By N.M. Rishard –
N.M. Rishard
Few days ago, I happened to meet one of my schoolmates at Kandy bus station. It was nearly one decade I met him before. On our way to Colombo, we had a good opportunity to discuss many issues that happened in this particular period. I’m a Muslim and he is a Hindu. The reason why I mentioned our religious identity is that most of our discussion that we engaged throughout the journey was about the brutal 4/21 bombing attack and the Qur’anic verses that talk about war and killing. Our conversation started with exchanging our grievance towards those who died and victimized by the attack. Suddenly, my friend made a U-Turn in his talk and asked me about some Qur’anic verses that directly illustrate about war and killing. And then, he quoted the following verse and expected my reply. When the forbidden months have passed, kill the polytheists wherever you find them... (Chapter Thawba, Verse 5)
I had only two options either to give him a direct and clear interpretation to above mentioned verse or to explain the methodological error that he followed while reading and understanding religious texts. I preferred the second option which, I believe, will lead to understand a particular issue with proper methodological and scientific study. As far as I am concerned, following two stages are more essential and there is a high possibility to happen errors if both or one of them is neglected intentionally or unintentionally. This error is widely noticed even in the interpretation of Muslims, particularly it can be observed in writings of literalistic approach that focuses on mere literal meaning rather than contextualizing or considering the ultimate objective of the text.
I started to explain the methodology that the interpreter has to adopt during the interpretive process:
1. Gathering the Qur’anic verses and prophetic traditions that have either direct connection or some extent to have a relationship to the examining topic.
2. Understanding the Qur’anic verses and prophetic traditions in the light of socio-political context of the revelation.
Without having a profound knowledge over above two stages, we will probably misunderstand the texts and consequent misconception will be conceived inevitably. For instance, while we discuss about the concept of Jihad, on the one hand, one may refer to the verses that provoke to kill the people who are not Muslims, as my friend argued. On the other hand, the opponent opinion can be put forward emphasizing that the Quran encourages peace, not war and killing. Accordingly, following verse and some more verses that directly encourage peace can be quoted in order to strengthening the argument: O you who have believed, enter into peacefulness (Chapter Baqara, Verse 208).
In this controversial juncture, we ask ourselves which opinion is right and which is wrong? In order to obtain a clear answer, we have to go through the stages that we have already mentioned above. I summarized my opinion on Islamic perspective on violence as follow:
In early period of Mecca, Prophet Muhammad had been spreading the message that was revealed to him by God. Eventually, few marginalized people accepted Islam as their belief. As the result, they had to encounter persecutions and harassments in every facet of their life only because of their acceptance of Islam. The clan leaders who had greater influence in the Maccan society did not aspire to happen any change in the social structure. Instead, those innocent and helpless Muslims were compelled to under-go various brutality and oppression. In contrary, Prophet Mohammed’s message emphasized that the oppressed and marginalized people should be given freedom and justice that provide equal rights to the individuals irrespective of their tribal status and positions.
Leadership of Mecca wanted to maintain the status quo in which society had been divided into two groups, leaders, elites and influential people were on the one side and marginalized, oppressed and layman people were on the other side while prophet Mohamed aspired to create a society where freedom of speech and religious pluralism are ensured, people are treated equally and indiscriminately. The rivalry between these two segments was therefore unavoidable.
On the one hand, the leadership of Mecca compelled, punished and torched the people who aliened to prophet Mohamed’s group. At this time, the Quran instructed Prophet Mohamed and his group to tolerate and be patient and asked them not to be violent or to carry weapon in any circumstance against those who had been oppressing. Quran says: Have you not seen those who were told, “Restrain your hands from fighting and establish prayer and pay the charity (Chapter Nisa, Verse 77).
When prophet came to know that the enemies were planning to kill him, he was compelled to exile and migrate to Madeena. The Quran points out: Remember how those who bent on denying the truth plotted against you to imprison you or kill you or expel you from your city (Chapter Anfal, Verse 30). The focal point here is that during Prophet Mohamed’s staying in Mecca for 13 years, he never engaged even in any form of defensive act against those oppressors. Instead, what he used to do was either to tolerate or resist with peaceful and non-violent manner in order to gain their civil rights or in more explicit term regain their right to self-determination.
Life in Madeena was completely different to that of Mecca. During the prophet’s stay in Madeena for approximately 10 years along with migrated people who left their own land and property, they were targeted and attacked by the enemies several times. In these particular circumstances, Quran instructed Prophet and his followers to be prepared for defensive act in case of any external oppression or invasion in order to protect their freedom, livelihood and land. Make ready for them whatever force and strings of horses you can, to terrify thereby the enemy of God and your enemy… (Chapter Anfal, Verse 60).
