Qa'ida Mukhtasara fi Qital al-Kuffar wa-Muhadanatihim
- Author died
- 728 AH
- Editions
- (The Editor)
Qa'ida Mukhtasara fi Qital al-Kuffar wa-Muhadanatihim (A Concise Principle on Fighting Disbelievers and Making Truces with Them) is a legal treatise abridged from an original work by the Hanbali jurist and theologian Ibn Taymiyya (661–728 AH / 1263–1328 CE) . The text analyzes the juristic basis of warfare in Islamic law, arguing that military engagement against non-Muslims is legally grounded in active combatancy (hiraba) rather than mere disbelief (kufr) .
Title and Authorship
The treatise is an abridgment (mulakhkhas) taken directly from a larger, original composition by Ibn Taymiyya . On the title page of the primary manuscript, the work is headed: Hadhihi risala mulakhkhasa manqula min qa'ida li-Shaykh al-Islam Taqi al-Din Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Halim ibn Taymiyya fi qital al-kuffar, hal sababuhu al-muqatala aw al-kufr ("This is an abridged treatise transcribed from a principle by Taqi al-Din Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Halim ibn Taymiyya on fighting disbelievers: is its cause fighting or disbelief?") . In an earlier printed edition, it appeared under the title Qa'ida fi Qital al-Kuffar hal huwa li-Ajli Kufrihim aw Difa'an 'an al-Islam ("A Principle on Fighting Disbelievers: Is It Because of Their Disbelief or in Defense of Islam?") . Modern editorial work adopted the fuller title Qa'ida Mukhtasara fi Qital al-Kuffar wa-Muhadanatihim wa-Tahrim Qatlihim li-Mujarrad Kufrihim .
The provenance of the underlying text is supported by external and internal evidence: Ibn Taymiyya referenced his expanded discussion of the issue in works such as al-Nubuwwat and al-Jawab al-Sahih, stating that warfare is conditioned on combatancy as maintained by the majority of scholars . His disciple Ibn 'Abd al-Hadi likewise recorded in al-'Uqud al-Durriyya that Ibn Taymiyya authored an approximately volume-length work concerning warfare against Christian factions, allies, and combatants .
Core Juristic Arguments
The treatise addresses the fundamental legal effective cause ('illa) behind fighting non-Muslims, weighing the view that disbelief itself warrants lethal warfare against the view of the majority (jumhur) of scholars that warfare is mandated strictly against those who engage in combat . Ibn Taymiyya affirms the latter stance, deriving proof from textual sources such as the Qur'anic directive: وَقَاتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ الَّذِينَ يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ ("And fight in the way of Allah those who fight you"), where the ruling is legally tied to their active fighting against Muslims .
On this basis, the work demonstrates the illegality of killing non-combatants—such as women, children, monks, and the elderly—and details the permissibility of concluding truces (muhadana) and accepting the poll tax (jizya) beyond just the scriptural communities (Ahl al-Kitab) . Ibn Taymiyya also addresses the hermeneutics of Quranic warfare verses, clarifying that the so-called "Sword Verse" (Ayat al-Sayf) is a generic designation for verses commanding jihad rather than an isolated, universally abrogating passage .
Transmission and Publication
The abridgment maintains fidelity to Ibn Taymiyya's textual style by employing transitional phrasing such as "to where he said..." (ila an qala) and "he then mentioned..." (thumma dhakara) without blending external commentary into his words . The manuscript was transcribed and attested by the scholar Sulayman al-Sani' . A critical edition with a comparative study was prepared by 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn 'Abd Allah al-Zir Al Hamad and published in Riyadh in 1424–1425 AH / 2004 CE .
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