navedz.com a muslim's Quest for the truth
Terror has no colour
After 9/11 and more recently, after the Mumbai attacks, people who know I am a Muslim often tell me that they feel all Muslims are not terrorists. I am glad they feel that way.
However I do not need to be reassured about it repeatedly. For a person committing a heinous crime like shooting innocent people definitely cannot be a true Muslim.
Islam is a religion of PEACE. It doesn’t teach us to kill unlike other religions. Muslims start their greetings with “As-salaam-wa Alaikum Wa Rahmatu Allah Wa Barakatuh”, which means in English “May GOD’s peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.”
Allah states : “Whoever kills a human being [unjustly]… then it is as though he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a human life it is as though he had saved all mankind.”
No one probably ever heard of such a stunning message of peace, which considers killing just one person (be it innocent or not) tantamount to killing the entire humanity? The doubters should not have any more skepticism about Muslim’s claim that “Islam is a religion of peace”. The unjustified criticisms of and spitting venoms at Islam by the hateful Islam-bashers got to stop now.
Terrorists do not have a religion. They use it as a mantle to do what their religion forbids. At its heart is the desire to meet their own narrow agenda. A person who burns churches, mosques or temples with the purpose of safegaurding religious beliefs is not worthy of belonging to any religion. Let’s not communicate terror. It has no green or saffron shade to it.
You might want to go over the complete surah in question, instead of quoting only part of a single verse, 5:32. When taken in full context, this surah is far from being a declaration of utterly peaceful intent.
Sura 5 (Al-Ma’idah)
In point of fact, I’m fairly sure that many Islamist terrorists such as HAMAS use surah 5 as a justification for their actions. 🙁
BTW: The Qur’an has no prohibition against damaging churches, mosques or temples if the enemy fights from within them.
This Surah was revealed to suit the requirements of the changed conditions which were now different from those prevailing at the time of the revelation of Al-i-‘Imran and An- Nisa. Then the shock of the set-back at Uhd had made the very surroundings of Al-Madinah dangerous for the Muslims, but now Islam had become an invulnerable power and the Islamic State had extended to Najd on the east, to the Red Sea on the west, to Syria on the north and to Makkah on the south. This set-back which the Muslims had suffered at Uhd had not broken their determination. It had rather spurred them to action. As a result of their continuous struggle and unparalleled sacrifices, the power of. the surrounding clans, within a radius of 200 miles or so, had been broken. The Jewish menace which was always threatening Al-Madinah had been totally removed and the Jews in the other parts of Hijaz had-become tributaries of the State of Al-Madinah. The last effort of the Quraish to suppress Islam had been thwarted in the Battle of the Ditch. After this, it had become quite obvious to the Arabs that no power could suppress the Islamic movement. Now Islam was not merely a creed which ruled over the minds and hearts of the people but had also become a State which dominated over every aspect of the life of the people who lived within its boundaries. This had enabled the Muslims to live their lives without let or hindrance, in accordance with their beliefs.
Another development had also taken place during this period. The Muslim civilization had developed in accordance with the principles of Islam and the Islamic viewpoint. This civilization was quite distinct from all other civilizations in all its’ details, and distinguished the Muslims clearly from the non Muslims in their moral, social and cultural behavior. Mosques had been built in all territories, prayer had been established and’ Imam (leader) for every habitation and clan had been appointed. The Islamic civil and criminal laws had been formulated in detail and were being enforced through the Islamic courts. New and reformed ways of trade and commerce had taken the place of the old ones. The Islamic laws of marriage and divorce, of the segregation of the sexes, of the punishment for adultery and calumny and the like had cast the social life of the Muslims in a special mould. Their social behavior, their conversation, their dress, their very mode of living, their culture etc., had taken a definite shape of its own. As a result of all these changes, the non-Muslims could not expect that the Muslims would ever return to their former fold.
Before the treaty of Hudaibiyah, the Muslims were so engaged in their struggle with the non-Muslim Quraish that they got no time to propagate their message. This hindrance was removed by what was apparently a defeat but in reality a victory at Hudaibiyah. This gave the Muslims not only peace in their own territory but also respite to spread their message in the surrounding territories. Accordingly the Holy Prophet addressed letters to the rulers of Iran, Egypt and the Roman Empire and the chiefs of Arabia, inviting them to Islam. At the same time the missionaries of Islam spread among the clans and tribes and invited them to accept the Divine Way of Allah. These were the circumstances at the time when Al-Ma’idah was revealed.