The Qur’anic verses that were revealed during the war period such as Chapter Thawba verse 05 asked Prophet and his group to kill the enemy, who unjustly captured the land and property and further, trying to eradicate their lives, where ever they met.
Most people try to apply the verses that were revealed during the war time into the context of normalcy. Consequently, they come to a conclusion that Islam promotes violence, terrorism and killing innocent people who are not Muslims. The methodological error that happened during the interpretation of the text is, generalizing the text without considering the context. According to above described methodology it is crystal clear that Islam did not initiate any kind of violence against the people who were not from the same belief. Rather, it continuously encourages peaceful ways to solve the problems that emerge among various religious groups.
Apart from these considerations, there are some more verses of the Quran that should be taken in to account during the discussion on war, peace and killing in order to clarify the themes further. Following paragraphs try to point out only few concepts from those Qur’anic verses:
A – Identity of “Humankind”
The Quran emphasizes that all human being are from only one parent Adam and Hawwa: O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from them twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women (Chapter Nisaa, Verse 01). It is derived from this perspective that entire humankind, irrespective of religion, race, culture and regional divisions, is considered as “One Family”. According to Qur’anic perspective, this identity of “One Family” among other well-known multiple identities such as religious and cultural is quite essential, in which all humankind leave their dividing identities and come forward to the common sphere where they communicate, discuss, and make utmost effort together to confront the problems of their time. Finally they all march forward to build a prosperous atmosphere: O you mankind, surely we created you of a male and a female, and We have made you races and tribes that you may get mutually acquainted (Chapter Hujrath, Verse 13)
B – Human dignity
Caring human dignity is considered as one of emphasized obligations in the Quran. Accordingly, it urges Muslims to give respect to every human being who ever it is. The leadership of the society should take care of every individual of all social classes. In number of the Qur’anic versus, caring of poor and orphan is perceived as one of major obligations followed by belief in God. Moreover, the Quran elaborates that killing even one person is considered as killing whole human beings around the world and saving a person is countered as saving entire human beings: whosoever saves a life, saves the entire human race. (Chapter Ma’idha, Verse 32)
C- Religious freedom
There are numerous verses of the Quran that promote religious freedom and reject religious compulsion. Everyone is given total freedom to follow and practice what he believes. It is accepted by majority of scholars that no one would be punished in this world for changing his religion even though very few argue that the apostates should be killed. There is no even one Qur’anic verse that states any kind of capital punishments for apostates in this world. Second argument is unethical as well as contradictory to the various versus of the Quran.
According to above mentioned arguments, it is abstracted that the Quran tries to build a peaceful environment in which social justice, religious freedom and peace are promoted in order to establish a prosperous world order.
Rizwan / July 27, 2019
The Quran’s own context is enough to explain Surah Thawbah (chapter 9, verse 5). In my opinion it is not really necessary to delve into history and background as the author has done.
Chapter 9 Verses 1 to 6 clearly show that the order to kill is against oppression and those who violate a specific treaty. It is not a general order.
Those who use 9:5 as a means to attack Islam do so insincerely. Cherry picking verses without providing context demonstrates intellectual dishonesty.
I believe also the following general principle in the Quran would also apply:
“Those who listen to the Word, and follow the best (meaning) in it: those are the ones whom God has guided, and those are the ones endued with understanding.” Quran 39:18
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Amila W / July 27, 2019
N.M. Rishard, what has your article got to do with MR’s picture in the thumbnail?
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whywhy / July 28, 2019
Amila ,
Valid question !
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Amarasiri / July 28, 2019
N M Rishard,
Interesting conversation with your Hindu friend as to the context and your interpretation.
Since each person’s interpretation is his opinion, you need to arrive at a consensus opinion from all the different schools and sectors of Islam. Ask the different Ulama as to what their interpretation is on writing.Then tabulate their answers, and the context.
The Quran, actually comprises the Meccan Quran, that was peaceful, similar to Christianity preached by Jesus.
The Medina Quran was Quran that was revealed on the Medina period. That was a survival and war period , where the enemies of Islam, polytheists, tried to annihilate the Muslims, These verses were associated with war, and to deal with the enemy, who was trying to kill them.
The enemies were not Jews and Christians, but polytheists. This was a governances and security matter, and the verses and context becomes clear.
Suggest you go through the writings of Ibn Rushd, and his interpretations. According to him, the people of knowledge are the Philosophers, not the Ulama.
Anyway, ask the Ulama, as to their interpretation of the verses. You may also ask the Ulama as to the Sun rising from the East and setting in the West as well as a control.
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jehan / July 27, 2019
Also should add: If attacked muslims will fight back, as islam is not a passive religion. Jihad is an obligation on all muslims in times of war. The concept of Jihad was enjoined only in the prophets time is peddled by coconut scholars who are paid by the west to keep the muslims passive.
