Obedient Angel
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 | Subject: The 'Verse of the Sword': Its Background and More ..  Tue Sep 13, 2011 2:42 pm | |
| A major trend that helped in spreading the idea that Islam is a religion of terrorism is that the western media decontextualize ayat of the Qur'an dealing with war and use them to criticize Islam. Such ayat were revealed on certain occasions at the time of the Prophet. Along the same lines, in their book The Dark Side of Islam, Abdul Saleeb and R. C Sproul (2003) decontextualize some ayat to prove that Islam is a religion that instigates violence. One of the examples they mention is ayat 190-193 of sura 2. This is how they cite them:
Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, … and slay them wherever you catch them, ... and fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah" (p. 87)
However, the full ayat read:
Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not attack them first. God does not love the aggressors, and slay them wherever you catch them [those who fight against you]; drive them out of the places from which they drove you, for persecution is worse than killing. But do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque until they first attack you there, but if they attack you [there], then kill them. Such is the retribution of the disbelievers. But if they desist, then [know that] God is Forgiving, Compassionate, and fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah. But if they desist, then let there be no hostility except against the transgressors."
Obviously, all the parts giving restrictions on fighting, reasons for it, and the emphasis on the fact that Muslims should not be the initiators of war are omitted. As these ayat indicate, war here was not a war of aggression but in self-defense to prevent the occurrence of persecution in the land. Two further examples from sura 9 are cited by Abdul Saleeb and Sproul (2003):
Fight and slay the Pagans wherever you find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war) [sura 9: 5] (p. 88).
Fight them, and Allah will punish them by your hands, cover them with shame [9: 14] (p. 89).
These two ayat are often singled out in the media and it is important to understand their context. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had an accord with the idolaters of Mecca called Al-Hudaybeyya Conciliation. It entailed a 10-year truce between the Muslims and the idolaters in which people of both sides should enjoy peace. There were two tribes called Khuza'ah and Banu Bakr. The former was an ally of the Prophet (PBUH) while the latter was an ally of the idolaters of Quraish. During the truce period, Banu Bakr broke the treaty and committed an aggression against Khuza'ah who sought the help of the Prophet (PBUH). Accordingly, he decided to conquer Mecca and was victorious. Later, after the conquest of Tabuk against the Romans whom the Prophet knew that they were preparing to attack Muslims, the Prophet wanted to go for pilgrimage, but he was told that the idolaters were going to Mecca as they used to do and that they go around the Kaaba, the cubic building inside the Sacred Mosque, naked. Hence, he did not want to go for pilgrimage again and find them like this. The ayat of this sura were revealed to him giving permission to fight the idolaters after the sacred months. Hence, the Prophet sent Abu Bakr and Ali, two of his companions and later Khalifs, to notify the idolaters with this and warn them. The omitted ayat between the two above quoted ayat, give reasons why permission was given to fight the idolaters at that time. However, the ayat are taken out of context and manipulated to drive the required point home. The full ayat read as follows:
5 When the [four] sacred months are over, wherever you encounter the idolaters, kill them, seize them, besiege them, wait for them at every lookout post, but if they turn [to God], maintain the prayer, and pay the prescribed alms, let them go in their way, for God is most Forgiving and Merciful.
6 If any one of the idolaters should seek your protection [Prophet], grant it to him so that he may hear the word of God, then take him to a place safe for him, for they are people with no knowledge.
7 How could there be a treaty with God and His Messenger for such idolaters? But as for those with whom you made a treaty at the Sacred Mosque, so long as they remain true to you, be true to them; God loves those who are mindful of Him [keeping their treaties].
8 How and if they where to get the upper hand over you, they would not respect any tie with you of kinship or of treaty? They please you with their tongues but their hearts are against you and most of them are lawbreakers.
9 They have sold God's message for a trifling gain, and barred others from His path. How evil their actions are.
10 Where believers are concerned, they respect no tie of kinship or treaty. They are the one who are transgressors.
11 If they turn to God, keep up the prayer, and pay the prescribed alms, then they are your brothers in faith: We make the messages clear for a people who [are willing to learn].
12 But if they break their oath after having made an agreement with you, if they revile your religion, then fight the leaders of disbelief, as oaths mean nothing to them, so that they may stop.
13 How could you not fight a people who have broken their oaths, who tried to drive the Messenger out, who attacked you first? Do you fear them? It is God you should fear if you are true believers.
