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al-Manhaj al-Shar'i fi Bayan Haqiqat al-Jihad wa-Dawabitihi
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- al-Manhaj al-Shar'i fi Bayan Haqiqat al-Jihad wa-Dawabitihi
al-Manhaj al-Shar'i fi Bayan Haqiqat al-Jihad wa-Dawabitihi (The Legal Methodology in Clarifying the Reality of Jihad and its Guidelines) is an Islamic legal treatise compiling contemporary fatwas on the rulings and parameters governing armed conflict and statecraft . It was published as the fifth installment in the series Fatawa fi Fiqh al-Jihad wa-l-Siyasah al-Shar'iyyah ("Fatwas on the Jurisprudence of Jihad and Legitimate Governance") .
Contents and Legal Rulings
The treatise comprises two formal legal responses regarding the limits of violence, civil security, and warfare:
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Ruling on Foreign Visitors and Tourists: The first section features a fatwa by Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz addressing the targeting of foreign tourists and workers residing in or visiting Muslim countries . Ibn Baz rules that attacks against them are strictly prohibited under Islamic law because they hold the legal status of individuals under safe conduct (musta'minun) who entered the land with an explicit guarantee of security (aman) . He emphasizes that individual citizens have no right to kill, assault, or harm them, and any grievances regarding perceived public wrongdoing must be referred directly to the governing authorities, while peaceful preaching and counsel remain the standard approach .
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Ruling on Bombings and Assassinations: The second section contains a fatwa by Salih al-Fawzan—originally delivered on the audio recording As'ilah Muhimmah fi al-Da'wah—concerning the legality of assassinations and bombings targeting government installations in non-Muslim lands . Al-Fawzan states that such actions are impermissible, arguing that clandestine bombings and sabotage do not constitute legitimate jihad or proselytization (da'wah), but instead bring severe retaliatory harm, killing, and displacement upon Muslim communities .
To contextualize the prerequisites of combat, al-Fawzan cites the early history of the Muslim community in Mecca, where Muslims were explicitly commanded to withhold their hands from fighting ( أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ قِيلَ لَهُمْ كُفُّوا أَيْدِيَكُمْ وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ [al-Nisa': 77]) and were restricted entirely to peaceful propagation and preaching . He concludes that combative warfare is only sanctioned when Muslims possess the requisite capability (istita'ah) and mobilize standard armies under the authority of an established state, as occurred following the migration to Medina .
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