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Le tre fasi del Jjhad
(answeringmuslims.com) ottobre 2013
Click
here
for the passages discussed in "Qur'an in Context 1."
On November 5th, 2009, a Muslim Army Major named Nidal Malik Hasan
opened fire at Fort Hood in Texas. Many innocent people died, and Hasan
has been charged with thirteen counts of premeditated murder and more
than thirty counts of attempted murder.
Shortly after the Fort Hood shooting, CNN posted an article titled
“Murder Has No Religion” (by Arsalan Iftikhar),
which claimed that such attacks are forbidden in Islam. The article
began:
Most of the world's 1.57 billion Muslims know that the Holy Quran states
quite clearly that, "Anyone who kills a human being ... it shall be as
though he has killed all of mankind. ... If anyone saves a life, it
shall be as though he has saved the lives of all of mankind."
Notice that the article portrays Islam as a religion that condemns
killing of any kind. But is this what the Qur’an actually says?
Unfortunately for CNN’s readers, the author didn’t give a reference, so
readers were left to find the quotation themselves. Yet when we turn to
5:32-33 of the Qur’an (the source of CNN’s severely edited quotation),
we get a surprisingly different picture of killing in Islam:
For this reason did We prescribe to the children of Israel that whoever
slays a soul, unless it be for manslaughter or for mischief in the land,
it is as though he slew all men; and whoever keeps it alive, it is as
though he kept alive all men; and certainly Our apostles came to them
with clear arguments, but even after that many of them certainly act
extravagantly in the land.
The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and
strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be
murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on
opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace
for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous
chastisement.
Two things are worthy of note in this passage. First, the teaching
appealed to by CNN (“whoever slays a soul . . . it is as though he slew
all men”) was given “to the children of Israel” (i.e. the Jews). It was
not given to Muslims. Second, even if Westernized Muslims want to apply
this verse to themselves, the verse obviously permits killing people who
spread “mischief in the land.” Indeed, the very next verse commands
Muslims to murder, crucify, and dismember those who wage war against
Islam and “make mischief” in Muslim lands.
Since the United States is at war in two predominantly Islamic
countries, knowledgeable Muslims understand that, according to Muhammad,
U.S. soldiers meet the “mischief-making” criterion, and should therefore
be killed. It’s no coincidence that Major Hasan targeted soldiers, many
of whom were being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thus, CNN quoted two carefully edited portions of a passage that
justifies the killing of enemy combatants and used them to show that
Islam condemns attacks such as the Fort Hood shooting. While deceptions
like this are easily spotted, there is much confusion in the world
concerning the role of violence in Islam. This short pamphlet will clear
up some of the confusion.
I. PEACE, VIOLENCE, AND ABROGATION
Muslims in the West are quick to point to passages such as Qur’an 109:6
(“You shall have your religion and I shall have my religion”) and 2:256
(“There is no compulsion in religion”) as evidence that Islam is a
religion of peace. When confronted with harsher passages such as 9:5
(“Slay the idolaters wherever you find them”) and 9:29 (“Fight those who
believe not in Allah”), Westernized Muslims interpret these verses in
light of the more peaceful teachings of the Qur’an, typically saying
something like: “Well, the Qur’an can’t be commanding us to kill
unbelievers, since it says that there’s no compulsion in religion.”
Hence, Westernized Muslims pick the verses of the Qur’an they find most
attractive, and they use these verses to sanitize the rest of the
Qur’an. But is this the correct way to interpret the Qur’an?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. The Qur’an presents its own method of
interpretation—the Doctrine of Abrogation.
Qur’an 2:106—Whatever
verse we shall abrogate, or cause [thee] to forget, we will bring a
better than it, or one like unto it. Dost thou not know that God is
almighty?
Qur’an 16:101—When We substitute one revelation for another—and
God knows best what He reveals (in stages)—they say, “Thou art but a
forger”: but most of them understand not.
According to the Qur’an, then, when Muslims are faced with conflicting
commands, they aren’t supposed to pick the one they like best. Rather,
they are to go to history and see which verse was revealed last.
Whichever verse came last is said to abrogate (or cancel) earlier
revelations.
What happens when we apply this methodology to Qur’anic verses on peace
and violence?
II. THE CALL TO JIHAD: THREE STAGES
When we turn to Islam’s theological sources and historical writings
(Qur’an, Hadith, Sira, and Tafsir), we find that there are three stages
in the call to Jihad, depending on the status of Muslims in a society.
STAGE ONE—When Muslims are completely outnumbered and can’t
possibly win a physical confrontation with unbelievers, they are to live
in peace with non-Muslims and preach a message of tolerance. We see an
example of this stage when Muhammad and his followers were a persecuted
minority in Mecca. Since the Muslims were entirely outnumbered, the
revelations Muhammad received during this stage (e.g. “You shall have
your religion and I shall have my religion”) called for religious
tolerance and proclaimed a future punishment (rather than a worldly
punishment) for unbelievers.
