of God. Another point to keep in mind is that jihad in the sense of qital, or war, is the prerogative only of an established government and not of members of the general public. But, today, it is precisely such individuals who are behind cases of hijacking and other forms of violence unleashed in the name of jihad. According to Islam, these people simply do not have the right to do so. For such individuals to launch wars is absolutely forbidden, or haraam, in Islam. An established government can resort to defensive war if it is the victim of aggression, but even a defensive war of this sort would be considered legitimate in Islam only when it is fought after making an open declaration. To launch any sort of proxy war without issuing such a declaration is in no way legitimate in Islam. Islam divides rights into two: huquq Allah (‘rights of God’),