The Status of Internationalised Armed Conflict under Islamic International Law

Mohamad Ghazi Janaby

 

Abstract: This article examines the classification of armed conflicts under Islamic International Law, with a primary focus on comparing it to international humanitarian law (IHL). The main objective is to determine whether such classification could result in a type of armed conflict known as an ‘internationalised armed conflict’. According to IHL, this classification arises when a third state intervenes in a non-international armed conflict (NIAC), thereby introducing international elements that have significant implications within the IHL framework. This article investigates whether foreign intervention in a NIAC would lead to the applicability of different legal rules under Islamic International Law, based on the emergence of a new classification distinct from both international armed conflicts (IACs) and NIACs? Such intervention could involve either a non-Muslim country intervening in a NIAC between Muslim parties or a Muslim country intervening in a NIAC involving non-Muslim parties. The central argument of this article is that Islamic International Law (jus ad bellum) primarily focuses on the legality of intervention in NIAC suggesting that different rules might apply depending on the legality of the intervention, while the protective rules of Islamic International Law (jus in bello) remain applicable regardless of the intervention's legality in Islamic International Law.