The ethics of outsourced jihad : Islamic moral frameworks for state-sponsored proxy militias

Abstract

Over the past decades, the use of proxy militias, auxiliary armed organizations and armed self-governing or semi-autonomous institutions by the State has shaped the nature of modern warfare, sparking significant ethical issues on authority, accountability and legitimacy. The ethical dimensions of proxy war in Islamic political thought have not been studied so much, although much has been discussed in the fields of international relations and security studies. In this thesis, I set out to outline an Islamic perspective on the evaluation of state-sponsored proxy militias (SSPM), defined as “outsourced jihad,” which is defined as armed violence that is supported, financed, or authorized by states, but is committed by irregular forces not part of the formal military structure. This research aims to reconstruct the most important concepts and ideas of classical Sunni jurisprudence and contemporary Islamic ethics, such as wilāyah (legitimate authority), niyyah (moral intention), maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah (higher objectives of Islamic law), and mas’ūliyyah (collective accountability), using a normative-ethical and qualitative methodology based on Islamic legal and political approaches. The analysis of key writings from the Islamic tradition of contemporary scholarship on proxy warfare, sovereignty, and delegated violence is used to consider how these ethical concepts can be applied to contemporary forms of state sponsored armed delegations. This thesis is trying to show that proxy warfare is not just a military technique but an important moral challenge to classical Islamic concepts of unified command, clear lines of command and clear responsibility. It shows that the morality of delegated violence is tied to a highly functional authority system, ethical purpose, accountability mechanisms and a dedication to the public good. Without clear and unifying command or multiple self-serving agendas, and without accountability for acts of violence, the normative basis for the ethical basis of war in Islamic thought is weakened by proxy militias. This research combines classical Islamic concepts of political ethics with more modern thinking on the issue of sovereignty and delegated violence to offer a systematic approach to assess the legitimacy of state-sponsored proxy forces in Muslim-majority settings. This research will help with current discussions in Islamic ethics, political theology and conflict studies in developing a conceptual framework to evaluate the modernities of outsourced warfare.