Islam Just War

“Fight in the name of God and in the ‘path of god’. Combat those who disbelieve in God.” The quote above is an excerpt from Matthew Gordon’s book, “The Rise of Islam”. Throughout the course of history, many religions have had a profound effect on western civilization. During the early 5th century a religion arose that had an extremely important impact on western civilization. The Arabic prophet Muhammad founded the religion known today as Islam. Violence, diplomacy, Arabic tradition, and public law played a vital role in the rise and conquest of Islam. These four key elements that fostered the rise of Islam helped establish one of the largest religions in western civilization.

There is also a confusing aspect in all of this, as Jesus states quite clearly in Matthew 5 that we should love our enemies and there seems to be many examples of God against war and violence. Yet, throughout the Old Testament, there are numerous examples of God supporting acts of extreme violence and destruction, seeming contradictory. Some would say that the Just War Theory is the best way to make sure that the war is as moral as possible and that they can justify this by referring to the Bible where we see that Jesus teaches us that we should fight against evil, “I came not to bring peace, but a sword”. It is our duty to obey the lawful authorities because they have been put there by God. If these

The major similarities that all three religions share are that they are all monotheistic. This all means that they believe in one god and that he is the supreme ruler of all things. They also believe that all things are created equal under one god. They all have books of what they believe to be God's word. The Jews have their book known as the Torah. The Christian's have their book known as the Bible. Lastly the Islamic people have their book

Christianity and Islam are two of the world’s largest religions. The two are different in beliefs but are similar in origin. Like many religions both Islam and Christianity claim to be the one and only true way to God. Although Islam and Christianity differ in major ways, they also share some similarities.

There are some similarities between Christianity and Islam. Christianity and Islam are both religion. Both religion are founded in the Middle East; and they are founded by Prophets of God. They have both impact the course of history. The Christians and Islam each believed that there is only one true God.

I believe that every argument in favor of what people call a just and necessary war or physical self-defense goes against the letter and spirit of the bible. The bible is the greatest enemy of war, as soon as people start understanding the bible people will stop fighting. Wars go against the bible and if people don’t agree with that then they don’t understand the bible.

Islam, meaning peace in Arabic, is one of the most misunderstood religions in the world. Many people view it as a religion of hatred and crime, while others view it as peace. Islam is the world’s second largest religion and the youngest. There are approximately 1.57 billion Muslims in the world today. The origin of Islam, Prophet Muhammad, and beliefs of Islam affect how Islam is being taught and viewed today.

The Qur’an stated that God does not love aggressors. The Qur’an stated that you should fight for the sake of God against those that fight against you, but only if they attack first. Upon being attacked, you should slay them where you find them and drive them out of the places from where they drove you; fight against them until God’s religion reigns supreme. For nonreligious violence, the Qur’an stated mankind has the right to guard himself against evil, but only if the means are just; one should not devour one's property by unjust means or be the first to attack.

These two have many things in common, their differences are quite minimal compared to other religions. One Pope declared the crusade to regain the city for Christianity, and it caused not only 200 years of blood battles and crimes, but issues still arise today.

In today's world, people love to fight for their religion. This came from the Crusades. We have been fighting against Muslims for a really long time about religion. During the Crusades they were fighting for their Holy Land. In today's world we are fighting to make sure they don't kill the people in the U.S.A.

Catholic Christianity and Islam can be compared through Doctrinal Dimension of Religion, which analyses each religions set of beliefs. For Muslims, this key principle includes the Five Pillars of Islam, which provides Muslims with the essentials beliefs they are expected to follow in order to live a responsible life. For Catholics, the Nicene Creed is a statement of belief, a reminder to those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salivation. One key similarity found

Without listing all the common points between Christianity and Islam, we can summarize that Christianity and Islam have the same common aspect in terms of their conception of God, Jesus, sin, faith, forgiveness, God's Word and the Holy Spirit, God’s providence, in the worldwide community of believers joined together by common faith and purpose, in the sharing of God giving possessions, and in the final judgement:

The first Crusades that took place in the 11th century that attempted to recapture the Holy Land of Jerusalem, called upon by Pope Urban II could be considered a Christian Holy similar to Muslim’s calling for Jihad. Jihad in Islamic practice is a Holy War fought by Muslims to guard and/or spread their belief as a civic duty. Through the effort to take back Jerusalem from the Muslims, the Pope was calling the Roman Catholics in Europe to militarily conquer the Holy Land and ultimately resulted in the Christians recapturing Jerusalem in 1099. The parallel seen between this Christian Holy War and Jihad is that both goals are to spread their respected religion. In An Account of Pope Urban’s Speech at Clermont, Pope Urban II broadcasts his call for the First Crusade in 1095 in France and in his speech Urban cites the need for Christian Empire to aid against Muslim empire. By doing this he is calling for Christian to rage a holy war against the Muslim to take back Jerusalem. The Chronicle of Solomon bar Simson, demonstrates the persecution that the Jewish community in the Rhineland in the early parts of 1096, the knights justification of killing the Jews were to support the focus on the goal of protecting Catholic interests in the Holy Land and that the Jews were always an enemy to the Christians. The Siege of Antioch discusses about Northern Syria whom is the largest and most formidable Muslim country on the way to Jerusalem was faced with hardship with god but through divine

The similarities of these two religions are uncanny. They are so closely related, and the differences seem so miniscule, at least to the eye of an outsider looking in. When it come to the prayer life of members of the two religions, they are almost identical. They both pray multiple times a day, prayer is obligatory for both, there are movements and gestures to go along with the prayers, the prayers are done facing a certain location, either Mecca or Qiblih, and they are both rooted from the same region in the world. In all reality the only major difference causing these two religions to tear each other apart, is what they believe about the manifestation of Allah. Other than that they are both monotheistic, follow teachings from the prophet Mohammad, and have a regulated form of prayer for members of the religion to follow. So like I said at the start, like any religion and/or its branches, they can be practically identical, but so very different at the same time.

However, Jihad’s age old association with violence was nearly unavoidable. Struggle can rather easily be translated into a call to conduct an external Jihad for the Islamic faith. For example, a verse in the Qu’ran states, “go forth, light armed and heavy armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah” (Church 111). This verse clearly pairs Jihad (“strive”) with external violence (“go forth, light armed and heavy armed”) (Church 111). Indeed, violent Jihad was an obvious necessity because the Muslim community had always been a religious and political faction. Many lost their lives to spread and defend the newfound faith in Arabia and eventually to locations far beyond. Jihad’s association with violence and religious duty made it an ideal expression for Muslims to justify “lesser Jihad,” or the notion of external conflict, centered on the idea of spreading the faith (Church 112).