Muslims Support Violence
Islam is generally portrayed as a religion that promotes violence and terrorism. Right-wing narratives usually use terms such as violent, terrorist, extremist and so on to describe Muslims. The constant stereotyping and bashing of Islam and Muslims by the media too play a significant role in reinforcing this misconception.
- Brutal acts committed by a numbered few, claimed to be made in the name of Allah and the religion, are used to typecast an entire community. However, acts of violence are never attributed to the religion of the perpetrators in the case of other religions. But we often hear about ‘Muslim fundamentalists’ linked with violence and terror.
- There are too many savage conclusions about the content in the religious texts and are often made by those who know less than they claim.
- In order to comprehend what Islam really says, one should go deep into the authentic sources of religion and separate the religious facts and the so called ‘facts’ portrayed by the media as well as the right-wing hate campaigns.
- Gallup carried out the biggest poll of Muslims around the world, about 50,000 Muslims in 35 countries and 93 % Muslims rejected 9/11 and suicide attacks and others forms of violence and the remaining 7 % that didn’t, cited political reasons for their support of violence and not religious reasons.
- Gallup analysis based on surveys suggests that one's religious identity and level of devotion have little to do with one's views about targeting civilians. It is human development and governance - not piety or culture - that are the strongest factors in explaining differences in how the public perceives this type of violence.
- According to the survey in the United States, Muslim Americans are the staunchest opponents of military attacks on civilians, compared with members of other major religious groups Gallup has studied in the United States.
- In sharp contrast with Americans who identify themselves with other faith groups, 89% of the Muslim Americans think that for an individual person or a small group of persons to target and kill civilians is never justified.
- Also, 92 per cent of Muslim Americans living in the US do not sympathise with the al Qaeda terrorist organisation.
- There are several verses that are used by those with anti-Muslim agenda to label Islam as a religion which promotes violence. A few of them are given below.
- ‘And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith’, Surah Al-Baqarah (2:191)
- The above was revealed when Muslims on the Hajj pilgrimage were attacked and killed by the Quraysh tribe who had signed a treaty with the Prophet to not attack the pilgrims.
- In the Quran, the Almighty stresses on spreading peace and harmony while war is only the last resort, stipulated with stringent conditions to follow. Islam lays down strict rules of combat which include prohibitions against harming civilians, destroying crops, trees and livestock.
- Nowhere in the religious texts does it command to kill innocents. Allah has clearly said in the Quran, ‘Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors’, Surah Al-Baqarah (2:190)
- But if the enemy incline towards peace do thou (also) incline towards peace and trust in Allah: for He is the one that heareth and knoweth (all things), Surah Al-Anfal (8:61)
- In the history of Islam, there were instances of battles in self-defence and in defence of their religion. During the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Muslims fought wars in defence. In his battles, the Prophet practiced human and moral principles, even treating his most vicious enemies with humane behaviour.
- After the conquest of Mecca, Prophet Muhammad forgave the Quraysh who had subjected Muslims to years of brutal persecution and abuse.
- Therefore, according to the religion, the nature of war is a defensive one, and not aggressive or offensive because the principle of Islam is peace and coexistence, not conflict, violence and war. It is important to note that fighting in defence of faith is not mentioned even once in the Quran.
- In the Quran, 113 out of 114 chapters begin by introducing the Almighty as a God of mercy and compassion. One can see mercy, love and justice throughout the Quran.
- Mehdi Raza Hasan, Britain’s most prominent political journalist, broadcaster and author, argues at the Oxford Union debate that Islam is a peaceful religion.
- Hasan asks why, if Islam is "responsible for killing," such a tiny percentage of believers actually participate in violence. He asks the audience if they really believe that 1.6 billion people are all "followers, promoters and believers in a religion of violence".
- Hasan also urges them not to "fuel the arguments of the phobes and bigots and legitimise hate", but to "trust the Muslims that you know and that you hear."
- ‘There are verses that refer to warfare and violence. Islam is not a pacifistic faith. Islam allows military action and violence in certain limited contexts. And yes, a minority of Muslims do take it out of context’, he says adding alongside that the book of Sharia Law which the opponents of Islam believe to be a sort of a book of statutes akin to an Islamic legal system, ‘doesn’t exist’.
- Another verse that is used by the right-wing to attack Islam is the verse 151 of Surah Al-Imran.
