As has been widely discussed, Grand Ayatollah Sistani recently issued a call for jihad against the terrorist organization currently rampaging throughout much of Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ("ISIS," recently renamed the Islamic State). This call, however well intentioned, is not likely to be the solution to Iraq's problems and may in fact create more problems than it solves. The reason is not, as is commonly stated, that it will contribute to rising sectarianism in Iraq. In fact, Grand Ayatollah Sistani's call was phrased as ecumenically as it could be. It urged all Iraqis, and not merely Iraq's Shi'a, to join this jihad, though admittedly it is unlikely that significant numbers of non-Shi'a Iraqis would heed such a call. More importantly, the Grand Ayatollah made clear that volunteers should join the army itself rather than fight on behalf of any one of the numerous sectarian militias active in Iraq.
The problem, instead, is that the call to jihad operates on the principles of jihad long established among jurists operating in the Muslim tradition, and it hardly seems fitting for the type of modern warfare in which Iraq is currently engaged. As a result, it is not a solution to the real military problems with which Iraq is faced. To understand why, it is important to review the historic rules respecting jihad as jurists have laid them out.
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