Islam Guidance

Who is an attacker?

Who is an attacker?
 

According to the jurists an attacker (Muharib) is one who carries weapons; like sword, spear, dagger, gun, wood, stone etc. to frighten the Muslims and rob them of their wealth or shed their blood. It is immaterial whether he does it alone or with a group of people or whether he succeeds in his aim or not. That is, whether people get frightened or not, or whether he takes their wealth or not, whether he kills them or not, if he carries a weapon he is an attacker. And it makes no difference whether he is on the seas or land, in a city and a crowded place, or in a desert like a wanderer; or whether he carries the weapon during day or at night and whether he enters the Muslims’ houses forcefully and attacks them, in all cases he is a Muharib (attacker)

 It is in Kāfi that Surat bin KalÄ«b asked Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) regarding a person who comes out of his house for mosque or any other place and suddenly someone catches him from behind and beats him and snatches his clothes. Imam (a.s.) said such a person is Muharib (attacker) and the verse is applicable to him.

There is no difference if the attacker is a Muslim or a non-Muslim, a man or a woman, is in an Islamic city or non-Islamic area. We should note that ‘attacker’ doesn’t mean that he only fights a war against Muslims. Creating mischief in the land and disturbing peace or spreading fear or using weapons to kill or threaten people makes one an attacker.

In short a Muharib is one who attacks the life and property of Muslims using weapons and one who destroys peace and harmony.

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