Newsweek and the Washington Post asked several Muslim spiritual leaders and personalities some questions about the attitude of Islam towards basic issues that were posted on their joint website ON Faith. Here are the answers of the Religious Authority, Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah. That provides an Islamic objective and contemporary conceptualization towards such issues as Jihad, apostasy, and women. The Sayyed believes that Jihad is mainly a defensive means, while apostasy becomes dangerous when it violates the general order of the nation. As for the woman, the Sayyed asserts that they are equal and independent human beings.

Jihad in Islam (The violent confrontation of the enemy) is the fighting movement that aims at preventing the enemy from forcing its hegemony over the land and the people by means of violence that confiscates freedom, kills the people, usurps the wealth and prevents the people's rights in self-determination and running their own affairs. Therefore, Jihad is confronting violence by means of violence and force by force, which makes it of a defensive nature at times and a preventive one at others. And this is what the Glorious Qur'an has maintained in the following verses. Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loves not aggressors. (02:190 ); Sanction is given unto those who fight because they have been wronged; and Allah is indeed Able to give them victory(22:39 ) and “If thou fears treachery from any group, throw back (their covenant) to them, (so as to be) on equal terms”(08:58)

In the light of this, Jihad is no different than any human and civilized concept of self-defense.
It expresses the innate human nature of self-defense, or preventing the others from building the ability for a sudden aggression. Islam meets in this with all human values of all civilizations.
There is also the case of defending the downtrodden who are prosecuted by the arrogant and who have no means of defending themselves. Muslims have to defend these people if they ask them to. The humanitarian content of Islam makes it responsible for facing the injustice the downtrodden are subjected to by freeing them of this injustice.

Obviously, such a defense of the downtrodden is not arbitrary. It is carefully studied, and starts by peaceful means, in coordination with the nations and organizations that defend the rights of the downtrodden. Force is only turned to as a last resort, following the failure of all other means. The Qur'an describes this situation as such: And what reason have you that you should not fight in the way of Allah and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, (of) those who say: Our Lord! Cause us to go forth from this town, whose people are oppressors, and give us from Thee a guardian and give us from Thee a helper. (04:75)

Using force against the others in any other case is an illegal aggression, even it they are of different religion, race or other such differences. The Holy Qur'an repeats several times that but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loves not aggressors. (02:190), thus emphasizing the rejection of Islam of any aggression that is represented by terrorizing persecuting, and killing people unjustly.

Jihad in Islam is not using violence against the unbeliever, but against the fighting aggressor. The Glorious Qur'an differentiated between two kinds of people who are of a different religion, the peaceful kind and the aggressive fighting kind: Allah does not forbid you respecting those who have not made war against you on account of (your) religion, and have not driven you forth from your homes, that you show them kindness and deal with them justly; surely Allah loves the doers of justice.

Allah only forbids you, with regard to those who fight you for (your) Faith, and drive you out of your homes, and support (others) in driving you out, from turning to them (for friendship and protection). It is such as turn to them (in these circumstances), that do wrong. (60:8-9)

The first kind is the one that committed no aggression against Muslims or drove them out of their houses, but maintained peace with them. Those Muslims should befriend them and treat them justly in all issues and preserve all their human right.

The second kind is the one that fights Muslims unjustifiably and drives them out of their homes or supports those who drive them. Allah prevented the Muslims from befriending them as along as they maintain their hostile attitude.

The force Islam wishes its adherents to use is not a terrorist aggressive one, but a humanitarian defensive and value-oriented one. Islam wants Muslims to sign peace agreements with those they differ with on the basis of right justice and preserving human rights. O you who believe! enter into peace (Silm in Arabic ) one and all and do not follow the footsteps of Shaitan; surely he is your open enemy.(02:208 )and “And if they incline to peace, then incline to it” (08:61) . It also called on Muslims to pursue a dialogue with Jews and Christians using the best cultural and civilized methods And dispute ye not with the People of the Book, except with means better (than mere disputation), unless it be with those of them who inflict wrong (and injury): but say, "We believe in the revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you; Our Allah and your Allah is one; (29:46).

Such a dialogue that aims at solving problems should, according to Islam, be conducted in the way that turns enemies into friends. Nor can goodness and Evil be equal. Repel (Evil) with what is better: Then will he between whom and thee was hatred become as it were thy friend and intimate! (41:34). This suggests that the Muslims should befriend the world by cooperating in solving the problems without conceding their spiritual and intellectual authenticity.

As for those suicidal bombers who kill innocent people as well those who accuse others of unbelief, just because they differ with them in some sectarian views even within the same religion… or those who explode car bombs, killing women children, elderly and youth who have nothing to do with any war of aggression.

To those we say that their inhuman brutal actions have nothing to do with Islam whatsoever, and that what they are doing will lead to God's wrath and not His satisfaction.

