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Islamic Jihad and Modern Warfare:
Comparative analysis and its implications
Laiba Shahbaz
International Islamic University of Islamabad
Indo Pak Relations
Sir Abid Sipra
Date, 17 Dec, 2021
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Content
1- Abstract
2- Keywords
3- Research Questions
4- Research Methodology
5- Islamic Jihad
6- Modern Warfare
a- Cyberwar fare
b- War in space
c- Informational warfare
d- Special operation
e- Financial wars
7- Comparative Analysis & Implication
8- Conclusion
9- References
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Abstract
Islamic jihad and modern warfare are two different concepts and can be come under same degree. Jihad is
just related to Islam, there is no other jihad except it. Jihad is fought for the protection of Muslims from
the violence according to the teachings of Quran and Sunna. But today this concept is totally
misunderstood by westerns. While Modern warfare includes all those tool and techniques through which a
war can be fought especially after 16-17 century. It can be a physical war or can be a psychological war.
Hybrid warfare, Cyber warfare, Information warfare, space war and fifth generation warfare are the latest
form of it. Now any country can destroy or damage machinery of other country just by a computer virus.
As Israel did with Iranian nuclear power plants in natanz. If there is violence on Muslims, jihad can
fought by using such kinds of modern weapons.
Keywords
Islamic Jihad, Modern warfare, Virus, generations of wars, cyber warfare, space war
Research Questions
What is Islamic Jihad and Modern Warfare?
How can comparatively analyse them, and what are there implication or challenges?
Research Methodology
For this research paper, I will use secondary resources such as different articles, YouTube videos, books,
journals, research paper for my research. It will be a qualitative research. This research type is analytical.
I choose this type of research because I wanted to analyze the Islamic Jihad and modern warfare and their
implications.
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Islamic Jihad
Islam was established in seventh-century Arabia, and in less than a century it rapidly grew into an empire,
with borders extending from Spain to North Africa, and from Middle East to China. Islam is based on, an
approach to religious and moral affairs can be in sharia and relevant instructions may be obtained as to
what is right and wrong under Islam. Islam also regulates and restrict the use of force. In the Qur’an, the
divine entity is extensively associated with efforts to discourage the employment of illicit force by the
promise of eternal punishment. Although the primary sources of Islam do not command Muslims to turn
the other cheek, during the early highly detailed rules that govern broad aspects of human behavior,
including all private and public matters, moral issues, modes of worship, good manners and hygiene.
Through a casuistic methodology, period of Islam fighting was, in principle, deemed inappropriate and
lethal force was employed only when peaceful alternatives failed to prevent persecution and oppression,
or to secure Muslims’ right to freely exercise their religion.
During the formative years of Islam, Hazrat Muhammad PBUH had preferred peaceful alternatives to
secure and stabilize the well-being of the Muslim community and to spread the word of Islam. To this
end, he at times engaged in trade and made alliances with non-Muslims, and, when necessary, sought
protection from those who rejected Islam. It was only later, after the establishment of a stronger political
entity in Medina that the aim of warfare came to include the spread of Islamic influence; yet even then
such wars had to be fought in accordance with certain rules and restrictions. Contrary to common
misconceptions, therefore, Islamic tradition does not impose an unqualified obligation to resort to warfare
against all those who reject the Islamic faith.
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While Islam is generally misunderstood in the West, perhaps no other Islamic term has provoked such a
strong reaction as “jihad”. The Arabic word “jihad”, always misinterpreted as “holy war”, literally means
“struggle” or “doing one’s best”. It is wrong to assume that jihad is synonymous with fighting or war,
because that is a special aspect of the term. Jihad is the struggle to do well and to remove injustice,
oppression and evil from oneself and society. This struggle is spiritual, social, economic and political.
In fact, the concept of jihad is one of life, and it is broad, not limited to armed conflict. For example, in
the Qur’an, one finds mention of “jihad through the Qur’an”, that is, the call to truth, proof, explanation
and the best argument. There is also the “jihad of the soul”, which means purifying the soul, trying to
increase its faith and save it from evils and illegitimate desires and temptations and lead it to good. This is
followed by “jihad through wealth”, which means spending it in various beneficial ways, including
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‘What is “Jihad”? – Definition Jihad in Islam Religion’ aljummah, https://islamexplored.org/what–is-jihad/
charitable and welfare projects. And “jihad by the soul”, which includes all the good deeds of the believer,
such as preaching, teaching, and finally the legal armed struggle against aggression and oppression.
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In the Quran, jihad is a term with more than one meanings. During the Meccan period (c. 610–622 CE),
when the Prophet Muhammad PBUH received the revelations of the Quran in Mecca, emphasis was
placed on the internal dimension of jihad, which is called ṣabr, which refers to the practice of “patient
forbearance” by Muslims in the face of life’s vicissitudes and toward those who wish them harm. The
Quran also speaks of jihad through the Quran against the infidel of Meccan during the Meccan period
(25:52), implying a verbal and contradictory struggle against those who reject the message of Islam. In
the Medina period (622–632), during which Muhammad received Quranic revelations in Medina, a new
dimension of jihad emerged: fighting in self-defense against the aggression of the Meccan persecutors,
termed qitāl or fighting. In the later literature—comprising Hadith, the record of the sayings and actions
of the Prophet; mystical interpretations of the Quran; and more general mystical and edifying writings—
these two main dimensions of jihad, ṣabr and qitāl, were renamed jihad al–nafs (the internal, spiritual
struggle against humiliation) and jihad al-sayf (the physical battle with the sword), respectively. They
were also respectively called al-jihad al-Akbar (the greater jihad) and al-jihad al-aṣghar (the lesser jihad).
In this kind of extra-Quranic literature, various ways of promoting good and preventing evil are included
