Editing Religious war (section)

== Modern period ==
=== Greek War of Independence ===
[[File:Francesco Podesti (1800-1895) - Ο Θάνατος του Σπύρου Δαγλιόστρου, π. 1831.jpg|thumb|Greek Orthodox priest among the Greek rebels during the Greek War of Independence]]
The [[Greek War of Independence]] (1821–1829) has sometimes been considered a religious war between Christians and Muslims, especially in its early phase. The Greek Declaration of Independence (issued on 15 January 1822) legitimised the armed rebellion against the [[Ottoman Empire]] in a mix of religious and [[nationalism|nationalist]] terms: "The war we are waging against the Turks, far from being founded in demagoguery, seditiousness or the selfish interests of any one part of the Greek nation, is a national and holy war (...). It is from these principles of natural rights and desiring to assimilate ourselves with our European Christian brethren, that we have embarked upon our war against the Turks."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Greek_Declaration_of_Independence |title=Greek Declaration of Independence |author= |work=English Wikisource |date=15 January 1822 |access-date=18 March 2022}}</ref> Scottish writer [[Felicia Skene]] remarked in 1877: "The Greek war of independence has never been called a religious war, and yet it had a better claim to that appellation than many a conflict which has been so named by the chroniclers of the past. It is a significant fact that the standard of revolt was raised by no mere patriot, but by [[Germanos III of Old Patras|Germanus, the aged Archbishop of Patras]], who came forward, strong in his spiritual dignity (...) to be the first champion in the cause of Hellenic liberty."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Skene |first1=Felicia |date=1877 |title=The Life of Alexander Lycurgus, Archbishop of the Cyclades |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUMBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA3 |location=London |publisher=Rivingtons |pages=3 |access-date=18 March 2022}}</ref> [[Ian Morris (historian)|Ian Morris]] (1994) stated that "the uprising in 1821 was mainly a religious war", but that [[Philhellenism|philhellene]] Western volunteers joined the war for quite different reasons, namely to 'regenerate' Greece and thereby Europe, motivated by [[Romanticism|Romantic ideas]] about European history and civilisation, and [[Orientalism|Orientalist views]] of Ottoman culture.<ref name="Morris">{{Cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Ian |date=1994 |title=Classical Greece: Ancient Histories and Modern Archaeologies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fnJvha8jzzQC&pg=PA22 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=22 |isbn=9780521456784 |access-date=18 March 2022}}</ref> The [[Filiki Eteria]], the main organisation driving the rebellion, was split between two groups: one advocated the restoration of the [[Byzantine Empire]] on religious grounds, and to encourage all Christians within Ottoman territory to join the Greek revolutionaries; the other advocated the [[Megali Idea]], a large Greek nation-state based on shared language rather than religion.<ref name="Morris"/> Both of these grand objectives failed, but a smaller version of the latter goal was accepted by most members of the Eteria by 1823, and this goal was generally compatible with the motives of philhellenes who travelled to Greece to enter the war in 1821–1823.<ref name="Morris"/>