As for Sri Lanka: The problem started when Gnansaraya the monk started looting and burning in aluthgama. Then started insulting Allah thallah and our beloved Prophet Mohammed in his choice language. The Government did not arrest him for the losses to muslim properties and lives in aluthgama, even the new government in 2015 did not arrest him. Then diggana and ampara repeated . Also 25 mosques and Qurans were openly burnt by the BBS terrorist and goons. The Government didn’t do a thing, they supported the goons, with army protection. Same as 1983 against the tamils. The ACJU with a coconut leader even supported the abolishment of Halal label, not thinking the loss to the country of losses on exports. ACJU also supported MR and gang by going to middle-east to canvas votes against UN report on genocide on Tamils in the last stages of the war.(speak the truth always is what Islam says even against your self).Being a religious body, playing politics for monetary gain , came back to haunt them.
If there is no justice, we will make the same mistakes with the same consequence for all people living in the country.
My analysis: Ban all religious leaders to contest for political post.
All must be equal in the eyes of the law.
Student bodies in universities should be banned,same as in government institutions. as they are corrupted with political party ideologies.
Rioters should be considered as terrorist, for destroying properties, and should pay from there wealth.
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Lanka Perera / July 27, 2019
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Rishard / July 28, 2019
Lanka Perera – your comments are suffering, and not being out like constipation? You need to change your food habits, add more vegetables & fruits to it to sort out the issue.
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Another July83 victim / July 28, 2019
jehan you are a Muslim liar aren’t you? The trouble did not start at Digana or Aluthgama, it started decades ago when the Muslims decided to start expanding their mosques and other activities with the help of Saudi money and corrupt Government officials. Dont try to re-write your bloody history here so that you can justify retaliation. Look at what you sobs have been doing in the name of your ‘king prophet – http://www.sundaytimes.lk/190505/news/unravelling-growing-arabisation-348076.html
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Navin / July 27, 2019
Keep in mind the Quran was supposedly written when wars and conquests, were prevalent in that era. All three Holy books of the Abrahamic religions contain violence.
It give extremists the excuse to interpret it for their own evil purposes.
“Some critics of religion such as Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer argue that all monotheistic religions are inherently violent. For example, Nelson-Pallmeyer writes that “Judaism, Christianity and Islam will continue to contribute to the destruction of the world until and unless each challenges violence in ‘sacred texts’ and until each affirms nonviolent, including the nonviolent power of God.”[7]
Bruce Feiler writes of ancient history that “Jews and Christians who smugly console themselves that Islam is the only violent religion are willfully ignoring their past. Nowhere is the struggle between faith and violence described more vividly, and with more stomach-turning details of ruthlessness, than in the Hebrew Bible”.[8] Similarly, Burggraeve and Vervenne describe the Old Testament as full of violence and evidence of both a violent society and a violent god. They write that, “[i]n numerous Old Testament texts the power and glory of Israel’s God is described in the language of violence.” They assert that more than one thousand passages refer to YHWH as acting violently or supporting the violence of humans and that more than one hundred passages involve divine commands to kill humans.[9]
Supersessionist Christian churches and theologians argue that Judaism is a violent religion and the god of Israel is a violent god, while Christianity is a religion of peace and that the god of Christianity is one that expresses only love.[10] While this view has been common throughout the history of Christianity and remains a common assumption among Christians, it has been rejected by mainstream Christian theologians and denominations since the Holocaust.[11]:1–5″
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D. P. / July 27, 2019
Navin,
If you survey the history of almost all religions, you would notice that all of them had similar backgrounds of which two aspects stand out: Either an effort to reform the existing ideology or to resist oppressive regime founded on religious patronage or both. But, the history also shows that new religions that was born as liberal movements against the contemporary dogmatic orthodoxy over time become dogmatic orthodoxies themselves. This pattern of change into its near opposite over time is not confined only to religions; it can be seen in almost everything where ideologies are involved including science.
One good example from science is Darwin’s theory of evolution. In early part of 20th century, some evolutionists became so strong believers in the exclusivity of natural selection as the cause of evolution that books with new ideas became subjected to total ridicule. Marxism is another good example. As a matter of fact, the story of Marxism turning into a dogmatic orthodoxy is not much different from religions.
The reason is simple: Fear of losing power! Theories are supposed be subjected to revisions as knowledge improve. However, when a theory – religion included – becomes property of a class of people, any attempts for reforms is seen as a threat to the survival of such social classes. This is worse for Muslim b’cos it is practiced mostly among very backward medieval type ME societies. This usually will be the general fate of any theory that has to be believed as “the only truth”.
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Navin / July 27, 2019
Good points. Makes a lot of sense.
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Lankan / July 27, 2019
Salafi groups do not know how to relate texts into context of modern world and social realities.
They do not know that we live as a second minority in Sri Lanka..
Not all teaching of Islam are applicable in non Muslim country. Literal reading into text has created this mess in Muslim world …to approach into divine text you need to have not only knowledge of text but contexts as well..
Circumstantial reasons of the texts and more over we need to know social realities of this country..
Radical wahabi created all this mess in Muslim world.
They are agents of all gulf rulers and they do not care about any one and they have been used by politics..
So; our fight with wahabi should continue
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Amarasiri / July 27, 2019
Lankan,
“So, our fight with Wahhabi should continue “
So, how are you going to fight the Satan following Wahhabies and clones , per prescient Hadith of Najd, funded by the Saudi Wahhabi Petrodollars ?
One simple suggestion for every Muslim who us not a Wahhabi or it’s clones.
Get the Hadith of Najd printed , with a map of Saudi Arabia , Medina, Riyadh and Dariyah, where Wahhabism originated.
Distribute at the Mosques every Friday, and at the Madrasas .Make sure you give the full reference to Bukhari and Muslim, and give the full Hadith.
Mail to every Ulama, Imam and Moulavi who can read.
That is the way to fight the Saudi Wahhabi petrodollars.
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MOHAMED SALEEM / July 27, 2019
Thank you Amara for your insight and suggestion. Many people do like this in many parts of the world. Specially within sufi circles. Irans loves this too
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Another July83 victim / July 28, 2019
Amarasiri, Lankan your sensible ideas will prevent the kind of blood bath that jehan is trying to instigate.
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Amarasiri / July 29, 2019
MOHAMED SALEEM,
What the Devil, Satan, Iblis and the followers, Wahhabis, Salafies, ISIS, Tauheed Jamat fear is EXPOSURE. That is their Archil’s Heel . So, expose them using the prescient Hadith of Najd with maps and all the atrocities committed by the Wahhabies in the past, currently being committed, and will committing in the future. The Wahhabies are the tools, Trojan Horses of the Devil, Satan, Iblis.
What Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler did, with support and data, for the Heliocentric Model is bust the Catholic Church’s worldview, the Geocentric model, with Joshua stopping the Sun for 24 hours.
An astronomer said, “ What Copernicus did, was to turn the Earth so that the Sun could rise from the East”. The Church banned his books, forbade Galileo teaching the Heliocentric Model, and punished him for advocating it.
So EXPOSE, the Satan and it’s Followers, the Wahhabies and it’s clones.
This should be done by any Muslim who claims to Submit to God, any non-Muslim, including Atheists and Agnostics.
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Marwan / July 27, 2019
Anyone who says the Quran advocates terrorism obviously hasn’t read its lessons on violence
The permission given in Quran 22:40-41 to fight in self-defence was not only granted to defend Muslims from persecution, but to defend Christians, Jews and people of all faiths from acts of terror like those committed by ISIS today. Only two groups in our society promote the “Quran teaches terrorism” myth: Anti-Muslim pundits and ISIS extremists. Both are wrong.
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The Quran requires that you read it in full. No “cafeteria Quran” here. As Quran 3:8 says, “We believe in it, the whole is from our Lord.” ISS and Islamophobes instead cherry pick. Quran 3:8 pre-emptively calls out people who cherry pick as “perverse” people, declaring, “…those in whose hearts is perversity seek discord and wrong interpretation of the teachings in the Quran..”
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But don’t some verses of the Quran in fact say, “kill them where ye find them?”
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Yes, hence we get to the next factor.
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Islam is a practical faith that permits self-defence in certain strict situations. When? Let the Quran explain.
First, the Prophet Muhammad and his companions patiently bore vehement persecution in Mecca for nearly 13 years. This included a three-year starvation boycott from which his wife Khadija later died. Muslims didn’t fight back.
Next, Muhammad sent some companions to seek refuge in Abyssinia under a Christian King, and Muslims still didn’t fight back. Third, when the Prophet’s companions even asked to fight back, Muhammad responded clearly, “I have not been given permission to fight.” And, finally, when the persecution became unbearable, Muhammad and the Muslims simply left Mecca – still refusing to fight back.
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These refugees trekked 240 miles through the desert to escape terrorism, finally arriving in the predominantly Jewish city of Medina.
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JD / July 27, 2019
MArwan: This is why it says, QURAN was what was taken to books what the prophet said within a period of 23 years. Previous those had written on rocks and walls etc., A HOLY BOOK CAN NOT BE INTERPRETED AS A HUMAN WISH. IN THAT SENSE, WHAT ALMIGHTY BUDDHA DID IS COMPLETE WORK, NOTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT.
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Marwan / July 27, 2019
If Islam taught terrorism and enforced Sharia, this was the time to demonstrate this. Instead, Prophet Muhammad formed the Constitution of Medina with the Jews, establishing a unified secular state.
