455 

are found in
adīth compilations as well as  ), not by conquest

in exegetical and legal literature (see (q.v.), though the messenger expects to
   :   punish his own opponents by military
). means ( :, ). Of the Israelite con-
quest of the holy land we are only told that
Harald Motzki when Moses (q.v.) ordered the Israelites
(see   ) to enter this
Bibliography land, all except two refused on the grounds
Primary: Abd al-Razzāq, Mu
annaf, vii; Bukhārī, that it was inhabited by mighty men

aī; Jalālayn; Mālik, Muwaa; Muslim,
aī;
abarī, Tafsīr, ed. Shākir.
Secondary: Y. Linant de Bellefonds, Idda, in   ,
iii, -; H. Motzki, The origins of Islamic
jurisprudence, Leiden  (index); J. Wellhausen,
Die Ehe bei den Arabern, in Nachrichten von der
Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften und der
Georg-Augusts-Universität zu Göttingen  (),
-, esp. -.
Wall (between Heaven and
Hell) see ;   

Wander see ; 
War
A state of open, armed and often pro-
longed conflict between states, tribes or
parties, frequently mentioned in the
Qurān. It is usually referred to by deriva-
tives of the third form of q-t-l, “fighting”
(q.v.), sometimes with the qualification fī
sabīl Allāh, “in the path of God” (see 
 ); but we also hear of arb, “war,”
both against God and the messenger (q.v.;
e.g.  :; :; cf. :) and by or for
them ( :; :; cf. :). Derivatives of
j-h-d are used for efforts which include
fighting without being reducible to it (see
).
Wars mentioned
Past wars are rarely mentioned (see
   ). The vanished
nations are destroyed by brimstone, fire
and other natural disasters (see
( jabbārīn); the Israelites thus had to wander
in the desert for another forty years
( :-; cf. Num :-:). But else-
where we learn that many prophets were
accompanied in battle by large numbers,
who never lost heart when they met di-
sasters ( :). There is also an obscure
reference to thousands who went out from
their homes: God told them to die (so they
did), whereupon he revived them. This is
told in encouragement of fighting in God’s
path ( :f.), followed by an account of
the Israelite demand for a king ( :-;
see   ): they wanted a king
so that they could fight in the path of God
(cf.  Sam :, ; Judg :), having been
expelled from their homes and their fami-
lies; but when fighting was prescribed for
them, they turned back, except for a small
band. Worse still, when their prophet an-
nounced that God had appointed ālūt,
i.e. Saul (q.v.), as their king, they disputed
his authority (q.v.); and when Saul set out
to fight Goliath (q.v.), most of them failed
the test he set for them (cf. Judg :-; see
;   ); but the
steadfast uttered the famous words, “How
many a small band has vanquished a
mighty army by leave of God,” and David
(q.v.) slew Goliath. No further Israelite
wars are mentioned down to
Nebuchadnezzar, whose destruction of
Jerusalem (q.v.) is briefly alluded to, as is
the Roman destruction of the Temple, in
both cases without any names being
named; the two disasters are presented as
punishment for Israelite sins (see  
 
