Item – Theses Canada

OCLC number
1006982306
Link(s) to full text
LAC copy
LAC copy
Author
Ghanbarpour-Dizboni, Ali,1966-
Title
Islam and war : the disparity between the technological-normative evolution of modern war and the doctrine of Jihad.
Degree
Ph. D. -- Université de Montréal, 2001
Publisher
Ottawa : National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, [2001]
Description
5 microfiches
Notes
Includes bibliographical references.
Abstract
One of the most important questions captivating researchers on the relation between religion and war is the doctrine of just war, which centers upon justifications of war in religious traditions. Islamic tradition has an elaborate doctrine of war called jihad. Our dissertation focuses on empirical and discursive evaluation of this doctrine through a comparative analysis of both classical and modern contexts of jihad. Our argument goes through five stages corresponding to five chapters. In the first chapter our literature review will point out an important lack of rigorous analysis of jihad with reference to both its classical and modern contexts. The problematic of the thesis focuses on the examination of the validity of the classical doctrine of jihad in the modern era. To our knowledge, our dissertation is one of the first studies in this respect. Though our main method is qualitative in terms of historical and discursive analysis, empirical data and figures have also been used to support our theoretical statements. The Classical texts of jihad and their historical context of emergence is the focus of the second chapter. This voluminous and central chapter is composed of four parts. Firstly, the economic function of jihad and its financial advantages for the new Muslim state in Madina will be examined. Secondly, the culture of war in both pre-Islamic and Islamic periods will be studied. Thirdly, to further show how historical conditions were favorable for the emergence of classical Muslim doctrine of jihad, we will present the main historical stages of military expansion of the Muslim state, which conquered Spain in 709. These three factors form the context for the gestation and formation of the classical discourse of offensive jihad. Finally, the main principles of the classical Muslim view of international relations will be debated, emphasizing the concept of offensive jihad with reference to classical authoritative sources. This contextual analysis of jihad in both classical and modern periods raise two dilemmas for the classical doctrine of jihad: the dilemma of rationality and that of legitimacy. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
ISBN
0612564746
9780612564749