Islam and attitudes to war

Main points

There is no idea of pacifism in Islam. The Qur'ain encourages all Muslims to 'struggle in the way of Islam' (jihad). Muslims believe in two forms of jihad: the greater jihad is the struggle to make yourself and your society perfectly Muslim; the lesser jihad is fighting in a just war.

Most Muslims believe that if a war is just then a Muslim should fight in it becasue:

• The Qur'an says that Muslims must fight if they are attacked
• Muhammed fought in wars
• There are many hadith from Muhammed saying Muslims should fight in just wars
• The Qur'an says that a Muslim who dies in a just war will go straight to heaven

However, some Muslims feel that the nature of modern weapons means that no war can be a just war, and so they oppose wars