- ‘Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority: their abode will be the Fire: And evil is the home of the wrong-doers’, Surah Al-Im’ran (3:151)
- The verse (3:151) was narrated in the aftermath of the Battle of Uhud. After Uhud, Abu Sufyan and the idolaters headed toward Mecca. But after they traversed a certain distance, they felt regret, saying: ‘Evil is that which we have done! We massacred them [Muslims] such that none of them remained except those who fled from the battlefield and then we left them alone. Go back and exterminate them’. But when they decided to do so, Allah cast terror in their hearts which made them decide against what they had resolved to do.
- Another verse that is commonly used to brand Islam as a religion which supports violence is as follows, ‘Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wheresoever you find them, capture them, besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, and perform the prayer and give the alms, then let them go their way. Truly God is Forgiving, Merciful’, Surah I-Tawbah (9:5)
- The verse (9:5) has always been quoted out of context by the opponents of Islam claiming that the verse approves killing of non-Muslims anywhere at any-time.
- It refers to the Quraysh and their allied tribe of Banu Bakr and their violation of the Treaty of Hudaybiyah (mentioned in the verses 9:1- 4), an act that eventually led to the conquest of Makkah by the prophet and his followers.
- The verse orders Muslims to fight those idolaters (and also those hypocrites who are the enemy within) when the sacred month is passed because fighting in a holy month is not allowed. The fight was a defensive one.
- From the perspective of the Muslim community, the years of conflict preceding this announcement created a political environment where the idolaters of Arabia could not be left in a position of power and political strength to menace the Muslim to menace the Muslim community in the future; treaties were indeed often made, but they were just as often broken by the idolaters and their allies.
- This concern regarding treaties is made explicit in verse (9:8), which states that if the idolaters were to come into a position of power over the believers, they would not observe kinship or treaty. Rather, the idolaters in Arabia would have continued to form a persistent political alliance against the Prophet and the believers.
- According to this understanding of the political context, the idolaters’ conversion to Islam would not have been the purpose of fighting them, though this conversion would be the only way for them to ensure their physical security; that is, they could avoid a state of war by renouncing idolatry and disavowing their previous actions and alliances, but being non-Muslim was not their original crime.
- The verse 9:13 seems to provide the underlying rationale for why the idolaters were to be treated as hostile: ‘Will you not fight a people who broke their oaths, and intended to expel the Messenger, and opened [hostility] against you first?’
- An important thing to note is that the Quran has been revealed to prophet Muhammed in parts over a period of 23 years. Each of the verses were revealed in a specific context. That means, they are situational. The Quran also mentions the location where the verse was sent to the prophet.
- The religious texts are not compiled in a linear format. A situation has been touched upon in an earlier chapter and part of it is anecdotally spoken about in a chapter much later.
- But right-wing propagators never mention the verses that follow or precede it because then the Islamophobic agenda would be lost. Merely projecting a verse out of context is intentionally done to mislead others.
- Robert Pape, one of America’s leading political scientists and a terrorism expert, who studied every single case of suicide terrorism between 1980 and 2005, which comes up to 315 cases in total, says ‘there is little connection between suicide terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism or any of the world’s religions.
- Rather what nearly all suicide attacks have in common is a specific secular and strategic goal to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from territories which the terrorists consider to be their homeland, he says.
- Islam cannot be held responsible if a small minority of Muslims commit acts of terror and violate the norms laid down by their religion.
- Sheikh Afifi al-Akiti, a well-respected Islamic scholar published a fatwa denouncing terrorism in the name of Islam, calling for the protection of non-combatants, at all times, and described suicide bombings as an innovation with no basis in Islam law. This is the message of mainstream Islam which it has tried to convey always.
- Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, renowned Pakistani-Canadian Islamic scholar, published a 600-page fatwa condemning the killing of all innocents and all suicide bombers unconditionally.
- Islam in Arabic literally means ‘submission to God’ and is derived from a root word meaning ‘peace’. Islam upholds peace, equality, tolerance and reconciliation.
- It teaches that life is sacred and a believer has a duty to uphold truth and justice. It is not a religion of warmongers as claimed by the Hindu groups.
- In the Quran it is clearly mentioned that ‘There is no compulsion in religion’, Surah Al-Baqarah (2:256). If there is no compulsion at all, where is the question of spreading it with sword?
- Even if it is about propagating the religion, Allah says in the Quran, ‘Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious’… Surah An-Nahl (16: 125) and not by threatening, harming or luring people with money or other material aspects.
