Dogmatic Basis of Jihad and Martyrdom
Abstract
This paper examines the dogmatic basis of jihad and martyrdom attacks within the context of Sunni Islam and is confined to an examination of the core sources of Islamic ideology (The Quran and the Hadith) and the principal doctrinal texts of the Sunni Islamic legal schools which interpret the Quran and Hadith. These constitute the doctrinal basis for jihad and martyrdom operations. No attempt has been made to address doctrinal interpretations at the regional (operational level) and local (tactical level) level that further fuel jihad. Jihad, and martyrdom attacks, (mistakenly characterized as ?suic ide bombings?) have doctrinal threads that trace back from the crime scene to core Islamic texts. Those threads are not fully, nor widely, understood or accepted from a law enforcement, intelligence, or political perspective. Islam is predicated on the spoken word of Mohammad (The Quran) and his personal example (The Sunna).i The tenants derived from Mohammad?s pronouncements and example are subjected to interpretation by religious and legal authorities and application by the people.ii,iii Matters of ideological interpretation and patterns of succession after the death of Mohammad gave rise to the schism between Sunni and Shia Islam and their attending Juristic Schools. Sunni Islam is divided into the Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki and Shafii schools.iv,v,vi Each of these schools? interpretations of the basic sources of law (Mohammad?s words and example) are then subjected to commentary by succeeding generations of scholars. .
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 06, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA546327
Entities
People
- Wm. Gawthrop
Organizations
- Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy