War and Peace in Islam

War and Peace in Islam: The Uses and Abuses of Jihad

War and Peace in Islam: The Uses and Abuses of Jihad

HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad
Professor Ibrahim Kalin
Professor Mohammad Hashim Kamali
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No word in English evokes more fear and misunderstanding than ‘jihad’. To date the books that have appeared on the subject in English by Western scholars have been either openly partisan and polemical, or subtly traumatised by so many acts and images of terrorism in the name of jihad, and by the historical memory of nearly one thousand four hundred years of confrontation between Islam and Christianity.

War and Peace in Islam: The Uses and Abuses of Jihad aims to change this. Written by a number of Islamic religious authorities and Muslim scholars, this work presents the views and teachings of mainstream Sunni and Shi’i Islam on the subject of jihad. It authoritatively presents jihad as it is understood by the majority of the world’s 1.7 billion Muslims today, and supports this understanding with extensive detail and scholarship. Though jihad is the central concern of War and Peace in Islam: The Uses and Abuses of Jihad, the range of the essays is not confined exclusively to the study of jihad. The work is divided into three parts: War and Its Practice, Peace and Its Practice, and Beyond Peace: The Practice of Forbearance, Mercy, Compassion and Love.

War and Peace in Islam: The Uses and Abuses of Jihad aims to reveal the real meaning of jihad and to rectify many of the misunderstandings that surround both it and Islam’s relation with the ‘Other’.

A dynamic myth-busting clarification of the real position of mainstream orthodox Islam on the whole question of violence and jihad.

T. J. Winter, University Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Cambridge University

This is the best book on the subject in English. It will be of inestimable value.

Shaykh Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti Emeritus of Bosnia

HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad is the nephew of the late King Hussein of Jordan and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought. He is the founder of Al-Balqa Applied University and the World Islamic Sciences and Education University (WISE). He is also the author of Love in the Holy Qur’an.

Professor Ibrahim Kalin is Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister of Turkey and the founding director of the SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research based in Ankara, Turkey. He is a fellow at the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University.

Professor Mohammad Hashim Kamali is the Founding Chairman and CEO of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) Malaysia. He was Professor of Islamic Law and Jurisprudence at the International Islamic University Malaysia (1985-2004), and also Dean of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) from 2004 to 2006. He is the author of many titles on Islamic law and jurisprudence including the bestselling Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence.