Essay 1

MohamedF SG

Haiz… I hate making these long essays buy here goes…

This essay is to address the many same question that have been popping up in sgforums time and again about Muslims with hope that this essay will be the answer to all the question and we don’t have to get into the same debate over and over again.

First off is the notion that in Islam, Muslims are obligated to kill non-Muslims. Well, this statement has lots of holes to begin with. Take note that the Muslim population globally is above 1.6 billion according to 2006 census, but the only “Muslims” note I’m putting them in quotes, that have committed act of murders “in the name of god” are a mere fraction of those numbers. If the statement above is true, then more people who have read the Quran should be doing more murdering but this is not the case… why is that?

There is one Quran but there are two different ideas about the subject. So where does the problem lie? The reading of course. The same verse that has been in the spot light regarding this subject is in Chapter 9 Verse 5 of the quran.

“And so, when the sacred months are over, slay those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God wherever you may come upon them, and take them captive, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every conceivable place! Yet if they repent, and take to prayer, and render the purifying dues, let them go their way: for, behold, God is much forgiving, a dispenser of grace.^”

Alone, this verse states to kill a kafir when ever you see them, ambush them and take them captive. Only when they repent then set them free.

So let me ask this question. When you take a stroll down Arab street, do you find yourself stalked or ambushed by muslims ready to kill you or take you captive? No? But why? This verse clearly states that muslims are suppose to kill you but they didn’t.

The answer is very simple. The verse is quote out of context. It would be like saying Harry Potter is a teacher murderer without mentioning that Professor Quirrel is a servant of Voldermort.

Now, lets re-post the verse but this time, in proper context.

“9:1 DISAVOWAL by God and His Apostle [is herewith announced] unto those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God, [and] with whom you [O: believers] have made a covenant. ^[1]

9:2 [Announce unto them:] Go, then, [freely] about the earth for four months ^[2] -but know that you can never elude God, and that, verily, God shall bring disgrace upon all who refuse to acknowledge the truth!

9:3 And a proclamation from God and His Apostle [is herewith made] unto all mankind on this day of the Greatest Pilgrimage: ^[3] "God disavows all who ascribe divinity to aught beside Him, and [so does] His Apostle. Hence, if you repent, it shall be for your own good; and if you turn away, then know that you can never elude God!" And unto those who are bent on denying the truth give thou [O Prophet] the tiding of grievous chastisement.

9:4 But excepted shall be ^[4] -from among those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God - [people] with whom you [O believers] have made a covenant and who thereafter have in no wise failed to fulfil their obligations towards you, and neither have aided anyone against you: observe, then, your covenant with them until the end of the term agreed with them. ^[5] Verily, God loves those who are conscious of Him.

9:5 And so, when the sacred months are over ^[6] , slay those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God wherever you may come upon them, ^[7] and take them captive, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every conceivable place ^[8] ! Yet if they repent, and take to prayer, and render the purifying dues, let them go their way: for, behold, God is much forgiving, a dispenser of grace. ^[9]

9:6 And if any of those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God seeks thy protection, ^[10] grant him protection, so that he might [be able to] hear the word of God [from thee]; and thereupon convey him to a place where he can feel secure: ^[11] this, because they [may be] people who [sin only because they] do not know [the truth].

…continued in Quran”

The following verse is referring to the Peace Treaty of Hudaibiyah. In this verse, it showed that those who ascribe divinity a.k.a the pagan tribes a.k.a infidels a.k.a kafir have made a peace treaty with the muslim tribe, however, the Kafir have broken the treaty by arms and now face a war with the muslim tribe.

So, these particular verses are in reference to a time of war. I don’t know about other religion in this matter but in Islam, if someone wants to kill you and he acts on it, you can kill him in self-defense. But if he cannot act it out, then you are not allowed to kill him.

So back to the verse, it shows that a muslims are to kill the aggressors in self-defense but are to protect the aggressors when they surrender.

