Conflicting Traditions

'Pacta sunt servanda' is a well-worn tradition that simply means 'Treaties are to be obeyed' but traditional Islamists hold view that when disadvantaged, they may make pacts with non-Muslims for up to ten years, but if they are in a position to breach such pacts to advance their cause, they are entitled to, and should, do so.

The tradition is traced to 'Al-Hudaybiyyah' where the Prophet in 628 A.D. made a pact with pagan Meccans not to conquer the city in return for them allowing him and his followers to conduct pilgrimage. The agreement was to last ten years, but eighteen months into the tenure, the Prophet conquered the city.

In his book, War and Peace in the Law of Islam (1977) Majid Khadduri said adherents, in propagating the cause, have right to breach such pacts, implying that the Hudaybiyyah model is a tool of jihad laid down by the Prophet himself.

Khadduri’s school is shared by traditionalists who portray the Prophet a brilliant military strategist and his eventual conquest of Mecca truly admirable. It follows with justification that he breached the pact because, during its tenure, a tribe allied to the pagans attacked a tribe allied to the Prophet.

The juxtaposition of conflicting traditions will define the current discourse in Malaysia on Muslim unity, an obligation in Islam polity; and towards this end, PAS, UMNO and PKR are destined to unite.

The degree to which non-Muslims in the equation continue to underestimate this contingency is the degree to which they misapprehend the doctrine.

Words, Tommy Peters

Source: Majid Khadduri, Bernard Lewis, Wikipedia