Islamic” Self and the Other

Chapter IV The “Islamic” Self and the Other 4.1 Introduction As pursued in Chapter III, the aim of this chapter is to trace back the historical evolution of the construction of the “Islamic” Self and its Other. In particular, the conflicts which have waged for centuries between Muslims and their external and internal opponents are illustrative of the apparent tension between the “Islamic” Self and its Other. The conflict between the “Islamic” Self and its Other can also be interpreted as a possible strategy to divide and rule over humanity. This historical approach will be particularly useful for the next Part III which juxtaposes the positivist and historical analysis of ILW. In this Part II, as will be submitted, it is also possible that the historical justifi- cations and explanations as formulated from the Western perspective in the previous Chapter III are not that different from the Islamic perspective either. Consequently, when building upon these positivist and historical analyses of, respectively, the laws of armed conflict and the contexts in which these laws have applied and are still applicable, the next Chapters V and VI, respectively on the structure of the legal arguments in ILW and IHL, can actually also be similar. From the period of Revelation onwards, the message of Islam faced opposition within the Arabian Peninsula. Nevertheless, the Prophet Muhammad was determined to defend the cause of God and spread His word around the world for the benefit of the whole of humanity. Islam united peoples and tribes across different borders and instituted tolerance for the non-Muslim inhab- itants. Because the Islamic mission was not always embraced by all peoples, sooner or later, a doctrine of division of the world into the abode of Islam, i.e. dar al-Islam, and the abode of war, i.e. dar al-harb, served the new Islamic lead- ership. In particular after the time of the Prophet, when unification against such resistance raised Islam to one of the greatest civilisations humanity has ever witnessed.1 The division in order to rule was also often challenged by others from within the Islamic community, i.e. the ummah, when claiming their own legitimacy 1 Richard C. Martin, ‘The religious foundations of war, peace, and statecraft in Islam’, in James Turner Johnson & John Kelsay (eds), Just war and jihad: historical and theoretical perspec- tives on war and peace in Western and Islamic traditions (Greenwood Press 1991), at 97. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��5 | doi ��.��63/9789004�98�48_006 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC License.Matthias Vanhullebusch - 9789004298248 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 05:57:11PM via free access �08 Chapter IV to control the believers.2 Ultimately, the fragmentation of the abode of Islam into several Islamic sub-empires, such as the Ottomans, the Mughals, and the Safavids, along with other factors, such as corruption, led to its decline.3 From the nineteenth century onwards, this oriental prey was soon subjected to Western colonialism and nationalism. Islam had to be responsive in order to survive from and compete with this modernist enterprise.4 Different answers have been formulated to accommodate this external confrontation with internal challenges. Nationalist, modernist, revivalist, secessionist, and terrorist approaches were among those answers which, one could rationally argue, were serving particular agendas not necessarily reflecting the views of the Islamic community as a whole. This can possibly prove that the duality of human nature to advance its selfish interests is difficult to be moderated by the communitarian injunctions to truly help and know each other, both within and beyond one’s religion. 4.2 From the Period of Revelation to Western Colonisation 4.2.1 The Early Path to Justice Right from the beginning, it was hard for the early Muslim converts to survive in the Arabian societies without any opposition. The Bedouin Arabs, in particular, were noted to be a warring people.5 Also in the few cities, jahiliyyah, i.e. the time of tribal chauvinism when tribes were defending their causes mostly with violence, prevailed instead of divine guidance. Thus, Islam needed to con- vince the Arabs to leave behind their anarchical primitive state of living and look for “civilised” unity among all Muslims instead. There are mixed views as to whether the Meccan trade and its so-called “mercantile economy”,6 on the one hand, or the religious desire of the newly established Islamic community to convert all souls to Islam, on the other hand, was crucial to the conquest of 2 Isam Kamel Salem, Islam und Völkerrecht: das Völkerrecht in der islamischen Weltanschauung (Express Edition 1984), at 69–73. 3 Majid Khadduri, ‘The Islamic theory of international relations and its contemporary rele- vance’, in J. Harris Proctor (ed), Islam and international relations (Pall Mall 1965), at 30. 