- Allah says in the Quran in Surah Al-Kafirun (109:6), ‘For you is your religion, and for me is my religion”. These texts clearly convey tolerance and patience towards other faiths. This Principle in the Quran contributes towards the realisation of the culture of peace and a non-violent society.
- Even the ‘salaam’, the customary greeting or the salutation used to greet people means ‘peace’.
- Another topic of contention is the term ‘Jihad’. Jihad in Arabic literally means ‘struggle’ or ‘striving’ or ‘exertion’ but is commonly and wrongly translated as the ‘holy war’.
- In the Quran, the term appears in different contexts and is mostly used to describe one's inner struggle with self or the struggle to become a better person.
- In Arabic “holy war” would be equivalent to the term al-ḥarb al-muqaddas, which does not exist in classical Arabic. In the Islamic intellectual tradition, jihād means any struggle “in the way of God,” that is, in order to obey His Commands or accomplish His Will, which includes but is not limited to the just use of force.
- Even though in the Quran and Ḥadīth jihād is an idea comprising both the spiritual and the material, the inward and outward domains (often referred to as the “Greater Jihād” and the “Lesser Jihād,” respectively), in works of Islamic Law the word jihād as a technical term came to be understood as a reference to the taking up of arms “in the way of God,” though governed by strict rules that have counterparts in the Western concept of “just war.”
- Like many important terms, jihād is equivocal; that is, its connotations can change depending on context: a jihād against one’s persecutors is not the same as a jihād against one’s passions.
- In fact, jihād has entered common English usage in a way almost indistinguishable from the word “crusade,” a term of purely Western origin with a similarly diverse history and a similar capacity to be misunderstood and misapplied.
- To understand the Quran’s use of jihād, it is necessary to recall that for many years, during the period in which the Prophet preached in his hometown of Makkah, Muslims were forbidden to respond with force to the persecution, suppression, embargoes, and even deaths that they endured.
- Yet even during this period Muslims were commanded by the Quran to “strive” (jihād): ‘So obey not the disbelievers, but strive against them by means of it with a great striving (25:52)’; ‘Then indeed thy Lord, for those who emigrated after being oppressed, then strove and were patient, surely thy Lord thereafter is Forgiving, Merciful (16:110)’.
- The Prophet himself also taught the virtues of nonviolent forms of struggle, saying, “The best struggle (jihād) is to speak the truth before a tyrannical ruler.”
- Killing innocents, capturing lands and oppressing women is not jihad. Jihad is not terrorism and terrorism is not jihad.
- Muslims are also shown as being violent towards their women. Women in burqa and veil are typical images of oppressed Muslim women usually portrayed by the media. But in Islam, man and woman are equal with different roles to play in taking care of the family unit. Whether single or married, a woman is seen as an individual in her own right, with the right to own and dispose of her property and earnings.
- The prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said ‘The most perfect in faith amongst believers is he who is best in manner and kindest to his wife.” Violence of any kind towards women and forcing them against their will for anything is not allowed.
- Despite all this, Islam is still misunderstood as a religion that supports violence. It is the minority Muslim population in the country that suffer violence at the hands of hard-line anti-Muslim outfits.
- From lynching of Muslims for alleged stealing and killing of cows to killing innocents over the imaginary theory of Love-Jihad and vandalising the mosques and home and properties of Muslims claiming that offering namaz on public lands was done with the intention to capture lands, there are countless incidents of violence unleashed against the community.
- There were also instances of online violence when the Taliban took over Afghanistan, it triggered Islamophobia in India with online slurs directed against Muslim politicians, journalists, celebrities, public figures and even ordinary Muslims going viral on social media.
- Majority of the Muslims do not support extremist views of terrorism. The opponents of Islam with their half-baked knowledge of the Quran pick up the bits and pieces of the religious texts and distort the verses as it suits them and present them out of context to back their allegations about the religion without any interpretation and understanding.
References
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, et.al., The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary, HarperOne Publishers, 17 November 2015
http://myf.org.uk/about-islam/misconceptions-about-islam/
https://www.wired.com/story/indias-frightening-descent-social-media-terror/
https://theprint.in/opinion/indian-media-waging-holy-war-against-muslims-hyenas/400407/
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124494788
https://news.gallup.com/poll/148763/Muslim-Americans-No-Justification-Violence.aspx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy9tNyp03M0