14 Fight them: God will punish them at your hands, He will disgrace them, He will help you conquer them, He will heal the believers' feelings. [9: 5-14]
These are just two examples of many other cases where decontextualized Qur'anic ayat are exploited to mislead the publics as far as Islam is concerned, hence stimulating the feelings of Islamophobia.
Excerpted from:
The Role Played By Qur'an Translations In Steering Public Opinion Against Islam In Non-Muslim Communities
http://www.quranicstudies.com/articles/language-of-the-quran/the-role-played-by-quran-translations-in-steering-public-opinion-against-islam-in-non-muslim-communities.html
The following is an excerpt from another forthcoming paper, God willing:
One problem still is that the historical context or the occasions of revelation are not included in most of the translations available. Some anti-Islamic propagandists quote Ayah (9:5) to exemplify the sense of threat that Muslims represent for Christians and Jews in the West – a threat that is enforced by fundamentalists' reliance on the same ayah as a justification for their jihad. However, according to Dr. Main Khalid Al-Qudah, Imam of West Bank Muslim Association Mosque and Lecturer at the AOU and Islamic American University, the ayah stipulates "a specific rule for a specific people [the polytheists in Arabia] who betrayed the Prophet (saaws) and broke the covenant he had with them by killing someone from the Prophet’s coalition".
The historical background of the chapter is that the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, had an accord with the idolaters of Mecca called Al-Hudaybeyya Conciliation. It entailed a 10-year truce between the Muslims and the idolaters during which people of both sides should enjoy peace. There were two tribes called Khuzaaah and Banu Bakr. The former was an ally of the Prophet, pbuh, while the latter was an ally of the idolaters of Quraish. During the truce period, Banu Bakr broke the treaty and committed an aggression against Khuzaaah, who sought the help of the Prophet, pbuh. Accordingly, he decided to conquer Mecca and was victorious. Later, after the conquest of Tabuk, the Prophet, pbuh, wanted to go for pilgrimage, but he was told that the idolaters were going to Mecca. They used to go around the Kaaba, the cubic building inside the Sacred Mosque, naked, and he did not want to go for pilgrimage again and find them like this. The ayat of this sura were revealed to him giving permission to fight the idolaters for these reasons after the sacred months. Accordingly, the Prophet, pbuh, sent Abu Bakr and Ali, two of his companions and later Caliphs, to notify the idolaters about the war and give them an ultimatum that the covenant would be terminated after the end of such months. Though this background is lacking in translations, the reasons for fighting are understandable from reading the chapter from the beginning through ayah 15.
The Qur'an did not descend to the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, once and for all. It was a long-term process of piecemeal revelation over the twenty-three years of his Prophetic mission. In addition to the general ayat giving core instructions related to Islam that apply to all ages, many ayat were revealed in response to events that took place then commenting on those events, or instructing the Prophet, pbuh, on what answers to give to queries by Muslims or idolaters, what actions to take on these occasions, etc. Hence, it is crucial to understand such ayat within their historical contexts.
As Mona Siddqui (2007) indicates, the Qur'an and its interpretation did not emerge in social and cultural vacuums. Hence, it is naive to think that they are alone responsible for the development of Islam and the practices of Muslims over 1400 years. Besides, it is important to perceive that the Qur'an is a dynamic text and that its ayat are "open to a variety of interpretation [sic], receptive to exploration as society itself changes" (p. 7). Apart from the core instructions related to the faith itself that apply to all times, Muslims need to perceive the moral and rational goals of the other ayat as rooted in historical contexts and to consider how best to realize them within current circumstances.
If the so-called "sword" ayah is considered as the basis for perpetual jihad, then issues like how far the current practices fulfill its historical conditions and achieve its original goal need to be considered as well. First, the surah was revealed as an ultimatum and a proclamation of war after a period of grace. Second, the goal was basically to end the pagan practices in Al Ka'ba, in particular, and Mecca in general, to allow Muslims to worship God freely, and to spread the message of Islam. Third, this took place after the Prophet, pbuh, spent long years in Mecca doing nothing but calling the pagans of Mecca to the worship of the one God. Fourth, the polytheists were not caught off-guard without prior warning. How far do these conditions hold now? How many in the world do not know what Islam is in the first place? What is the effective jihad needed now to achieve the ultimate goal: killing souls that could have been submitted to God if educated or educating the world about real Islam?
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