Yet the extremists trying to kill Muslims in Mecca pursued the Muslims to kill them in Medina. And now – finally – the Quran addressed fighting for the first time, permitting Muslims to fight in self-defence. The permission given in Quran 22:40-41 to fight was only given to “those against whom war is waged.” And fighting wasn’t just to defend Muslims from persecution – but to defend Christians, Jews, and people of all faiths. All subsequent verses addressing fighting are pre-conditioned on these clearly outlined rules of self-defense. Otherwise, it’s cherry picking, something the Quran forbids as perverse.
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Additionally, Quran 2:193-194 declares that Muslims may only fight active combatants. Meaning, even if during battle an enemy combatant asks for amnesty, you must grant it. In Islam, there’s no such thing as “collateral damage,” mutilation, or torture. All this notwithstanding, fact three issues the death blow to Daesh and Islamophobe ideology.
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You might now understand who the Quran refers to when it says “kill them where you find them”. The “them” are those terrorists who persecuted people for their faith, exiled them from their homes and then pursued to kill innocent people in their new homes.
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Marwan / July 27, 2019
Prophet Muhammad did something remarkable when he returned home to Mecca from Medina after nearly 20 years. Having suffered brutal persecution and murder of even his own children, he offered blanket forgiveness, with the one condition that the Meccans accept universal freedom of conscience. He did not force Islam. He did not wage war. He did not imprison the city. He forgave.
As non-Muslim historian Stanley Lane-Poole attests: “The day of Mohammad’s greatest triumph over his enemies was also the day of his grandest victory over himself. He freely forgave the Koraysh tribe for all the years of sorrow and cruel scorn in which they had afflicted him and gave an genera amnesty to the whole population of Mecca.”
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Marwan / July 27, 2019
That is the love and compassion that Islam and the Quran teach. Any honest person can see that ISIS represents Prophet Muhammad the way darkness represents light; the two are complete opposites.
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Misconceptions about Islam creep in because people learn about the faith from headline news rather than from the Quran and the Prophet’s life. Read the Quran, read a biography of Prophet Muhammad, seek out the True Islam through education.
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The Jihad of education is the death blow to terrorism, and the lifeblood of universal human rights. And I invite you all to that true Jihad.
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uncircumcised dingo / July 27, 2019
Look at all the apologists! I thought Quran was the eternal immutable word of god. Why is this context suddenly coming in when Muslims have to hide the shame of their religion being a death cult and their prophet being nothing more than basic war lord from the 5th century.
Pointless wasting time writing anything lengthy, but even the author is intentionally misquoting the Quran. It’s beyond ironic (but not surprising) to see this duplicity in an article about methodological error in interpreting the Quran.
For example the Quran never says: “whosoever saves a life, saves the entire human race”.
No, it says: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or (and) to spread mischief in the land – it would be as if he killed all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind.
Allah conveniently forgets to mention what ‘spreading mischief’ means. So suddenly this entire quote read in the correct context has much darker meaning. It basically gives Muslims the right to kill anyone who has caused mischief.
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/k/koran/koran-idx?type=DIV0&byte=158021
Then in the next verse, it goes on to say we should cut off the arms and legs of these people who ‘spread mischief’. Which is what exactly ISIS did to people who ‘spread mischief’. Ever wonder why so many sharia legal systems are very keen on chopping off limbs?
On top of all of that this entire quote is a giant copyright infringement because it is lifted directly from jewish Talmund scripture.
“Whoever destroys a soul from Israel, the Scripture considers it as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life from Israel, the Scripture considers it as if he saved an entire world.”
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talmud
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Rizwan / July 27, 2019
The Quran provides ample evidence of what mischief means (Arabic: fasaadan).
A chief antagonist in the Quran is Pharoah (Arabic: Fir’oun), who slaughtered children and did great harm. His works are described as ‘fasaadan’ (89:10 to 12).
So also is ‘fasaadan’ used in many places to describe wrong doing by people and societies. Another example of its use in 7:85.
Furthermore, as I have stated in the first comment for this article, the Quran bids man to interpret it in the best (most good) way (39:18).
Thus it is you who are now proven to be duplicitous.
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uncircumcised dingo / July 28, 2019
Every single major school of islamic jurisprudence considers blasphemy and apostasy as punishable by death. Clearly, generations of Islamic scholars seem to think the capital punishment extends a little bit beyond what the Pharoah did.
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Marwan / July 28, 2019
All through his life, Prophet Muhammad taught and practiced complete freedom of religion. Neither the Holy Qur’an nor the sayings of practice of Prophet Muhammad support death penalty for apostasy or blasphemy.
