Attention: Social workers, trainers, mentors working to prevent far right extremism

By Abid Ullah Jan

Only two groups in our society promote the myth that “Quran teaches terrorism”:

• anti-Islam pundits through their words, and
• the mysterious, manufactured groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS, and some isolated Muslim extremists through their deeds.

Both are wrong.

This myth ignores that:

One, right now, many groups around the world are experiencing oppression, terror, and even genocide;

Secondly, million upon millions have lost their lives in imposed-wars since the beginning of time and at a least a million since the dawn of the 21st century.

Yet none of these crimes are associated with the faith of their perpetrators.

However, with some attacks, critics default to blaming the Quran, citing its allegedly “violent” verses.

Blaming the Quran for violence is demonstrably false.

Four critical facts demonstrate that nothing in the Quran permits hate, violence and terrorism.

And while Islamophobes and Muslim extremists will both go on ignoring these four facts, the Quran, the life of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, and Muslims worldwide continue to champion them.

 

Fact 1: The Quran demands complete reading 

The Quran requires that you read and understand it in full. Islam demands FULL acceptance. No “buffet Quran” here. In chapter 3, verse 7, the Quran says: “We believes in it, the whole is from our Lord.”

وَ الرّٰسِخُونَ فِى العِلمِ يَقُولُونَ اٰمَنَّا بِه كُلٌّ مِّن عِندِ رَبِّنَا

Chapter 2: 208: “O you who have believed, enter into Islam completely [and perfectly].

يٰاَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ اٰمَنُوا ادخُلُوا فِى السِّلمِ کَافَّةً

Chapter 2:85: “So do you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part?”

اَفَتُؤمِنُونَ بِبَعضِ الكِتٰبِ وَتَكفُرُونَ بِبَعضٍ

Means, are YOU going to be the judge of what you should accept and what you should reject? Looking at parts of the Quran in isolation from the rest amounts to deliberately misleading oneself and others with misinterpreted text.

It leads to wrong conclusions. We have to look at the whole to understand its parts and realise the truth.

 

Fact # 2 is that ALL perverse interpretations need to be condemned.

Selectively embracing and celebrating one misinterpretation of the Quran but rejecting another is not the solution. The Quran requires rejecting ALL misinterpretations that lead its believers to any extreme.

Islamophobes and Muslim extremists do exactly the opposite.

The Quran verse 7, chapter 3 pre-emptively calls out people who pick parts of the Quran out of context as “perverse” people, declaring,

فَاَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِى قُلُوبِهِم زَيغٌ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَابَهَ مِنهُ ابتِغَاءَ الفِتنَةِ وَابتِغَاءَ تَاوِيلِه

“…Those in whose hearts there is perversity, always go about the part which is ambiguous, seeking mischief and seeking to arrive at its interpretation arbitrarily,…”

But there is this argument that verses of the Quran, in fact, say, “kill them where ye find them.” How can these be misinterpreted?

That’s a good question. That’s why we need to get to fact three.

 

Fact 3 : The Right to Self-Defence

Islam is a practical faith that permits self-defence in certain strict situations. When? The Quran explains it for us.

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, he 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.

These refugees trekked 240 miles through the desert to escape persecution and terrorism, finally arriving in the predominantly Jewish city of Medina.

If Islam taught violence, terrorism and enforcing Sharia, this was the time to demonstrate this. Instead, Prophet Muhammad formed the Constitution of Medina with the Jews, establishing a unified state for all to live in harmony and practice their respective faith and way of life.

Yet the extremists trying to kill Muslims in Mecca pursued them to kill them in Medina.

And now – finally – the Quran addressed fighting for the first time, permitting Muslims to fight in self-defence. What does the Quran say? According to the Quran 22:39-40

اُذِنَ لِلَّذِينَ يُقٰتَلُونَ بِاَنَّهُم ظُلِمُوا​ وَاِنَّ اللّٰهَ عَلٰى نَـصرِهِم لَـقَدِيرُ‏

Here permission to fight was only given to “those against whom war was waged.” And fighting wasn’t just to defend Muslims from persecution – but to defend Christians, Jews, and people of all faiths.

اُذِنَ لِلَّذِينَ يُقٰتَلُونَ بِاَنَّهُم ظُلِمُوا​ ؕ

All subsequent verses addressing fighting are pre-conditioned on these clearly outlined rules of self-defence. Otherwise, its cherry picking, something the Quran forbids as perverse.

Additionally, Quran 2:192-193 declares that Muslims may only fight as active combatants. Meaning, even if during battle an enemy combatant asks for amnesty, you must grant it.

فَاِنِ انـتَهَوا فَاِنَّ اللّٰهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

وَقٰتِلُوهُم حَتّٰى لَا تَكُونَ فِتنَةٌ وَّيَكُونَ الدِّينُ لِلّٰهِ​ فَاِنِ انتَهَوا فَلَا عُدوَانَ اِلَّا عَلَى الظّٰلِمِينَ

In Islam, there’s no such thing as killing civilians as “collateral damage.” Mutilation and torture if forbidden. All this notwithstanding, fact # 4 issues the death blow to Islamophobe and so-presented Daesh/al-Qaeda/Isis ideology.

 

Fact 4 “Them” are not non-Muslims and innocent civilians

You might now understand who the Quran refers to when it says “kill them where you find them” – 2:191.

وَاقتُلُوهُم حَيثُ ثَقِفتُمُوهُم

This is read out of context by both Muslims and non-Muslim extremists, creating the impression that Islam supports indiscriminate murder and bloodbath. This is to ignore the rest of the passage, which repeatedly stresses the need for the response to be defensive and to last only as long as the enemy continues to fight back.

Moreover, this is not a universal Muslim foreign policy. This is about a specific situation. This verse was revealed in response to the Maccans who tortured and persecuted Muslims for 13 years. The verse immediately before it says: “Fight in the cause of Allah only those who fight you and do not commit aggression” (2:190). The verse right after is says: “But if they cease fighting, then let there be no hostility except against oppressors.”

وَقَاتِلُوا فِى سَبِيلِ اللّٰهِ الَّذِينَ يُقَاتِلُونَكُم وَلَا تَعتَدُو اِنَّ اللّٰهَ لَا يُحِبُّ المُعتَدِينَ‏

Here is the context for this verse: After conquering the City of Mecca, the terrorists who had drove Muslims out of their home, killed them and tortured them, were not taken prisoners. They were not tortured.

They were asked to leave if they wanted. They were offered protection for four months to make a decision. The command was to kill them if they return to harm residents of mecca. This is the specific situation. This is the context. This has nothing to do with whatever will come after the prophetic tradition. Pulling this one verse and presenting it out of context is manipulation of the Quranic message.

Those, who misinterpret the text and misguide people, are actually fulfilling the words of the Creator, who says: “He guides with this word [the Quran] many and He thereby misleads many. And He misleads not except the defiantly disobedient [inherently corrupt and perverse]” (2:26).

The Quran permits standing up in self-defence. Yet, even then, if aggressors desist, the Quran forbids aggression against them. This teaching is not mere theory, it’s Islamic history.

Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him, did something remarkable when he returned to Mecca after 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 destroy or 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 Quresh all the years of sorrow and cruel scorn in which they had afflicted him and gave an amnesty to the whole population of Mecca.”

That is the love and compassion that Islam and the Quran teach. Any honest person can see that IISIS, Al-Qaeda or any other fake “Islamic” front like them represent Islam the way darkness represents light. The two are complete opposites.

Education and awareness is the death blow to all manifestations of hate and violence, and the lifeblood of universal human rights. Learning and knowing the truth and educating others is real Jihad incumbent upon all of us.