This is a lexical entry that gathers the technical meaning of this term in Shahrur’s work across his various books, linking together its multiple uses.
This entry belongs to Shahrur’s glossary. For reading by theme, one may refer to Shahrur’s major themes and shared concepts.
The meaning in Shahrur
Combat is a restricted defensive act, legitimate when needed as an emergency obligation rather than an end in itself, and it is tied to the protection of freedom, justice, and equality. For the author, it is not a call to absolute violence, but a practice limited by the conditions of purpose and context; thus it is not equated with individual killing, assassination, or targeting civilians.
Distinctions
- It differs from jihad; jihad is broader in meaning than combat and more comprehensive than mere armed confrontation
- It differs from killing, assassination, and bombing civilians; these are acts prohibited by him and outside the meaning of legitimate combat.
Passages from his books
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism: combat, for the author, is a conditioned emergency obligation, not an end in itself, and it is defined by purposes such as freedom, justice, and equality. He also insists on distinguishing it from individual killing, assassination, and bombing civilians, as acts that fall outside its legitimate meaning
What is adjacent to it and different from it
- Verses of combat are tied to a historical context
- Verses of combat and the Muhammadan narrative do not legitimate absolute violence
- Consensus is not an absolute proof
- Assassinations and bombing civilians are a departure from combat
- Jihad is broader than combat
- Jihad, combat, and martyrdom are distinct concepts
- The cause and the goal in combat must not be confused
- Martyrdom is not death in battle
- Qur’anic combat is defensive and restricted, and the historical context prevents legitimizing terrorism
- Legitimate combat is defensive and restricted by the purpose of freedom
- Legitimate combat serves freedom and justice
- Combat is an emergency obligation, not an end