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Let alone that Islam does not prescribe death for apostates, the Qur’an was the first religious scripture to categorically declare,
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“There shall be no compulsion in religion”
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Likewise, the Qur’an repeatedly states that Muslims, including Prophet Muhammad(sa), can only admonish non-Muslims regarding religious matters. The Qur’an addresses disbelief more than 150 times, yet man is never given authority to punish the disbeliever. If Islam sanctioned death for apostasy, why does the Qur’an address—but never sanction—worldly punishment for the apostate who repeatedly believes and later disbelieves?
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Prophet Muhammad’s example corroborates the view that no punishment for apostasy exists in Islam. Once, a Bedouin convert to Islam suffered a fever while in Medina. He asked to be released from his pledge three times and was refused three times. Still, he left Medina unharmed [4]. The reader may question if a single incident during Prophet Muhammad’s life is sufficient to prove that Islam does not punish an apostate. In fact, not a single instance exists of Prophet Muhammad(sa) punishing an individual because they apostatized.
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Finally, Islam does not restrict apostasy. Any “punishment” an apostate incurs is a matter between that person and God. The Qur’an is clear: apostasy is not a worldly crime, it is certainly not the “ultimate” crime, apostates are not to be harmed—let alone put to death, and those who choose to leave Islam have every right to do so. Precisely the same principles of freedom of conscience and speech apply to those who would be deemed blasphemers. That is, in Islam, no worldly punishment exists for blasphemy.
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Amarasiri / July 29, 2019
Marwan,
Prophet Mohamed did not introduce death for apostasy and blasphemy. Who did that. Why?
1. Abu Baker?
2. Omar?
3.Uthman?
4. Ali?
5. Others?
What about the Catholic Church and the Protestant Wars ?
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Nakeeb M Issadeen / July 28, 2019
UCD
Talmud, original texts of old and new testament and Quran originated from the same divine source which is Allah who is the creator and cherisher of whole mankind.
Qur’an contains instructions to common men and their rulers. All verses dealing with punishment, executions are directed for the just ruler of a nation.
Nobody should implement the laws contained in Quran without proper reading of the whole texts. If anyone does he is like a layman practicing medicine without qualifications, who can cause damage to the mankind or crime against humanity.
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Shafeek / July 29, 2019
uncircumcised dingo,
–
“even the author is intentionally misquoting the Quran” – Not sure your situation is pathetic or funny, why? Those misquoting(as per you) the Quran are in public with their true identity while poor you are hiding like a glans in an uncircumcised dingo (Oh, your chosen username couldn’t be better). Regrettably, validating one’s identity is the first step in adding values to one’s ideas & arguments, unless you are satisfied with few CT upvotes & not wanting to be heard – Good Luck!
–
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JD / July 27, 2019
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LANKA Tamil / July 27, 2019
Rizawan…. You are right? who is Pharoah of this century among so called Muslim rulers today. I think M.IBN Salman will be leading this group of FASIDOON: Who is doing more Fasaadan than any one else..It looks that your interpretation in support of all these Fasidoon is more duplicitous than the writer of this article. Salafi and whahabi have this type of manipulation: I think you are among them.
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Thangamma / July 28, 2019
So whyare thousands of ISIS, TALIBAN, AL QAEDA, BOKO HARAM also using your scriptures. QURAN, Hadiths to rape, murder, take swx slaves in the 21st century? They are MYSLIMS and not Hindus, Christians or Buddhists nor are they Atheists or Agnostics. So now you want to explain? And WTF has Mahinda Rajapakse got to do with this opinion.? Why the fluffyduck don’t you and others here GO LECTURE TO the camel jockey Arab Wahabists who use your good book to tell them not to rape, behead, boil alive innocent people including Shia?
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Nakeeb M Issadeen / July 28, 2019
Thangamma,
Your question is like asking why are we using a knife in the kitchen whereas it can be used to murder a human being. The tool and laws should be utilized by people who have full knowledge of the same. If a child handles the knife he can harm himself and others.
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Rizwan / July 28, 2019
It is impossible to find any radicalism of this sort in the Quran.
The fact that enemies of Islam who wish to discredit the religion quote 9:5 as their main evidence for negativity shows how bankrupt they are for evidence.
Any and all verses they quote can be easily explained with context, which simply means read the lines before and after the verse. Any verses that sound wrong or oppressive is also most likely a translation error.
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Ahinsaka Kosinna / July 28, 2019
Allah is a word that represents a tiny, small, imperfect almighty god that needs agents to do his job of delivering a private message to me! “Allah told me to tell you, Julio, that he is merciful!”
That’s the essence of dishonest religion. “God/Allah called me to deliver messages for him!” “Allah called and trained me to decode and decipher the Quran to find the message he wrote for you 15 centuries ago in old Arabic, a language you don’t speak, Julio, and explain in modern English what he had in mind that long ago!” “Julio, please understand that Allah is most merciful, he told me to tell you, but if you laugh at his story, rest assured that your destiny is in the Last Day one of eternal torment & damnation!” “Do you understand how merciful Allah is to you, Julio?!”
