War, Peace, International Relations in Islam Yitzhak Reiter Yitzhak Reiter examines fatwas - rulings of Islamic law - issued by religious sages and clerics on issues of war and peace in regard to the actual or future possibility of conducting a peace agreement between Muslim States and Israel. The analysis highlights Islamic law's adaptation to changing political realities in the modern model of international relations; the changing concept of jihad and the current role of political fatwas. It deals with the shari'a interpretations regarding war and peace in theory and practice; the Hudaybiyya Pact of 628 between the prophet Muhammad and the Quraysh infidels; Egyptian fatwas from 1947 to 1979 regarding peace with Israel; the 1995 debate between the late mufti of Saudi Arabia 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Baz and the popular Islamist scholar Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi over the Oslo Accords: the Hamas hudna concept; the debate between Saudi Arabian muftis and Hezbollah sages over Israel's second war in Lebanon (2006); and a comparative study of the agreements that were signed between the Algerian leader 'Abd al-Qadir and the French in the 1830s. The book: • Details those Muslim religious scholars and leaders who present pragmatic interpretations and envision the natural relations between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds as a state of peace; • Sheds light on the built-in pluralism in Islam; • And exposes the need of moderate Arab-Muslim rulers for pragmatic muftis and fatwas in order to contend with radical Muslim factions to soften and limit Arab public opposition to signing a peace agreement with Israel, and to enable normal relations with Israel after signing the agreement. Yitzhak Reiter is a Senior Fellow of both Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies and the Truman Research Institute of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and teaches at Ashkelon Academic College.