Jihad: Challenges to International and Domestic Law

Since the attacks on the World Trade Center in September 2001, Jihad has become the symbol of the confrontation between Muslims and the West. The concept of Jihad has been central to many modern conflicts, including that of resistance to US occupation of Iraq and the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. According to the most popular view, Jihad ideology represents a religiously sanctioned aggressive war to propagate or defend faith. However, the meaning of Jihad is not as straightforward as proponents of the clash of civilizations would like it to be. The aim of this book is thus to clarify the meanings of Jihad and the manipulation of its sense since the rise of political Islam during the 1960s. It aims also at understanding the relationship between Jihad, Islam and national and international law.