===Israeli–Palestinian conflict===
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[[File:Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - Arab People fleeing.jpg|thumb|[[Palestinian refugees]] making their way from [[Galilee]] to Lebanon in October 1948]]
[[File:Temple Mount (Aerial view, 2007) 05.jpg|thumb|The [[Temple Mount]], also known as the Al-Aqsa compound, where the [[Al-Aqsa clashes]] occurred]]
[[File:Fatally wounded Israeli school boy.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|A fatally wounded Israeli school boy in a Hamas attack, 2011]]
The [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]] can primarily be viewed as an [[ethnic conflict]] between two parties where one party is most often portrayed as a singular ethno-religious group which only consists of the Jewish majority and ignores non-Jewish minority Israeli citizens who support the existence of a [[State of Israel]] to varying degrees, especially the [[Druze]] and the [[Circassians]] who, for example, volunteer to serve in the [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]], participate in combat and are represented in the [[Knesset|Israeli parliament]] in greater percentages than Israeli Jews are<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Merza|first=Eleonore|date=2008
| page= 24
|title=In search of a lost time|url=https://journals.openedition.org/bcrfj/5911|journal=Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem|language=en|issue=19|issn=2075-5287}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-10-08
| first = Jonathan| last= Adelman
| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190403082503/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-druze-of-israel-hope-_b_8265050
| archive-date= 3 April 2019
| url-status= live
|title=The Druze of Israel: Hope for Arab-Jewish Collaboration|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-druze-of-israel-hope-_b_8265050|access-date=2023-01-02|website=Huffington Post|language=en}}</ref> as well as [[Israeli Arabs]], [[Samaritans]],<ref>{{Cite news|date=2016-04-22|url-access= subscription 
|title=Samaritans form bridge of peace between Israelis and Palestinians|work=Financial Times|url=https://www.ft.com/content/365747cc-07c4-11e6-a623-b84d06a39ec2|access-date=2023-01-02}}</ref> various other Christians, and [[Negev Bedouin]];<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-04-24
| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190402113045/http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/profiles/2013/04/24/Bedouin-army-trackers-scale-Israel-social-ladder-.html
| archive-date= 2 April 2019
|title=Muslim Arab Bedouins serve as Jewish state's gatekeepers|url=https://english.alarabiya.net/perspective/profiles/2013/04/24/Bedouin-army-trackers-scale-Israel-social-ladder-|access-date=2023-01-02|website=Al Arabiya English|language=en}}</ref> the other party is sometimes presented as an ethnic group which is multi-religious (although most numerously consisting of Muslims, then Christians, then other religious groups up to and including Samaritans and even Jews). Yet despite the multi-religious composition of both of the parties in the conflict, elements on both sides often view it as a religious war between Jews and Muslims. In 1929, religious tensions between Muslim and Jewish Palestinians over the latter praying at the [[Wailing Wall]] led to the [[1929 Palestine riots]], including the [[1929 Hebron massacre|Hebron]] and [[Safed]] massacres.<ref name=segev>{{cite book |last=Segev |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Segev |title=One Palestine, Complete |year=1999 |publisher=Metropolitan Books |isbn=0-8050-4848-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/onepalestinecomp00sege/page/295 295–313] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/onepalestinecomp00sege/page/295 }}</ref>

In 1947, the UN's decision to [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|partition]] the [[Mandatory Palestine|Mandate of Palestine]], led to the creation of the state of Israel and [[Jordan]], which annexed the West Bank portion of the mandate, since then, the region has been plagued with [[Arab–Israeli conflict|conflict]]. The 1948 Palestinian exodus also known as the ''Nakba'' ({{langx|ar|النكبة}}),<ref>Stern, Yoav. [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/982390.html "Palestinian refugees, Israeli left-wingers mark Nakba"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723232047/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/982390.html |date=23 July 2008 }}, ''Ha'aretz'', Tel Aviv, 13 May 2008; [http://www.badil.org/Publications/badil-nakba-60-info-packet/index.html Nakba 60] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612162136/http://www.badil.org/Publications/badil-nakba-60-info-packet/index.html |date=12 June 2008 }}, BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights; Cleveland, William L. ''A History of the Modern Middle East'', Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2004, p. 270. {{ISBN|978-0-8133-4047-0}}</ref> occurred when [[Estimates of the Palestinian Refugee flight of 1948|approximately 711,000 to 726,000]] [[Palestinian people|Palestinian Arabs]] [[Causes of the 1948 Palestinian exodus|fled or were expelled from their homes]], during the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]] and the [[1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine|Civil War]] that preceded it.<ref>{{cite book|last1=McDowall|first1=David|title=The Palestinians|year=1987|publisher=Minority Rights Group Report no 24|isbn=0-946690-42-1|author2=Claire Palley|page=10}}</ref> The exact number of refugees is a matter of dispute, though the number of Palestine refugees and their unsettled descendants registered with UNRWA is more than 4.3 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/2010011791015.pdf|title=The United Nations and Palestinian Refugees|publisher=Unrwa.org|access-date=20 October 2014|archive-date=23 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423164536/https://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/2010011791015.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Crenshaw2010">{{cite book |editor-last=Crenshaw |editor-first=Martha |title=The Consequences of Counterterrorism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eqrbWrjrvDAC&pg=PA356 |year=2010 |publisher=Russell Sage Foundation |location=New York |isbn=978-0-87154-073-7 |page=356 |last1=Pedahzur |first1=Ami |last2=Perliger |first2=Arie |chapter=The Consequences of Counterterrorist Policies in Israel |access-date=12 October 2015 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417233821/https://books.google.com/books?id=eqrbWrjrvDAC&pg=PA356 |url-status=live }}</ref> The causes remain the subject of fundamental disagreement between Palestinians and Israelis. Both Jews and Palestinians make ethnic and historical claims to the land, and Jews make religious claims as well.<ref>Carter, Jimmy. ''[[Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid]]''. Simon & Schuster, 2006. {{ISBN|0-7432-8502-6}}</ref>

