Book Review
God of Battles: Holy Wars of Christianity and Islam.
God of Battles: Holy Wars of Christianity and Islam. By PETER PARTNER. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998. Pp. xiii + 310. $16.95 (paper).
Peter Partner's well-written and engaging work of comparative history, God of Battles: Holy Wars of Christianity and Islam, convincingly portrays holy war as one of the most influential and enduring elements in the cultural traditions of the three great monotheistic religions of the historic Middle East. The idea of holy war still has meaning as the world's powers struggle to reposition themselves for the post-Cold War era and frequently invoke the crusading language of the past. Partner, a British journalist who reported from the Middle East for many years and who has written other well-received books dealing with medieval Christianity, intends God of Battles in part as a response to disturbing trends in the West that equate Islam with fanaticism and terror, and assume Islam is a static entity, everywhere embracing the same beliefs and goals.
Partner clearly disagrees with the arguments of prominent theorists like Samuel Huntington, whose widely read Clash of Civilizations suggests a deep and dangerous fault line separating the West and Islam. Instead, Partner compellingly reminds readers of the way in which holy war is rooted in the intertwined histories of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. By sketching the history of holy war and examining the ways in which religion, morality, and political advantage have intersected in its cause, Partner seeks to deprive the concept of its threatening aura and to counter the tendency in the West to demonize an Islamic enemy.
Wide-ranging in both geographical and chronological scope, God of Battles surveys the concept and practice of holy war in Islam and Christianity (with brief excursions into Judaism) from their inceptions to the present. From the outset, Partner argues against imposing [End Page 472] modem concepts, particularly Western thinking about the separation of religion and politics, on earlier periods and cultures. In parallel chapters, "Islam and War" and "Christianity and War," Partner explores the ways in which the idea of holy war responded to changes in the political and cultural environment of the larger society. He notes, for example, that while jihad--"struggle in the way of Allah"--took on a military dimension during Mohammed's lifetime, the doctrine of holy war changed in the century following his death as Islam became increasingly geographically and culturally diverse. By the eleventh century, the concept of jihad, while fundamental to Islam wherever it was practiced, was pursued in varying ways and with varying motives in the diverse regions under Islamic rule.
The concept of holy war in the Christian West also underwent significant evolution. While St. Augustine delineated the concept of the "just war" (a war to right a wrong received) in the early fifth century, Christianity, unlike Islam, did not develop a doctrine of "holy war" (a war pursued at the command of God) until relatively late in its history. Indeed, the term "crusade" did not exist until the thirteenth century. Partner stresses a number of crucial factors in the transformation of Christian attitudes toward warfare, including the conversion of the Germanic tribes, the changes in theological concepts of war at the end of the eleventh century, and the ultimate institutionalization of holy war in Latin Christendom during the Third Crusade. He points out that in Christianity, as in Islam, holy war reflects a complex relationship between religious doctrine, social structures, and political expedience.
Subsequent chapters suggest further parallels between the practices of holy war in Christianity and Islam. In both, Partner argues, the practice of holy war developed earlier and more rapidly than the theory that supported it. Similarly, in both Islam and Christianity, the concept of "holy war" was applied to dissenters within the same faith community. Perhaps most interestingly, both cultures developed modes of co-existence with the recognized object of holy war. As Partner notes, "the huge volume of trading and exchange that went on in the Mediterranean and East Europe between Muslims and Christians was evidence of a cohabitation between the two cultures . . . and gave the lie to the sacred hostility both sides professed for one another" (p. 159).
In chapters dealing with the early modern and modern eras, Partner focuses on the relationship between holy war and European colonialism in the lands of Islam. He traces the transformation in Western approaches to the rival Ottoman Empire, from holy war against the infidel to a secular problem of international peace. But as holy war [End Page 473] declined as a factor in Western politics, Partner acknowledges that it remained more central to the Muslim states of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, as they coped with difficult political and economic challenges. As Western arms, commerce, and political ambition confronted Islam, holy war rhetoric motivated resistance to Western colonization. At the same time it validated action against other Muslims in the interest of reform--as in the revolt of the Mahdi in the Sudan, whose rebellion was originally directed not against colonial rule but against the oppressive government of Muslim Egypt. By far the most important modern occasion of holy war occurred in 1914, when the Ottoman Empire entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers and declared holy war against Great Britain, France, and Russia. Despite the proclaimed jihad, Muslims from India and Africa served in the armies of their colonial masters, and important sectors of the Arab population proved willing to collaborate with the Western Christian powers. By 1914, as Partner recognizes, the concept of nationalism seemed to have ousted the language of pan-Islam in the Middle East.