The Surah deals mainly with Christian doctrines and particularly denounces the doctrine that the Law is a curse. It opens with the injunction that all covenants must be fulfilled and that it was necessary to lay down laws as to what is lawful and what is unlawful. It further claims that the Quran has laid down ordinances bearing upon man’s complete moral and spiritual development, and it is in this respect that the Quran constitutes the final and irrevocable Divine Law for all mankind. This claim of the Quran is embodied in the fourth verse of the Surah, which also implies that because the Law is most essential for the spiritual guidance of man and his moral development, it is wrong to regard it as a curse. The verse further hints that when the eating of meat offered to idols and of blood and of strangled animals was forbidden to Christians and this commandment constituted an ordinance of the Law (The Acts, 15:20, 29), they could not take exception to the Law and condemn it as a curse. The Surah proceeds to lay down Islamic commandments with regard to eatables and enjoins that they should be Halal, i.e., allowed by the Law and pure, i.e., their use should in no way contravene or offend against medical or hygienic regulations. Islam alone of all religions, while laying down ordinances regarding lawful and unlawful things, has pointed out the nice distinction between what is only lawful and what is both lawful and pure.
Next, it is stated that the Jews and the Christians broke God’s covenants and disregarded and defied Divine commandments which led to their moral and spiritual ruin and brought disgrace and humiliation on them. But they could now rehabiliate themselves into Divine favour by accepting the Holy Prophet (pbuh). Christian are further warned that at first by deifying Jesus (pbuh) they caused the wrath of God to come down upon them and that now they have become jealous of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) because God has chosen him for His favours. This jealous attitude of theirs towards the Holy Prophet (pbuh) resembles that of Cain towards Abel.
The Surah proceeds to state that while Jews and Christians lose no opportunity to oppose Islam, they themselves have become so depraved as to have ceased to act upon their own religious Scriptures and are increasingly becoming ignorant of the teachings of their own religions. They are told that if they do not see their way to accepting Islam they should atleast follow their own Scriptures and abide by their own Law. But if, owing to political supremacy of Islam, they have sometimes to seek the judgement of the Islamic Government, that judgement will and must inevitably be according to the Quranic Law. Then attention of the Muslims is drawn to the great change that has come over their political position and they are told that as the power of the infidels has been finally broken and Christians now are to be their principal enemies, and Jews, in spite of their enmity towards Christianity, are to side with Christians, they (Muslims) should be on their gaurd against both of them. Some light is then shed on the strategems and machinations employed by the enemies of Islam to turn Muslims away from their Faith and to lower it in their estimation.
After this, importance of the preaching of Islam is impressed upon Muslims. They are told that the one real method effectively to defeat the activities of Jews and CHristians is to preach the Message of Islam to them and to bring home to them its truth from their own Scriptures. It should also be made clear to them that now their salvation lies in Islam and that their idolatrous beliefs are false, particularly the doctrine that Jesus (pbuh) was son of GOd. Similarly, mention is made of Jews who, opposing and persecuting the two great Prophets (peace be upon them) – David and Jesus – incurred God’s displeasure. Their attention is drawn to their past faults and failings, and Christians being more amenable to accepting the truth than Jews, commandments have been laid down which particularly concern them, viz., commandments about what is lawful and what is unlawful; commandments about oaths; about the use of wine and games of chance and about hunting; and also commandments regarding criticism of religion and ordinances about religious rites and ceremonies and about evidence. Last of all a somewhat detailed mention is made of the particular cicumstances of Jesus’s (pbuh) ministry, and it is shown that they closely resemble those of other Prophets (peace be upon them) of God and that therefore there was nothing of Godhead or Divinity about him and that all material progress of Christian people was due to a prayer of his. But they have made improper use of their material progress and prosperity and have succumbed to polytheistic beliefs and practices. On the Day of Judgement, God will establish their guilt and put them to shame from the mouth of Jesus (pbuh) himself. The Surah ends with the declaration that to God belongs the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth and He has power over all things, which implies the hint that the belief that the Kingdom of God is only heaven as the Christian say, has no foundation.
Many a times, to get the correct and proper understanding, we have to analyze the Quran as a whole, and not just by quoting one particular Verse. Because if one particular verse of the Quran if its ambiguous many a times the answer is given somewhere else in the Quran. And also, we need to know the context for which a verse was revealed.
The message of the Quran is meant for all people for all times. Hope the above answers your query.
You’re not going to get much argument out me, navedz; my point was to go over the surah as a whole instead of a single (partial) verse. Many of the Murtad Fitri choose individual verses or parts of verses to justify their actions.
I commented originally because I’ve heard them use the full text of 5:32 as an admonition against Jews and Christians and as with 5:33 added in – a reason for terrorist action.
There are different Muslim societies – Some may be close to Islam, some may be far away from Islam. Because of a few black sheeps, one should not and cannot blame the community. No religion encourages terrorist acts or violence.
Which is why I referred to those “black sheep” as Murtad Fitri. They are most certainly apostates, though they claim allegiance to Islam.