According to historian [[Benny Morris]], the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, from the Arab perspective, was "a war of religion as much as, if not more than, a nationalist war over territory."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Benny |title=[[1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War]] |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780300126969 |pages=394–396}}</ref> This assertion has been challenged by other scholars.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gelber |first=Yoav |year=2008 |title=The Jihad That Wasn't |url=https://azure.org.il/article.php?id=475&page=all |journal=Azure |issue=34}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Ben-Ami |first=Shlomo |date=September 1, 2008 |title=Review: A War to Start All Wars: Will Israel Ever Seal the Victory of 1948? |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/review-essay/2008-09-01/war-start-all-wars |journal=Foreign Affairs |volume=87 |issue=5 |pages=148–156 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20181121212127/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/review-essay/2008-09-01/war-start-all-wars |archive-date=November 21, 2018}}</ref>

===Pakistan and India===
The [[All India Muslim League]] (AIML) was formed in [[Dhaka]] in 1906 by Muslims who were suspicious of the Hindu-majority [[Indian National Congress]]. They complained that Muslim members did not have the same rights as Hindu members. A number of different scenarios were proposed at various times. This was fuelled by the British policy of "[[Divide and rule|Divide and Rule]]", which they tried to bring upon every political situation. Among the first to make the demand for a separate state was the writer/philosopher [[Allama Iqbal]], who, in his presidential address to the 1930 convention of the Muslim League said that a separate nation for Muslims was essential in an otherwise [[Hindu]]-dominated subcontinent.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

After the dissolution of the [[British Raj]] in 1947, [[Partition of India|British India was partitioned]] into two new sovereign states—the [[Dominion of India]] and the [[Dominion of Pakistan]]. In the resulting [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948]], up to 12.5 million people were displaced, with estimates of loss of life varying from several hundred thousand to a million.<ref>{{Harvnb|Metcalf|Metcalf|2006|pp=221–222}}</ref> India emerged as a [[secularism in India|secular republic]] with a [[Hinduism in India|Hindu majority]], while Pakistan was established as an [[Islamic republic]] with [[Islam in Pakistan|Muslim majority]] population.<ref name="Indian Census">{{cite web|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/religion.aspx|title=Census of India : Religious Composition|publisher=Censusindia.gov.in|access-date=20 October 2014|archive-date=30 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430075312/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/religion.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/area_pop/area_pop.html]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222185234/http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/area_pop/area_pop.html|date=22 December 2010}}</ref>

===Nigerian conflict===
{{See also|Religious violence in Nigeria|Islamist insurgency in the Sahel}}
Inter-ethnic conflict in Nigeria has generally had a religious element. Riots against Igbo in 1953 and in the 1960s in the north were said to have been sparked by religious conflict. The riots against Igbo in the north in 1966 were said to have been inspired by radio reports of mistreatment of Muslims in the south.<ref>{{cite book |editor = Alexander Laban Hilton |author=Kevin Lewis O'Neill|title= Genocide: truth, memory, and representation  |publisher= [[Duke University Press]] |date=March 2009|isbn= 978-0-8223-4405-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JHnEI2m5tFIC&q=igbo+riots+1966+radio&pg=PA252}}</ref> A military coup d'état led by lower and middle-ranking officers, some of them Igbo, overthrew the NPC-NCNC dominated government. Prime Minister Balewa along with other northern and western government officials were assassinated during the coup. The coup was considered an Igbo plot to overthrow the northern dominated government. A counter-coup was launched by mostly northern troops. Between June and July there was a mass exodus of Ibo from the north and west. Over 1.3 million Ibo fled the neighboring regions in order to escape persecution as anti-Ibo riots increased. The aftermath of the anti-Ibo riots led many to believe that security could only be gained by separating from the North.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,MARP,,NGA,,469f38c3467,0.html|title=Refworld - Chronology for Ibo in Nigeria|author=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees|work=Refworld|access-date=20 October 2014}}</ref>

