ISHWORLD WEEKLY COLUMN/BLOG

August 21, 2026

1,871 words

The rules of war according to

 Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Jews

By Ishmael-Lateef Ahmad

Columnist/Blogger-At-Large

According to Wikipedia, religions throughout time have taught various principles about wars – when to fight, what to fight for and when the fighting must end.

While there are many religions around the world today, in this article I have chosen the top three religions by size – Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, in that order – and a fourth – the much smaller Judaism. While small in numbers, the Jewish religion is central to world religious history as well as Israel’s juxtaposition in the world today, among nations and politics.

Of the approximately 8.3 billion people on earth, today’s Christians number some 2.3 to 2.5 billion adherents making it the largest religion in the world with nearly 29 percent of the world’s population. Christianity evolved through mostly non-Jewish people who accepted the rejected Hebrew prophet Jesus of Nazareth as their savior more than 2,000 years ago.

Second largest in followers is Islam with some 2 billion followers or nearly 26 percent of the population worldwide. It was founded more than 600 years after the time of Jesus by the Holy Prophet Muhummad, of Arabia, and preaches a message for all humanity, not just Arabs.

The rules for war are spelled out in the Holy Quran, the holy book of the Muslims, as well as from what Prophet Muhummad did and taught during self-defensive wars during his lifetime.

Third is the religion of Hinduism. More than 4,000 years old, it is the third largest in size today with some 1.2 billion followers or some 15 percent of humanity. Its tenets for fighting wars include similar teachings as taught by Christianity and Islam.

Judaism’s 15 million adherents (or .2 percent of religious followers) is also many centuries old with the time before the Jesus era spanning the 20th to the 4th century BCE. Jews are also unique in the Hebrew claim of birthright exclusivity and their being the chosen people in the eyes of God. It is through the door of Judaism that Jesus walked yet it is a door that non-Jews are barred from entering. Even so, Christians as followers of Jesus, dominate the religious sphere.

The religiously unaffiliated total 1.9 billion or just over 24 percent of humanity.

The teachings of each of these four religions contain dogmas pertaining to wars and taking of human life. Yet, in today’s world one could argue easily that wars conducted in the names of the four religions have taken millions of lives and at some time or another violated the rules as set down by the “creator” as extolled within each religion.

For example, European Christians and Asian Muslims are historically known for fighting some 10 major wars over Palestine known as the Crusades, which began in 1096 (and ending in 1271) when Christian Crusaders marched to Palestine to take control over the Holy Land from the Muslims. While Christians won the first Crusade, they lost the other nine, some historians contend.

Today, fighting in historic Palestine – the historical land the Hebrew Israelites or Jews call home – continues at a ferocious rate and could ignite a Third World War, some observers contend.

According to Wikipedia, Christians have had diverse attitudes towards violence and nonviolence over time. Currently and historically, there have been four attitudes towards violence and war and four resulting practices of them within Christianity: non-resistance, Christian pacifism, just war and preventive war.

Depending on the historical period of Christianity, Christians and their religious leaders evolved through nonviolence and pacifism to just wars.

The Christian Bible contains several texts which encourage, command, condemn, reward, punish, regulate and describe acts of violence. In 1095, at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II declared that some wars could be deemed as not only a bellum iustum ("just war"), but could, in certain cases, rise to the level of a bellum sacrum (holy war).

Historically, some Christians even use Biblical references – along with politics – to support tactics such as genocide, Holy Wars, inquisitions, Christian terrorism, forced conversions, slavery, non-violence, Christian facism, violence against Jews and secular Christianity.

In Islam, early Muslims – during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhummand – endured persecution primarily at the hands of the Meccans. Initially, some Muslims were sent to Ethiopia for safety while later, other Muslims – including the Prophet himself – were given sanctuary in the Arabian city of Medina. Only when Meccans pursued them after the migration to Medina were Muslims allowed to fight back.

After several years of fighting the Muslims prevailed, eventually establishing Islam in the region. Over time, and after the Prophet’s time, Muslims grew in numbers and power and created alliances with others who were being persecuted, even the Jews.

It was in defence of Jewish persecution by Christians in Spain that led Muslims to invade Hispaniola in 711 A.D. and ruled for nearly 800 years until 1492 until they were defeated by Catholic Monarchs Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon.

In history, it should be noted that the word Jihad has been used and abused by Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Jihad, which means the religious duty to struggle, technically refers to a person’s struggle within themselves to become spiritually better, winning out over their physical wants and desires. However, over time, the personal struggle to be better became known as the “lesser Jihad” while the “greater Jihad” described religious wars fought by Muslims in holy wars in defense of Islam. That reference seems to overshadow deeper instructions as outlined in the Islamic holy book, the Holy Quran.