), with a period of wealth and
power in between and a possibility of bet-
ter times ahead ( :-). Another sūra
( :-) notes that the Byzantines (q.v.)
have been defeated, predicting that they
will soon win (over the Persians) or, alter-
natively, that the Byzantines have been
victorious, predicting that they will soon be
defeated (by the believers).
Most warfare in the Qurān is conducted
by the believers in the present. One verse
regulates fighting among the believers
themselves: one should make peace (q.v.)
between the two parties or fight the wrong-
doers ( :; see ). Another
threatens war against the believers when
they take usury (q.v.;  :f.). But most
encourage the believers to fight others, var-
iously identified as “those who fight you”
( :), unbelievers (e.g.  :; :;
:), the polytheists altogether ( :),
People of the Book (q.v.) who do not be-
lieve in God and the last day ( :; see
 ), hypocrites ( :),
friends of Satan ( :), and imāms of
unbelief ( :), without it being clear
how far these groups are identical or
distinct. The hypocrites side with the be-
lievers when the latter win but not
when they lose ( :) and once appear
in alliance with unbelieving People of the
Book ( :). All war is assumed to in-
volve religious issues.
The moral status of war
Fighting is declared legitimate in self-
defense, by way of preemption ( :; cf.
:), for the rescue of fellow believers
( :) and for the righting of wrongs,
including the punishment of the wrongdo-
ers ( :-). The basic principle is that
one should treat other communities as they
treat one’s own (see   
). “As for the person who defends
himself after having been wronged, there is
456
no way of blaming them” ( :); God
would help those who had always met like
with like, only to be wronged ( :), for
a bad deed called for another like it
( :-; see  ;  ).
“Fight in the path of God those who fight
against you, but do not transgress”
( :); “a sacred month for a sacred
month… whoever aggresses against you,
aggress against him in a like manner”
( :; see ); “fight the polytheists
all together as they fight you altogether”
( :). Where the principle of like for
like is abandoned (see ), the
claim is that bloodshed (q.v.) is the lesser
evil (“kill them wherever you come upon
them, expel them from where they expelled
you, for fitna is worse than killing,”  :;
cf. :; see   ). The famous
“sword verse” (“kill the polytheists wher-
ever you find them, take them, seize them,
besiege them, and lie in wait for them,”
 :), seems to be based on the same
rules, given that it is directed against a par-
ticular group accused of oath-breaking
and aggression ( :-; cf. :-; see
   ;
) and that polytheists who remain
faithful to their treatises are explicitly
excepted ( :). Here as elsewhere, it is
stressed that one must stop when they
do ( :; :; :f., ; :, , )
and, though the language is often ex-
tremely militant, the principle of forgive-
ness (q.v.) is reiterated in between the
assertions of the right to defend oneself
( :-).
Justifying war appears to have been hard
work. The exhortations (q.v.) are addressed
to a people who were not warlike (“pre-
scribed for you is fighting, though you dis-
like it,”  :), who assumed warfare to
be forbidden (q.v.; “permission has been
granted to those who fight⁄are fought, be-
cause they have been wronged,”  :),
 457
and who had to be persuaded that it could
be morally right (“if God did not drive
back some people by means of others,
cloisters, churches⁄synagogues [biya], ora-
tories [
alawāt], and mosques in which
God’s name is much mentioned would be
destroyed,”  :; “the earth would be
ruined,”  :). Only the jizya verse
( :; see  ) seems to endorse
war of aggression. If read as a continu-
ation of  :-, however, it would be
concerned with the same oath-breaking
“polytheists” (cf.  :f.) as the sword
verse.
Mobilization
Orders to fight came down in “sūras”
(q.v.), apparently on an ad hoc basis
( :; :) and always in what appears
to be a mobilizing rather than a legislative
vein (for  :, an apparent exception,
compare  :; :). Exhortations to
fight abound ( :; :, ; :; :,
, ; :, etc). Those who emigrate (see
;   )
and strive for the cause with their wealth
(q.v.) and their lives are promised rich re-
wards, not least when they fall in God’s
path (e.g.  :; :; :f., see
;   ).
They rank higher than those who sit at
home ( :), just as those who joined the
fighting before the victory rank higher than
those who joined after it ( :; cf. :;
see   ). Fighting and⁄or
striving in God’s path is described as sell-
ing the present life to God for the hereafter
( :; :), a loan that will be repaid
many times over ( :; :; cf. :;
:) and a commerce that will deliver
from painful chastisement ( :f.; see
  ; ).
Whatever one spends, God will repay in
full ( :).
The response to these appeals is fre-

