Principles of War and Peace in the Qur'an

In Brief

The Qur'an neither glorifies war nor bans it outright; it puts it under constraint. Three questions are kept apart in the text: why fighting is permitted, how far it may go, and when it must stop. Permission is tied to having been wronged (22:39). The limit is set inside the very command to fight — "do not transgress" (2:190) — and made concrete by the rule of like-for-like response (2:194, 16:126). The stopping condition is the other side ceasing (2:192, 8:61). Those who do not fight, who withdraw, or who offer peace are placed off limits (4:90, 60:8). When these three links — cause, limit, end — are pulled apart, the verses are easily misread.

Verses Discussed

• 22:39 — Permission to fight is grounded in having been wronged.
• 22:40 — Repelling oppression protects monasteries, churches and synagogues alongside mosques.
• 2:190 — Fight those who fight you; transgression is forbidden.
• 2:191 — Fitnah is worse than killing.
• 2:192 — If they cease, the door opens to forgiveness.
• 2:193 — Once they cease, hostility is limited to oppressors.
• 2:194 — Retaliation is capped at the equivalent of the assault.
• 16:126 — Punish at most in equal measure; patience is better.
• 5:8 — Hatred of a people is no licence for injustice.
• 4:90 — No path is granted against those who withdraw and offer peace.
• 4:94 — Do not tell one who greets you with peace "you are not a believer"; investigate.
• 9:6 — A polytheist seeking protection is delivered to safety.
• 8:61 — If they incline to peace, incline to it.
• 8:62 — The risk of deception is no ground for refusing peace.
• 47:4 — When the war lays down its burdens, captives are freed by favour or ransom.
• 60:8 — Kindness and justice toward non-combatants are not forbidden.
• 60:9 — What is forbidden is alliance with those who fought and expelled you.
• 5:32 — Killing one soul unjustly is like killing all mankind.
• 2:256 — There is no compulsion in religion.
• 49:9 — Between believers, the first order is reconciliation.

1. Cause: what the permission rests on

The first permission to fight is tied not to a belief but to an act — having been wronged.

أُذِنَ لِلَّذِينَ يُقَـٰتَلُونَ بِأَنَّهُمْ ظُلِمُوا۟

"Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged." (22:39)

The next verse spells out the wrong: expulsion from home.

ٱلَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا۟ مِن دِيَـٰرِهِم بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ إِلَّآ أَن يَقُولُوا۟ رَبُّنَا ٱللَّهُ

"[They are] those who have been evicted from their homes without right - only because they say, 'Our Lord is Allāh.'" (22:40)

(interpretation) The close of that same verse is striking: what would be demolished without such repelling includes not only mosques but monasteries, churches and synagogues. In the logic of the text, then, what is being defended is not one community's sanctuary but the very possibility of worship. That framing moves the cause away from "difference of belief" and toward "assault and expulsion".

2. The limit: "do not transgress"

The command to fight is bounded within the sentence that issues it.

وَقَـٰتِلُوا۟ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّذِينَ يُقَـٰتِلُونَكُمْ وَلَا تَعْتَدُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُعْتَدِينَ

"Fight in the way of Allāh those who fight against you but do not transgress. Indeed, Allāh does not like transgressors." (2:190)

The measure of that limit is stated too: response is capped at the equivalent.

فَمَنِ ٱعْتَدَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ فَٱعْتَدُوا۟ عَلَيْهِ بِمِثْلِ مَا ٱعْتَدَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ

"So whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in the same way that he has assaulted you." (2:194)

وَإِنْ عَاقَبْتُمْ فَعَاقِبُوا۟ بِمِثْلِ مَا عُوقِبْتُم بِهِۦ

"And if you punish [an enemy, O believers], punish with an equivalent of that with which you were harmed. But if you are patient - it is better for those who are patient." (16:126)

And enmity is barred from suspending justice:

وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَـَٔانُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰٓ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا۟ ۚ ٱعْدِلُوا۟ هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ

"And do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness." (5:8)

(interpretation) Read together, the three verses produce a ceiling rather than a target: equivalence is the maximum, not the aim. 16:126 sets the cap and, in the same breath, calls falling below it ("patience") better. 5:8 names the hardest thing in wartime — letting anger dissolve the measure — and forbids it outright.

3. The stopping condition: if they stop, you stop

How fighting ends is regulated more carefully than how it begins. In the 2:190-194 block, "ceasing" appears twice as a conditional clause.

