Who Can Authorize Defensive Jihad?
Jihad can sustain the breakdown of leadership. If a group of Muslims come under attack by non-Muslims, then no formal declaration of war is required and the Muslims are to defend themselves against such attack. Thus defensive jihad can occur in the absence of a Caliph. Indeed, fundamentalist Muslims believe that the absence of a Caliph is grave violation of Islamic law and that the fall of the Caliphate (brought to an end on March 3, 1924, by Kemal Atatürk) is an indication that Muslim lands and Islam are under attack by non-Muslims and in need of defensive jihad.
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