Book Reviews 

God of Battles: Holy Wars of 
Christianity and Islam 

By Peter Partner. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 
1998, 364pp. 

This is a study of warfare fought in the name of God by Jews, Christians, and 
Muslims from biblical until modem times. The book is impressive in its scope 

and in the wide range of authorities consulted; the author has gone out of his 
way to be neutral and impartial. In his introduction, for example, Partner rec­
ognizes that "less than half a century ago, unconscious of their own arrogance 
and inaccuracy. Westerners used to write confidently about something they 
called the Arab mind" (p. xix). The book's critical apparatus is nearly perfect: 
there is a glossary, a chronological table, and an index; and, in addition to a 

short bibliography with the notes to each chapter, there is a brief reading list on 

different topics. This means that students will find the book easy to use. 
Having said this, readers should be warned that, like most academic 

research, the general tone is dogmatically secular and cynical about spiritual 
motives. Although the author criticizes the prejudices of earlier historians, he 

himself speaks of Islam as "a program of conquest" and states that "Muslims 

set themselves almost from the outset the task of Islamizing the whole world 
by force of arms" (p. 38). Despite his remarks on the greater jihad, referring to 

the inner spiritual struggle against evil, there is little recognition of Islam as a 
spiritual message; he says that Muhammad ''came to warn, perhaps also to con­

quer" (p. 42). Indeed, the striving denoted by the verb jahada is primarily spir­
itual or moral as in the admonition to the Prophet: "Strive hard against the 

deniers of the truth and the hypocrites" (9:73). Other passages indicate that the 
Qur'an itself is the instrument with which believers must strive against unbe­
lievers (25:52; 66:9). As Seyyed Hossein Nasr says, concerning the concept of 
jihad, "Its translation into 'holy war,' combined with the erroneous notion of 

Islam prevalent in the West as the 'religion of the sword,' has helped to eclipse 
its inner and spiritual significance."1 All external forms of struggle, such as 
fighting ignorance and injustice, are incomplete without the inner struggle, and 

the result of that struggle will be peace and love: "Repel evil with that which 
is better. Then he between whom and thee there was enmity will become as 
though he had always been a bosom friend" (41:34). 



102 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 17. I 

Partner also fails to explain that the purpose of jihad is defensive and that all 
forms of aggression are condemned in Islam: "And fight in God's cause against 
those who wage war against you, but do not commit aggression -for, verily, 
God does not love aggressors" (Qur'an, 2: 190). Sayings of the Prophet about 
warfare might also have been cited. For example: "If a man engaged in battle 
entertains in his heart the desire to obtain out of the war only a rope to tie his 
camel, his reward will be forfeited." Only self-defense, in the widest sense, 
and, in particular, the defense of religious freedom, makes force permissible for 
Muslims: "Permission [to fight] is given to those against whom war is wrong-
fully waged, those who have been driven from their homelands against all right 
for no other reason than their saying, 'Our Lord is God!' For if God had not 
enabled people to defend themselves against one another, monasteries and syn-
agogues and mosques - in all of which God's name is abundantly extolled -
would certainly have been destroyed" (22:39-40). It is also written, "whoever 
pardons [his foe] and makes peace, his reward rests with God" (42:40). Indeed 
the Qur'an is full of advice on how bloodshed may be averted by showing for-
giveness and using diplomacy, arbitration, and compromise. It is a pity that 
Partner fails even to touch on this aspect of Islam, but instead perpetuates the 
old prejudices and misconceptions beneath the cloak of dispassionate scholar-
ship. 

Moreover, the author gives us a most unflattering and inaccurate idea of 
Islamic penal laws: he states that crucifixion and mutilation were "the normal 
police [sic] measurJ'r 1 in ancient Arabia against banditry (p. 34) and gives the 
impression that these measures are prescribed in the Qur'an. While it is true 
that the passage to which Partner alludes (5:33) has been interpreted by many 
commentators, both ancient and modem, as a legal injunction, strong argu-
ments for refuting such interpretation are listed by Muhammad Asad in a foot-
note to his rendering of the text. 

The release of prisoners as a pious act is mentioned with reference to 
Christianity (p. 148), but not with reference to Islam. In discussing the begin-
nings of colonialism in Elizabethan England, the author betrays his true feel-
ings about Islam: "In some of its colonial aspects it [Christianity] was becom-
ing, like Islam, a religion of power, in which the sword preceded the word of 
God" (p. 183). 

It would perhaps have been wiser to devote more space to the scriptural basis 
for theories of a just or holy war in Christianity and Islam, followed by a fuller 
discussion of how these theories developed. In particular, Partner could have 
mentioned the religious arguments used to justify the conquest of Granada in 
1492 and the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain in the early seventeenth 



Book Reviews 103 

century. It is also regrenable that, in the recommended reading list, no Muslim 

authorities are cited on "Muhammad and Islam," "[slamic Culture and 

Society," and "Islamic History and Modem History." On the Crusades, he 

might have mentioned Arab Historians of the Crusades, edited by Francesco 

Gabrieli, or The Crusades through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf. On the gen­
eral topic of the crusading mentality, he must surely have read Karen 

Armstrong's Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World. 

However, despite these quibbles, I would still recommend this book as an 

important summary of research on the su�ject, especially on the modem peri­

od. 

Note: 

l. S.H. Nasr, Traditional Islam in the Modern World (London: KPI, 1990). 28.

Roger Boase 
Research Fellow 

Queen Mary and Westfield College 
University of London