quently deemed inadequate. “How is it
with you that you do not fight in God’s
path?” ( :; cf. :); “What is the mat-
ter with you, that when you are told to go
forth in the path of God you sink heavily
into the ground?” ( :). Some people
are apparently happy to pray and pay alms
but protest when fighting is prescribed for
them, asking for postponement ( :).
Some hope for a sūra but would look faint
if one were to come down mentioning
fighting ( :; cf. :). Some plead ig-
norance of fighting or turn back, wishing
that their brethren who have fallen in
battle had done the same ( :f., f.).
Others ask for permission to leave before a
battle, pleading that their own homes are
exposed ( :) or ask not to be put in
temptation (by being asked to fight against
kinsmen?;  :; cf.  ; see ).
Bedouin (q.v.) shirkers plead preoccupation
with their flocks (amwāl) and families
( :; see ). Some turn their
backs in actual battle ( :; :f.;
:f.).
All lack of martial zeal is debited to base
motives. The blind, sick, weak and des-
titute are of course exempted ( :;
:; see    ;
  ) but shirkers are sick
of heart (q.v.;  :), unwilling to be in-
convenienced by long journeys ( :) or
heat ( :), keen to stay at home with
their women ( :, ), reluctant to con-
tribute even though they are rich ( :,
, ), cowards who anticipate defeat
( :; see ; ), who are
scared of death (cf.  :f.; :) and
who would boast (q.v.) of their luck if the
expedition were hit by disaster but wish
that they had been present when things
went well ( :f.); if they were Bedouin
(q.v.), they are only interested in booty
(q.v.;  :). Such people are liars
( :; cf. :), hypocrites ( :),
  458

cursed by God for only obeying part of those of little faith ( :f.). Here as so
what he sent down ( :), closer to un- often, the unbelievers seem to be members
belief than to faith ( :), indeed out- of the party deemed lacking in commit-
right unbelievers ( :; :; cf. :f.), ment to the cause.
who are really fighting for āghūt ( :, cf.
:; see   ; ); they will
be cast into a blazing fire (q.v.;  :) and
hell is to be their abode ( :; see 
 ). Some people who have
been granted permission to stay behind, a
decision now regretted, are singled out for
particular attention in increasingly sharp
terms ( :-). But the Bedouin who
stayed behind are promised a second
chance: they will be called against a mighty
people and rewarded if they obeyed
( :). The believers in general are told
that if they would not go forth, God will
punish them and choose another people
( :). If they think their fathers, sons,
brothers, wives, kinsmen, trade and
houses are more important than God, his
messenger, and jihād fī sabīl Allāh, then they
will eventually learn otherwise ( :).
There is no need to be afraid. Death will
come at its appointed time, wherever one
may be ( :), and God might restrain
the power of the unbelievers ( :); in
any case, unbelievers, hypocrites and
People of the Book are all cowards who
will turn their backs (cf.  :f.; :;
:f.).
Attempts are also made to shame the be-
lievers into fighting by construing war as a
test: God could have avenged himself on
his opponents but he wants the believers to
do it so that he and they can see their true
worth ( :, ). Most people have failed
the test, as they had done back in the time
of Moses and Saul and David (q.v.; above),
whose experiences clearly reflect the mes-
senger’s own (see ). Misfor-
tunes in battles are likewise cast as tests
( :f.; :f.). God alternates good
and bad days to purify the believers and to
destroy the unbelievers, i.e. to weed out
The objectives of war
Opponents have wronged the believers by
breaking their oaths and plotting to expel
or kill the messenger ( :; :; :)
and by actually expelling both him ( :;
:) and the believers without right, just
for saying “God is our lord” (q.v.; e.g.
 :; cf. :, f.); they have also
blocked access to the sanctuary ( :;
:; see  ). The objec-
tive of war is to avenge these wrongs, to
help the weak men, women and children
left behind ( :; see  
, ), to expel the people in control
of the sanctuary as they expelled the be-
lievers ( :), to put an end to fitna (trial
or test, traditionally understood as persecu-
tion, more probably communal division),
to make the religion entirely God’s
( :; :), to make his religion prevail
even if the polytheists dislike it ( :;
:; cf. :) and to punish the opponents:
one should fight them so that God might
chastise them “at your hands” ( :);
God will chastise them either on his own
(min indihi, presumably meaning by natural
disasters; see ; ) or
“at our hands” ( :); he would have ex-
acted retribution himself (see )
if he had not decided to do it through the
believers to let them test one another
( :). The jizya verse stands out by en-
joining fighting until unbelieving People of
the Book are reduced to tributary status
( :). That the opponents will be de-
stroyed is treated as certain: “How many a
city (q.v.) stronger than the one that ex-
pelled you have we destroyed,” God says
( :); “are your unbelievers better than
they?” ( :). And the objectives are in
fact achieved: God has expelled the un-
 459
believing People of the Book from their
homes and their fortresses, banishing them
( :f.); and he has fulfilled the vision he
had granted the messenger by allowing the
believers to enter the sanctuary ( :),
though the presence of believing men and
women there has caused him to withhold
his punishment ( :).
Exegesis
The exegetes understood the qurānic
verses on war as legislation regarding the
Islamic duty of jihād and typically treated
each verse as an independent unit for
which the context was to be found in the
tradition rather than the Qurān itself. For
the result, see , ,  
, and the further cross-references
given there.
Patricia Crone
Bibliography
(in addition to the classical commentaries on the
verses cited above): H. Busse, The Arab conquest
in revelation and politics, in   (), -;
R. Firestone, Jihād. The origin of holy war in Islam,
New York ; M.K. Haykal, al-Jihād wa-l-qitāl
fī l-siyāsati l-shariyya, Beirut ; A.A. Jannatī,
Defense and jihad in the Qur’an, in al-Tawīd 
(), -; M.J. Kister, An yadin (Qurān
IX⁄). An attempt at interpretation, in Arabica
 (), -; A. Morabia, Le Ǧihād dans l’Islam
médiéval. Le “combat sacré” des origines au XII e siècle,
Paris ; M. Muahhari, Jihad in the Qurān,
in M. Abedi and G. Legenhausen (eds.), Jihād and
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Kampf in Islam und Christentum, Bonn ; H.T.
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; Abdallāh b. A
mad al-Qādirī, al-Jihād fī
sabīli llāh. aqīqatuhu wa-ghāyatuhu, Jeddah ;
U. Rubin, Barāa. A study of some quranic
passages, in   (), -; A. Sachedina,
The development of jihād in Islamic revelation
and history, in J.T. Johnson and J. Kelsay (eds.),
Cross, crescent and sword, New York , -;
A. Schleifer, Jihād and traditional Islamic
consciousness, in   (), -;
F. Schwally, Der heilige Krieg des Islam in
religionsgeschichtlicher und staatsrechtlicher
Beleuchtung, in Internationale Monatsschrift für

