The Transformation of the Jihad-Doctrine in Sadat's Egypt

Scientific Study from the year 2009 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Near East, Near Orient, , language: English, abstract: On March 26, 1979 Egypt and Israel signed a bilateral peace treaty which isolated Egypt in the Arab world. Shortly afterwards, the religious establishment of Egypt justified the treaty with an Islamic legal opinion (fatwa). The gradual theological justification of peace with Israel and the transformation of the jihad doctrine in Sadat's Egypt happened in three distinctive stages between the 1973 October War and the peace treaty of 1979. This paper analyses the official religious discourse and explains how the official clerics' understanding of jihad(literally: exerting an effort) changed from "war" (harb) over "ceasefire" (hudna) to "peace" (sulh).