ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the broad concept of jihad, and shows that Osama bin Laden's fatwa of 23 February 1998 will be analysed to consider whether it is consistent with the doctrine that has been delineated. It shows that bin Laden has considerable justification in calling for a defensive jihad, given the current situation in the Arabian Peninsula as he and his audience perceive it. The chapter also demonstrates that the means that he condones in prosecuting that defensive war have no basis in Islamic Law using even the most extreme definitions. The concept of abrogation is the source of much controversy and debate in the formulation of Islamic Law. For a Westerner from a broadly Christian background to understand the development of jihad doctrine, it is important first to appreciate the context in which this development has occurred–at least in so much as this context is critically different to that of Western Christianity.
