Posted on: 1999

By Khaled Nusseibeh

There are moments in the annals of human history when nations face, sometimes willfully– at others under compulsion– the bitter burdens of conflict. Each nation, in the ebb and flow of historical movement, has had a taste of both triumph as well as defeat. At each moment of such conflict individuals and states have grappled with the imperatives of an ethic of conduct, or have at other times been, to grave consequence, oblivious to the importance of a moral premise for behavior in times of war.

The modern world has, in this closing century of the second millenium, been profoundly shaken by the brutalities of modern warfare, the extent of which brutality and suffering has been unmatched in the preceding millennia of human civilization. The two world wars, the camps of incarceration of the Stalinist Soviet Union, Nazi Germany– and the multiple conflicts of this century have visited on both innocent and culpable life a heavy toll of suffering and death; likewise, the unfolding conflicts in Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, and the Balkans have entailed a saga of oppression, the unethical targeting of innocents, the expropriation of legitimately acquired wealth and substantial abuses of human rights.

When children are targets of war, when the honor of women and men is a weapon in the arsenal of foes of dimmed moral vision, when the rights of civilian populations under military occupation are violated men and women of sense must pose the question: is there a code that can prevent human descent into the code of the jungle under conditions of conflict? Or have those participating in current conflicts forgotten the lessons of previous wars, or can’t they be awakened to a code of conduct, adherence to which, may be disaster preventive for future generations?

To speak in simple terms: there are ground rules for peaceful co-existence between states which may be enhanced when basic and politically tolerable restraint is shown by politicians and military personnel of all ranks in times of conflict. In other words, ethnic cleansing, attempting to starve a portion of a civilian population as a weapon of battle, rape of women, destruction of vital food crops, violence against children, plunder of the private property of a population under occupation, and degrading treatment of prisoners of war, all contribute to writing the following chapter of human conflict and suffering.

Islam has an ethic of conflict which is both humane, reasonable, and merciful to protagonists in a conflict: Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, the first Caliph of Islam, captured an important part of this ethic in these words which he addressed to his troops in A.D. seventh century:

“O people, be alerted to ten matters, so learn them from me; do not betray.., do not cheat, do not defile dead corpses, do not kill a small child, or an aged man, nor a woman, do not cut or burn trees of palm, do not cut a fruit bearing tree, do not slaughter a sheep or a cow or a camel except for your nourishment; and you will encounter people who are dwellers of cloisters (i.e. monks and priests) so do not harm them…” (Quoted from: Mawsu’t Al-‘Alam Al-Islami/’Umar Al-Armuti, pp.205)

All of the preceding, in my view is relevant to the issue of Jerusalem which the One God of humanity has sanctified and blessed as the land of peace, holiness, and human surrender to Heaven. Such blessing is anchored in human striving to accept the races of earth, to build monuments of equity and tolerance, to defend what is inviolable in God’s Law, to water the plant of human glorification of God Almighty through deeds which do justice to an orphan, which support a righteous struggle to prevent the bulldozing of a home, which spread knowledge that is useful to people in their livelihoods– but which also helps people in their struggles for salvation in the hereafter.

It is very often a paradox that perpetrators of injustice and its victims are sometimes driven, through the blinding influence of power, or the sense of grievance at victimization– to unethical methods and views of struggle. In a word, any struggle that is injurious to Religion, property, inviolable life, the dignity of people, the integrity of the family is reprehensible– under circumstances of both military preponderance or under conditions of occupation; Muslims and people of goodwill will continue mourning the occupation of the Holy City of Jerusalem and will hopefully, continue to reform themselves and to strive that it is restored to righteous and tolerant sovereignty.