ABSTRACT
Arguments concerning resistance in contemporary Islam comprise an expansive topic. The ultimate focus of this chapter is on several recent documents, including the 1998 Declaration Concerning Armed Struggle against Jews and Crusaders. It provides a brief overview of those precedents that provide the background for contemporary discussions of armed resistance. The chapter concludes with some remarks about what one ought to make of this material, in terms of understanding the career or trajectory of arguments about armed resistance in Islam. If one asks about the Islamic equivalent to our word ‘ethics’, the answer is that there isn’t one – or, what is much the same, there are several. Perhaps the lack of criticism aimed directly at the competence de guerre of contemporary resisters is as much a recognition of the strength of resistance arguments as of the legitimization crisis afflicting Islamic establishments.
