ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

OF INTERNATIONAL
HUMANITARIAN LAW
ORIGINS OF THE ISLAMIC LAW OF WAR

 Qur’an, in the sīrah literature

 Hadith literature
 Tafsīr and hadith methodology
 In the literature of fiqh, or Islamic law
> al-jihād
> al-siyar
> al-maghāzī
> akhlāq al-ḥarb
> al-qanūn al-dawlī al-insānī fī al-Islām
SOURCES OF THE ISLAMIC LAW OF WAR

1) the Qur’ān;
2) the Sunnah;
3) early Islamic precedents;
4) consensus among the jurists;
5) jurists’ rulings reached through analogy; and
6) the public interest.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ISLAMIC LAW
OF WAR

(1)Religious basis;
(2)Religious motivations;
(3)Self-imposed;
(4)Contextually and textually based;
(5)Regulations on the use of force that
contradicted each other;
(6)The wide gap between theory and practice;
PRINCIPLES OF ISLAMIC INTERNATIONAL
HUMANITARIAN LAW
1. Protection of civilians and non -combatants

According to the Qur’ān 2:190: “And fight in the way of

God those who fight against you and do not transgress, indeed
God does not like transgressors.”

2. Prohibition against indiscriminate weapons

According to the Qur’ān 5:32: “For that We have decreed

upon the children of Israel that whosoever kills a human soul
except in retribution of committing fasād (destruction, damage)
in the land, it shall be as if he killed all of humanity, and
whosoever saves it [a human soul] it shall be as if he saved all
of humanity.”
3. Prohibition against indiscriminate attacks
> al-bayāt
> al-tatarrus

4. Protection of proper ty

The first caliph Abu Bakr (d. 634) instructed his army
commander thus: “do not cut down fruit -bearing trees; do not
destroy buildings; do not slaughter a sheep or a camel except
for food; do not burn or drown palm trees.”
5. Prohibition against mutilation

The Prophet’s instructions on the use of force include

these injunctions: “do not steal from the booty, do not betray
and do not mutilate.”

6. Treatment of prisoners of war

 Two main issues:
> What to do with POWs?
> How they should be treated?
7. Safe conduct and quarter
 Amān