With them fulfil your covenant till their term; surely God loves the god-fearing.

With them fulfil your covenant till their term; surely God loves the god-fearing.” (2) The words applied in this verse indicate that Muslims will not involve in war with idolaters as far as Islam enemies do not break their promises, and are not supporting those who are directly fighting with Muslims, and no danger is felt from their side. In one word, Muslims will not initiate war. In addition to the above two verses, verse 61, of ‘The Spoils’ surah proves the same.

The verse recommends Muslims that if they are called for peace; they shall receive their call and reply positively. The verse implies that Islam does not attack and assault the tribes, nations and countries not initiating war against them. In brief, as per some Islamic researchers, scholars and historians, wars by the Islam Prophet (S) at the beginning of Islam have been all defensive, and none has been on its initiative. Some Qur’anic verses too approve of the same.

Second answer: In some special cases, initial Jihad is in concordance with logic and intellect Three types of initial Jihad are induced from the Holy Qur’an which is in concordance with the intellect and practice of all sane in the world, and are not in contradiction with Islamic benevolence and clemency: 1) Jihad for extinguishing sedition Qur’an refers to this type of Jihad: وَقَاتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّىٰ لَا تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ وَيَكُونَ الدِّينُ لِلَّهِ “Fight them, till there is no persecution and the religion is God’s.” (3) According to the verse, wherever there is mischief, and there is no other way except war for its elimination, we are authorized to initiate Jihad for the elimination of mischief and sedition.

As it was stated, such initial Jihad is acceptable by all the sane and other religions and doctrines in the world. The practice of the sane confirms it too, two samples of which are referred to hereunder: a) Several years ago, when the Muslim countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina were assaulted wildly by the oppressor Serbs, they destroyed the houses, mosques, farms, hospitals and other institutes of this Islamic country, and even worse, they initiated a widespread genocide.

A union was formed by the European countries to find a solution to this sedition. Finally, they concluded that there remains no way save military aggression and fighting with the Serbs. Thus, they attacked them and extinguished the sedition.

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