Is One Person's Terrorist Another's Freedom Fighter? Western and Islamic Approaches to 'Just War' Compared

Terrorism and Political Violence

Volumn 11, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 1-21

  Kennedy, Robert ^a  

^a Marshall European Center for Security Studies   (Germany)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0033267005     PISSN: 09546553     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09546559908427493     Document Type: Article

References (79)

1. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, Press Briefing on US Strikes in Sudan and Afghanistan, Washington, DC, 20 Aug. 1998.
2. See Neil MacFarquhar, 'Portrait of a Suicide Bomber: Devout, Apolitical and Angry', New York Times, 18 March 1996, p.A5.
3. Alan Cowell, 'An Israeli Soldier's Death: Atrocity or Act of War', New York Times, 17 Oct. 1994, p.6.
4. Clyde Haberman, '22 Killed in Terrorist Bombing of Bus in Tel Aviv; 46 Wounded', New York Times, 20 Oct. 1994, p.A7.
5. Serge Schimemann, 'Israelis Threaten Major Crackdown in Arab-Run Areas', New York Times, 1 Aug. 1997, p.A1.
6. This thesis, first advanced by Samuel P. Huntington in his 'The Clash of Civilizations?' Foreign Affairs 72/3 (Summer 1993), was further developed in his The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon & Schuster 1996).
7. This thesis, first advanced by Samuel P. Huntington in his 'The Clash of Civilizations?' Foreign Affairs 72/3 (Summer 1993), was further developed in his The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon & Schuster 1996).
8. Christopher Hitchens, 'Wanton Acts of Usage', Harper's Magazine, Sept. 1990.
9. Alex P. Schmid and Albert J. Jongman, et al., Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories and Literature (New York: North-Holland Publishing Co. 1988) p.1.
10. According to the statute, the term 'noncombatant' is interpreted to include, in addition to civilians, military personnel who at the time of the incident are unarmed and/or not on duty. The US also considers as acts of terrorism attacks on military installations or on armed military personnel when a state of military hostilities does not exist at the site, such as bombing against US bases in Europe or elsewhere.
11. The US has used these definitions for statistical and analytical purposes since 1983. See United States Department of State, Patterns of Global Terrorism, 1997 (Washington, DC: Office of the Secretary of State, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, April 1998) p.iv.
12. See Paul Wilkinson, 'The Laws of War and Terrorism', in David C. Rapoport and Yonah Alexander (eds), The Morality of Terrorism: Religious and Secular Justifications (New York: Columbia University Press 1989) pp.310-11.
13. Wilkinson (note 11) p.303.
14. Here the author is referring to traditions as cultural continuities in social attitudes and institutions. The author recognizes that there is a wide spectrum of western Christian and secular just war views, but one also can identify continuities that define the norms.
15. Jeffrey Stout, 'Justice and Resort to War: A Sampling of Christian Ethical Thinking', in James Turner Johnson and John Kelsay (eds), Cross, Crescent, and Sword: The Justification and Limitation of War in Western and Islamic Tradition (New York: Greenwood Press 1990) p.3.
16. Jean Bethke Elshtain, 'Introduction' in Jean Bethke Elshtain, Just War Theory (New York: New York University Press 1992) p.1.
17. The Melian dialogue takes place between two Athenian generals and the magistrates of the island state of Melos, a colony of Sparta. The Athenian generals demand that the Melians yield, arguing that might makes right. The Melians refuse, knowing that it will be a 'hard matter' to stand against the power and fortune of Athens, 'nevertheless we believe that for fortune, we shall be nothing inferior, as having the gods on our side, because we stand innocent against men unjust'. From Richard Schlatter (ed.), Hobbes' Thucydides (New Brunswick, NJ) quoted in Michael Walzer, 'Against Realism', in Jean Bethke Elshtain (ed.), Just War Theory (New York: New York University Press 1992) p.38.
