Autumn 2015 - Interview With Sayyid Sulayman Hassan - Sayyid Sistani on The Ethics Of War

We live in a time when warfare is conducted with a level of violence unprecedented in human history. Cluster bombs are commonplace, and mass executions are so visible, they virtually disappear. In such circumstances, how can Muslims understand and live by a religion that calls to higher ideals, even as much of the Muslim world is being torn apart by violence in which their co-religionists are either perpetrators or victims of such atrocities? In this interview, Sayyid Sulayman Hassan Abidi discusses some of the main issues addressed in Sayyid Ali al-Sistani’s 2014 letter to the Iraqi forces battling ISIS. The issues range from what role warfare and violence have in Islam, to how one can derive and stay true to Islamic values and virtues during these conflicts. Sayyid Sulayman Hasan provides insight into these questions and more, gleaning from both the verses of the Qur’an and the lives and words of the Ahl al-Bayt. Autumn 2015