Islam forbids
aggression, but orders us to fight if the limits of decency and freedom of
conscience are exceeded and that truth and peace are in danger. In this case,
the Muslim is called to fight and should not shrink from the fight to protect
the religion approved by Allah, that is to say, Islam and the Muslims.
This is
the teaching on the basis of which the Holy Prophet (pbuh) set his own line of
conduct. He continued to suffer in Mecca and did not fight the aggression of which
he was the innocent victim. Even after his flight to Medina, the enemy went
there to extirpate Islam; he had to fight for truth and freedom of conscience,
but the fights he had subsequently directed were ordained by Allah, especially
on self-defence basis and to save the worship of God and His sincere adherents/
servants.
“Permission (to fight) has been given to
those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah is
competent to give them victory. Those who have been driven from their homes
unjustly only because they said: Our Lord is Allah - For had it not been for
Allah's repelling some men by means of others, there would have been
demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which the
name of Allah is much mentioned.
And Allah will surely support those who
support Him – Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might – Those who, if We
give them power in the land, establish worship and pay the Zakat and enjoin
kindness and forbid iniquity. And with Allah rests the end of (all) matters.” (22: 40-42).