Is Islam Religion of violence? Islam has been much maligned today as religion of war, not peace and compassion. The acts of terrorism on the part of some international terrorist groups who indulge in needless and wanton killing has further aggravated this image in the contemporary world. During medieval ages also crusades threw up an image of Islam which pictured Muslims as sword in one hand and Qur’an in the other. But these are all unfair and a false image of Islam. [1] Coming to the Qur’anic theory of war, it is important to say that war is sanctioned only in exceptional circumstances and peace is the norm. The permission for war in Qur’an is given reluctantly in extreme conditions of persecution and oppression. War is not permissible if people of other persuasions, religious faith and nationality are part of any treaty or causing any kind of harm to Muslims. Also, to begin with Muslims should only preach their faith peacefully and even put up with resistance and opposition and bear adverse conditions with patience and endurance of high degree. [1] Patience, is projected as great virtue and Qur’an says :”Surely Allah is with those who are patient”. And also Qur’an says, « By the time, surely man is in loss, except those who believe and do good and exhort one another to Truth, and exhort one another to patience. » (Chapter 110) Thus it would be seen that truth and patience go together and one cannot be bearer of truth without inexhaustible patience. Truthful have often to suffer as they come in clash with those whose interests are harmed. Thus Qur’an resorts to morality as truth is basically a moral category. War advocated in Qur’an is not for propagation of truth as alleged by those who promote stereotype of sword and Qur’an. Truth and war can never go together. Truth goes only with patience. War is advocated, as we will see to fight oppression and persecution only and secondly to defend against aggression. [1] In Mecca the Prophet (PBUH) and his followers bore with great patience, utmost humiliation and persecution without any retaliation. The Prophet himself suffered insults and personal injuries from the hands of his persecutors. He was prevented from offering his prayers, he allowed himself to be spat upon, to have dust thrown upon him, and to be dragged out of Ka’ba by his own turban fastened to his neck. The Prophet bore all this with utmost patience as he was convinced of truth of his message and did not retaliate even once. After the death of his uncle Abu Talib who had extended his protection to him, a conspiracy was hatched to assassinate him and had he not fled from his bed at dead of the night, he would have been assassinated. Along with the Prophet his followers also bore even more indignities and torture but never gave up their faith. Islam had given them a new spiritual message and it was spiritual and moral teachings of Islam which had given them inner strength to bear all this. Thus even Sir William Muir who was not very favorably inclined towards Islam accepts that it was a great spiritual movement for which its followers, like early Christians, were ready to sacrifice everything including their lives. So there was no question of preaching it with sword. They suffered rather than make others suffer. [1] Justice is very central in Islam and is one of the most fundamental values so much so that Allah’s name is ‘Adil. And Muslims were subjected to gross injustices; so permission to fight was given and again the words of the verse clearly shows, it had nothing to do with spreading of religion. Thus Qur’an says: « And what reason have you not to fight in the way of Allah and of the weak among the men and the women and the children who say: Our Lord, take us out of this town., whose people are oppressors, and grant us from Thee a friend, and grant us from Thee a helper » (4:75). This verse is quite clear as to why Muslims should fight. Had people of Mecca not committed such gross injustices and persecuted helpless Muslims in minority, there was no question of permission being granted to fight. [1] From above verse also it is clear that in Islam nature of war can only be defensive, not aggressive. And during Prophet’s (PBUH) lifetime Muslims fought all wars in defense. It is people of Mecca who attacked Muslims in Medina without any provocation. [1] It is also important to note that fighting in defense of faith is not mentioned even once in the Qur’an as alleged by opponents of Islam. Fighting has been permitted to defend those who believed in Islam. These two things are very different. And as for faith Qur’an clearly lays down that « there is no compulsion in religion » (2:256). If there is no compulsion where is the question of spreading it with sword? Also, for spreading faith Qur’an says: « Call to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and argue with them in the best manner. » (16:125).What the opponents of Islam or those with half-baked knowledge of Qur’an do is not to read Qur’an in totality but in pieces and pick and choose verses as suits them and out of context. That is how they prove their case. [1] Like opponents of Islam, al-Qaida and other terror groups also quote Qur’anic verses very selectively and very cleverly to mislead young Muslims to prepare them for becoming suicide bombers. There is great need to refute their point of view which is political and not at all religious, spiritual and moral as advocated by Qur’an. These verses on war, as