So, in conclusion in the case of context, verses in the Quran must be taken in context. Because reading any verses in isolation, you can have very different meanings from the whole story.

So, back to “are muslims suppose to kill infidels?” According to the verse, yes. But the verse also is taken in time of war when lives of muslims are in danger. So, its like saying are Singaporean suppose to kill Japanese? Yes, but only during WWII.

http://www.justjihad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45

I will post other common verses used out of context in the future.

Next question to be answered is who are the “Infidels”? In Arab, the word Kafir stands for “those whom rejects (Islam)”. In other words, people who rejects Islam as their religion and takes on another religion.

Let me ask you this. In Singapore, there are the PAP and there are the opposition. If taken into these terms, in the eyes of the PAP, the opposition are the Kafir. Now, imagine for a while that we have an opposition group who are ready to take matters into their own hands and decide to get some guns and kill the PAP members.

So, can you say that there are no difference between the normal opposition members and the opposition members who are out to kill the PAP members? No right. Even though both are classified as opposition groups, one group is taking things too far.

So, in conclusion, to a muslim, all non-muslims are Kafirs. But there is a difference between the sweet Taoist auntie neighbour and an aggressive Kafir who is out to kill muslims. So, the sweet Taoist auntie neighbour is simply a non-believer of Islam while the aggressive Kafir is an enemy of Islam. So who are the Infidels? In all the verses that involves killing in context, its only the enemy of Islam.

With that said, if someone is against Islam (enemy of Islam) and is spreading lies about Islam, does that mean a Muslim is suppose to kill him?

The answer here is a clear cut NO. Even though the Quran allow the use of force in the act of self-defense, the Quran clearly state that to use force that match the force used against Islam.

[2.190] And fight in the way of Allah with those who fight with you, and

do not exceed the limits, surely Allah does not love those who exceed the

limits.

Similar to the Singapore Police Force doctrine of force, the use of force to stop the attacker must just be sufficient enough to subdue him, nothing more. In Singapore, if got Ah Beng want to fight a Policeman bare handed, the Police is not allowed to use the revolver, (unless the Ah Beng got some unknown Ninjitsu technique of death).

Similarly, if someone lies about Islam, a muslim is suppose to fight back matching force for force, words for words, just enough to subdue him.

In the case of the seditious comic strips, simply talking to the aggressor is not enough because what will ensure that the lies will be stopped? A court battle of course. That way, if he chose to continue ro spread the lies, it can be stopped by jailing him.

Side tracking a bit, I’m here to answer a certain someone on why must make this into a court battle? If someone is spreading lies, just let them be coz its up to the listener to chose whether he wants to listen to the lie or not.

Clearly, this person does not fully understand the concept of defamation and libel. Lets imagine for a while, someone who don’t like you (person A) decided to take a picture of your sister or mother and say that she is a prostitute, write her number and home address on the picture and start distributing it on the streets.

According to this certain someone, person A should be left alone and let him continue the lie, its up to the listener to judge whether the lie is true or not. To a person with a little more knowledge, this is a flawed concept.

By letting Person A continue the lie, your sister or mother public status or credibility will be severely affected. They will be constantly disturbed by perverts and will forever be ashamed as long as the lie continues.

This certain someone continues with, “If that is the case, then the lie should be fought with the truth. Tell everyone he is lying and no one will believe him.”

In a classroom, this is possible. But this is the entire of Singapore we’re talking about. How are you going to find out whom Person A had lied to and correct the lie? The truth is, it is very hard to do so. But one thing can be done, cut out the source of the lie. Put a tape on his mouth and the lie will, hopefully, cease to exist.

Like I’ve said before, a man’s words holds value and he should be held responsible for it. It just depends on how far a person is willing to go to uphold the truth. Some people chose to do nothing and the liar will go free, others chose to do something. Tell a teacher, supervisor or a judge depending on the nature of the lie.

With all that said, the question would be, if Islam is good, why got “Muslim” terrorist doing evil things in the name of Islam?

