Universal Verses Of The Quran Not The Contextual War Verses Form The Basis Of Islamic Behaviour
By S.
Arshad, New Age Islam
17 January
2022
Contextual
War Verses Were Revealed To Guide Muslims During The Initial Crisis
Main
Points:
1. The Quran
preaches good treatment of neighbors, travelers and needy without mentioning
their religion.
2. Contextual
war verses were meant only for the time of war and confrontation.
3. Quran tells
Muslims to treat their non-Muslim parents with respect and compassion.
4. Mixing the
contextual war verses with the universal verses led to the confusion.
5. Some
scholars interpreted contextual war verses as universal giving way to terrorist
ideology.
-----
The holy
Quran is the fountainhead of Islamic Shariah. It is a book of guidance for
Muslims on social, political and personal life of Muslims. But the Quran has
two categories of verses. One, contextual verses that were revealed to guide
the Muslims on how to deal with the enemies and what to do in case of
aggression by the enemies during the life of the prophet pbuh.
These war
verses were meant for wartime. In the verses Muslims were allowed to fight the
enemies to protect them and their interests.
Two, there are universal verses that form the basis of Islamic Shariah.
These verses advise Muslims to be considerate, compassionate while dealing with
the Muslims and non-Muslims. These verses guide the Muslims in the time of
peace and when we study these verses closely and keenly, we find that the holy
Quran preaches peaceful co-existence with non-Muslims.
Indeed, the
Quran envisages a society where every individual will be concerned by the evils
of the society and will continue to work to remove the social and religious
ills. He will also continually work for the emancipation of the downtrodden and
the oppressed and at the same time work to spread the message of unity of God.
But he will never resort to pressure or violence or coercion to spread the
message of God.
God says in
the Quran that he has endowed man with wisdom and intelligence and so he is
himself responsible for what he does and for his beliefs. He has left food for
thought in his creations and in his own body. So, the work of the Muslims is
only to draw man’s attention towards the mastery in the creation in the
universe and advise man to do good and abstain from evil.
“We sent them˺ with clear proofs and divine Books.
And We have sent down to you ˹O Prophet˺ the Reminder, so that you may
explain to people what has been revealed for them, and perhaps they will
reflect.” (Al Nahl:44)
In no
verse, does the Quran advise or instruct Muslims to be violent to the non-believers
because the Quran time and again says that not all of the people on earth will
believe in truth because of the disease in their heart. God does not bless
wicked people with wisdom. In fact God says that He seals the hearts and ears
of those who are wicked and do not want to hear the word of God and do mischief
on earth.
“And who does more wrong than those who, when
reminded of their Lord’s revelations, turn away from them and forget what their
own hands have done? We have certainly cast veils over their hearts—leaving
them unable to comprehend this ˹Quran˺—and deafness in their ears. And if
you ˹O Prophet˺ invite them to ˹true˺ guidance, they will never be ˹rightly˺ guided”.(Al Kahf:57)
“This is
how Allah seals the hearts of those unwilling to know ˹the truth˺”.(Rum:59)
Allah has sealed their hearts and their
hearing, and their sight is covered. They will suffer a tremendous punishment”
(Baqarah:7)
“In the above quoted verses, God clearly says
that He has sealed their hearts because of their mischief and so the even the
messenger cannot guide them to the right path. Therefore, Muslims wont be able
to bring them to the right path and so it
will be imprudent to use violence against them as it will only cause
collateral damage and cause anarchy in the society instead of establishing
peace on earth.
God also tells the prophet pbuh not to be
distressed by their mischief and their disbelief because if they do not believe
and do not listen to his words, it is because God has sealed their hearts. It
is only the people with good sense who
will listen to the word of wisdom and truth.
“Now, perhaps you ˹O Prophet˺ will grieve yourself to death over
their denial, if they ˹continue to˺ disbelieve in this message.”(Al Kahf:6)
The Quran
makes it very clear that the messengers were sent only as deliverers of the
message of God and warners against the hellfire. Therefore, the Muslims should
also not use violence against the disbelievers of wicked people. God says that
whoever comes to the right path it is in his own interests and whoever does not
listen to the message of truth it is to
his own loss. No Muslim is responsible for the misdeeds of others.
“We do not send the messengers except as
deliverers of good news and warners”.(Al Kahf:56)
“˹This is˺ the truth from your Lord. Whoever
wills let them believe, and whoever wills let them disbelieve.” Surely We have
prepared for the wrongdoers a Fire whose walls will ˹completely˺ surround them.(Al Kahf:29)
Nor can you lead the blind out of their
misguidance. You can make none hear ˹the truth˺ except those who believe in Our
revelations, ˹fully˺ submitting ˹to Allah˺.(Al Naml:81)
” Then whoever chooses to be guided, it is only
for their own good. But whoever chooses to stray, say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “I am only a warner.”(Al Naml:92)
You surely cannot guide whoever you like ˹O Prophet˺, but it is Allah Who guides whoever
He wills, and He knows best who are ˹fit to be˺ guided.(Qasas:56)
Nor can you lead the blind out of their
misguidance. You can make none hear ˹the truth˺ except those who believe in Our
revelations, ˹fully˺ submitting ˹to Allah˺.(Rum:53)
The Quran wants Muslims to become an example
for the world and so preaches them to act with justice with all the people
whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims. He is expected to behave with courtesy
and decency in all the matters of society. The holy prophet pbuh was very
compassionate with the Jews and Christians and the polytheists and would help
them in need. He did not support unjustified violence against any body.
“Indeed,
Allah commands justice, grace, as well as courtesy to close relatives. He
forbids indecency, wickedness, and aggression. He instructs you so perhaps you
will be mindful.”(Al Nahl:90)
The Quran
envisages a society where the Muslims will live in peace with the non-Muslims
and grant them their social, religious and political rights. At the same time,
they will fulfill their duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil in a
peaceful manner.
It was
because of taking the contextual war verses as the universal teachings of the
Quran that the ideology of violence became popular among the extremist sections
of the Muslims. They ignored the fact that war is only a temporary phase in the
life of any community or nation. Muslims also passed through that temporary
phase during the initial stage of Islam when it faced existential threat. After
that period was over, the universal verses of the Quran preaching peace and
peaceful co-existence came into effect. But the extremist interpretations of
the war verses of the Quran considering them the universal message of Islam
gave way to extremist and then to terrorist ideology. It gave birth to
terrorist outfit that fed on this wrong interpretation of contextual war
verses.
The fact is
that the Quran enjoins on Muslims to treat their neighbors, travelers, feed the
hungry, help the needy without mentioning their religious background. Humanism
is the core of the Quranic message. It also asks Muslims to treat their
non-Muslim parents with respect because humanistic values are more important to
the Quran. The sanctity of human life is paramount before the Quran. This is
why the Quran says that killing one innocent person is akin to killing the
whole humanity and saving one innocent life is akin to saving the entire
humanity.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/quran-cotextual-war-verses-islamic-behaviour/d/126175
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic
Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism