The most often misquoted verses of the Qur'an

Current events in Afghanistan are related to US foreign policy and international politics. But for some reason, a number of people are looking into religion for answers, specifically Islam. Many people are turning to the Quran. Unfortunately, this has led many to misunderstand a number of verses about the Islamic conduct of war. Below is a clear explanation that can help clarify misconceptions.

When it comes to the Islamic conduct of war, some of the verses of the Quran that have often been quoted by non-Muslims to prove Islam promotes violence and bloodshed are found in Surah 2 verses 190-194:

2.190. Fight against those who fight against you in the way of Allah, but do not transgress, for Allah does not love transgressors.

2.191. Kill them whenever you confront them and drive them out from where they drove you out. (For though killing is sinful) wrongful persecution is even worse than killing. Do not fight against them near the Holy Mosque unless they fight against you; but if they fight against you kill them, for that is the reward of such unbelievers.

2.192. Then if they desist, know well that Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Compassionate.

2.193. Keep on fighting against them until mischief ends and the way prescribed by Allah prevails. But if they desist, then know that hostility is only against the wrong-doers.

2.194. The sacred month for the sacred month; sanctities should be respected alike ( by all concerned). Thus, if someone has attacked you, attack him just as he attacked you, and fear Allah and remain conscious that Allah is with those who guard against violating the bounds set by Him.

(translation taken from, Towards Understanding the Quran)

http://www.islam101.com/terror/quranWPJ.htm

The Historic Context and the Nature of the Holy Quran

The Holy Quran comprises of revelations from God to Prophet Muhammad over a period of twenty three years (610 C.E. – 632 C.E.). The first 13 years of the prophethood of Muhammad were at his hometown of Makkah (Mecca), where he and his fellow Muslims were severely persecuted by the pagans of Makkah. During that time, Muslims were not ordered to fight back, but bear the persecutions. Finally, God ordered the Prophet and his fellow Muslims (known as Sahabah) to emigrate to the city of Madinah, about 400 kilometers away.

This emigration, known as the Hijrah, marked the beginning of an Islamic society in Madinah, in which the Prophet became the head of the state. It was not long before the polytheists of Makkah marched towards Madinah to wage war against Muslims and destroy the Islamic state of Madinah. This battle is known as the Battle of Badr. The verses 2.190-2.194, above were perhaps the first injunctions from God to Muslims to prepare themselves for fighting. It was obviously a war in the defense of their homeland and their Faith.

In verse 2.190, God instructs Muslims to fight back, but not to transgress, and remain just even during the battle. "They are told that material interests should not be the motivation for their fighting, that they should not take up arms against those were not in opposition to the true faith, that they should not resort to unscrupulous methods or to the indiscriminate killing and pillage which characterized the other wars. The excesses alluded to in this verse are acts such as taking up arms against women and children, the old and the injured, mutilation of the dead bodies of the enemy, uncalled for devastation through the destruction of fields and livestock, and other similar acts of injustice and brutality.

The Prophet prohibited all these acts. The real intent of the verse is to stress that force should be used only when its use is unavoidable, and only to the extent that is absolutely necessary." (see note 201, page 151, Towards Understanding the Quran, Volume 1)

Commentary on verse 2.192:
God, in whom the believers have faith, is forgiving and ready to pardon even the worst criminals and sinners after they have renounced their arrogant defiance towards Him. It is suggested that this attribute of God should be reflected in the behavior of the believers as well. Hence, whenever the believers have to resort to armed conflict, they should do so not for the sake of quenching their thirst for vengeance but in the just cause of their defense. Their conflict with any group should last only as long as that group is fighting them. As soon as it gives up this fight the hostility should cease. (see (note 203, page 152, as above.)

It should be emphasized that so many revelations in the Holy Quran came down to provide guidance to Prophet Muhammad and the Muslims based on what they were confronting at that time. Therefore, it is important to understand and know the historic context of the revelations for a proper understanding of these verses.

The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was the peace maker of his time. He endured torture, hunger and the killing of his loved ones by his enemies, but he remained a merciful person. In his most startling conquest of Makkah only four people died. In his 23 years of struggle for Islam, the total number of people who lost their lives from all sides was less than 2,000 in wars that were imposed on him and the Muslim community.

Read more at
bullet http://islam101.com/quran Articles on the Quran, The online Texts
bullet http://islam101.com/science/GaryMiller.html The Amazing Quran
bullet http://islam101.com/rights/index.htm Human Rights in Islam

 

Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you..

 

Agreed

I'm not a Muslim but I think you guys get bashed a lot in the media by... well, IMO, Zionists such as the Israeli elite.