فَإِنِ ٱنتَهَوْا۟ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

"And if they cease, then indeed, Allāh is Forgiving and Merciful." (2:192)

وَقَـٰتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّىٰ لَا تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ وَيَكُونَ ٱلدِّينُ لِلَّهِ ۖ فَإِنِ ٱنتَهَوْا۟ فَلَا عُدْوَٰنَ إِلَّا عَلَى ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ

"Fight them until there is no [more] fitnah and [until] religion [i.e., worship] is [acknowledged to be] for Allāh. But if they cease, then there is to be no aggression [i.e., assault] except against the oppressors." (2:193)

When peace is offered, the response is an imperative, not an option:

وَإِن جَنَحُوا۟ لِلسَّلْمِ فَٱجْنَحْ لَهَا وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ

"And if they incline to peace, then incline to it [also] and rely upon Allāh." (8:61)

The verse that immediately follows answers the obvious objection — what if they are lying?

وَإِن يُرِيدُوٓا۟ أَن يَخْدَعُوكَ فَإِنَّ حَسْبَكَ ٱللَّهُ

"But if they intend to deceive you - then sufficient for you is Allāh." (8:62)

(interpretation) The order matters. The text does not deny the possibility of deception; it refuses to make that possibility a reason to reject peace. The instruction to rely on God at the end of 8:61 is precisely a call to carry that risk. On this reading, peace is accepted because it is offered, not because sincerity has been proven.

4. Non-combatants are off limits

The sharpest line in this body of verses runs between those who fight and those who do not.

فَإِنِ ٱعْتَزَلُوكُمْ فَلَمْ يُقَـٰتِلُوكُمْ وَأَلْقَوْا۟ إِلَيْكُمُ ٱلسَّلَمَ فَمَا جَعَلَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ عَلَيْهِمْ سَبِيلًا

"So if they remove themselves from you and do not fight you and offer you peace, then Allāh has not made for you a cause [for fighting] against them." (4:90)

In Sūrah 60 the same distinction becomes a positive duty:

لَّا يَنْهَىٰكُمُ ٱللَّهُ عَنِ ٱلَّذِينَ لَمْ يُقَـٰتِلُوكُمْ فِى ٱلدِّينِ وَلَمْ يُخْرِجُوكُم مِّن دِيَـٰرِكُمْ أَن تَبَرُّوهُمْ وَتُقْسِطُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهِمْ

"Allāh does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes - from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them." (60:8)

إِنَّمَا يَنْهَىٰكُمُ ٱللَّهُ عَنِ ٱلَّذِينَ قَـٰتَلُوكُمْ فِى ٱلدِّينِ وَأَخْرَجُوكُم مِّن دِيَـٰرِكُمْ

"Allāh only forbids you from those who fight you because of religion and expel you from your homes and aid in your expulsion - [forbids] that you make allies of them." (60:9)

(interpretation) Taken as a pair, 60:8 and 60:9 make the criterion plainly behavioural: what counts is having fought and having expelled, not what someone believes. The negative phrasing of 60:8 is telling — it imposes no new prohibition, it removes a supposed one. The root q-s-ṭ (justice) occurs twice in that single verse, grounding the relationship in fairness rather than mere tolerance.

5. In doubt, do not rush to judgement

War accelerates judgement. This is exactly where the Qur'an slows it down.

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِذَا ضَرَبْتُمْ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ فَتَبَيَّنُوا۟ وَلَا تَقُولُوا۟ لِمَنْ أَلْقَىٰٓ إِلَيْكُمُ ٱلسَّلَـٰمَ لَسْتَ مُؤْمِنًا

"O you who have believed, when you go forth [to fight] in the cause of Allāh, investigate; and do not say to one who gives you [a greeting of] peace, 'You are not a believer,' aspiring for the goods of worldly life." (4:94)

An enemy who asks for safe conduct is not held by force even after hearing what he came to hear:

وَإِنْ أَحَدٌ مِّنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ ٱسْتَجَارَكَ فَأَجِرْهُ حَتَّىٰ يَسْمَعَ كَلَـٰمَ ٱللَّهِ ثُمَّ أَبْلِغْهُ مَأْمَنَهُۥ

"And if any one of the polytheists seeks your protection, then grant him protection so that he may hear the words of Allāh. Then deliver him to his place of safety." (9:6)

(interpretation) In 4:94 the command to verify (tabayyun) is repeated twice within one verse, with the motive for error named in between: desire for worldly gain. The text locates the root of the wrong verdict in a moral weakness rather than an intelligence failure. 9:6 completes the picture: the protected person's refusal to believe does not cancel his safety.

6. When the fighting ends: captives

فَإِذَا لَقِيتُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ فَضَرْبَ ٱلرِّقَابِ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَثْخَنتُمُوهُمْ فَشُدُّوا۟ ٱلْوَثَاقَ

"So when you meet those who disbelieve [in battle], strike [their] necks until, when you have inflicted slaughter upon them, then secure [their] bonds." (47:4)

فَإِمَّا مَنًّۢا بَعْدُ وَإِمَّا فِدَآءً حَتَّىٰ تَضَعَ ٱلْحَرْبُ أَوْزَارَهَا

"and either [confer] favor afterwards or ransom [them] until the war lays down its burdens." (47:4)

(interpretation) The verse runs as a sequence: engage → subdue → secure captives → release. Both listed options end with the captive going free — one without payment, one with. The clause "until the war lays down its burdens" marks the whole procedure as finite: what is described is not a standing order but an exceptional state assumed to end.