In the 1980s, serious outbreaks between Christians and Muslims occurred in [[Kafanchan]] in southern [[Kaduna State]] in a border area between the two religions.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

The [[2010 Jos riots]] saw clashes between Muslim herders against Christian farmers near the volatile city of [[Jos]], resulting in hundreds of casualties.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2010/0308/Nigeria-violence-Muslim-Christian-clashes-kill-hundreds |title=Nigeria violence: Muslim-Christian clashes kill hundreds |publisher=CSMonitor.com |date=2010-03-08 |access-date=16 May 2010 |archive-date=11 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100311013249/http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2010/0308/Nigeria-violence-Muslim-Christian-clashes-kill-hundreds |url-status=live }}</ref> Officials estimated that 500 people were massacred in night-time raids by rampaging Muslim gangs.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article7054630.ece | work=The Times | location=London | title=500 butchered in Nigeria killing fields | first1=Jonathan | last1=Clayton | first2=Ruth | last2=Gledhill | date=2010-03-08 | access-date=30 April 2010 | archive-date=30 August 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830150647/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article7054630.ece | url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Buddhist uprising===
During the rule of the Catholic [[Ngo Dinh Diem]] in [[South Vietnam]], the discrimination against the majority Buddhist population generated the growth of Buddhist institutions as they sought to participate in national politics and gain better treatment. The [[Buddhist Uprising]] of 1966 was a period of civil and military unrest in [[South Vietnam]], largely focused in the [[I Corps (South Vietnam)|I Corps]] area in the north of the country in central Vietnam.<ref>[http://www.war-stories.com/aspprotect/dn-poss-vc-nva-pow-camp-1965-1966-2.asp]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110815093633/http://www.war-stories.com/aspprotect/dn-poss-vc-nva-pow-camp-1965-1966-2.asp|date=15 August 2011}}</ref>

In a country where the Buddhist majority was estimated to be between 70 and 90 percent,<ref>Moyar (2006), pp. 215–16.</ref><ref name="TIME1963">{{cite web |date= 1963-06-14|url = http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,874816,00.html|archive-url = https://archive.today/20121204165344/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,874816,00.html|url-status = dead|archive-date = 4 December 2012|title = The Religious Crisis|publisher =[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=21 August 2007}}</ref><ref>Tucker, pp. 49, 291, 293.</ref><ref>Maclear, p. 63.</ref><ref name="PentagonPapers">{{cite web|date=1963-07-10|url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon2/doc125.htm|title=The Situation In South Vietnam - SNIE 53-2-63|publisher=[[The Pentagon Papers]], Gravel Edition, Volume 2|pages=729–733|access-date=21 August 2007|archive-date=9 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109110224/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon2/doc125.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Diem ruled with a strong religious bias. As a member of the [[Catholic Church in Vietnam|Catholic Vietnamese]] minority, he pursued pro-Catholic policies that antagonized many Buddhists.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

===Chinese conflict===
[[File:Capture of the Provincial Capital Dali, Yunnan.jpg|thumb|Capture of [[Dali City|Dali]], the capital of the Pingnan Sultanate in [[Yunnan]], from the set ''Victory over the Muslims'']]
The [[Dungan revolt (1862–1877)]] and [[Panthay Rebellion]] (1856–1873) by the [[Hui people|Hui]] were also set off by racial antagonism and class warfare, rather than the mistaken assumption that it was all due to Islam that the rebellions broke out.<ref>John Alexander Selbie, Louis Herbert Gray 1916 893</ref> During the Dungan revolt fighting broke out between [[Uyghurs]] and Hui.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

