Infidels muft
be called to
the faith, previous
to
making war
■ upon them:
but i f infidels
be attacked
and fiain
<tvttbout this
obfervance,
no fine, &e. is
due.
capitation-tax is acceptable; for as ‘to apoftates and the idolaters of
Arabia, to call upon them to pay the; tax is’ ufelefs, fince nothing is
accepted from them but embracing the faith, as it is thus commanded
in the Koran.')— If thofe who are called upon' to pay capitation-
tax' confent to do fo, they then become entitled to the fame protection,
and fubjeCt to the fame rules as Mujfulmans, becaufe Alee has
declared “ Infidels agree to a capitation-tax only in order to render their
“ blood the fame as Mujfulman blood, and their property the fame as
“ Mujfulman property."
I t is not lawful to make war upon any people who have never
before been called to the faith, without prCvioufly requiring them to
embrace it; becaufe the prophet fo. inftruCted his commanders, directing
them “ to call the i n f i d e l s to the fa ith ;” and alfo, becaufe the'
people will hence perceive tha't they are attacked for the fake o i religion,
and not for the lake ,of taking their property, or making [laves
o f their children, and on this contideration ‘it is. poflible that they
may be induced to agree to the call, in order to lave themfelves.firpjn
the troubles of war.
If a Mujfulman attack infidels without previoufly calling them to
the faith, he is an offender, becaufe this is forbidden: but yet, if he
do attack them before thus inviting them, and flay them, and take
their property, neither fine, expiation, or atonement are. due, becaufe
that which protects, (namely, 1/lam,) does not e.xilt in them, nor are
they under protection by place, (namely, the Mujfulman territory,')
and the mere prohibition of the aCt is not fufficient to fanftion the
exaftion either of fine, or of atonement for property: in the fame
manner as the flaying of the women or infant children of infidels is forbidden
; but if, notwithftanding, a perfon were.to flay fuch, he is
not liable to a fine. ' ' " ' ' •
I t is laudable to ball to the faith a people to whom a call has
already come, in order that they may have the more full and ample
warning: but yet .this is -not incumbent, as it appears, in the Nakl-
Saheeh that the prophet plundered and dpfpoiled the tribe of Moojllick
by furprife; and he alfo agreed, -with Afama, to make a predatoiy
attack upon Cobna at an early hour, and then to fct it on fire.; and
fuch attacks .are not preceded by a call. (Cobna is a place in Syria:
feme affert it fe the name of a ,tribe.)
If the infidels,, upon receiving the call, neither confent to it, nor pjfesd*».
agree to pay capitation-tax, it is then incumbent on the Mujfulmans to to^mbrace^
call upon G od for afiiftance, and to make war upon them ; becaufe J0pay tri(ute>
G od is .the -afliftant of thefe who ferve him, and the deftroyer of his: theymay be
enemies, the infidels; and it is neceffaryto implore his aid upon every
occafion; the prophet, moreover, commands us To to do.— And
having fo done, thz Mujfulmans muft then, with G od’ s' afliftance,
attack .the infidels • with all manner of warlike engines, <as the .prophet
did by the people of fayeef,) and muft alfo fet fire to their habitations,
(in the fame maimer as the prophet fired Baweera,) and
muft inundate them with water, and tear up their plantations, and
tread down their grain.; becaufe by thefe means they will become
weakened, and their refolution will fail, and their force be broken;
thefe means are, therefore, all fanCtified by the l a w .
It is no objection to fhooting arrows, or other miffiles, igaiiift The utetf
the infidels, that there may chance to be among them a MkJJulmdn pons is
in the way either •of-bondagt or of traffic-, becaufe the fhooting of *{^alb°ush
arrows and fo forth among the infidels remedies a general evil, in
the repulfion thereof from the whole body of Mujfulmans; whereas faki;
the flaying of a Mujfulman Have or trader is only a particular evil;
and to repel a general evil a particular evil muft be adopted ; and alfo,
becaufe it feldotn happens that the ftrong holds of the infidels are
deftitute of Mujfulmans, fince it is ffloft probable that there are M tffidmans
refiding in them, either in the way of .bondage or of trajfic-,
, r TT it -and
V o l . I I . u