ABSTRACT
The cultures of the West and of Islam have produced two distinct moral traditions on the right use of force, that of just war and that of jihad of the sword. This chapter undertakes a comparative overview of major features in these two traditions, identifying where they run along similar lines and where they differ. It sketches their origin and development in their respective cultural contexts, notes the different relation of each to the spheres of religion and political life. The radical doctrine of jihad advanced as the justification for contemporary terrorism is a challenge to both these traditions. The chapter briefly examines them on three elements already encountered as central to just war thinking but also essential to the idea of jihad of the sword: the requirement of right authority for use of armed force, that of justification necessary for use of such force, and right conduct in the use of such force.