It also undermines the image of Islam and Muslims and gives others a wrong idea about Islam and Muslims.

Apostasy is the negative position a Muslim takes towards Islam. He no longer maintains his belief without any proof, and he denies Islam's basic doctrinal principles of believing in the only God, the Messenger (p.), The Message and the Day of Judgment. Facing the apostate would involve asking him to explain the basis that made him denounce his belief, and engaging in an objective and free discussion about them with a group of religious scholars, with the aim of convincing him that he had made a mistake. If he refuses to take part in the dialogue, or if he does not agree to re-embrace Islam despite all the arguments and proofs he is faced with, it would suggest that his position is one of a complicated stubbornness, and not of someone with an open minded intellectual mentality. This attitude could have an effect on the general order of the society that Islam represents the existentialist basis of its safety and stability. Thus, such a position will be similar to grand treason to the motherland. One important remark in this respect: If they cannot convince him with the arguments they make or the proofs they offer, then they have no proof that he should be treated as an apostate.

Similarly, if he does not proclaim his apostasy, and continues to abide by the general order, socially and legally, then he would not be punished for changing the religion.

As for Allah's saying Let there be no compulsion in religion (02:256) and “Wouldst thou (Muhammad) compel men until they are believers? (10:99) they are referring to the fact that belief or faith is a cultural and rational issue that nobody can force others to accept especially if all the arguments have been made clear. Therefore, it is a subjective internal issue while. Thus, Allah's saying The desert Arabs say, "We believe." Say, "Ye have no faith; but ye (only)say, 'We have submitted our wills to Allah,' For not yet has Faith entered your hearts (49:14) suggests to us that embracing Islam is not only a matter of the heart and faith, but it is a commitment to belonging to the society and to the practice of Islamic law in the Muslim country the Muslim lives in. it is just like if somebody is living in a country which he does not adopt its cultural concepts. This person has to abide by the laws that apply on both the citizens and foreign residents. An apostate thus violates this general order which is not acceptable in Islamic legislation.

The woman in Islam is a full human being in her mental and rational capabilities, and her mind is no less than that of a man. She has the right to learn reaching the highest levels of education in all academic and scientific fields. She also has all social, political and economic rights. She is an independent person economically speaking. She has the right to possess and make all business transactions without the supervision or authority of any man over her. She is also a social person that has the right to practice all charity, educational, and similar activities. She is also a political person that has the right to elect and be elected and represent the people who elect her.

She also has the right to hold any legislative or administrative post regardless of how high it is. If some jurists have certain reservations about her legal right of being the head of state, there are also some juristic judgments that question this line of thought.

On the other hand there are some legislations dealing with the woman's status that are different from those in the West.

First: there is the veil, which is a religious obligation that calls for the covering of the body with the exception of the face, the palms and the feet. This is because Islam does not want the woman and the man to be influenced by the sexual drive, in order to maintain chastity, since the woman has been treated throughout its history as being more of a sexual stimulant than the man. And this is what we notice in the art and media domains that try to present the woman as a sexual stimulant, especially to the teenagers.

The difference between Islam and the West is that the Islamic civilization is ethically committed, while the west considers the ethical aspect, including the sexual freedom, a part of the individual freedom of man, and therefore, does not consider illegal sex a civil crime, since it is a personal matter that is not related to virtues.

On our part, we do not believe that the moderate veil, that does not involve covering the face, represents a problem to the woman that hinders her practice of her cultural, social, political and economic commitments.

I would like to add, jokingly, that all men in the world, especially civil servants and high officials, are committed to the veil, since they cover all their bodies except their heads, where as the women also veil their breasts and their sexual organs, depending on the concept of sexual excitation that is broader in the Islamic view than the western one.

As for certain legislations, such as those of inheritance and testimony, they are interpreted as being ones that deal with complimentary responsibilities.

As for the judiciary, there is a juristic opinion that allows the woman to be a judge. And it is a ruling I am in favor of.

The remaining issue of divorce that Islam had made the man in charge of. This was because man holds the entire responsibility of the matrimonial life. But Islam gave the woman the right to divorce in many cases, in which life becomes an unbearable hell, and whose details lay out of the scope of the question.

To sum up, the woman in Islam is a full human being, and the legal exceptions are a result of the physiological and physical differences between the two sexes.

The difference between the man and the woman in the West and in Islam is the difference between the materialistic base of the Western civilization and the Islamic civilization whose basis is both spiritual and materialistic.

If the backwardness that Muslims lived in their history and which had in the most part negative consequences, had undermined the position of the woman as a human being, this is in no way the responsibility of Islam. It is the responsibility of the backwardness the Muslims lived in history, just as many other nations, including western ones, lived in their old history.