Hilmi M. Zawati, “Theory of War in Islamic and Public International Law,” in Is Jihad Just War? War, Peace and Human Rights under Islamic and Public International Law, (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2001) 9-47, reprinted in Niaz A. Shah, ed., Islam and the Law of Armed Conflict (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2015) 249-287. Chapter One Theory of War in Islamic and Public International Law Hilmi M. Zawati Ibn Khaldn, the pioneer Arab sociologist, observed that humanity has experienced wars and disasters of its own making, since the beginning of human society, which are rooted in a vengeful human imperative. 1 Since then, war has developed as a social phenomenon and accompanied humanity on its sojourn through history. Moreover, today, war remains a path to which modern nations resort in securing their various interests, in spite of so-called civilizational stride in the development of the human mind and thought. 2 The rule of “might is right” was the mode of inter-state settlements. In the Grecian era, war was an absolute prerogative of nations, exercised without restraint. Nevertheless, ancient Rome drew a line between the so-called “just” war and “unjust” war, and upheld, what they termed, “the voice of God and Nature”. The Romans, who believed in this doctrine, feared the wrath of God or nature, when waging an unjust war. 3 In turn, the attitudes adopted by the heavenly religions were 1 ‘Abd al-Rah mn Ibn Khaldn, Muqaddimat Ibn Khaldn (Beirut: Dr al-Qalam, 1984), 270. 2 In a study on world wars in history, from 1496 B.C. to 1861 A.D., that is a period of 3,357 years, it was concluded that there was only a short period of 227 years of peace as opposed to 3,310 years of war: one year of peace per 13 years of war. In a more recent study, it was found, furthermore, that in 5,555 years, from the beginning of known human history until 1990, a total of 14,531 wars have been fought. Since the end of World War II, the world has witnessed 270 wars, some lasting for no more than a few months or even weeks, but some for much longer. This means that humanity faces a new war every four months or so. See Herbert K. Tillema, International Armed Conflict Since 1945: A Bibliographic Handbook of Wars and Military Interventions (London: Westview Press, 1991), 276- 286. 3 William E. Hall, International Law (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1924), 446.