A Critical Exposition of the Popular Jihad

A Critical Exposition of the Popular Jihad
By Cheragh Ali

Written in 1885 by the Indian Muslim reformist scholar Moulavi Cheragh Ali, this work argues, through detailed examination of the Quran and early Islamic history, that Muhammad's wars were defensive in nature and that neither aggressive warfare nor compulsory conversion is sanctioned by Islamic scripture. It was written partly in response to contemporary European characterizations of Islam as inherently militant.

The book includes appendices addressing the etymology and Quranic usage of the word "jihad" and examining Islamic teaching on slavery, making it an important primary source in the history of Islamic modernist and apologetic scholarship in colonial India.

A public-domain work, offered as a free digital edition by Nile Book Store.

Excerpt

In publishing this work, my chief object is to remove the general and erroneous impression from the minds of European and Christian writers regarding Islam, that Mohammad waged wars of conquest, extirpation, as well as of proselytizing against the Koreish, other Arab tribes, the Jews, and Christians; that he held the Koran in one hand and the scimitar in the other, and compelled people to believe in his mission. I have endeavoured in this book, I believe on sufficient grounds, to show that neither the wars of Mohammad were offensive, nor did he in any way use force or compulsion in the matter of belief.