In 1936, after Sheng Shicai [[Kazakh exodus from Xinjiang|expelled 20,000 Kazakhs from Xinjiang to Qinghai]], the Hui led by General [[Ma Bufang]] massacred their fellow Muslims, the [[Kazakhs]], until there were only 135 of them left.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m98sAAAAIAAJ&q=A+group+of+Kazakhs,+originally+numbering+over+20000+people+when+expelled+from+Sinkiang+by+Sheng+Shih-ts'ai+in+1936,+was+reduced,+after+repeated+massacres+by+their+Chinese+coreligionists+under+Ma+Pu-fang,+to+a+scattered+135+people|title=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Volume 277|author=American Academy of Political and Social Science|year=1951|publisher=American Academy of Political and Social Science|page=152|access-date=28 June 2010|archive-date=15 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210715101722/https://books.google.com/books?id=m98sAAAAIAAJ&q=A+group+of+Kazakhs%2C+originally+numbering+over+20000+people+when+expelled+from+Sinkiang+by+Sheng+Shih-ts%27ai+in+1936%2C+was+reduced%2C+after+repeated+massacres+by+their+Chinese+coreligionists+under+Ma+Pu-fang%2C+to+a+scattered+135+people|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NnY5AAAAMAAJ&q=kazakhs+ma+pu-fang|title=Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Volumes 276-278|author=American Academy of Political and Social Science|year=1951|publisher=American Academy of Political and Social Science|page=152|access-date=28 June 2010|archive-date=15 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210715101718/https://books.google.com/books?id=NnY5AAAAMAAJ&q=kazakhs+ma+pu-fang|url-status=live}}</ref>

Tensions with Uyghurs and Hui arose because Qing and Republican Chinese authorities used Hui troops and officials to dominate the Uyghurs and crush Uyghur revolts.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfWq65DlGxkC&q=hui%20troops%20to%20dominate%20the%20uyghurs&pg=PA311|title=Xinjiang: China's Muslim borderland|author=S. Frederick Starr|year=2004|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=0-7656-1318-2|page=311|access-date=28 June 2010}}</ref> Xinjiang's Hui population increased by over 520 percent between 1940 and 1982, an average annual growth rate of 4.4 percent, while the Uyghur population only grew by 1.7 percent. This dramatic increase in the Hui population led inevitably to significant tensions between the Hui and Uyghur Muslim populations. Some old Uyghurs in [[Kashgar]] remember that the Hui army at the [[Battle of Kashgar (1934)]] massacred 2,000 to 8,000 Uyghurs, which caused tension as more Hui moved into Kashgar from other parts of China.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXj4a3gss8wC&q=This%20dramatic%20increase%20in%20the%20hui%20population%20led%20inevitably%20to%20significant%20tensions%20between%20the%20hui%20and&pg=PA113|title=Xinjiang: China's Muslim borderland|author=S. Frederick Starr|year=2004|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=0-7656-1318-2|page=113|access-date=28 June 2010}}</ref> Some Hui criticize [[Uyghur separatism]], and generally do not want to get involved in conflicts in other countries over Islam for fear of being perceived as radical.<ref name="Van Wie Davis">{{cite web|url=http://www.apcss.org/Publications/APCSS--%20Uyghur%20Muslim%20Separatism%20in%20Xinjiang.doc |title=Uyghur Muslim Ethnic Separatism in Xinjiang, China |last=Van Wie Davis |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Van Wie Davis |publisher=Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies |access-date=28 June 2010 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617011421/http://apcss.org/Publications/APCSS--%20Uyghur%20Muslim%20Separatism%20in%20Xinjiang.doc |archive-date=17 June 2009 }}</ref> Hui and Uyghur live apart from each other, praying separately and attending different mosques.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MT0VFdKklYoC&q=hui+circumcision&pg=PA35|title=Nationalism and ethnoregional identities in China|author=William Safran|year=1998|publisher=Psychology Press|page=35|isbn=0-7146-4921-X|access-date=11 January 2011}}</ref>

===Lebanese Civil War===
{{unreferenced section|date=September 2019}}
{{See also|Lebanese Civil War#Political groups and militias}}
[[File:Beirut- building from before civil war.jpeg|thumb|War-damaged buildings in Beirut]]
There is no consensus among scholars on what triggered the [[Lebanese Civil War]] (1975–1990). However, the militarization of the [[Palestinian refugee]] population, along with the arrival of the [[PLO]] guerrilla forces, sparked an [[arms race]] for the different [[Lebanon|Lebanese]] political factions. However, the conflict played out along three religious lines: [[Sunni Muslim]], [[Christian Lebanese]] and [[Shiite Muslim]], [[Druze]] are considered among Shiite Muslims.

