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In this thread, a member stated,

Lying is forbidden except in three instances, and they are:

  1. To please ones wife
  2. lying during/in war (وَالْكَذِبُ فِي الْحَرْبِ)
  3. and to try to bring people together

Lying outside of these three (exceptions) is haram/forbidden.

My question is, how does either al-Qurʾān, or al-ʾaḥādīṯ, or fiqh in general, define حرب ("war")? The most obvious answer is that the government of a recognized nation declares war on another recognized nation. Is this correct?

But, could an individual (rather than a politicial entity/ state/ nation) declare a personal war against an entity/ entities and then justify deceit/ lying by insisting that he is at war with (an)other(s), perhaps even, a spiritual war or holy war?

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  • war in the general sense is fighting for the good of others and only if necessary. personal war doesn't sound so.
    – ashley
    Jun 18, 2013 at 22:13
  • @ashley: Thank you for the comment. You mentioned "fighting for the good of others." What about fighting for...an ultimate good...on behalf of God. Hence, holy war/ spiritual war. In any case, I'm just looking for citations from orthodoxic Islamic sources.
    – user2669
    Jun 18, 2013 at 22:16
  • thx for response. I don't get "fighting on behalf of God"-- from what I know, only admissible for defending yourself, your beliefs, who you are,... . not making others accept what you want them to accept. and God certainly doesn't need anyone's brute power for his side.
    – ashley
    Jun 18, 2013 at 22:58
  • ..from what I know, if you want to help/convert someone or some people, you tell them, only when they are in a mood to hear, and for at most a certain (3?) number of times. anything beyond that against their will isn't short of harassment. let alone a war.
    – ashley
    Jun 18, 2013 at 23:01
  • <H3br3wHamm3r81> just read the rest of your answer on the other page as well. thanks for the update. for some reason your tag not appearing the way it shd when I use "@".
    – ashley
    Jun 18, 2013 at 23:02

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Firstly, there is no such thing as holy war, for no war is holy. Also note that حرب and جهاد are not synonyms, they aren't the same. It is more accurate to say جهاد Jihad then to say war.

Secondly, there is no such thing as personal war, or Jihad on one persons behalf in Islam, for Jihad is declared from behalf of the ruler/Khaleefah, meaning that the Army is sent out on command from the ruler (or the ruler takes the army out himself). A person going out by himself to fight is not Jihad.

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