4074. In Islam, God is called “Allah”.
4075. The Quran, or Qur’an, or Koran, according to Islam, is the words of God, or Allah. These words were revealed to Muhammad, or Mohammed, by Allah through the archangel Gabriel in a series of revelations beginning in the year 610 AD. These revelations were written down by Muhammad’s companions, and eventually combined into a book after Muhammad’s death.
4076. The Quran is about as long as the Christian New Testament. It is composed of 114 “suras” or chapters. References to the Quran are made by citing the sura number and the verse number. For example, “Quran 33:21”.
4077. Quran 33:21 says, “Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for any one whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the Praise of Allah.”.
4078. In Islam, Muhammad is considered the ideal man. He cannot be evaluated against any code of morality or ethics. Rather, morality and ethics are defined by the teachings and actions of Muhammad. Muhammad is the role model whereby a Muslim, or Moslem, can discover how to live a good and holy life. This is called the “Way of the Prophet”, or the “Sunnah”.
4079. Muhammad is the final prophet of God. The Quran is the eternal words of God. Therefore there is no room for change in the laws or commands of God, as revealed in the Quran. For a Muslim, there is no room for compromise with the moral and legal demands of Islamic law.
4080. The Sunnah, the Way of the Prophet, is known primarily from the “hadiths”, or reports, about Muhammad’s life. They vary in reliability and authoritativeness. The collection of Sahih Al-Bhukari, compiled about 200 years after Muhammad’s death, is considered the most reliable and authoritative, and is recognized as sound by all schools of Islamic scholarship.
4081. The hadiths are authoritative in Islam, second only to the Quran.
4082. The third source of authoritative knowledge about Muhammad is the “Sira”, or Life of the Prophet, written by Muhammad bin Ishaq in the eighth century AD. The Sira also reveals the Sunnah, the Way of the Prophet.
4083. The three sources of authoritative knowledge in Islam are the Quran, the Hadiths, and the Sira.
4084. Quran 2:106 says, “Whatever a Verse (revelation) do We (Allah) abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring a better one or similar to it.”.
4085. There is a principle of interpreting the Quran called “abrogation”. This is revealed in Quran 2:106. According to this rule, if any later verse contradicts an earlier verse, then the later verse takes priority and cancels anything contradictory in the earlier verse. The Quran was not assembled in chronological order. So it is not obvious what order the suras were written in. However, for the most part, scholars do know the order in which they were written.
4086. Muhammad’s career as a prophet had two parts. The first was in Mecca. In Mecca there was a lot of hostility to Muhammad and his Muslims. In 622 they were forced to flee. They went 200 miles north to Medina. Muhammad died in 632. Thus there is the Meccan period. And there is the Medinan period.
4087. In Mecca, the Muslims were weak and vulnerable. In Medina, Muhammad became a victorious conqueror. He conquered Mecca shortly before his death.
4088. The parts of the Quran revealed in Mecca are tolerant and conciliatory. The parts of the Quran revealed in Medina are belligerent and savage.
4089. The belligerent Medinan parts of the Quran abrogate the conciliatory Meccan parts of the Quran.
4090. It is important to know about abrogation because Muslim spokesmen often quote the tolerant and conciliatory parts of the Quran trying to make Islam look good to their non-Muslim listeners. This practice is dishonest. The non-Muslims do not realize that the parts being quoted have been abrogated. They have been canceled. They no longer apply.
4091. In particular, Quran 2:256 says, “Let there be no compulsion in religion”. This verse has been abrogated. It is often quoted by dishonest promoters of Islam who are trying to deceive their listeners.
4092. Quran 4:76 says, “Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who reject Faith Fight in the cause of Evil: So fight ye against the friends of Satan”.
4093. Quran 8:39 says, “And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and polytheism: i.e. worshipping others besides Allah) and the religion (worship) will all be for Allah alone (in the whole of the world). ….”.
4094. Quran 2:193 says, “And fight with them until there is no persecution, and religion should be only for Allah.”.
4095. God commands Muslims to fight unbelievers until Islam is the only religion in the world.
4096. Quran 9:5 says, “Then when the Sacred Months … have passed, then kill the Mushrikun (unbelievers) wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for them each and every ambush. ….”. This is called “the Verse of the Sword”.
4097. God commands Muslims to kill, capture, besiege, and ambush unbelievers except during the Sacred Months.
4098. Quran 9:33 says, “It is He (Allah) Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam), to make it superior over all religions even though the Mushrikun (polytheists, pagans, idolaters, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) hate (it).”.
4099. God wants Islam to rule over all other religions.
4100. Hadith Volume 1, Book 2, Number 24 says, “Narrated Ibn Umar: Allah's Apostle said: ‘I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle, and offer the prayers perfectly and give the obligatory charity, …’.”.