18. The Melian dialogue takes place between two Athenian generals and the magistrates of the island state of Melos, a colony of Sparta. The Athenian generals demand that the Melians yield, arguing that might makes right. The Melians refuse, knowing that it will be a 'hard matter' to stand against the power and fortune of Athens, 'nevertheless we believe that for fortune, we shall be nothing inferior, as having the gods on our side, because we stand innocent against men unjust'. From Richard Schlatter (ed.), Hobbes' Thucydides (New Brunswick, NJ) quoted in Michael Walzer, 'Against Realism', in Jean Bethke Elshtain (ed.), Just War Theory (New York: New York University Press 1992) p.38.
19. Paul Ramsey, 'The Just War According to St Augustine', in Jean Bethke Elshtain (ed.), Just War Theory (note 16) p.8.
20. James Turner Johnson, Ideology, Reason, and the Limitation of War: Religious and Secular Concepts 1200-1740 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP 1975) p.34.
21. The requirement for a formal declaration became one of the necessities for a just war in medieval thought. See Johnson (note 18) p.36.
22. Johnson (note 18) pp.36-8.
23. Ibid., pp.8-9.
24. John Dugard, 'International Terrorism and the Just War', in David C. Rapoport and Yonah Alexander (eds), The Morality of Terrorism (note 11) p.78.
25. See Johnson (note 18) pp.43-4.
26. Ibid., p.45.
27. See ibid., pp.53-5.
28. Ibid., p.55.
29. Ibid., p.59.
30. Ibid., p.76.
31. Within this context, Christian thought does not give way to secular thought and international laws on warfare. Rather, it contributes to the dialogue by advancing the concept that universal moral values can be found in natural law. 'Natural law discussions assume that there are moral constraints that can be known [through] human reason unaided by divine revelations.' Hence, one does not have to be a believer to come to understand the moral constraints on human activity dictated by natural law. If one follows these constraints during conflicts, one's actions can be called just. See Stephen E. Lammers, 'Approaches to Limits on War in Western Just War Discourse', in Johnson and Kelsay (eds), Cross, Crescent, and Sword (note 14) p.56.
32. Dugard (note 22) p.79.
33. The 'classical' period of Islamic civilization is usually considered to cover the first six centuries (until about 1200 CE). The 'modern' period is generally understood to have begun in the later part of the nineteenth century, as Islamic writers attempted to deal with the growing pressures of an expanding European civilization and growing European power.
34. Johnson and Kelsay (note 14) p.xiv.
35. This view has been advanced by Fred Donner, 'The Sources of Islamic Conceptions of War', in John Kelsay and James Turner Johnson (eds), Just War and Jihad: Historical and Theoretical Perspectives on War and Peace in Western and Islamic Traditions (New York: Greenwood Press 1991) pp.31-46.
36. John Kelsay, Islam and War: A Study of Comparative Ethics (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press 1993) p.32.
37. Kelsay notes that Sunni thinkers disagree among themselves on the precise content of this knowledge. However, no one denies the existence of a presupposition of human responsibility before God based on a 'prior' or 'general' revelation. Kelsay (note 34) p.33.
38. There can be mitigating circumstances. For example, if some portion of the territory of war is governed by a scriptural religion such as Christianity, disorder can be mitigated. However, this is not always the case since 'actual' Christianity does not correspond to the true religion taught by Jesus. Ibid., p.34.
39. Ibid., pp.32-5.
40. See Chaiwat Satha-Anand, 'Nonviolent Crescent: Eight Theses on Muslim Nonviolent Actions', in Glenn D. Paige, Chaiwat Satha-Anand and Sarah Gilliatt (eds), Islam and Nonviolence (Honolulu: University of Hawaii 1993) p.10.
41. Chaiwat Satha-Anand (note 38) p.10.
42. Dilip Hiro, Holy Wars: The Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism (New York: Routledge, Chapman & Hall 1989) p.144.
