their persecutors until they enjoy freedom to worship God without fear or the need
to hide their beliefs. War is then only waged in self‐defense. This example represents
the variety of ways in which the Qur’an can be interpreted.
In chapter 3, Al‐Dawoody provides an analysis of the juridical justifications for
war and with respect to that, the attitudes of Muslims and non‐Muslims towards
each other. The common error in Western scholarship in this area is the confusion
between the laws given in the Qur’an (‘shari’ah’) and the explanations and
elaborations of these laws by the scholars of Islam (‘fiqh’). As a result, most Western
researchers ignore the differences between the explanations and elaborations of the
Qur’an through the different schools of Islamic law. Because of the interpretations
and elaborations of the Islamic schools over the years in response to varying political
and historical situations, the Islamic law of war is not static; it has evolved. At
present, the majority of jurists advocate Islamic war as defensive. However, a
minority exists that espouses an understanding of Islamic war as offensive against
non‐Muslims because of their rejection of Islam or refusal to submit to the Islamic
state