Removing The Quranic Verses That On Face Value Promote Violence Or Otherwise Vitiate The Message Of Islam (?)
By Muhammad Yunus, New Age Islam
31 May 2021
(Co-author (Jointly with Ashfaque Ullah
Syed), Essential Message of Islam, Amana Publications, USA, 2009)
Inserting Reconciliatory Verses Or
Removing Others That On Face Value Promote Violence Or Malign Others Is Not Any
New Issue
Main Points:
1. Qur’anic
pronouncements serve as irrefutable proof of the integrity of its text.
2. Prophet’s
immediate successors were as intense in their faith in the Qur’an as their
predecessors during the Prophet’s lifetime.
3. Qur’an
features scores of verses exhorting the followers of the Prophet to fight
against their pagan attackers and violators of treaty and those who first
attacked them and expelled them from their homelands.
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This is to trash Syed Waseem Rizwi’s
petition in India's Supreme Court to remove some 26 verses of the Qur’an.
Inserting reconciliatory verses or removing
others that on face value promote violence or malign others is not any new
issue. As the Qur’an testifies, even the Prophet Muhammad was under pressure
from his Meccan foes to make some alterations in the Qur’an as it was under
revelation. The Qur’an responded with the following declaration:
“If he (Muhammad) attributed to Us any
false speech (69:44), We would seize him by the right hand (45), then We would
sever his aorta (46) and none of you could prevent it (69:47).
As the Prophet’s followers held him in
utmost veneration, the gravity of this warning, however symbolic it may be,
heightened their spiritual consciousness to ensuring the integrity of the
revealed passages as they memorized them.
These Qur’anic pronouncements serve as
irrefutable proof of the integrity of its text. Had there been any alteration
in the Qur’an, the Prophet’s enemies as well as the general Arab public would
not have embraced Islam during his lifetime as they would have seen the Qur’an
failing in its above claim that was repeated several time in general terms as
listed / referenced below:
“The Words of
your Lord will be fulfilled truthfully and justly: none can change His Words,
for He is All-Knowing and Aware” (6:115);
“Surely We
have sent down this Reminder, and surely. We will protect (preserve) it”
(15:9)..[Also proclaimed with immaculate consistency in the verses 6:34, 18:27,
41:42]
“Nay! This is
a Glorious Qur'an (85:21). (Inscribed) in a Tablet (well) guarded (lauh
al-mahfuz) (against corruption)” (85:22)
Even if, for the sake of argument, the
prevalent historical setting prevented the Arabs from dismissing the Qur’an if
it were altered during the 23 year span of revelation, they would have definitely
rejected it immediately after the Prophet’s death. However, this did not
happen. The Prophet’s immediate successors were as intense in their faith in
the Qur’an as their predecessors during the Prophet’s lifetime.
Thus there can be no iota of doubt that the
Qur’an was handed down to the Prophet’s successors and through them to the
posterity in its original form.
From a different perspective, the Qur’an
puts an eternal seal of authenticity in its very opening declaration - Zalikal
Kitabu La Raiba Fih [“this is an edict/book that is free from any doubts.”]
Any doctoring of the Qur’an at any point in history will invalidate this
opening claim and create doubts about its authenticity as word of God. Thus the
Qur’an leaves no cards in the hands of its potential detractors of history to
corrupt its text.
With This We Come To The Verses Of The
Qur’an That Allegedly Promote Violence.
The Qur’an features scores of verses
exhorting the followers of the Prophet to fight against their pagan attackers
and violators of treaty alliances, and those who first attacked them and
expelled them from their homelands. These verses were specific to the context
of the revelation and do not form a part of its clearly stated tenets of
guidance to humanity. They must, however, be retained in the Qur’an to attest
to the defensive character of the Prophetic mission, the principles of justice
and moderation in warfare (allowing severe action as an exception rather than
rule) and the granting of security to fleeing civilians and non-combatants
caught in the war [1]. However, the Qur’an moderates its fighting verses with
reconciliatory verses. Thus, a passage dating from the late Medinite period
asks the Muslims to be just and virtuous to those who did not fight against
them over religion, nor expelled them from their homelands (60:8), and reminds
them that their enemies could eventually become their friends (60:7). The
revelation also clarifies that it forbade the Muslims to befriend only those
who fought against them over religion, and expelled them from their homelands
and helped (others) in their expulsion (60:9).
God does not forbid you to be virtuous and
just to those who did not fight you over religion, nor drove you from your
homelands. Indeed, God loves the just (60:8). God only forbids you to befriend
those who fought against you over religion, and expelled you from your
homelands, and backed (others) in your expulsion; and whoever befriends them –
it is they who are unjust” (60:9).
In light of foregoing, any suggestion to
make any alteration to the Qur’an – let alone deleting some of its verses is
simply childish if not malicious, politically motivated and the brainchild of
one who has abjured reason and is mentioned in the Qur’an in these words:
“The worst
kind of all living creatures in God’s sight are the deaf and dumb, who do not
use reason” (8:22).
It is hoped that this clarification will
assuage the anger of the Indian Muslims for one Waseem Rizvi or a thousand of
them writing in unison cannot dismiss the Qur’an as a corrupted book. So
they must take him as an amateur if not mentally demented as a Muslim (assuming
he has read the Qur’an back to back) and pray that he realizes his colossal
folly, seeks forgiveness of God and honourably withdraws his petition.
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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/quranic-verses-violence-message-islam-waseem-rizvi/d/124909
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