This is a simple question but is very hard to answer. It’s because there are so many variables that contributed to the claim. Regional Issues, Politics, Culture, Education, Personal upbringing, Economics, Civil-wars, Geographic issues, History, etc.

If people bother to take a look, none of these terrorist are committing terrorist activities simply “in the name of Islam”. The terrorist at Palestine target the Israel oppression. Terrorist at Iraq target American invaders, terrorist at South Thailand I don’t know who they target, but South Thailand were in the state of chaos due to many issues that I can’t keep track of.

So, in conclusion, I have no answer to the question. The terrorist issue has gotten way to complicated that I think even some of the terrorist don’t know what they’re fight for anymore.

But I can say this. After all that I wrote above, these terrorist have done the exact opposite of what was written in the Quran. Therefore, even if they say that they do those acts in the name of Islam, their actions clearly show that they do not represent Islam. Similar to the KKK, they claim to be Christian but do acts that are against Christian teachings.

So my advice, study Islam, don’t study the Muslims.

So, where can one study Islam?

In this information age, the internet is the best way to get information freely. But what kind of information are you getting?

Wikipedia is a great source of Information, but remember, any Tom, Dick and Hairy can edit the facts on Wikipedia.

Fact is, the internet is full of facts and even fuller with lies. If you are completely clueless about the subject, you’ll have a hard time classifying which information is credible and which is not.

Another thing one should look out for is the author. I’m talking about sites like www.faithfreedom.org/ and www.jihadwatch.org/. Think about it, is it a good place to learn about Islam from an anti-Islam website? Of course not, the website is full information of showing Islam in a negative light. If you want to learn about how to hate Islam, these are good websites. But if you truly want to learn about Islam, I suggest you look else where.

A good website to learn about Islam is from an Islamic website. This ensure that the author of the website is made by someone who understand Islam and is ready to show that Islam is a good religion. You will find that many of the negative claims about Islam are either a misconception or are completely against Islam’s values.

In addition, if you have negative information about Islam, you can bring that information to the Islamic website and they will answer you in accordance to the belief of Islam. Let’s say for example you have an information that Islam is oppressive towards women, if you bring that information to an anti-Islam website, they will say that it is completely true, Islam is evil. But if you bring that information to an Islamic website, they will show you Islam stance against that claim.

The best place to learn about Islam is to go down personally to MUIS or the local mosque. You need not be shy. In poly, I was asked to do a religious understanding project and was suppose to visit all the different places of worship in Singapore. Each and every one of them is ready and willing to teach anyone who is willing to learn, unless of course they’re busy with something else. They are qualified to teach about religion.

But remember, study Islam, don’t study the Muslims. We have Muslims eating pork, drinking beer and blowing themselves up but Islam forbade consumption of pork, alcohol and terrorism.

Lastly, the most important of all is to open your mind. The mind is a powerful thing. If you have the mind set that Islam is a religion of evil, no matter how many tons of information people give you, you will still seek the negative information ignoring the rest.

Last I want to talk about in this essay is what is Islam’s view about other religions (that are not enemies Islam).

There is a short surah in the Quran that show a Muslim’s relation to non-Muslims. Surah 109 Al – Kafirun.

109:1 Say : O ye that reject Faith!

109:2 I worship not that which ye worship,

109:3 Nor will ye worship that which I worship.

109:4 And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship,

109:5 Nor will ye worship that which I worship

109:6 To you be your Way, and to me mine

You worship your way, I worship my way. I could not be any simpler. This surah states that a muslim are not to interfere with the religious worship of other religion. That’s why we don’t have any one walking around distributing flyers asking people to join Islam. We may study other religions to further understand our role in society as long as we don’t interfere with other’s worship. But we may still help out like charity event. If everyone sticks to this, religious harmony would be a piece of cake.

But because of human hatred, mud are flung at each other, in the end, all will be dirty.

Remember, study Islam, don’t study the Muslims.