It has been argued that the antecedents of the war can be traced back to the conflicts and political compromises reached after the end of Lebanon's administration by the [[Ottoman Empire]]. The [[Cold War]] had a powerful disintegrative effect on Lebanon, which was closely linked to the [[polarization (politics)|polarization]] that preceded the [[1958 Lebanon crisis|1958 political crisis]]. During the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], an exodus of [[Palestinian refugees]], who [[1948 Palestinian exodus|fled the fighting or were expelled from their homes]], arrived in Lebanon. Palestinians came to play a very important role in future Lebanese civil conflicts, and the establishment of Israel radically changed the local environment in which Lebanon found itself.

Lebanon was promised independence, which was achieved on 22 November 1943. [[Free France|Free French]] troops, who had invaded Lebanon in 1941 to rid Beirut of the [[Vichy France|Vichy French]] forces, left the country in 1946. The Christians assumed power over the country and its economy. A confessional Parliament was created in which Muslims and Christians were given quotas of seats. As well, the president was to be a Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of Parliament a Shia Muslim.

In March 1991, Parliament passed an [[amnesty law]] that pardoned all political crimes prior to its enactment. The amnesty was not extended to crimes perpetrated against foreign diplomats or certain crimes referred by the cabinet to the Higher Judicial Council. In May 1991, the militias (with the important exception of [[Hezbollah]]) were dissolved, and the [[Lebanese Armed Forces]] began slowly to rebuild themselves as Lebanon's only major non-sectarian institution.

Some violence still occurred. In late December 1991 a car bomb (estimated to carry 220 pounds of TNT) exploded in the Muslim neighborhood of [[Basta, Lebanon|Basta]]. At least 30 people were killed, and 120 wounded, including former Prime Minister [[Shafik Wazzan]], who was riding in a bulletproof car.

=== Iran–Iraq War ===
[[File:Teenage soldiers (Basij volunteers) during the Iran-Iraq War (05).jpg|thumb|Teenage [[Basij]] soldiers during the Iran-Iraq War]]
In the case of the [[Iran–Iraq War]] (1980–1988), the new [[Iranian Revolution|revolutionary]] government of the [[Islamic Republic of Iran]] generally described the conflict as a religious war,<ref name="Asadzade">{{Cite journal |last1=Asadzade |first1=Peyman |date=25 June 2019 |title=War and Religion: The Iran−Iraq War |url=https://oxfordre.com/politics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-812 |journal=Oxford Research Encyclopedias |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume= |issue= |pages= |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.812 |isbn=978-0-19-022863-7 |access-date=18 April 2022}}</ref> and used the narrative of ''[[jihad]]'' to recruit, mobilise and motivate its troops.<ref name="Asadzade"/><ref name="Johnsen">{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg5fgqrc4Gw |title=Iran-Iraq War <nowiki>|</nowiki> Animated History |author=Griffin Johnson |work=[[The Armchair Historian]] |date=9 November 2019 |access-date=18 April 2022}}</ref>{{rp|at=9:24, 16:05}} On the other hand, justifications from the [[Saddam Hussein]]-led [[Ba'athist Iraq]] were mostly framed in terms of a supposed Persian–Arab historical enmity, and Iraq-centred [[Arab nationalism]] (including support for [[Arab separatism in Khuzestan]]).<ref name="Asadzade"/> Some of the underlying motives of Saddam appear to have been [[Shatt al-Arab dispute|controlling the Shatt al-Arab waterway and region]] (previously settled by the [[1975 Algiers Agreement]], which had ended [[Pahlavi Iran|Imperial Iranian]] support for the [[Second Iraqi–Kurdish War|1974–75 Kurdish rebellion against the Iraqi government]]<ref name="Johnsen"/>{{rp|at=3:27}}), obtaining access to the [[Politics of Khuzestan Province|oil reserves in Khuzestan]], and exploiting [[consolidation of the Iranian Revolution|the instability of post-Revolution Iran]], including the failed [[1979 Khuzestan insurgency]].<ref name="Johnsen"/>{{rp|at=3:06}} Peyman Asadzade (2019) stated: "Although the evidence suggests that religious motivations by no means contributed to Saddam's decision to [[Iraqi invasion of Iran|launch the war]], an overview of the Iranian leaders' speeches and martyrs' statements reveals that religion significantly motivated people to take part in the war. (...) The Iranian leadership painted the war as a battle between believers and unbelievers, Muslims and infidels, and the true and the false."<ref name="Asadzade"/> Iran cited religious reasons to justify continuing combat operations, for example in the face of Saddam's offer of peace in mid-1982, rejected by [[Ruhollah Khomeini|Ayatollah Khomeini]]'s declaration that the war would not end until Iran had defeated the Ba'athist regime and replaced it with an [[Islamic republic]].<ref name="Johnsen"/>{{rp|at=8:16}}

