I have often noted in speeches and writings that the Islamic jihad ideology mandates that Muslims must wage war against non-Muslims after first inviting them to become Muslim. If they refuse, they must be fought until they convert or submit to second-class dhimmi status, paying the special tax for non-Muslims — jizya — and submitting to various institutionalized forms of discrimination and harassment.
When I explained all this recently in a talk in Boston, a prominent U.S. Muslim told me and the audience during the Q & A that it was unlike any Islam that he knew. I have many reasons to doubt that that is entirely the case, and here is another: an essay in the Arab News (thanks to Romy) calling on Muslim forces to follow exactly these procedures, in imitation of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad’s example.
Note also that Osama bin Laden has invited the American people to accept Islam on several occasions, including this one.
The Prophet was keen to instruct any troops commander dispatched on any mission that he must first explain to the people the message of Islam and call on them to accept it. Only if they reject it and choose to fight that Muslims could fight them. Never did the Prophet or his commanders launch a surprise attack on people, killing them before offering them a chance to understand Islam, reflect on its message and either accept it or make peaceful arrangements with the Muslim state. Even when God instructed His Messenger to terminate treaties with Arabian tribes, He ordered him to give them a four-month notice during which they could determine the attitude they wanted to take. Islam never goes into war for an easy gain, or for land annexation, or to establish its authority over others. It goes into war to protect its people and to ensure that others have a free choice.
Should it ever happen that a Muslim army does not observe Islamic rules requiring that the other side are given sufficient notice of the choices available to them, the matter is soon rectified. In the early Islamic period, the people of Bukhara sent a small delegation to Damascus, the capital of the Muslim state, complaining to the Caliph that the Muslim army took over their city without giving them notice and offering them the three standard alternatives of 1) accepting Islam; 2) paying jizyah, which is a tribute confirming loyalty in return for protection against any outside attack; or 3) war. The Caliph, Umar ibn Abd Al-Aziz, appointed a soldier of that same army to look into the complaint. The delegation went back, dejected, feeling that a soldier could never rule in their favor against his own commander. However, when they reported the results of their mission to their people, some of them suggested that they would lose nothing if they pursued the matter with the occupying Muslim army. They did so, and the one-soldier tribunal sat to look into their complaint. They were amazed when they heard that soldier make his ruling and telling his commander: “God has sent Muhammad to mankind with His guidance. He did not send him to be a military conqueror. You and your army should leave the city immediately, and after a while you can approach it with the normal warning giving it the normal choices.” Having already experienced life under the Muslim army over the few months it took their delegation to go to Damascus to see the Caliph, the people of Bukhara requested the Muslim army to stay and in time the majority of them became Muslims….