Ali Dashti has sent in an interesting analysis of that great statesman Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent threats regarding Turkey’s desire to join the EU:
Is Erdogan saying, “Admit Turkey to EU — or else”?
Erdogan is just keeping with a very common view of Jihad, which states that not only can Jihad be started against those who attack Islam; it can be waged against those who place “obstacles” in the way and prevent the spread of Islam. He’s just being the good Muslim he is. If the EU should in the end block Turkey from joining, it would place obstacles in the way for the spread of Islam in Europe, and by many Muslims this will be regarded as a declaration of war.
Basically, absolutely any steps we take to prevent the Islamization of our lands and retain our freedom will be seen as an “attack” on Islam.
It is a consensus from the scholars of Islam that Jihad is, “fighting the kuffar to remove the obstacles in the way of making Allah’s (Subhanahu Wa Ta”aala) word the highest”, note here that there are two distinct points, the action is “Fighting the kuffar to remove the obstacles”, the reason “making Allah’s (Subhanahu Wa Ta”aala) word the highest”.
And from the Pakistan Times:
The Islamic state reserves the right to use military force against foreign states that engage in persecuting Muslims or, preventing the spread of Islam within their lands.
And from the South African imam Ebrahim Desai:
Thus what is meant by the passage in Tafsir Uthmani, is that if a country doesn’t allow the propagation of Islam to its inhabitants in a suitable manner or creates hindrances to this, then the Muslim ruler would be justifying in waging Jihad against this country, so that the message of Islam can reach its inhabitants, thus saving them from the Fire of Jahannum. If the Kuffaar allow us to spread Islam peacefully, then we would not wage Jihad against them.
And from the Qur’an (in three translations, all made by Muslims):
005.033
YUSUFALI: The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter;PICKTHAL: The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom;
SHAKIR: The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement,
And from a noted commentary on the Qur’an:
`Wage war’ mentioned here means, oppose and contradict, and it includes disbelief, blocking roads and spreading fear in the fairways.