Resurrecting Siyar Through Fatwas? (Re) Constructing ‘Islamic International Law’ in a Post-(Iraq) Invasion World

Abstract

This article seeks to explore the impact of the Iraq war on Siyar or ‘Islamic international law’ from a range of Muslim perspectives by raising some critical questions and addressing these through the lens of a selection of Fatwas solicited by Muslims from a range of countries and continents, on the Iraq war and its implications for popular understandings of Siyar and Jihad. This article suggests that the Iraq war presents an opportunity to revisit and potentially revive historical Siyar pronouncements of a dichotomous world, i.e. dar-al-harb and dar-al-Islam. I argue that in so doing, this discourse has invigorated the notions of a universal Ummah within the normative framework of Siyar hitherto marginalized by ascendancy of the nation state, international organizations and contemporary Muslim state practice. Finally, I argue that a wider Internet access to Muslim communities in the global South has facilitated a modified institution of ifta to reflect popular understandings of Siyar and Jihad and influence its reformulation in the backdrop of the Iraq war.

Keywords: Fatwas, jihad, Iraq, Islamic International law