Islamist Exegesis of Q 3:110: The Islamic Doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect

Abstract

Is there an Islamic version of the UN doctrine of the "Respon-sibility to Protect"? Are Muslims obligated to defend their own community, and to save the rest of the world from tyranny and oppression? The UN d octrine commits member s tates to protect people from certain types of harm, and specifically includes pro-tecting populations from their own governments. If a comparable Islamic doctrine exists, it is especially ironic that the UN doctrine is so frequently applied to Muslim majority countries in the Middle East. This irony allows for a new perspective on the continuing con-ceptual and physical conflicts between western powers and states in the Middle East.