But... chin up and all that

Thanks for the info there, that's what I thought too.

 

Well to be fair we do bring a lot of it upon ourselves. Give me a paragraphe or two to explain how

A friend of mine after years of study trying to become a buddhist monk suddenly changed direction and embraced Islam. I was shocked and I had to find out why. Well he gave me this analogy that I could understand.

Christianity is like a Mac computer
Judaism is like a PC.
Islam is like Linux

I'm not sure if Christianity is the Mac or if it's Judaism. But my friend was right in comparing Islam to Linux. It's a very complicated religion that demands from the first day that each and every single person in the faith strive to become a scholar. This is the problem, because soooo many Muslims act like Christians and just let others tell them how they're supposed to behave and think as Muslims.

Islam is NOT a religion of priests or clerics as the media calls them. So to be a good Muslim the Qur'an has to be read from cover to cover and it pretty much has to be memorized. Then a Muslim needs to study the Hadiths and learn all the life history of the Prophet(alayhi as-salām). This can take years and anyone that is unwiling or unable to do this shouldn't be getting involved in worldly matters. Especially when you consider western society's greed and ability to manipulate and distort the truth for its own benefit.

Sadly the world seems to be controled by the greedy and the stupidly lazy that do the bidding of the greedy. Since Muslims are people too, Islam's problems are exactly the same as society's problems. If the average Muslim took his religion as seriously as they're supposed to, none of the shit we see going on could touch us.

 

hm, that's an interesting insight

I just think it gets distorted in the media. Surely it's in the Zionists' interest for us to hate Muslims? Or blame them at least for everything >.<

 

Well I don't know anything about this zionist stuff. But as a Palestinian living in America I know that there's really 3 forces at work in the world. The first is the powerful, the second is the stupidly lazy and the third is the intelligent that refuse to play along.

To be a Muslim is to not acknowledge any authority over yourself except that of God. No man or woman that does NOT respect and follow 100% God's will should ever be listened to, followed or indulged. I think Islam's stand on human rights sums up best our point of view.

Of course this attitude is a major problem and threat to any politican, general or otherwise leader. Therefore they're going to demonize anyone adhearing to this righteous attitude in order to keep it from catching on and becoming the norm.

 

I guess so. But also, they want control of the Middle East or at least a significant percentage of it, don't they? To spread the control and land of Israel and to secure resources. That was my understanding.

It is hard to tell for sure unless you're on the inside though.

 

With my plastic Jesus
Goodbye and I'll go far
I said with my plastic Jesus
Sitting on the dashboard of my car

 

If we were behaving like true Muslims then

We would be ignoring our so called heads of state. (Islam teaches that a leader's power lies in those that listen to them)
We would have told the western nations to come take the oil free of charge and then gone on to raise our children, grow our own crops and worship Subhan'Allāh. WITHOUT lifting a single finger to help with the extraction of the oil. But of course Muslims can be just as foolish as the rest of the world.

 

Soon I discovered that this rock thing was true
Jerry lee lewis was the devil
Jesus was an architect previous to his career as a prophet
All of a sudden, I found myself in love with the world
So there was only one thing that I could do
Was ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long

 

But I thought you are taught in the Qur'an to defend your land?

 

When you study the Judicial Prudence of Islam you find that NO ONE owns any land. So technically if the Americans want the oil they're more then welcome to it. Just as long as they don't try to opress Muslims in order to extract it or do anything that destroys the ablity of those living there to provide for their families.

 

But they kinda did, didn't they?

And doesn't the oil help you provide for your families?

 

I'm Palestinian so I can't comment what's going on exactly in oil nations like Iraq. But I have memories of when I lived in my coutry of soldiers standing with guns out forcing the men of our village to work.

So I doubt that they left the people there alone. I also doubt that the oil helps anyone provide for their families. The only people that it probably helps were already rich.

Here's a story about a situation I've heard some men talk about in my mosque
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1554064/US-used-forced-labour-to-build-Iraq-embassy.html

Only I've heard that most were never paid, many were tortured and some were killed if they threatened to speak with the media;

 

Yeah I'm very suspicious of the whole thing

We (nearly) all live in bubbles created by our respective countries

 

Does this really surprise you? Rise up man.

 

haha no but... whenever I said this stuff on FB I just got funny "looks"

 

That is just because most people don't want to look beyond their respective bubbles, and when one tries to get them to they fight back, sometimes quite aggressivily

 

Sometimes ??

 

The bible has it's historical contexts as well. His-story being an account of our sometimes rocky relations with our conceptions of good.