In the Quran, Allah, or God, tells Muslims that while they are permitted to fight in their defence, the strict rules of warfare does not include killing of non-combatants and even the destruction of food crops.

Fighting is justified for legitimate self-defense, to aid other Muslims, and after a violation in the terms of a treaty; but should be stopped if these circumstances cease to exist. War should be conducted in a disciplined way, to avoid injuring non-combatants, with the minimum necessary force, without anger and without inhumane treatment towards prisoners of war.

In historical circumstances where Muslims appear to be unfair or inhumane in their fighting, it is not the teachings of Islam but misguided followers of the faith who violate the teachings of the religion.

Hinduism originated in India some 4,000 years ago and is considered by some to be the oldest surviving religion in the world. Reportedly, it has no single founder and functions as a diverse family of traditions and philosophies that include Brahman or the belief of a single unseen, supreme life force present in all things; Karma or the universal law of cause and effect where actions shape future outcomes; Samsara or the continuous cycle of life, death and reincarnation; Moksha or the salvation and freedom from the cycle of rebirth, uniting the soul with the absolute; and Dharma, a code of living that emphasizes moral duty, ethics and right conduct.

While many gods and goddesses – millions according to some sources – are recognized as manifestations of Brahman, the supreme life force is anchored by key figures, including: Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver; and Shiva, the transformer or destroyer; Devi/Shakti, the divine feminine mother goddess.

In Hinduism, the sacred texts are: the Vedas, the oldest primary scriptures containing hymns, philosophy and rituals; the Upanishads, the philosophical texts exploring the nature of reality and the soul; and the Epics, the great historical and spiritual narratives, including the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which includes the Bhagavad Gita.

About war, Hindus view war as a last resort, acceptable only when necessary to uphold dharma or righteousness and protect the innocent after all peaceful options fail. The foundational text on this is the Bhagavad Gita, where Lord Krishna advises the hesitant warrior Arjuna to fulfill his duty by fighting an unjust force.

The core concepts of conflict call for a righteous war fought according to strict ethical rules and a just cause, rather than for land or greed; protection of society is the specific spiritual and social duty of the warrior class; physical war mirrors the inner spiritual battle against ignorance, ego and unrighteous impulses; and while non-violence is a supreme virtue, classical texts teach that failing to fight against active tyranny incurs negative karma.

Further, Hinduism teaches that combat must be strictly between armed warriors on the battlefield; non-combatant, including civilians, women, children and the elderly, must never be harmed; surrendering, wounded or unarmed soldiers must be spared and treated with dignity; and unfair or treacherous weapons (like poisoned arrows or torturous devices) are forbidden.

Again, among the Jews, the ancient orders like those of wars for Israel to eradicate idol worshipping appear not to apply today, some sources say. Jews are not taught to glorify violence and Jewish rabbis of the Talmud saw war as an avoidable evil. A passage in Pirkei Avot (a classical Jewish moral guide), reads: "The sword comes to the world for the delay of judgment, and for the perversion of judgment."

In Judaism, war is evil – albeit, at times, a necessary one – yet, Judaism teaches that one has to go to great lengths to avoid it. The Jewish Talmud insists that before going to non-defensive war, the king would need to seek authorization from the Sanhedrin, as well as divine approval through the High Priest. Reportedly, as these institutions have not existed for 2,000 years, this virtually rules out the possibility of non-defensive war.

The permissibility of war is limited and the requirement is that one should always seek a just peace before waging war. Some modern Jewish scholars hold that biblical texts authorizing offensive war no longer apply, and that Jewish theology instructs Jews to leave vengeance to God.

Jewish writers in the 2nd-century CE defined their wars as either a mandatory war, a religious war, or a voluntary war.

Normative Judaism's views on warfare are defined by restraint that is neither guided by avidness for belligerence nor is it categorically pacifist. Traditionally, self-defense has been the underpinning principle for the sanctioned use of violence, with the maintenance of peace taking precedence over waging war.

While the biblical narrative about the conquest of Canaan and the commands related to it have had a deep influence on Western culture, mainstream Jewish traditions throughout history have treated these texts as purely historical or highly conditioned, and in either case not relevant to contemporary life. However, some minor strains of radical Zionism promote aggressive war and justify them with biblical texts.

Contemporary warfare conducted by the State of Israel is supposedly governed by Israeli law and regulation, which includes a purity of arms code that is based in part on Jewish tradition.

Tension between the conduct of the Israeli government and Jewish traditions and halakha on the conduct of war have caused controversy within Israel and have provided a basis for criticisms of Israel.

(ISHWORLD: The International Search for Humanity is a complimentary column created and distributed to media by freelance journalist & blogger Ishmael-Lateef Ahmad. Based in St. Louis, Mo., he can be reached via ishworldcolumn@gmail.com or his website at https://payhip.com/ISHWORLDcolumns).

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