STAGE TWO—When there are enough Muslims and resources to defend
the Islamic community, Muslims are called to engage in defensive Jihad.
Thus, when Muhammad had formed alliances with various groups outside
Mecca and the Muslim community had become large enough to begin
fighting, Muhammad received Qur’an 22:39-40:
Permission (to fight) is given to those upon whom war is made because
they are oppressed, and most surely Allah is well able to assist them;
Those who have been expelled from their homes without a just cause
except that they say: our Lord is Allah. . . .
Although Muslims in the West often pretend that Islam only allows
defensive fighting, later revelations show otherwise.
STAGE THREE—When Muslims establish a majority and achieve
political power in an area, they are commanded to engage in offensive
Jihad. Hence, once Mecca and Arabia were under Muhammad’s control, he
received the call the fight all unbelievers. In Surah 9:29, we read:
Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that
forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor
acknowledge the Religion of Truth, from among the People of the Book,
until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves
subdued.
Notice that this verse doesn’t order Muslims to fight oppressors, but to
fight those who don’t believe in Islam (including the “People of the
Book”—Jews and Christians).
Not surprisingly, we find similar commands in Islam’s most trusted
collections of ahadith (traditions containing Muhammad’s teachings).
Sahih al-Bukhari 6924—Muhammad
said: “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: La ilaha
illallah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah), and whoever
said La ilaha illahllah, Allah will save his property and his life from
me.”
Sahih Muslim 30—Muhammad said: “I have been commanded to fight
against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but
Allah.”
Here again, the criterion for fighting people is that the people believe
something other than Islam.
It’s clear, then, that when Muslims rose to power, peaceful verses of
the Qur’an were abrogated by verses commanding Muslims to fight people
based on their beliefs. Islam’s greatest scholars acknowledge this. For
instance, Ibn Kathir (Islam’s greatest commentator on the Qur’an) sums
up Stage Three as follows: “Therefore all people of the world should be
called to Islam. If anyone of them refuses to do so, or refuses to pay
the Jizyah, they should be fought till they are killed.”
III. WHEN MUSLIMS REACH STAGE THREE
Abrogation also accounts for shifting attitudes regarding Jews and
Christians in the Qur’an. While Muslims are to be friendly to Jews and
Christians when the former are outnumbered, the Islamic position changes
when Muslims reach Stage Three, at which point Christians and Jews are
to recognize their inferior status and pay the Jizyah (a payment made to
Muslims in exchange for not being killed by them). Consider some of
Muhammad’s later teachings about Christians and Jews:
Qur’an 5:51—O
you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends;
they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a
friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the
unjust people.
Qur’an 9:30—And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the
Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of
their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before;
may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!
Qur’an 98:6—Those who reject (Truth), among the People of the
Book and among the Polytheists, will be in Hell-Fire, to dwell therein.
They are the worst of creatures.
Sahih Muslim 4366—Muhammad said: “I will expel the Jews and
Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but
Muslim.”
Al-Bukhari, Al-Adab al-Mufrad 1103—Muhammad said: “Do not give
the People of the Book the greeting first. Force them to the narrowest
part of the road.”
Needless to say, these teachings can hardly be considered peaceful or
tolerant.
IV. MUSLIMS IN THE WEST
Since Muhammad obviously commanded his followers to fight unbelievers
(simply for being unbelievers), why do Muslims in the West deny this?
Here we must turn to Surah 3:28, which reads:
Let not the believers take disbelievers for their friends in preference
to believers. Whoso doeth that hath no connection with Allah unless (it
be) that ye but guard yourselves against them, taking (as it were)
security.
According to this verse (which uses a variation of the word Taqiyya,
meaning “concealment”), Muslims are not allowed to be friends with
non-Muslims. However, if Muslims feel threatened by a stronger
adversary, they are allowed to pretend to be friendly. Ibn Kathir
comments: “In this case, such believers are allowed to show friendship
outwardly but never inwardly.” Abu Darda, one of Muhammad’s companions,
put it this way: “We smile in the face of some people although our
hearts curse them.”
Is Islam a religion of peace? No. Islam is a religion that pretends to
be peaceful when Muslims are too weak to win a war. Of course, there are
many Muslims who aren’t violent. Many Muslims in the West love peace and
tolerance. But they didn’t get these values from Islam. They got them
from the West, and now they’re reinterpreting Islam based on their
Western values. For dedicated Muslims, however, there are only two
possible situations to be in: (1) fighting unbelievers, and (2)
pretending to be peaceful while preparing to fight unbelievers. Either
way, fighting non-Muslims and conquering the world in the name of Allah
is always the goal.