Holy war

A holy war is a war primarily motivated by differences in religion, in which the act of warfare is seen as praiseworthy and worthy of divine reward. In the modern period, debates are common over the extent to which religious, economic, or ethnic aspects of a conflict predominate in a given war. Some argue that since the very concept of "religion" is a modern invention, the term "religious war" does not apply to most wars in history. Religious arguments have been overtly present in various conflicts, but have been described as fundamentalism or religious extremism depending upon the observer's sympathies. However, studies on these cases often conclude that ethnic animosities drive much of the conflicts.

The concept of holy war has been present in various forms in different religions.

Background

The Crusades (11th-13th c.), a series of religiously motivated military campaigns by Christian nations against the Muslim Seljuk dynasty, are a well-known example of holy war.

In Hinduism, the principle of dharma, or divine cosmic order, defines good and evil as actions that support or threaten this order. A righteous war would arise to re-establish justice after the commission of injustice, such as the denial of rights. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna counsels prince Arjuna to fight a Dharma Yudhha, or righteous war, to fulfill his Kshatriya (warrior) duty as a warrior and establish Dharma. However, the concept of fighting a war solely on the basis of differences in religion or nationality does not appear in Hindu scripture.

In Judaism, the expression Milkhemet Mitzvah (Hebrew: מלחמת מצווה, "commandment war") refers to a war that is obligatory for all Jews, limited to territory within the borders of Israel. The concept of a religious war was absent in Jewish thought for approximately 2000 years, though it reemerged in some factions of the Zionist movement, particularly Revisionist Zionism.

In early Christianity, St. Augustine's concept of just war (bellum iustum) was widely accepted, but warfare was not considered virtuous. The concepts of "holy war" (bellum sacrum) and of "enemies of God" emerged later in the 11th century. The Crusades were a series of military campaigns that took place during the 11th through 13th centuries. Originally, the goal was to recapture Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims, and support the Christian Byzantine Empire against the conquests carried out by the Muslim Seljuk dynasty. Later, Crusades were launched against other targets, either for religious reasons or because of political conflict. During the time of the Crusades, some of those who fought in the name of God were known as the Milites Christi, or soldiers or knights of Christ.

The Muslim conquests, beginning in the lifetime of Muhammad, were a massive military expansion that spanned centuries, from the Caliphate to the Ottoman wars in Europe. The term "religious war" has been questioned due to the Western concept of separation of Church and State, which has never existed in the Islamic world. Warfare has been integral to Islamic history since the time of Muhammad, both for defense and the spread of the faith. The first forms of military jihad occurred after Muhammad's migration to Medina and the conversion of several inhabitants to Islam. This occurred many times throughout history, beginning with Muhammad's battles against polytheist Arabs, such as the Battle of Badr (624).

In the Bahá’í Era

Bahá'u'lláh abolished the concept of holy war and forbade His followers from arming themselves, except to defend themselves when their lives are threatened.

The themes of jihad and martyrdom remained important in the writings of the Báb. He often wrote theoretically about jihad in the sense of armed struggle, but He never explicitly announced the beginning of a jihad. The various Bábí struggles appear to have primarily involved defensive jihad. Denis MacEoin has pointed out that Bábís did arm themselves, upon the Báb's instructions, but that their eventual clashes with state forces were defensive, and were not considered an offensive jihad.

Martyrdom, an immensely important theme in Shí'ism, was important to Bábís as well, with the siege of the Bábí fort at Shaykh Tabarsí being viewed as a Bábí recapitulation of the events of Karbilá.