Mike Scruggs
In 1979, Pakistani Brigadier General S. K. Malik wrote a book entitled The Quranic Concept of War. He was strongly encouraged in this effort by Pakistani Army Chief of Staff, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who had recently made himself President of Pakistan. Following widespread civil disorder, Zia had deposed ruling Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a bloodless coup on July 5, 1977. Zia was killed in a suspicious aircraft crash in the Punjab in August 1988, along with several of his generals and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Lewis Raphel. Zia is most famous for his joint support with the United States of the Afghan Mujahideen (holy warriors) against the Soviet Union during the Soviet-Afghan War from 1979 to 1989. He was fundamentalist in his Muslim faith and helped to replace the older British Colonial system of law with Sharia during his presidency.
Zia was so enthusiastic about Malik's brief 158-page book that he wrote a Foreword and a 25-page Preface to it. In the Foreword, Zia pointed out that Jihad and the Quranic concept of war were not exclusively for soldiers or restricted to military means but were also the responsibility of all Muslims in every endeavor of Muslim life.
In the Preface, Zia defined Jihad with these words:
“The most glorious word in the vocabulary of Islam is Jihad, a word which is untranslatable in English, but broadly speaking, means 'striving', 'struggling',
'trying to advance the Divine causes or purposes.”
He further points out that Jihad “is a conflict between good and evil, between right and wrong, between truth and untruth, and between legitimate and forbidden courses of conduct.” He elaborates a bit on the concept of Jihad Bin-nafs or struggling with oneself, but moves quickly to the duty of every Muslim to make certain that Islam is not impeded. He insists that all Jihad is defensive but defines defensive in such a way that any opposition to Islam must be crushed. He quotes the Koran (Quran):
“Therefore, when you meet the unbelievers, smite their necks; at length, when you have thoroughly subdued them, build a barrier against them;”
He explains that Islam views the world in terms of two opposing camps, one submissive to Allah, Islam, and Sharia, and the other in opposition to Allah, Islam, and Sharia. It is the duty of the first, the House of Islam, to conquer and bring the other into submission. Islam is an Arabic word meaning not peace but “submission.” The choice to “infidels”
will be submission or destruction.
Finally, Zia endorses a decidedly enlightened doctrine of the conduct of war similar to the Geneva Convention and Christian War Doctrine. These rules can be justified by Quranic verses. They include making a distinction between combatants and non-combatants, avoiding injury to non-combatants, forbidding excess cruelties of any kind, prohibition of reprisals and collective punishments, and decent treatment of enemy prisoners and wounded.
Unfortunately, some of these rules are contradicted by other Quranic verses and many of Muhammad's historical actions. In addition, at least two of the four principal Sunni Muslim schools of jurisprudence allow extremely broad definitions of combatants to include even women, children, and handicapped persons who fight against Islam with words or actions--also very broadly defined. Regrettably, Western rules of martial conduct have also been abused in similar ways. On balance, these Quranic rules of warfare, as endorsed by General Zia, are enlightened and commendable policies if followed. The problem in their application is the sharp distinction the Quran and Muhammad often make between Muslims and those who will not submit to Islam. The ultimate choice for non-Muslims remains not peaceful coexistence, but conversion to Islam, a degraded form of slavery, or death.
Brigadier Malik makes some critical distinctions between Jihad and military strategy:
“The first step to this study is to understand the difference between total strategy, that is, Jihad, and military strategy….Jihad entails the comprehensive direction and application of power while military strategy deals only with the preparation for and application of force. Jihad is a continuous and never-ending struggle waged on all fronts including political, economic, social, psychological, domestic, moral, and spiritual to obtain the object of policy. It aims at attaining the overall mission assigned to the Islamic State, and military strategy is one of the means available to do so. It is waged at individual as well as collective levels; and at internal as well as external fronts.”
The broader aspects of Jihad, including political propaganda and agitation, infiltration of government and educational organizations, establishing Muslim enclaves by migration, interfaith religious “dialogues,” and establishing a system of mosques and schools in target countries can also create conditions for quick and easy military victory. In Europe and North America, multiculturalism, political correctness, and hate-speech laws have severely muzzled opposition and seriously hindered the West's ability to resist more and more aggressive Islamization. The broad strategy of “civilization” Jihad is creating political fifth columns that could eventually render the West almost defenseless, both politically and militarily.
Malik's book is filled with many military applications of Quranic thinking. In view of the great clash of civilizations that now confronts the peoples of a dangerously clueless West, the Quranic Concept of War should be read with urgent interest.