shown above, deal with the situation prevailing in Arabia and apply it to today’s situation. They are thus doing greatest disservice to Islam than all opponents of Islam put together. History demonstrates that Muhammad’s rules of war-when applied with justice-lead to peace. If applied today, Muhammad’s rules can end not only collateral damage, but war itself. [1] The Prophet in those years of pagan attacks did not abandon his option for peace but moved toward a doctrine of just war similar to that of Cicero and late-antique Christian thinkers. He repeatedly sued for peace with a bellicose Mecca, but when that failed, he organized Medina for self-defense in the face of a determined pagan foe. The Qur’an insists that aggressive warfare is wrong and that if the enemy seeks an armistice, Muslims are bound to accept the entreaty. This disallowing of aggressive war and search for a resolution even in the midst of violent conflict justifies the title “prophet of peace,” even if Muhammad was occasionally forced into a defensive campaign. [2] The Qur’an contains a doctrine of just war but not of holy war and does not use the word jihad with that latter connotation. It views war as an unfortunate necessity when innocents, and the freedom of conscience, are threatened. The Qur’an, read judiciously alongside later histories, suggests that during Muhammad’s lifetime, Islam spread peacefully in the major cities of Western Arabia. The soft power of the Qur’an’s spiritual message has typically been underestimated in most treatments of this period. The image of Muhammad and very early Islam that emerges from a careful reading of the Qur’an on peace- related themes contradicts not only widely held Western views but even much of the later Muslim historiographical tradition. [2] Muhammad prioritized nonviolence in the face of harassment, but he did allow retribution for a crime of violence such as injury or murder. In the absence of a state, clan justice prevailed. Even there, however, the Qur’an counsels compassion instead. Meccan chapters restate the “eye for an eye “rule of Deuteronomy 19:21. Consultation 42:40 says, “The retribution for a wrong is a wrong the like of it.” But like the New Testament, the rest of this Qur’an verse points to a higher law, of forgiveness: “But God will recompense whoever pardons and makes peace; surely he does not love wrongdoers.”[ Ibn Sa`d, Al- Tabaqat al-Kubra, 1:131.]. [2] Muhammad preferred the universal form of this rabbinical teaching, equating the murder of anyone of any faith to genocide. Outside of formal defensive war on the battlefield, and outside the structured judicial context of a death penalty for murder or other capital crimes imposed by duly constituted authorities, killing is always wrong, according to the Qur’an. The Women 4:59 instructs, “Believers, obey God and obey the Messenger and those who enjoy authority among you.” That is, the Qur’an forbids vigilante violence. [2] In The Table 5:15, the Qur’an tells the scriptural communities that a new messenger has come from God, who is explaining the Bible and abrogating parts of it. A new book has been revealed, full of light. It then proclaims (5:16), “God thereby guides those who follow his good-pleasure to the way of peace and delivers them from the shadows into light by his leave, and conducts them to the straight path.” It has been shown that this verse is paraphrasing the prophecy of Zechariah in the Gospel according to Luke 1:77–79, in which the father of John the Baptist speaks of his impending birth. [Cuypers, Banquet, 151–152; Ernst, How to Read the Qur’an, 200–201.] Luke wrote, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” As with the prophecy of Zechariah, the Qur’an announces the advent of a new prophet of the Most High, acceptance of whom means adopting a preference for nonviolence. If the Qur’an has a Hypsistarian background, this talk of an envoy of the Highest God would have resonated especially powerfully with Muhammad and his followers. The passage has messianic and apocalyptic overtones. Muhammad is configured as a John the Baptist figure, calling in the wilderness and showing the people to the way of peace. [2] Muhammad responded to the pressures put on his flock by urging on them nonviolence. The Qur’an (Distinguished 41:34) says, “Good and evil are not equal. Repel the latter with the highest good, and behold, your enemy will become a devoted patron.”[Irfan A. Omar, “Jihad and Nonviolence in the Islamic Tradition,” in Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions, ed. Irfan A. Omar and Michael K. Duffey (Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 2015), 22.]. [2] The scripture celebrates the moral alembic wherein returning good for evil transforms base antagonism into the gold of benefaction. The chapter of The Criterion (25:63) praises Muhammad’s followers for their self-restraint in the face of provocations, speaking of “the servants of the All-Merciful who walk humbly upon the earth—and when the unruly taunt them, they reply, ‘Peace!’” The “unruly” here are those lacking in self-control, and literally the word means “ignorant.” The Qur’an makes wishing your enemies’ peace and well-being one of the signs of piety. [2] References: 1. Engineer, A. (2011). The Prophet of Non-Violence: Spirit of Peace, Compassion & Universality in Islam. 2. Juan Cole, Muhammad, prophet of peace amid the clash of empires.
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