Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam

Abstract

Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam contains nine chapters, the first ofwhich is a well constructed introduction that refers to various aspects andfunctions of jihad within the Islamic system of thought. This chapterintroduces the reader to pertinent vocabulary of the jihad doctrine, settingthe stage for the material throughout the book. Through the vocabulary, theauthor adroitly strings together a variety of texts in subsequent chapterswhich all utilize terms and concepts such as dar al-Islam, believers vs.unbelievers, takfir (declaring someone an unbeliever), expansionist jihad,defensive jihad, jihad as international law, greater and lesser jihad, andmore. The chapters that follow the introduction present six Islamic textstranslated from Arabic and Turkish, and the book concludes with two of theauthor's previously published articles on jihad. The aim of the book is toprovide basic reading material on the doctrine and to highlight the variousaspects of jihad and its development through the ages ...