War, Peace & International Relations in Islam : Muslim Scholars on Peace Accords with Israel

Foreword by Efraim Halevy, former chief of the Mossad, Israel's national intelligence service.

This book presents and analyses fatwas -- rulings of Islamic law -- issued by religious sages and clerics on issues of war and peace in regard to the actual or future possibility of conducting a peace agreement between Muslim states and Israel.

The analysis highlights Islamic law's adaptation to changing political realities to the modern model of international relations; the changing concept of jihad and the current role of political fatwas.

It deals with the shari'a interpretations regarding war and peace in theory and practice; the Hudaybiyya Pact of 628 between the prophet Muhammad and the Quraysh infidels; Egyptian fatwas from 1947 to 1979 regarding peace with Israel; the 1995 debate between the late mufti of Saudi Arabia 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Baz and the popular Islamist scholar Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi over the Oslo Accords; the Hamas hudna concept; the debate between Saudi Arabian muftis and Hezbollah sages over Israel's second war in Lebanon (2006); and a comparative study of the agreements that were signed between the Algerian leader 'Abd al-Qadir and the French in the 1830s.

Features: Details those Muslim religious scholars and leaders who present pragmatic interpretations and envision the natural relations between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds as a state of peace; Sheds light on the built-in pluralism in Islam; And exposes the need of moderate Arab-Muslim rulers for pragmatic muftis and fatwas in order to contend with radical Muslim factions to soften and limit Arab public opposition to signing a peace agreement with Israel, and to enable normal relations with Israel after signing the agreement.

The rulings of Islamic law cited in this book are likely to serve as a textual and intellectual basis for the public discourse on peace between Israel and the Palestinians and Arab states.