It’s a man talking about some [inexistent] god he calls Allah [or some other name]; but this Allah never told me a single word*. And sure enough I do reject & resent a god that needs couriers to deliver his messages to me! Either he does it himself, or I will laugh at those couriers, messengers, prophets, christs, patriarchs, popes, priests.
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Kosinna / July 28, 2019
Islam is very peaceful, except few little things mentioned below
===TORTURE ===
Q9:111 -allah shows mercy to those muslims who keep killing non musIims.
Q9:73 and 66:9 dont show mercy to unbelievers, they’ll be sent to hell.
Q9:29- fight non musIims, if they pay heavy tax(to fund Jihad) then spare them.
Q5:33 -cut hands / feet of all those who goes against allah and mohammed.
Q9:5- kill all non musIims, show mercy only if they accept to convert.
Sahih al-bukhari 4:52:260 muslim who leaves islam, kill him.
Q22:19-22 put unbelievers in scalding(very hot, painful) water and hook them with iron rod.
Q24:2 100 whips for adultery
QURAN 2:224 fight for Allah.
Q8:12 cut heads and fingers of unbelievers.
Q32:22 -punish the one who disregard the revelations of his Lord (QURAN).
Q31:7 -Take a painful retribution(revenge) on a person who ignores when you read versus from quran to him.
===VIOLENCE ON WOMEN===
Q3:34 beat your wife if she is arrogant
Q4:34 men are better than women, women spend too much.
Q2:282 a woman is worth half a man as a witness in court.
woman inherit half of what a man inherits.
===SLAVERY AND RAPE===
Q33:50 having slaves is fine.
Q23:5-6 abstain from sex, unless you are raping your slaves.
Q4:24- dont fk married woman, but if you have captured (slaved) them in war, then you can rape them while their husbands are still alive. allah will forgive.
===PROSTITUTION===
Sahih Muslim 3248 and 3250: it says–Muslims can officially marry woman for short time(1 week/1day) in registrar office. Pedophiles can seek underage girls as mohammed did. Money is split between registrar and girl’s parents. They dont call it prostitution, its called “Muta”. Some underage girls are married about 60 times before they reach 18.
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Rizwan / July 28, 2019
I wonder which wonderful website you pulled these tired old verses out from.
All of the Quranic verses you have decided to quote can be explained away through reading context.
That means you need to read before and after the verse to understand its meaning.
You have not done it, or else you won’t be posting this here. Sadly you parrot those people who intend to mislead and deceive.
Please choose any of the verses at random. Any verse, and I will copy here the context which explains why you are wrong.
It’s funny because you also state 9:5 as a problem verse. Did you notice that it is the subject of this article? Did you even read the article before posting?
If you didn’t, read at least 9:1 to 9:6 to understand. Is that so difficult for you or are you too lazy to do it?
What if you read the Quran and find truth in it? What if it is the solution to all your problems? Did you think twice before repeating a lie?
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Marwan / July 28, 2019
You must be brain damaged to believe such rubbish. It is a copy paste from one of many Islamophobic website, and there are many out there to feed a rabid appetite of insults and cooked-up charges against Islam and its adherents called Muslims. It is so very obvious you have falsified claims which bear no value of interest, since with the advent of the internet, the whole world is privy to understand and come into the fold of true Islam, by reading genuine translations of Holy Quran, and the life of its founder. For those keenly interested to understand the future of Islam, there are many genuine free thinkers who are non-Muslims, giving their frank opinion, to bring balance and tolerance to a fairly ignorant society, who have never had any previous exposure to Islam and Muslim beliefs and culture. One such is the link provided.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6cKvPo4Dv8&t=4424s
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Amarasiri / July 30, 2019
Kosinna
RE: Methodological Error In Interpreting Qur’anic Verses Regarding Violence
Context of the Quranic Verses.
Garry Wills and the Q’uran: What the Qur’an Meant”,
The chosen people are circumcised- Jews.
The chosen people are the baptized-Christians
The chosen people are monethism-ized.-Islam
Garry Wills and the Q’uran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6NWfVWxqSM
Garry Wills has been a leading commentator on political and religious life in America for decades, winner of a Pulitzer for “Lincoln at Gettysburg”, and two National Book Critics Circle Awards for Criticism. In his new book, “What the Qur’an Meant”, he offers a timely reconsideration of the sacred text. Reading with sympathy and rigor, Wills takes us back to the words themselves to discover how they have guided people down through the centuries and what other non–Muslims—such as Pope Francis—have found so inspiring.
