War and Military ethics in Shia Islam

Davud Feirahi’s War and Military Ethics in Shi’a Islam is a scholarly exposition of the principles of jehad and defense in Shi’i jurisprudence together with that of the ethics of war according to the Shi’a magisterium. The principles of jehad and defense in Shi’i jurisprudence include: The Priority of Peace, The Defensive Aspect of Jehad during the Era of the Occultation (and the subsequent The Prohibition against Initiating War), the requirement to endeavor to return to a state of peace, and finally, the prohibition against betrayal and the breaking of promises). Topics treated in the chapter on the ethics of war according to the Shi’a magisterium include: the prohibition against maligning the enemy; the prohibition against terror; the prohibition of guile and deception; the prohibition against weapons of mass destruction; the prohibition against attacking non-combatant; consideration for the environment; the prohibition against damage to trees and agricultural fields; the prohibition against the destruction of buildings and developed areas; and the prohibition against harming animals.

Davud Feirahi is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Political Science in the Department of Law and Political Science of Tehran University