Lessons From the Quran

By LCDR Youssef Aboul-Enein, USN - Originally Published June 2005

A former Vietnam veteran and a sociologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Timothy Schwartz-Barcott has written a timely book that represents the beginning of much needed scholarship in the war on Islamic militancy. There can be no doubt that an integral part of defeating terrorism is understanding that Islamic radicals cannot hope to attain real political power except through violent means. To propagate this violence, Islamic militants must alter and misconstrue the Quran (the Islamic book of divine revelation) to justify the righteousness of murder and mayhem. Therefore, a book analyzing the Quran is sorely needed for U.S. forces and military planners. Much like our Cold War predecessors, who understood that ideology meant a long-term commitment to undermining communism, so too, U.S. policymakers must realize that the fight against Islamic militancy is a long-term campaign involving many facets of national power.

The book begins with an explanation of the importance of the Quran in the psyche of the Muslim world. The Quran is considered divinely revealed to the prophet, Muhammad, in the seventh century B.C., and it took on its current book form years after his death. Practicing Muslims must follow the Quran in their daily lives. The book is required reading for prayers, and the prayers should be memorized as much as possible. Although the words are to be memorized, many of them have double and triple meanings.

What the author docs not convey is that the vocabulary of the Quran is considered to be the highest form of Arabic rhetoric, and its memorization is designed to be both an act of divine worship and to serve as an aid in a person's oratory. This distinction is a key issue when assessing the way Osama bin Laden addresses the masses in his videotapes. The first chapter also highlights Schwartz-Barcott's selection of Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall's 1955 translation of the Quran as his main source for the book. Pickthall is essential reading for those introducing themselves to an introductory course on Islam; however, the specialist should consult various English translations of the Quran, such as A. Yusuf Ali's 1983 translation that is 1,800 pages (my preference) and various other translations. Although lightly touched upon in the book, the translation of the Quran is a problem. The A. Yusuf AIi and Pickthall versions offer various interpretations of the multiple meanings (from conservative to liberal) of verses. Other translations, particularly those produced by the Saudis, have an exclusively Wahabi (ultraconservative) translation with a suppression of other translations and Islamic schools of thought. This is why John Walker Lindh's (American Taliban captured in Afghanistan) first introduction to an English version of the Quran was through Wahabi-inspired interpretations that advocated intolerance and militant jihad.

In the second chapter, the author analyzes what the Quran says about war and peace. These contradictions in the Quran, coupled with placing the "war" verses in historical context, form a robust arsenal to discredit Islamic militant interpretations. One chapter of the Quran discussed in the book is "The Ranks/Al-Saf ' verse four, "Lo Allah loveth those who battle for His cause in ranks, as if they were a solid structure." SchwartzBarcott rightly identifies the importance of this verse to encourage fighting as a cohesive unit. What is not discussed in the book is that this verse was revealed after Prophet Muhammad's disastrous battle at Uhud, when there was a breakdown in discipline among the Muslims during the battle. The author does provide a detailed and excellent explanation of the three major battles Muhammad engaged in, to include the battle of Uhud.

Most of the 70-plus war verses in the Quran were revealed to Prophet Muhammad in Medina when he was locked in an ideological and economic struggle with the Meccans who rejected monotheism and his message of social justice. Meccans undertook the genocide of Muslims, which led to their migration to Medina. When Muhammad rose to become leader of Medina it widened into an economic struggle. Prophet Muhammad needed resources for refugees streaming into Medina, and the Meccans could not allow Muhammad to remain leader of a town that stood between them and the Syrian trade routes to the north. Conflict was inevitable. It is this historical context that is missing in today's madrassahs in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

The book generally discusses the evolution of Islamic rules of warfare, and a chapter is devoted to assessing Prophet Muhammad as a military commander with his performance analyzed at the battles of Badr, Uhud, and Al-Khandaq (the trenches). Important verses involve transgression. Although the Quran does incite warfare in the cause of God, warfare is not to exceed its bounds into transgression. This is the "Calf/Baqara" chapter, verse 190 that says, ". . . fight in the way of God those who fight you, but transgress not, for God does not like transgressors." Verses 190 to 195 of the Baqara chapter sanction warfare, however, always with the caveat of restraint. The Quran in the "Repentance/Tauba" chapter, verse 29 contradicts the tolerance for other monotheists advocated in earlier verses and incites Muslims to subjugate Jews and Christians. These contradictions led to volumes being written about the Islamic rules of warfare, some of which are touched on in this book.

These books do not focus on the pleasures of paradise for suicide operations, but are scholarly debates over when to break a truce and who should join an Islamic army (those having a sound mind, being debt free, obtaining parental permission, being of a certain age, and possessing a free will to enlist). They also address what tactics and deceptions are acceptable and how prisoners should be handled. It is this scholarship of the Quran that al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, and modern-day jihadists fear most, as it undermines the simplistic view of the Quran and of the Prophet Muhammad's life that they wish to project to entice the young to commit acts of suicide.

The book ends with a survey of modern Islamic conflict, such as Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, from a Quranic perspective. The Army War College Foundation Press has done a marvelous job in beginning a crucial discussion on the ideological aspects of fighting Islamic militancy. Dr. Schwartz-Barcott's book will be part of my library and is recommended for Middle East foreign area officers, civil affairs proponents, and counterterrorism specialists. It is my earnest hope that as more readers become familiar with this work, the book will challenge U.S. military planners and policymakers to address the long-term campaign of ideologically undermining militant jihadists through cooperation with Muslim allies and using various means of public diplomacy at our disposal.

>LCDR Aboul-Enein is a director for North Africa and Egypt as well as special advisor on Islamic militancy at the Office of the Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. He is coauthor of the Army War College Strategic Studies Institute monograph, "Islamic Rulings on Warfare," that was published in October 2004.