While Ba'athist Iraq has sometimes been described as a "secular dictatorship" before the war, and therefore in ideological conflict with the Shia Islamic '[[theocracy]]' which seized control of Iran in 1979,<ref name="Johnsen"/>{{rp|at=3:40}} Iraq also launched the so-called [[Tawakalna ala Allah Operations|''Tawakalna ala Allah'' ("Trust in God") Operations]] (April–July 1988) in the final stages of the war.<ref name="Johnsen"/>{{rp|at=16:05}} Moreover, the [[Anfal campaign]] (1986–1989; in strict sense February–September 1988) was code-named after [[Al-Anfal]], the eighth [[sura]] of the [[Qur'an]] which narrates the triumph of 313 followers of the new Muslim faith over almost 900 [[pagan]]s at the [[Battle of Badr]] in the year 624.<ref name="knowledge"/> "Al Anfal" literally means ''the spoils (of war)'' and was used to describe the military campaign of extermination and looting commanded by [[Ali Hassan al-Majid]] (also known as "Chemical Ali").<ref name="knowledge"/> His orders informed ''[[jash (term)|jash]]'' (Kurdish collaborators with the Baathists, literally "donkey's foal" in [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]]) units that taking cattle, sheep, goats, money, weapons and even women as spoils of war was ''[[halal]]'' (religiously permitted or legal).<ref name="knowledge">{{Cite book|last=Randal|first=Jonathan C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YimNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT183|title=After Such Knowledge, What Forgiveness?: My Encounters With Kurdistan|date=2019
|page=183
|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-429-71113-8|language=en}}</ref> Randal (1998, 2019) argued that 'Al Anfal' was "a curious nod to Islam" by the Ba'athist government, because it had originally been known as a "militantly secular regime".<ref name="knowledge"/> Some commentators have concluded that the code name was meant to serve as "a religious justification" for the campaign against the Kurds.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/iraq501/events_anfal.html |title=The Crimes of Saddam Hussein – 1988 The Anfal Campaign |author=Dave Johns |work=Saddam's Road to Hell |publisher=[[Frontline (American TV program)|PBS Frontline]] |date=24 January 2006 |access-date=18 April 2022}}</ref>