7. One soul, all of humanity

The verse that supplies the moral scale here appears not in a war passage but after the account of one brother killing another.

مَن قَتَلَ نَفْسًۢا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ ٱلنَّاسَ جَمِيعًا وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَآ أَحْيَا ٱلنَّاسَ جَمِيعًا

"whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land - it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one - it is as if he had saved mankind entirely." (5:32)

And coercion in matters of belief is ruled out from the start:

لَآ إِكْرَاهَ فِى ٱلدِّينِ

"There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion." (2:256)

Even when believers fight one another, the first order is not to fight but to reconcile:

وَإِن طَآئِفَتَانِ مِنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ٱقْتَتَلُوا۟ فَأَصْلِحُوا۟ بَيْنَهُمَا

"And if two factions among the believers should fight, then make settlement between the two." (49:9)

(interpretation) 5:32 refuses to treat unjust killing as a matter of quantity: it equates one life with all lives. Combined with 2:256, the implication is that changing what people believe cannot be a war aim, because belief is closed to coercion. 49:9 applies the same principle inward: not neutrality in conflict, but just mediation.

Root and Word Note

The counts below were taken from the word-by-word analysis in the project database (the entire Qur'an: 6236 verses, 77,429 words).

Three observations follow directly from these counts:

1. "Fight" and "kill" are two forms of one root. wa-qātilū in 2:190 is the reciprocal (form III) pattern; wa-qtulūhum in 2:191 is the plain form I. Same root, two different levels of action.
2. The root ḥ-r-b occurs in only 11 words in the whole Qur'an — and five of those mean miḥrāb / maḥārīb, a place of worship or private chamber (3:37, 3:39, 19:11, 34:13, 38:21), not war. The war sense appears in six places (2:279, 5:33, 5:64, 8:57, 9:107, 47:4). By contrast the root s-l-m occurs in 140 words.
3. In 4:94 the order to verify is given twice (fa-tabayyanū appears at two positions in the same verse) — repetition inside a single verse marks weight.

Different Readings

(interpretation) At least three readings compete over this cluster, and this article treats none of them as the single correct one.

The defensive reading. Because permission (22:39) is tied to a wrong suffered, the limit (2:190) sits inside the command itself, and the stopping clause (2:192, 8:61) is repeated, the legitimacy of fighting rests entirely on responding to attack. On this reading 60:8 and 4:90 are not exceptions but statements of the rule.

The context-bound reading. 2:191 and 47:4 are operative instructions for a specific conflict, not a general foreign policy. Here "wherever you overtake them" in 2:191 is governed by its own subject — those already fighting you.

The expansionist reading. The clause in 2:193, "until religion is for Allāh", has been read as extending the aim of fighting beyond defence. Its main difficulty inside the text is the second half of the very same verse — "but if they cease, there is to be no aggression except against the oppressors" — together with 2:256.

A linguistic note. Much of the dispute turns on the word fitnah: rendering it as "persecution" or as "unbelief" directly changes the scope of 2:193. The Qur'an itself uses the word across a range from trial to oppression, so imposing one technical sense strains its own usage.

Honest Limits

What the text states plainly: permission to fight is tied to a cause (22:39); "do not transgress" stands in the same sentence as the order to fight (2:190); response is capped at equivalence (2:194, 16:126); hostility ends when the other side ceases (2:192, 2:193); inclining to an offer of peace is commanded (8:61); there is no path against non-combatants and peace-seekers (4:90, 60:8); no hasty verdict on one who greets you with peace (4:94); captives are released by favour or ransom (47:4); there is no compulsion in religion (2:256).

What remains interpretation: the scope of "fitnah" and "religion" in 2:193; whether 2:191 addresses one conflict or states a general rule; whether the two options in 47:4 are exhaustive or illustrative; the conditions under which a peace under 8:61 could lapse; how far modern legal categories (self-defence, proportionality, civilian immunity) map onto these verses.

What this article is not: it passes no judgement on any current conflict, issues no legal ruling, and does not construct a doctrine of the law of war. It only shows the cause–limit–end structure internal to the Qur'anic text.

Conclusion: In the Qur'an, war is a self-limiting exception. Its permission is bound to a wrong, its measure to equivalence, its end to the other side stopping. The three phrases the text keeps repeating — "do not transgress", "if they cease", "incline to it" — indicate that fighting is not the centre of the narrative but a parenthesis meant to close. Outside that parenthesis stands the relationship described in 60:8: kindness and justice toward those who do not fight you.

Source: Qur'anic verses (Saheeh International rendering; Turkish edition uses M. Okuyan). Qur'an-centred, non-sectarian, cited.