4101. Muhammad said God ordered him to fight unbelievers until they become Muslims.
4102. Quran 5:33 says, “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter”.
4103. Quran 4:101 says, “The unbelievers (non-Muslims) are your inveterate foe.”.
4104. Quran 21:44 says, “Do they not see Us advancing, gradually reducing the land (in their control), curtailing its borders on all sides? It is they who will be overcome.”.
4105. These belligerent verses were revealed late in Muhammad’s life. Therefore they abrogate the tolerant verses revealed during the Meccan period.
4106. Quran 3:85 says, “If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter He will be in the ranks of those who have lost (All spiritual good).”.
4107. Quran 4:144 says, “O ye who believe! Take not for friends unbelievers rather than believers: Do ye wish to offer Allah an open proof against yourselves?”.
4108. Quran 3:118 says, “O ye who believe! Take not into your intimacy those outside your ranks: They will not fail to corrupt you. They only desire your ruin: Rank hatred has already appeared from their mouths: What their hearts conceal is far worse.”.
4109. Quran 9:28 says, “O ye who believe! Truly the Pagans are unclean”.
4110. Quran 98:6 says, “Those who reject (Truth), among the People of the Book and among the Polytheists, will be in Hell-Fire, to dwell therein (for aye). They are the worst of creatures.”.
4111. Quran 4.89 says, “They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper.".
4112. Hadith Volume 1, Book 2, Number 25 says, “Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle was asked, ‘What is the best deed?’ He replied, ‘To believe in Allah and His Apostle (Muhammad).’ The questioner then asked, ‘What is the next (in goodness)?’ He replied, ‘To participate in Jihad (religious fighting) in Allah's Cause.’.".
4113. According to Muhammad, the highest good is to believe in Islam, and the second highest good is to participate in religious war.
4114. Just before leaving Mecca, a new group of Muslim converts swore loyalty to Muhammad on a hill near Mecca named Aqaba. Sira p208 says: “When God gave permission to his Apostle to fight, the second (oath of allegiance at) Aqaba contained conditions involving war which were not in the first act of fealty. Now they (Muhammad's followers) bound themselves to war against all and sundry for God and his Apostle, while he promised them for faithful service thus the reward of paradise.”.
4115. In 622, new Muslims were required to swear to serve in Jihad, Holy War, under Muhammad’s command.
4116. The move from Mecca to Medina in 622 is called the Hijra. The Islamic calendar counts years from this event. In English, years are designated “AH” or “After Hijra”. This demonstrates the importance of this event, which is when Islam became dedicated to Holy War. The important date is not Muhammad’s birth or death, or the first revelation of the Quran. The important date is the beginning of the effort to conquer the world.
4117. Hadith Volume 5, Book 59, Number 377 says, “Narrated Jabir bin Abdullah: On the day of the battle of Uhud, a man came to the Prophet and said, "Can you tell me where I will be if I should get martyred?" The Prophet replied, "In Paradise." The man threw away some dates he was carrying in his hand, and fought till he was martyred.”.
4118. According to Muhammad, anyone who dies fighting unbelievers will be in Paradise.
4119. The word “martyr” in Islam means anyone who dies killing unbelievers. Thus a suicide bomber who blows up a busload of children is considered by other Muslims to be a “martyr”. In Christianity, a “martyr” is someone who allows himself to be killed, rather than deny his faith in Christ. Very different.
4120. In Islam, conquering the world is a religious activity. It is the religious duty of every Muslim to do his part in conquering the world for Allah.
4121. Islam is at the same time both a religion and a political and military activity.
4122. Islamic scholarship divides the world into the House of Islam and the House of War.
4123. Hadith Volume 4, Book 52, Number 269 says, “Narrated Jabir bin Abdullah: The Prophet said, ‘War is deceit.’.”
4124. According to Muhammad, it is OK to lie to, deceive, and mislead unbelievers in order to advance Islam.
4125. In non-Muslim countries, Muslims commonly say that Islam is a religion of peace. But they never say that in Muslim countries.
4126. Quran 3:28 says, “Let not the believers Take for friends or helpers Unbelievers rather than believers: if any do that, in nothing will there be help from Allah: except by way of precaution, that ye may Guard yourselves from them.”.
4127. It is OK to deceive unbelievers if that is needed for some reason.
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This article is Chapter 130 in LIBERTY FOR ALL MEN EVERYWHERE – The Theory And Practice Of Freedom by Dale Samson. This book is available at http://www.libfame.com.
© Copyright 2010 Dale Richard Samson. Partial quotations of this chapter are permitted with attribution. Cite source as Dale Samson's LIBERTY FOR ALL MEN EVERYWHERE at http://www.libfame.com.
