A Critical Exposition of the Popular 'Jihád'/Chapter 12/92

[Sidenote: 92. The Hedaya quoted and refuted.]

The Hedaya, or a Commentary of the Mohammadan Common Law by Nuraddin Ali of Murghinan (died in 593, A.H.) has:&mdash;

"The destruction of the sword is incurred by the infidels, although they be not the first aggressors, as appears from the various passages in the sacred writings which are generally received to this effect."

This assertion is not borne out by the sacred injunction of the Koran, and, on the contrary, is in direct contradiction to the same. There are several passages in the Koran already quoted in pages 16-25, which expressly forbid the taking of offensive measures, and enjoin only defensive wars. There are some other passages which are not so expressive as the several others referred to above, or in other words, are not conditional. But the law of interpretation, the general scope and tenor of the Koran, and the context of the verses and parallel passages, all show that those few verses which are not conditional should be construed as conditional in conformity with other passages more clear, expressive, and conditional, and with the general laws of scriptural interpretation. Now, the author of the Hedaya and other writers on the Common Law quote only those few passages from the Koran which are absolute or unconditional, and shut their eyes against those many conditional verses, and general scope and tenor of the Koran. Limited, or "Conditional". |General, or Absolute. -+---                                  |  Sura XXII, 39-42. |Sura II, 245, (read together with 247.) Sura II, 186-189. |Sura IX, 124. "    "  212.                    |  "     "  214.                    |The context, parallel passages Sura IV, 76, 77, 78, 86. |and their history, show them "    "  91, 92, 93.             |to be limited and conditional, Sura VIII, 39-41, 58-66. |in conformity with the general "    "    73, 74.               |scope of the Koran. Sura IX, 1-15. | "     "  29, 36.                 |                                   |  "Quoted in pages" 16-25, 35. |                                  |