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JD / July 28, 2019
N.M. Rishad: If the Sunni interpretation of Islam is this peaceful, Why Gadhaffi had sent Swords to Sri lanka. why some Mosques had as much swords as 42 for the mosque. Ranil says, rishad Bathiuddin is a saint. Yet, his business enterprise had imported two containers of Swords. Why do they need that many swords. Is it all to clean the weeds in mosque grounds ?.
If Islam is peaceful why did they use conquests and violence, and oppression to spread the religion ?
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Marwan / July 28, 2019
Terrorism has nothing to do with Prophet Muhammad, any more than the Crusades had anything to do with Jesus. There is nothing in the Islam that is more violent than Christianity. All religions have had their own share of violence, including Christianity. There was nothing in the Muslim world like antisemitism: that is an import of the modern period. They got it from the missionaries, who were the first to introduce and use it effectively. And then came the State of Israel. Judaism has become so violent in the modern world, thanks to its nation state, which promotes violence and publicizes any retaliation as blame to promote further annihilation. Main message is that the Islamic religion has nothing to do with violence. The acts of Al-Qaeda are deeply political – against the US invasion of Iraq, Nigeria has its own internal ‘fight for separate state’ issues, people of Afghanistan refuse the leadership of a puppet state, dictated and foreign powers and enticed by their wealth.
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Are most terrorists primarily traumatized?
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Some of them are, and some of them are plain wicked. Osama bin Laden was a plain criminal. But there is also great fear and despair among them. There have been surveys done by forensic psychiaters who interviewed people convicted of terrorism since 9/11. They interviewed hundreds of people in Guantanamo and other prisons. And one forensic psychiater who is also an officer of the CIA – so he is no softie like any of us! – concluded that Islam had nothing to do with it. The problem was rather ignorance of the Islam. Had they had a proper Muslim education they wouldn’t be doing this. Only 20% of them has had a regular Muslim upbringing. The rest are either new converts – like the gunmen who recently attacked the Canadian Parliament; or non-observants, which means they don’t go to the mosque – like the bombers in the Boston marathon; or self-taught. Two young men who left Britain to join the Jihad in Syria ordered from Amazon a book called Islam for Dummies. That says it, you see.
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soma / July 30, 2019
“Islam for Dummies” should be a good text book for madarases.
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Soma
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whywhy / July 28, 2019
People in general , belonging to all faiths , have to first understand one
thing that they have a life to live with all other humans , animals and
the nature . People need to spend their time off work , with the family,
children or friends , exploring what this life has offered to them for a
meaningful life . SEARCHING THE BEAUTY OF LIFE by learning and
experiencing it as much as possible because life is short ! What this
writer tries to tell us is how we can waste our time trying to dig up
skeletons without any deep knowledge or purpose . Why do people
always try to fault the other of their faith or lifestyle while they have
a plenty to talk when they meet after a while or even quite often ?
I strongly feel , empty people who have nothing else to share with
friends or others or extremists of some nature , or some madly
politicised people keep blabbering about something they pick up
from some insane printed and electronic media ! Anyone can
take into his hands any book and raise hundreds of questions just
not in the best of interest to find the truth ! So why bother ?
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Socrates / July 29, 2019
The civilizational responsibility of unbelievers, non believers and other non Muslims on whom the Muslims hang like parasites for their existence is to phase out Islam with minimal physical harm to the brainwashed. This latter requirement is a serious constraint that will prolong the operation into a couple of centuries. However it is imperative that non Islamic ethical standards are maintained in this long drawn out process. Therefore the brainwashed should not be hated but looked upon with empathy, while of course safeguarding your life and limb.
X
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Lankan / July 29, 2019
Dear Kosinna: clean your head from hatred. You are cherry picking? what is wrong with you to take all this out context.. The quran that starts 114 time with ( in name of God who is merciful and compassionate? how could you expect these thing you mentioned.. Read context of all Quran verses. Islam encourage self defence and even Animals have this right but in Indians minority communities are treated less than animals. Now, you find versese from Veda books for that. I could tell how brahims cheated people to get high caste ..
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Mohamed the Atheist / July 31, 2019
Kosinna,
You quoted the Quran as saying “you can beat your wife for being arrogant”. I’m sorry, but you’re wrong! The Quran says that you can beat your wife for being disobedient, not arrogant. So your Muslim wife can be humble, kind, and pleasant, but if you told her to eat one date and she ate two, then she disobeyed you and you can beat her with Allah’s blessing.
Rizwan,
Is there any context in which beating your wife and raping your slaves is acceptable behaviour??
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Rizwan / August 3, 2019
@Mohamed the Atheist
Quran 4:34: the Arabic word translated to ‘beat’ is ‘iḍ’ribūhunna.
The correct meaning of this word is ‘separate’ or ‘depart’.
Thus there is no provision for beating women in the Quran. It is a mistranslation.
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