Muhammad Quotes

This sura is interpreted in two ways. For many modern Muslims it means that in discussions and debates on religion with non-Muslims, do not back off, and if you do it is a religious transgression. Defend the faith. For the fundamentalists and extremists, they interpret the same sura in physical warlike terms. So if there is a fight or battle with disbelievers, retreating from the battlefield is not only cowardice and perhaps a crime under military regulations as it is in the West, but it is in Christian terms a mortal sin for which there one will go to hell. So the most religious of Muslims will fight to the death using this sura as their guidance. On the other hand, Muhammad himself as the military and civil leader of Islam made strategic retreats. In the history of almost all warfare between the West and Muslims—especially the Arabs—courage on the battlefield has been lacking and the Israelis, British, French, Americans, and Hindus of India all observe this military weakness and accounting for this is built into their military doctrine.

For many extremists Muslims, this sura calls for the torture or killing of the enemies of Islam. For the more moderate Muslims, the penalty of opposing Islam should be expulsion or banishment. The further modern complication of this sura is the definition of “making war with Allah.” To some extremists, it is writing or publishing anything contrary to their view of Islam; it is occupying any Islamic nation or warring with that nation even though the basis of the war might have nothing to do with religion; it is bringing a Bible into an Islamic nations; it is allowing alcohol to be sold and served; it is opposing their discriminatory customs and laws; it is pressuring them not to stone adulteresses.

In the early stages of Islam, Muhammad had hoped to convert the Jews and others on the Arabian Peninsula. When they refused to be converted, he warred against them usually killing the men, and taking the women and children as slaves. The result was that non-believing tribes were “cleansed” from the Arabian Peninsula. The Muslims at the time preferred children as slaves. For then they could convert the children against their will. Adults in Islam must accept Islam in order to convert. Children are regarded as having no such maturity of decision making and therefore opposition to conversion may be ignored and they may be forced. Critics of Islam and those who argue that Islam is at odds with all other religions point to this quotation. They claim that it is the only religion whose founder and fundamental scriptures demand war against others for no other reason than that they believe in a different religion. The Catholic Church during the Crusades and the Inquisition had a similar philosophy as did Christian missionaries colonizing Africa later. One difference is that most Christians today repudiate the doctrine as against the true spirit and teachings of Christ and view it as historical error, while very few modern Muslims repudiate this quotation of the Prophet.

These passages of the Koran place the burden of fighting with their lives and their money when there is a jihad. In most cultures people who will not fight in their wars may be cowardly, immoral, and even criminal. But in Islam, the person is but into an even worse category—that of a non-believer. This is the worst accusation that can be made in the Islamic culture and often is accompanied by the death penalty.

This is the justification that some Muslims use for the murder of prisoners of war if the war is perceived to be an attack on Allah. This for most includes Westerners.

These suras are ones that for some fundamentalist extremists justified the killing of Iraqis Muslims who worked with the British, Americans or other Coalition forces in the Iraq war or even politicians who cooperated with the coalition.

See {586041} for a Koranic quotation that urges world domination by Islam. In this quotation, The Prophet was talking to his followers at a time when Islam was not even a dominant religion in Arabia. And war was the way in which tribes, groups, and religions and sects, established themselves and grew. Although there are other Koranic passages which tell the faithful that people can only legitimately come to Islam through individual commitment and willingly, this passage not only seems to contradict that but also reflects a desire to punish and disgrace “non-believing” groups. This vengeance motif is also contradictory to much else of the Koran which generally preaches love, forgiveness, and understanding. However, there are contradictions and intellectual inconsistencies within the Koran just as there are within the Old and New Testaments.

Bashir advocates adapting Sharia—Islamic Law—for all people in Indonesia—regardless of their religion or their preference for separation of church and state. This is diametrically opposite to an Islamic Syrian poet of 1000 years ago—see {624477}. Many Muslims have become more intolerant than some of their earlier scholars. Bashir also differs from most Indonesian Muslims who have historically not shared his bigotry and intolerance.

One Islamic belief that has stood since the inception of the religion is that if a true believer who is defending the faith in a jihad is killed, he will immediate be transported to Paradise where he will receive the best of the other world. If a Muslim dies under normal circumstances, he is judged and may or may not attain Paradise depending on his past life. However, if he dies in jihad, all past sins are immediately erased and he is guaranteed Paradise. This quotation is exactly what is told to Muslim fighters and suicide bombers today (see {635766}, {588728} and {590762}) and it is just as effective as ever in persuading men to fight and sacrifice themselves. The Roman Catholic Pope issued a similar edict in the Crusades and fights of both religions were willing and almost anxious to die in battle. In modern times Christian leaders do not make such appeals and if they did, few would believe them.

This sura is interpreted by some Islamic fundamentalists as absolution for the killing of a non-Muslim by a Muslim. It was Allah who did it. In a greater sense, critics of Islam observe that many Muslims and Islamic nations have a double standard of responsibility for crimes. If the victims are Muslims, the normal standards of morality hold; but if a non-believer there can be no crime. Terrorism, torture, beheading, mass murder can all be done with a clean conscience if a Muslim takes this interpretation of this sura. Many Muslims however take an opposite point of view. These people do not have the concept of fatalism and lack of free will that others believe. There is a parallel to this problem in Judeo Christian countries although it is less common statistically. But the murder of physicians who perform abortions, and the Jewish radical fundamentalist who killed innocent Arabs at worship are examples of people who viewed themselves as instruments of God in their heinous activities.

This sura has justified major discrimination against non-Muslims so that they should never appear “preeminent” over the faithful. See for example, {617157} and {617160}.

This quotation is often used to illustrate the "Muslim propensity to violence". However, the context of the quotation was a historical circumstance whereby Muhammad's followers were endangered by others and the fighting was of a defensive nature. However, Islam is also a religion requiring believers to spread the religion. So, if there were people or countries or tribes that resisted conversion, the religion was interpreted by many Muslims as being under attack. Therefore violence was justified. In modern times, some religious leaders saw modernism and The West as a danger to Islam and it's tradition, therefore this and other passages of the Koran are often used to justify the terrorism that became so prevalent.

It is this verse that for some Muslims justifies terrorism against non-Muslims. See {584354} for a specific example. There are similar provisions in the Old Testament which a few extremely conservative Jews and Christians have used to advocate for blasphemy being a capital crime. Note that if an unbeliever repents and becomes a Muslim, he should be spared.

Essentially such a rigid conviction of unbelievers was common with both Protestants and Catholics in the middle of the second millennium, but Christian theology evolved and forgiveness and repentance became major factors. Islam did not so modernize so even in the 21st century a disbeliever deserved nothing from Muslims because Allah would never forgive them and they would be consigned to hell. So this Sura and {584363} made fundamentalist Muslim terrorists particularly willing to kill non-believers.

Christian sentiments like this were common during The Crusades where God would cause Christianity to prevail. However, with the Reformation, the enlightenment, the industrial revolution, and modernity, most Christians became more tolerant of other religions and accepting of the fact that there are other religions, which while not valid, would co-exist with Christianity. Islam backward and left out of the forces that modernized Christian nations entered the 21st century with large numbers of Muslims who believe in the literal truth of this sura and its desirability and their personal duty to help make it happen.

This sura is used by fundamentalist Islamic regimes to justify religious persecution and prohibit any public worship other than Islam. Jews and Christians went through this stage and there are still a few fundamentalist extremists who would deny freedom of religion if they could. While the percentage is small, those in Islamic nations are a much larger proportion of the whole.