Fighting and Killing in the Quran Ayman S. Ibrahim Fighting is a central theme in the Quran. The verb kill occurs in seventy-seven verses in various forms, fight in thirty-nine, and the participle fighting in ten. In Arabic, the commands to kill and to fight, as well as the noun for battles , all have the same root letters qtl . While the Quran is not a military guide, it repeatedly directs the reader to engage in fighting and killing for Allah’s cause. For the early hearers of the Quran who used to raid each other, incursions and expeditions became wars for Allah. Fighting is now prescribed by Allah as a duty for the believers (2.216; 4.77; 47.20). Allah instructs the “prophet,” the Quran’s recipient, to urge and exhort the believers to fight (8.65). Only weak believers do not pursue fighting (3.167). It is for Allah’s cause (2.244) and is divinely ordained (4.77; 47.20). Allah loves those fighting in his cause (61.4), and he is sufficient for them (33.25). Faithful believers pursue fighting in Allah’s path (2.244–246; 3.13, 146, 195; 4.84; 9.111; 73.20), while unbelievers fight for the devil (4.75–76). In their fighting, believers sell the present life for the hereafter (4.74). They will be rewarded with gardens with flowing rivers (3.195). Fighting is thus sanctioned by Allah, but the question remains: Whom should the believers fight? The Quran calls for fighting several groups: the polytheists (or “associators,” mushrikūn ; 9.36), the infidels ( kuffār ; 8.39; 9.12–14; 9.123), the people who received the Scripture (9.29–30, presumably Jews and Christians), and the unjust quranic believers (49.9). The Quran despises those who remain at home instead of fighting (3.167; 5.24; 9.83; 48.16). It instructs both defensive (2.190; 4.90; 22.39) and offensive (2.193, 244–46; 4.84; 8.39; 9.5, 29, 36, 111) fighting and promises divine support and victory (3.111; 48.22). While fighting does not necessarily mean killing, the Quran often uses the comm explicitly in relation to fighting. In fighting, the believers are to kill the infidels (4.89) and strike their necks (47.4). While one is supposed to kill only for justifiable reasons (5.32; 6.151; 17.33; 18.74; 20.40; 25.68), the Quran refers to polytheism as a greater evil than killing (2.217) and thus instructs killing polytheists wherever they are caught (2.191; 4.89). It also commands the believers to kill the People of the Book (33.26), the hypocrites (33.61), and those who do not want peace (4.91). The Quran’s believers are not allowed to kill their fellow believers except mistakenly or unintentionally (4.92, 93; 5.27, 28, 30). Like many prophets and messengers who are killed by unbelievers (2.61, 87, 91; 3.21, 112, 181, 183; 4.155, 157; 5.70; 8.30), the believers, when killed in battle, are martyrs for Allah’s cause (2.154; 3.157, 169, 195; 4.74; 22.58). The Quran is not primarily about warfare, but the reader cannot avoid the loud call for war throughout. The commands “kill” as well as the noun “fighting,” signify aspects, reasons, and targets of divinely prescribed warfare. Quranic fighting is distinct, as Allah sanctions it and identifies specifically whom are to be fought by the believers. While a few verses mandate fighting and killing only in self-defense, the vast majority of warfare references are read as an open call, universal and timeless. Trying to find a context for many quranic passages – including those with imperatives to kill and fight – can be very difficult. The reader cannot know clearly whether a command is time-bound and limited or timeless and universal. This is one reason why Muslims today can be confused as to whether the commands are applicable in our day or are merely descriptive of past events. The challenge for Muslims is that the earliest commentaries on the Quran by renowned Muslim scholars take these commands as prescriptive and mandatory. It thus becomes the decision of the reader as to which commands to follow – a significant decision with huge implications.

The Quran commands the “believers” to fight and identifies their enemy as the “disbelievers.” The reasons for the fighting and the limits of the hostilities are not clear. However, the attitude that the Quran intends the “disbelievers” to experience from the “believers” is clear and of interest to non-Muslims: it is ghilẓa , here translated “sternness” but also commonly defined as “harshness” or “ruthlessness” (see also vv. 73; 48.29; 66.9). See “Fighting and Killing in the Quran”.