43. The predominant Shii group is the Twelvers (particularly prominent in Iran), though all Shii groups hold a similar, if not identical, view on the leadership issue.
44. For an excellent discussion of this dichotomy between Sunni and Shia see Kelsay (note 34) pp.36-40.
45. Ibid., pp.35-6.
46. The Arabic word is Din. It implies the ideas of duty, obedience, judgement, justice, faith, religion, customary rites, etc. See Abdullah Yusuf Ali (translation and commentary), The Holy Quran (Durban: Islamic Propagation Centre International 1946).
47. All quotations from the Qur'an are from Abdullah Yusuf Ali (note 44).
48. Mamoon-al-Rasheed, 'Islam, Nonviolence, and Social Transformation', in Paige et al. (note 38) p.76.
49. Ibid.
50. Ibid., p.77.
51. In Abdullah Yusuf Ali's (note 44) commentary on this passage he notes that 'We must (teach) with wisdom and discretion, meeting people on their ground and convincing them with illustrations from their own knowledge and experience ... Our preaching must not be dogmatic not self-regarding, not offensive, but gentle, considerate (sic) ...'.
52. Satha-Anand (note 38) p.10.
53. Ibid.
54. Kelsay (note 34) p.36.
55. Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani, as translated by Majid Khadduri, in The Islamic Law of Nations (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press 1966) sections 28, 29, 30 and 47. Cited in Kelsay (note 34) pp.59-60
56. Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani, as translated by Majid Khadduri, in The Islamic Law of Nations (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press 1966) sections 28, 29, 30 and 47. Cited in Kelsay (note 34) pp.59-60
57. Razi Ahmad, 'Islam, Nonviolence, and Global Transformation', in Paige et al. (note 38) p.39.
58. Kelsay (note 34) p.60.
59. Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Bidayat al-Mujtahid, in Peters, Jihad in Medieval and Modern Islam, cited in Kelsay (note 34) p.62.
60. Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Bidayat al-Mujtahid, in Peters, Jihad in Medieval and Modern Islam, cited in Kelsay (note 34) p.62.
61. Kelsay (note 34) p.63.
62. Al-Shaybani, section 117, cited in Kelsay (note 34) p.65.
63. Hiro (note 40) p.144.
64. Ibid., p.208.
65. Ibid., pp.224-5.
66. James Robeson (trans.), Mishkat al Masabih (Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashaf 1975) p.838, noted in Satha-Anand (note 38) p.16.
67. James Robeson (trans.), Mishkat al Masabih (Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashaf 1975) p.838, noted in Satha-Anand (note 38) p.16.
68. Satha-Anand (note 38) p.16.
69. Ibid., p.15.
70. John Kelsay notes that contemporary Islam suffers from 'a scarcity of jus in bello materials ... contemporary Muslim thinkers seem mostly interested in the jus ad bellum'. See Kelsay (note 34) p.69.
71. See Dugard (note 22) p.80.
72. Ibid.
73. Ibid.
74. For a thorough and well-documented discussion of this problem, see Dugard (note 22) pp.83-6.
75. For an excellent discussion of liberation theology see John R. Pottenger, 'Liberation Theology: Its Methodological Foundation for Violence', in Rapoport and Alexander (note 11) pp.99-123.
76. David C. Rapoport, 'Sacred Terror: A Contemporary Example from Islam', in Walter Reich (ed.), Origins of Terrorism (New York: CUP 1990) p.103. Also see his earlier 'Fear and Trembling: Terrorism in Three Religious Traditions', American Politcal Science Review 78 (1984) pp.658-77.
77. David C. Rapoport, 'Sacred Terror: A Contemporary Example from Islam', in Walter Reich (ed.), Origins of Terrorism (New York: CUP 1990) p.103. Also see his earlier 'Fear and Trembling: Terrorism in Three Religious Traditions', American Politcal Science Review 78 (1984) pp.658-77.
78. Part of the problem lies in the very definitions of combatant and noncombatant. As rule by divine right has been replaced by rule by the citizenry and societies have become more complex political, economic, and military entities, who fits into the category of innocents or noncombatants has become an increasingly debated question.
79. Dugard (note 22) p.87.