Wissenschaft, Kunst und Technik  (), -;
W.M. Watt, Islamic conceptions of the holy war,
in T.P. Murphy (ed.), The holy war, Columbus,
OH , -.
Warmth see   
Warner
One who foretells the (negative) conse-
quences of actions. The Arabic word nadhīr
(pl. nudhur) appears no fewer than fifty-
eight times in the Qurān, scarcely less fre-
quently than the verb andhara (including
nominal and adjectival forms, particularly
mundhir) from which it derives, and nearly
always in the sense of “warner” (cf. Lisān
al-Arab, xiv, ). As Watt puts it (Muham-
mad at Mecca, ), the verb “describes the
action of informing a person of something
of a dangerous, harmful, or fearful nature,
so as to put him on his guard against it or
put him in fear (q.v.) of it” (see also
  ; 
 ). Particularly in the lan-
guage of the sīra (see    
), andhara is also used to describe the
Prophet’s foreknowledge — his “giving
notice” — of future events (see -
; ; ) and as such
can be counted as one of the signs (q.v.; see
also ) of his prophethood (Ibn Is
āq,
Sīra, i, ; Ibn azm, Jawāmi al-sīra, f.;
see   ).
The primary sense of nadhīr in pre-
qurānic Arabic seems to have been con-
nected to warfare: the nadhīr al-jaysh⁄
al-qawm is usually described as the scout
who warned the main force of the enemy’s
presence (see ; ), a usage that
continues in the Islamic period (see Bevan,
Naāid, , “one who gives the alarm,” and
, “a warner”; Ibn Qutayba, Uyūn, i,
; Wensinck, Concordance, s.v. andhara). It
is apparently this sense that lies behind the