Hence, it is absolutely certain that jihad can only be waged against combatants. Ethics and morality supersede everything in all circumstances and even in matters of war and armed offensives, the Almighty has not allowed Muslims to deviate from moral principles. The directive of jihad given by Islam is war for the cause of God therefore, it cannot be waged while disregarding moral restrictions. 1 Even a little deliberation is enough for a person to conclude whether the Taliban are following this principle or blatantly violating it.Ģ. It is for this reason that the Prophet (sws) is reported to have said: A Muslim ruler is a shield war can only waged under him. No individual or group of Muslims has the right to take this decision on their behalf. Thus in this matter only the collectivity has the right to launch any such armed offensive. They are not individually addressed in the verses of jihad which occur in the Qur’an. Those having insight know that Muslims are not given this directive of jihad in their individual capacity they are addressed in their collective capacity regarding this directive. The primary reason for which this directive is to curb persecution which is the use of oppression and coercion to make people give up their religion. The Qur’an requires of its followers that if they have the strength, they should wage war against oppression and injustice. We, therefore, would like to present some facts in the following paragraphs in consideration of this scenario.ġ. Since people are generally unaware of religion and religious disciplines, they may be influenced by this line of reasoning. In support of this stance, they present the Qur’an and Hadith and certain incidents that occurred in the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (sws). They have restated this stance of after their cowardly attack on Malalah Yusufsai. They insist that they are doing all this for God and in submission to His directives. The self-appointed warriors of God known to the world as the Taliban have killed countless innocent people in the last ten years.

Ishraq javed ahmad ghamidi