Diplomacy and envoys

Family: War, peace and the conduct of conflict · 2 entries

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Entries on this theme

Event

• كلمة الأزهر في مجلس الأمن عن استراتيجيته في مواجهة الفكر المتطرف

  11 May 2016 CE · 4 Sha'ban 1437 AH†Muhyi al-Din Afifi Ahmad, speaking for al-Azhar, addressed the UN Security Council in New York on al-Azhar's strategy against extremist thought; the session was chaired by Egypt's foreign minister while Egypt chaired the council's counter-terrorism committee (p. 95). The author holds that extremism stays in the realm of thought, and becomes terrorism when it is tied to physical violence, takfir or the threat of violence (p. 99). He lists al-Azhar's work: online rebuttal of extremist ideas, training courses for preachers, an online observatory answering Daesh's posts, and joint initiatives with the Council of Muslim Elders (p. 100-102).

Concept

• Hudna (truce with non-Muslims)

  Hudna, in the lexical sense, is calm; as a technical term it is an agreement to refrain from fighting with the enemy for a period. The Hanafis call it a settlement for money or without money when the imam sees benefit; the Hanbalis define it as a contract by the imam or his deputy to cease fighting non-Muslims for a known period matching the need. It differs from aman, the lifting of the licence to kill a belligerent and take his property for a time, and from the dhimma contract, which is a permanent safe-conduct while hudna is temporary. Its legitimacy rests on the Qur'an (Surat al-Tawba, and Surat al-Anfal 61), on the Prophet's truce with Quraysh at Hudaybiyya for ten years, and on consensus that it is permitted in general, and may be obligatory in necessity.

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Controversial topics

• Sexuality and gender diversity
• Converts and those who leave
• Images and figural art
• Takfir and its critics
• Dissent, heresy and freethought
• Conquest and its debates
• Violent extremism and the Muslim response
• Islam and atheism or secular thought