Defensive Jihad in Islam

The Honorable Sheikh Muhammad Yaqoobi

Peace and blessings be upon you,

Firstly I would like to describe myself, I’m a religious Christian from Iraq, from the city Mosul.

Right now I’m living in France in the city of Paris, studying in college about general knowledge of different religions and I will specifically focus on speaking with other faiths

Next year will be my last year and then ill obtain my Master degree

My paper that I will write for my Master’s Degree will be on the subject of Jihad(Holy War) in Islam and Christianity

My Professor has encouraged me to not only look into sunni sources but also shia sources. So I started reading and looking into books which are famous amongst shias such as Bihar alAnwar, Mizan alHikma, Man laa yahdaruhu faqih, alKafi and Tahdheeb.

Are there other sources in which will benefit me in this endeavor ?

Also can you give me advice on such a endeavor.

I wish as well that the Honorable Sheikh will help me to understand the difference between Jihad in sunni fuqh and shia fiqh.

In His Name The Exalted 

Peace and blessing be upon you,

We congratulate you on this auspicious day of the birth of our master, The Messiah Jesus(as).

Welcome our dear brother who’s from Mosul which is a place that has been the site of many hardships and oppression along with other cities in Iraq, May Allah help us all and bless us and remove the grief and hardships from everyone

These books that you’ve mentioned are not sufficient for such a subject because this subject Jihad requires new books based on recent and updated events which have occurred like the aggressions and injustice carried out by the terrorists who take the name of Islam only but their ugly actions are totally against the sacred religion of Islam.

If you look into the books of the scholars of taqleed you’ll benefit greatly from it and the book that we have published that has our rulings on the shariah, doesn’t have the subject Jihad in it because I’m in need of an opportunity in which I can discuss at length this subject in which it’s up to date with modern times.

In summary, that which you’ll find in the Holy Quran and the sacred narrations from the infallibles(as) is that its forbidden to kill anyone from mankind except in cases where there’s spread of corruption and the lives of people are threatened and the order of society or when there’s a prevention from practicing ones religion with freedom

Allah says in the Holy Quran (And fight them until there’s no more persecution and religion should only be for Allah. {alAnfal verse 39}) He has also said ( The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned. {The Table verse 33})

In Islam there’s not only innocent killing but also the act of waging war for the reason of expanding territory or obtaining wealth and war booty or forcing anyone into embracing Islam

War is only waged in order to eradicate oppression and corruption and there’s no compulsion in Islam, meaning there’s no forcing others from different religions to embrace Islam because other faiths have always existed alongside Muslims in a Muslim state.