4 Ann Elizabeth Mayer, ‘War and peace in the Islamic tradition and international law’, in James Turner Johnson & John Kelsay (eds), Just war and jihad: historical and theoretical perspec- tives on war and peace in Western and Islamic traditions (Greenwood Press 1991), at 198. 5 Anne-Claude Dero-Jacob, Société et institutions traditionnelles de l’islam: une introduction sociologique (Peeters 1995), at 153. 6 Patricia Crone, Meccan trade and the rise of Islam (Gorgias Press 2004), at 231. Matthias Vanhullebusch - 9789004298248 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 05:57:11PM via free access The “Islamic” Self and the Other �09 tribal Arabia and the territory outside of it.7 In this regard, the former rational and materialistic argument explains that the expansion of trade relations with other parts of the Middle East was necessary to fuel the expeditions and to sanction political power. Whereas the latter idealistic and spiritual argument shows proof of the rewards believers have to seek from God when fighting in His cause.8 Advancing the military objective view, Sharma observed that, “[t]he sword is said to have been used to increase the territorial and political spread of Islam where its creed could find fertile soil to flourish”.9 Hence, the Prophet necessarily had to lay down the foundations of some kind of organisation10 if the newly established Islamic society wanted to survive and develop within this particular hostile environment.11 Evidently, during His mission the Revelation was an essential guide to the establishment and consolidation of the ummah.12 So if God’s cause had to be rendered justice, then war and victory for this cause were permissible.13 In particular those encounters with non-Muslims, such as the People of the Book, i.e. ahl al-kitab (Christians and Jews), or the Zorostrians, could have constituted a source of conflict. Nonetheless, with these peoples belonging to monotheistic religions, treaties of submission, i.e. dhimma, were concluded and put an end to their conflicts.14 Though these peoples have been conquered by the Muslims, in return for the payment of a poll tax, i.e. jizya, they were tolerated and could continue to practice their own personal laws of religion upon the condition they respected the rules of the Islamic pub- lic order. Clearly, this protection of religious minority rights went hand in hand with the respect for the laws of the Islamic government.15 Moreover, the 7 Id., at 243. 8 R. Stephen Humphreys, Islamic history: a framework for inquiry (Tauris 1991), at 210. 9 Shashi S. Sharma, Caliphs and sultans: religious ideology and political praxis (Rupa 2004), at 124–25. 10 I.M. Lapidus, ‘The Arab conquests and the formation of Islamic society’, in Wael B. Hallaq (ed), The formation of Islamic law (Ashgate Variorum 2004), at 18. 11 Id., in, at 18. 12 Wael B. Hallaq, The origins and evolution of Islamic law (Cambridge University Press 2006), at 31. 13 Ignáz Goldziher, Bernard Lewis, Andras Hamori & Ruth Hamori, Introduction to Islamic theology and law (Princeton University Press 1981), at 24. 14 Ye’or Bat, Islam and dhimmitude: where civilizations collide (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press 2002), at 42. 15 Mohamed Berween, ‘Al-Wathiqa: the first Islamic state constitution’, (2003) 23 Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 103, at 111 and 113. Matthias Vanhullebusch - 9789004298248 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 05:57:11PM via free access ��0 Chapter IV Islamic state could not impose on those peoples to convert as indicated in the following Qur’anic verse:16 Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trust- worthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things. (Q2:256) Despite these guarantees of tolerant and peaceful coexistence with the follow- ers of other beliefs, the Islamic order was continuously under attack both ideo- logically and politically. As a matter of safeguarding its survival, as Kennedy put it, “the umma could not stand still, it had to expand or disintegrate”.17 From this realist perspective, there was no other choice than conquering the territories within and beyond the Arabian Peninsula. In addition, the prohibition of raid- ing and fighting within the ummah deprived the Arab tribes of their livelihood and, as Karsh continued, “drove them inexorably toward imperial expansion”.18 These internal dynamics within the ummah appeared not to be sufficient to support such imperial enterprise. Therefore, some kind of ideology justified the expansion and the subservience of the unbelievers who were conquered subsequently.19 According to Sharma, “the advantage of belonging to the most correct and the most superior way of life, gives to the Muslim community a legitimate sense of puissance, which also translates in their craving for unqual- ified power”.20 Beyond this sense of superiority, institutional demands were necessary to accommodate the growing quest for power.

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