God Asks Muslims Not To Adopt Violent Means to Spread Islam
By S.
Arshad, New Age Islam
16 March
2022
God Does
Not Want Many People to Be Guided On the Right Path
Main
Points:
1. God says
that He seals the hearts of many people.
2. God says
that He casts a veil between the Qur'an and the non-believers.
3. God says
that Muslims should only convey the message of the Qur'an to non-believers
peacefully.
4. God Asks
Muslims not to fight with the People of the Book and polytheists over their
beliefs.
5. Muslims
should only work as social reformers and not warriors.
-----
The holy
Quran was revealed to Prophet Mohammad pbuh in Makkah when, on one hand, idol
worship had become widespread, and on the other hand, corruption had crept in
the belief of the People of the Book. Apart from this, many moral and social
vices had spread among the people of Arab. Bloodshed, female foeticide, sexual
crimes and misogyny were the order of the day
God
revealed His holy book Qur'an to His prophet pbuh to remove the social and
moral vices and purge the Abrahamic religions of the impurities that had crept
in them. In fact, the Qur'an had been made a means of bringing about a total
reform in the Arab society. But at the same time, God laid down the principle
and method of reform and conveying the message of the Qur'an to the believers
and non-believers. It clearly told the holy prophet pbuh and the Muslims that
their duty was only to convey the message of the Qur'an to the non-believers
without causing conflict or even annoyance to them. If the non-believers do not
want to listen to the prophet pbuh or to the Muslims, they should turn away
from them and if they turn hostile, the Muslims should not react violently and
leave the place.
The holy
Prophet Pbuh is also told that he should not grieve if the non-believers do not
heed his sermons because nobody can accept his dawah if He has not decided to
guide him on the right path. Actually, God says in a number of verses that He
does not want many people on earth to be guided on the right path, or more
clearly, to be converted to Islam. There are some clear verses to that effect:
"And to whomever Allah wills to guide He
opens his chest for accepting Islam and whom He wills to lead astray He makes
his chest so congested that he feels as if he is climbing up the sky."(Al An'am:126)
This verse
very clearly states that delivering guidance is the sole discretion of God and
He even leads people astray according to His scheme of things.
Therefore,
God says to the prophet pbuh not to be disappointed and frustrated if the
non-believers don't accept Islam:
"And if one denies then do not be
aggrieved over his denial. They have to return to us. Then We will inform them
of what they have done. Indeed Allah knows what lies in their hearts."(Luqman: 23)
Most
importantly, God says on some occasions that actually He has cast an invisible
veil between the Prophet Pbuh and the non-believers and has sealed the hearts
of the non-believers. Therefore, the non-believers will not pay heed to his
calls or sermons.
"When you recite the Qur'an, We cast an
invisible veil between you and the non-believers and create a cover over their
hearts so that they understand nothing and a burden on their ears."(Bani Israel: 46)
In Surah Al
Baqarah, God says,
Indeed those who became non-believers, it is
same for them whether you warn them or not. Allah has sealed their hearts and
ears and there is a veil on their eyes and there is a severe torment for them "(Al Baqarah: 7)
Another
verse also clearly says that God does not want many people to accept Deen:
"And you cannot do anything before God for
those whom God wanted to go astray, they are the ones whose hearts God did not
want to purify; in the world there is humiliation for them and in the Hereafter
there is a big torment."(Al Maidah: 41)
Here is
another verse which says that God causes some people to go astray.
"Those whom God leads aright gets the
right path and whom He causes to go astray you won't find any friend for him to
bring him to the right path"(Al Kahf).
"He causes whom He wants to go astray and
guides whom He wills
"(Al Mudassar: 31)
God also
says that if He had willed, all the people on earth would have been the
followers of one religion and there would not have been religious differences
on the earth and the bloodshed that results from the differences.
"If Allah had willed He would have caused
all to be one community but He admits whom He wants in his blessings and for
the sinners there is no friend and helper."(Ash- Shura: 8)
So from all
the above-quoted verses, it becomes clear that God does not want all the people
on earth to accept one single Deen (Islam). Before Islam, He did not want all
the people to be the followers of Christianity and before Christ, God did not
want all the people on earth to accept Judaism and so on and so forth. God also
makes it clear that during the life of Prophet Mohammad pbuh many Makkans and
Madinites did not accept Islam because it was God Himself who had cast an
invisible veil between the message of the Qur'an and the non-believers. Their
hearts and ears and eyes had been obstructed by an invisible veil because God
did not want them to be guided to the true Deen. He clearly says that the
non-believers do not see the truth because He has sealed their hearts.
But at the
same time, God says that since they did not accept true Deen and were led
astray, they will be greeted with grave torment in the Hereafter. The question
is: Why should they be punished when God did not want them to be guided and it
is He who caused them to go astray. It is He who sealed their hearts and cast a
veil of ignorance on their eyes and ears?
The answer
is clear. Deen or Iman is a very precious gift of God and a precious gift is
not presented to all and sundry. It is presented only to those who know its
value and crave for it. It is not presented to those who show disregard and
disdain or contempt for it. God has given man intellect and asks him to use his
intellect and explore the truth of the universe for himself. Prophet Abraham a.
s. was made prophet after passing through many trials. He would ponder over the
sun, the moon, the stars and the nature to reach at the truth. And finally he
realised the truth. Therefore, God Asks the holy Prophet pbuh to peacefully
offer the precious gift of Iman or Deen to the non-believers and if they reject
the gift, then it means that they have not used their intellect to find the
truth and so their hearts will be sealed for showing disregard and disrespect
to a valuable gift from God which was offered to them unasked and without any
trials like prophet Abraham a s. went through. When the non-believers close the
doors on God and the prophet pbuh, they seal their own fate.
Secondly,
God wants to test the faith and resolve of the believers. He wants them to
struggle in His path, to endure hardship for Him, to make sacrifices to gain
His love and so He has created light and darkness, good and evil, Kufr and
Islam and created ideological differences. He wants believers to show restraint
and develop within themselves the qualities that may win him His blessings. His
real purpose is not bringing all the people to one Deen but His real purpose is
to see His devotees or believers to struggle in His prescribed path and make
sacrifices for His love. If He wills to spread His Deen across the globe, He
can do it without the help of human beings and He will do it towards the end of
the world.
That's why
God asks the holy Prophet Pbuh to carry out their reformist work without being
concerned about the outcome of their efforts. If the non-believers do not
accept the word of God, the believers will not be held responsible, rather they
will be duly rewarded for their efforts. There are a number of verses in this
regard:
"Tell the believers to forgive those who
do not have any hope of the days of Allah, so that He may punish a group for
what they did."(Al
Kathiya: 14)
"So you cannot make the dead and the deaf
hear your call when they turn their back nor can you show the path to the blind
when they go astray."(Ar Rum: 53)
In short,
the verses quoted and discussed above present Quran's non-violent approach and
it's principle of religious tolerance. Religious extremism and intolerance
spreads when believers do not understand the basic philosophy of religion and
take upon themselves the task which God has not entrusted on them. Establishing
the domination of a particular religion has never been the purpose of God. How
can then it be the purpose of man, that too, at the cost of human beings for
whom God has created this beautiful universe.
-----
S.
Arshad is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-spiritualism/god-muslims-violent-right-path/d/126581
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