1. Must be defensive in nature.it's interesting to compare these criteria with the christian* requirements for a just war (also courtesy of sean-paul):
2. Must be sanctioned by a qualified mujtahid, i.e. competent authority.
3. Must differentiate between combatant and non-combatant.
4. Innocents must be protected at all costs
1. Just Cause: War must have a just cause.two things jump out at me when looking at these criteria side-by-side.
2. Competent authority: The use of force is only permissible when it is legitimate, that is authorized by government.
3. Right intention: A war is just only if it seeks to restore a just peace.
4. Limited objectives: A war is just only if its goals are limited.
5. Last resort: Before a state can legitimately resort to war, it must exhaust all peaceful means.
6. Reasonable hope of success: There must be a reasonable chance of success
first, it's interesting to see how much more the islamic list is concerned with protecting people, whereas the christian conception seems more concerned with the rightness of the cause. while half of the christian list is concerned about those broader goals (christian #s 1, 3 and 4), the muslim list reduces all of that to a single point (muslim #1)--that a war must be defensive to be just. notably only the muslim list differentiates between combatants and non-combatants and expressly talks about protecting the innocent. it's also interesting that only the christian list concerns itself with whether there is a chance of success. the only criteria the two have in common is #2, the war must be authorized by the appropriate authority.
and second, in reading these two lists it's really remarkable just how often members of both religions seem to completely ignore their own just war criteria.
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* i realize it's not really fair to call this the "christian" criteria for a just war, it's really more accurately called catholic. to quakers, for example, there's no such thing as a just war. plus islam has different sects too. little details like that doesn't mean it isn't fun to compare and contrast.
