Rejoinder to Mustafa Azhari’s Article ‘Removing Doubts Concerning Verses of Jihad: Does Islam force Non-Muslims to Accept Islam -Part 1
By Muhammad
Yunus, New Age Islam
6 June 2021
(Co-author
(Jointly with Ashfaque Ullah Syed), Essential Message of Islam, Amana
Publications, USA, 2009.)
Islam Does
Not Allow Anyone To Force Any Non-Muslim To Accept Islam
Main
Points:
1. The article
quotes from the Qur’an and thus has an exegetic dimension.
2. It has to be
compelling in its arguments and not vulnerable to easy criticism.
3. For any
reason whatever one cannot force an individual to embrace faith.
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Removing Doubts Concerning Verses of Jihad in Quran
- Does Islam force Non-Muslims to Accept Islam -Part 1is a well written article that
quotes from the Qur’an, the Hadith and the Sira (the Prophet’s biography) to
establish that Islam does not allow anyone to force any non-Muslim to accept
Islam.
The article
quotes from the Qur’an and thus has an exegetic dimension. Therefore it has to
be compelling in its arguments and not vulnerable to easy criticism. Since I
have spotted some weak points, I feel it my duty to raise them to enable the
author to bear them in mind while writing further on the subject. Here are my
observations:
1. The statement in the opening part of the
article: “Islam does not allow unjustified coercion in order to bring an
individual under its domain” implies that in certain circumstances coercion
could be justified to bring a person under its domain. This is not correct. For
any reason whatever one cannot force an individual to embrace faith
2. Use of the word ‘bondwoman’ in the
translation of the verse 4:36 purports to restrict the command of the verse to
only men. This makes the Qur’an a male centric religion and thus detracts from
its gender neutrality for all general commandments:
“Indeed, for Muslim men and Muslim women, for
believing men (Mu’minin) and believing women (Mu’minat), for devout men and
devout women, for truthful men and truthful women, for patient men and patient
women, for humble men and humble women, for charitable men and charitable
women, for fasting men and fasting women, for men and women who guard their
chastity, and for men and women who remember God a lot - God has prepared for
them forgiveness and a great reward” (33:35).
3. The article says at one place: “There are
many instances in the biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him) that he did
not force the polytheists to convert to Islam.” This statement can be easily
dismissed on the ground that some of the accounts in the same biography depict
the Prophet in lurid light ((Bukhari - Vol 1, 234, 260; Vol.2, 577; Vol.4,
261-A; Vol.5, 505, 507, Vol.8, 796, 797).
4. Hazrat Safwan b. Umayyah's case cited in
the article can be dismissed as evidence for whether he converted to avert any
punishment for his enduring hostility against the Prophet or out of his inner
feelings is known only to Allah SWT.
5. The concluding remark ”Islam does not
force a non-Muslim to become a Muslim without any reason” seems to contradict
the Qur’an as the Qur’an leaves the choice of embracing Islam on individuals
and does not empower anybody even the Prophet to compel or scare anyone to
enter Islam by giving a reason.
6. A very compelling case witnessed by the
Qur’an is in allowing pagan women to leave for Mecca, if they did not opt to
convert to Islam along with their husbands:
“And if any of your wives should go over to the
pagans, and then you have your turn (as many converted wives of the Meccan
pagans left their pagan husbands and came over to Medina), then pay to those
whose wives had left the equivalent of what they had spent (on their dower).
And heed God in whom you believe” (60:11).
7. Finally, one of the most learned and
reputed historians of Islam, Thomas W. Arnold (1864-1930), who carried out an
extensive research lasting almost two decades to dig into the reasons of the
phenomenal spread of Islam in its early centuries, can be quoted as follows
[1]– from its concluding chapter –to establish the article’s claim:
"In the preceding pages it has been shown
that the theory of the Muslim faith enjoins toleration and freedom of religious
life for all those followers of other faiths who pay tribute in return for
protection …, The very existence of so many Christian sects and communities in countries
that have been for centuries under Mohammadan rule is an abiding testimony to
the toleration they have enjoyed, and shows that the persecutions, they have
from time to time been called upon to endure at the hands of bigots and
fanatics, have been excited by some special and local circumstances, rather
than inspired by a settled principal of intolerance." He also notes:
‘(Caliph) Umar is recorded to have ordered an allowance of money and food to be
made to some Christian lepers, apparently out of the public funds [3].
Finally I
must admit, as a human being I am not above error – but as a Muslim I am
required to testify to the truth (Saddaqa Bil Husna) and hence this
rejoinder.
[1] Thomas
W. Arnold, Preaching of Islam, 2nd revised edition, 1913, reprinted Delhi 1990,
p. 419/420. [2]Ibid., p.57.
Related Article:
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Muhammad
Yunus, a Chemical Engineering graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, and
a retired corporate executive has been engaged in an in-depth study of the
Qur’an since early 90’s, focusing on its core message. He has co-authored the
referred exegetic work, which received the approval of al-Azhar al-Sharif,
Cairo in 2002, and following restructuring and refinement was endorsed and
authenticated by Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl of UCLA, and published by Amana
Publications, Maryland, USA, 2009.
URL: https://newageislam.com/debating-islam/mustafa-verses-jihad-non-muslims/d/124940
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