Since the beginning of the seventh century, Islamic law has played an essential role in protecting the personal, economic, judicial, and political rights of civilians during armed conflict. Fourteen centuries before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted in 1948, it had already initiated a human revolution consisting of a set of human principles. In addition, Islamic law has made a significant contribution to international humanitarian law (IHL). This paper focuses on two specific legal constructs in warfare: the definition of the combatant and the principle of distinction. This article comparatively examines how these two laws deal with different aspects of war that fall under jus ad bellum, jus in bello, and jus post bellum. A comparative analysis of the various elements and aspects of just war theory in Islamic and contemporary international law provides a much deeper understanding of its limitations. We can safely conclude that there is a unique relationship between the Islamic law of war and IHL.

Custom is a source of Islamic law in general and Siyar (Islamic international law) in particular. Islamic jurists have set out the elements and conditions of customs for general jurisprudential purpose. However, no one has, to the authors’knowledge, formulated them from Siyar perspective. This paper is an attempt to fill this gap by tracing two important elements of an international custom, namely frequent and dominant general practice of States, and acceptance of that practice as law. These two will constitute a valid custom provided they fulfill certain conditions, most importantly that the custom must not conflict with Shari’ah or the spirit of Shari’ ah.

Islamic international law is a branch of the Shari’ah (Islamic law). Due to the classical doctrine of the notion of‘ Jihad,’there have been misconceptions and Islam has been painted as a religion encouraging violence and war. This paper appeals for the reconsideration of the classical doctrine, which was adopted at a time when there was a state of war between Islamic and non-Islamic states. Going back to the roots and referring to the Qur’an and the Sunnah: the two primary sources of Islamic law, the paper argues that Islam prohibits aggressive war and that the essence of‘ jihad’ is‘ self-defense.’After elaborating the essential conditions of the right of self-defense, the paper concludes that Islamic international law can contribute much to the present world order by providing moral and ethical values that modern international law is lacking.