===Yugoslav Wars===
{{see also|Foreign fighters in the Bosnian War}}
The [[Croatian War]] (1991–1995) and the [[Bosnian War]] (1992–1995) have been viewed as religious wars between the Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim populations of former [[Yugoslavia]]: respectively called "[[Serbs]]", "[[Croats]]" and "[[Bosniaks]]" (or "Bosnian Muslims").<ref name="RadeljićTopić2015">{{cite book|author1=Branislav Radeljić|author2=Martina Topić|title=Religion in the Post-Yugoslav Context|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0VEiCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA5|date=1 July 2015|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-1-4985-2248-9|pages=5–11}}</ref><ref name="BoyleSheen1997">{{cite book|author1=Kevin Boyle|author2=Juliet Sheen|title=Freedom of Religion and Belief: A World Report|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PxXIwVPran0C&pg=PA409|year=1997|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-15977-7|pages=409 ff}}</ref> Traditional religious symbols were used during the wars.<ref>Velikonja, Mitja. "In hoc signo vinces: religious symbolism in the Balkan wars 1991–1995." International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 17.1 (2003): 25-40.</ref> Notably, foreign Muslim volunteers came to Bosnia to wage ''[[jihad]]'' and were thus known as "[[Bosnian mujahideen]]".{{citation needed|date=March 2022}} Although some news media and some scholars at the time and in the aftermath often described the conflicts as [[nationalism|nationalist]] or ethnic in nature.{{refn|group=note|name=Črnič & Lesjak}} Some scholars have stated that they "were not religious wars", but acknowledged that "religion played an important role in the wars" and "did often serve as the motivating and integrating factor for justifying military attacks".{{refn|group=note|name=Črnič & Lesjak|Črnič & Lesjak (2003): "Religion played an important role in the wars, which took place in the early and mid 1990s, and shattered a large part of the Balkans (see Velikonja 2003). These were not religious wars in which Serbian Christian (Orthodox) troops would assume the role of the last bastian against the Muslim advance on the West, although this is how they were often interpreted in Western Europe and the USA. However, religion did often serve as the motivating and integrating factor for justifying military attacks that were actually nationalistic in nature. Thus, religion was merged with national identity. It was made to appear that all (real) Serbs had to be Orthodox, just as all Croatians had to be Catholics, and Bosnians had to be Muslims."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Črnič|first1=Aleš|last2=Lesjak|first2=Gregor|title=Religious Freedom and Control in Independent Slovenia|volume=64|number=3|pages=349–350|date=2003|journal=Sociology of Religion|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|doi=10.2307/3712489|jstor=3712489}}</ref>}}

===Sudanese Civil War===
The [[Second Sudanese Civil War]] from 1983 to 2005 has been described as an [[ethnoreligious]] conflict where the Muslim central government's pursuits to impose sharia law on non-Muslim southerners led to violence, and eventually to the civil war. The war resulted in the independence of [[South Sudan]] six years after the war ended. Sudan is majority-Muslim and South Sudan is majority-Christian.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://countrystudies.us/sudan/63.htm | work=[[Library of Congress Country Studies|Country Studies]] | title=Sudan | publisher=Library of Congress | quote=The factors that provoked the military coup, primarily the closely intertwined issues of Islamic law and of the civil war in the south, remained unresolved in 1991. The September 1983 implementation of the sharia throughout the country had been controversial and provoked widespread resistance in the predominantly non-Muslim south ... Opposition to the sharia, especially to the application of hudud (sing., hadd), or Islamic penalties, such as the public amputation of hands for theft, was not confined to the south and had been a principal factor leading to the popular uprising of April 1985 that overthrew the government of Jaafar an Nimeiri | access-date=10 January 2016 | archive-date=23 June 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623125406/http://countrystudies.us/sudan/63.htm | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/sudan/facts.html |title=PBS Frontline: "Civil war was sparked in 1983 when the military regime tried to impose sharia law as part of its overall policy to "Islamicize" all of Sudan." |publisher=Pbs.org |access-date=4 April 2012 |archive-date=4 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304223804/http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/sudan/facts.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/pdf/darfur_040707.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515104053/http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/pdf/darfur_040707.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-05-15 |quotation=The war flared again in 1983 after then-President Jaafar Nimeri abrogated the peace accord and announced he would turn Sudan into a Muslim Arab state, where Islamic law, or sharia, would prevail, including in the southern provinces. Sharia can include amputation of limbs for theft, public flogging and stoning. The war, fought between the government and several rebel groups, continued for two decades. |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|title=Sudan at War With Itself}}</ref><ref>[[Bassam Tibi|Tibi, Bassam]] (2008). ''Political Islam, World Politics and Europe''. [[Routledge]]. p. 33. "The shari'a was imposed on non-Muslim Sudanese peoples in September 1983, and since that time Muslims in the north have been fighting a jihad against the non-Muslims in the south."</ref>