From the end of World War I through the Nasser-dominated period in Arab nationalism, Partner contends that holy war of the sword was only a minor motif in the Islamic world. Even in the Arab-Israeli conflict that so dominated Western views of the region, its influence was slight. With the success of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, modern radical Islam galvanized world attention, but holy war was not explicitly proclaimed. Partner interprets the concept of holy war in these decades as a moral imperative, concerning the way in which Islam, both as a religious entity and as a territorial unit, could resist the fragmentation and decay associated with modernization. He highlights the dilemmas faced by Islamists who, while generally hostile to cultural Westernization, still want to adopt some aspects of modern science, technology, and commerce, a delicate balancing act that Islamists share with many other Third World communities.
As Partner recognizes, Western political ideas also have proved influential in Islam. As in other parts of the Third World, the territorial sovereign state has prevailed, as national governmental units once seen as artificial, such as Jordan and Iraq, have persisted and pan-Islamic unions, such as the United Arab Republic, have failed. In analyzing Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the mujahidin in Afghanistan, and the FLN in Algeria, Partner demonstrates that their profession of similar Islamist doctrines does not constitute a single holy war directed against the West. Partner contends that the actions of individual Islamist parties only make sense in the context of their societies, and they only occasionally involve terrorism. [End Page 474] By situating and contextualizing these Islamic forces, Partner directly attacks the simplifying tendencies of Western policy makers and journalists who generally have seen Islamist political expression as a threat to Western interests.
Although jihad has not been waged by a Muslim state against a Western one since the first World War, Partner certainly is correct in recognizing that Western states fear the revival of Islamic holy war. In his conclusion he returns to the theme that this fear results from the widespread Western tendency to view Islam as a permanent, static bundle of beliefs. As Partner's history illustrates, there never has been a single Islam, save in the faith's earliest days. Similarly, the "West" is not a unitary principle, but is a heterogeneous collection of many peoples and values. Both Islam and Christianity have invoked holy war as part of their identity and statecraft, but this does not mean that they are doomed to permanent enmity. The historical record surveyed by Partner shows that, "in spite of terrible failures to understand one another, there has been a will to exchange goods, to compromise and often to collaborate" (p. 308). Across the centuries, societies have advanced their best interests while evading the obligations imposed by either Muslim or Christian holy war.
As comprehensive and well written as this book is, there remain some less satisfying elements. Indeed, one of the book's great assets--its broad chronological and geographical scope--is also one of its weaknesses. The text ranges over a wide variety of fascinating subjects, of which the reader is offered a tantalizing, sometimes frustratingly brief, glimpse. Also puzzling, given current political events in the Middle East, is the limited attention paid to Judaism. Although the early chapters discuss the concept of holy war in ancient Israel, a glance at the index is enough to reveal the minimal coverage given to this important topic. Finally, the question of the author's intended audience arises. Partner's emphasis on the formative role of holy war in both Islamic and Western cultures will come as no surprise to experts on these societies. Contemporary general readers, reminded by Partner of the political, economic, and social factors that historically have undergirded holy war, are unlikely to have their fears of jihad allayed.
Still there is much to praise in this book. Partner writes clearly and accessibly, ranging across centuries and civilizations with an ease that brings important events and ideas vividly to life. The author and the Princeton University Press editors are to be complimented for their attention to high quality production values. The text is enhanced by the inclusion of useful maps, evocative illustrations, a glossary of Arabic terms, a chronological table, and an index. Endnotes and a short [End Page 475] reading list offer general references to support each chapter, as well as citations to the work of well-known scholars in these fields. The book's greatest strength derives from Partner's unifying vision. Committed to the necessity and importance of cross-cultural history, he persuasively makes the case that the concepts of holy war and jihad must be explored comparatively and multi-dimensionally.
SUSAN H. FARNSWORTH
MARY LYNN RAMPOLLA
Trinity College
