Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror

Alia Brahimi

Examines the moral arguments on both sides of the war on terror
Furthers cross-cultural understanding
Introduces the Western just war tradition to a non-Western audience and the Islamic jihad tradition to a non-Muslim audience

Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror

Alia Brahimi

Description

In the war on terror, both 'sides' have taken great pains to justify their actions in moral terms. As force is employed so are sophisticated arguments which directly invoke the just war traditions of the West and Islam. This book offers an exploration of the ways in which George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden drew upon, and simultaneously re-conceptualised, important moral concepts from within the Western and Islamic just war traditions. It examines a range of jus ad bellum and jus in bello issues, including Western debates about pre-emptive self-defence, Islamic requirements for right authority to declare war, proportionality in the Battle of Fallujah, and the legitimacy of suicide bombing in Islam. It also considers how a series of authoritative voices in the West and in the Muslim world appealed to just war and jihad ideas to vigorously contest Bush and bin Laden's cases for war. The book's central argument—that the Bush administration and al-Qaeda departed from important consensuses about justified warfare—contains within it an alternative way of understanding the war on terror. Rather than a clash between civilisations, it is suggested that the conflict can be accounted for by a clash within civilisations: in resorting to war, both sides acted against their own traditions and contravened the requirements of their own civilisations.

This book is a project of the Oxford Leverhulme Programme on the Changing Character of War.

Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror

Alia Brahimi

Introduction
Part I: Just War and the Bush Administration
1: Jus Ad Bellum, Iraq and the War on Terror
2: Pre-emptive War on Iraq
3: Jus in Bello, Guantanamo Bay and the War on Terror
Part II: Jihad and Al-Qaeda
4: Jihad and Al-Qaeda's Just Cause
5: Jus Ad Bellum in Al-Qaeda's Jihad
6: Jus in Bello, Suicide Bombing and Killing Civilians
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror

Alia Brahimi

Author Information

Alia Brahimi, Global Security Research Fellow, London School of Economics and Political Science; Senior Research Associate, Oxford University Changing Character of War Programme

Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror

Alia Brahimi

Reviews and Awards

"The numerous and thorough notes, together with the rich bibliography, and detailed index of authors, places, and topics, shows how much research is behind the 332 written pages. We can say that this book is a great contribution to scholarly research on such a thorny and very often not scholarly treated subject." - Francesco Zannini, Islamochristiana,