La palabra descendida y la guerra

Abstract

War references in the Koran amount to those of scattered skirmishes among tribes. In most of the occasions, these fights are caused by commercial rather than religious discrepancies. Although Muhammad’s role as a prophet is unquestionable, as a statesman he is closer to the figure of the patriarch who understands the liberties of the Arab peoples. Thus, nowhere in the Koran does the concept of «war» appear referred to as yihad. The term, just like its equivalent crusade, non-existent in the Gospels, seems to have been framed and formulated throughout the medieval centuries. This article compiles and examines war terminology in the Koran, as well as the contexts that account for the appearance of this particular semantic field, so as to reject the sense of holy war in the Sacred Book.