Interpretation of Jihad in the Qur’an and the Bible
Written by Dr. khandaker Abdullah Jahangir
and published in Bangladeshi daily
“The Independent” on October 16 & 17, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI blamed Islam for conception of Jihad and
assured that God does not like violence and violence is incompatible
with the nature of God. Most Western scholars and thinkers may agree
with the Pope. According to their view, Islam teaches its followers to
be non-tolerant for other religions. It orders Muslims to wage ‘Jihad’
against non-Muslims and kill them.
As a gesture of nobility the Pontiff
expressed his regret for his comment. But his regret will not end the
confusion and misunderstanding of his supporters. They will insist that
‘Jihad’ in Islam is really a bad and irrational thing. Some of them may
acknowledge that Islam teaches many good things, but Islamic concept of
Jihad has something wrong that may lead to hostility or militancy.
We may not proclaim that the Pope and his supporters are
‘anti-Muslim’ or their hatred or animosity toward Islam led them to such
conclusion. It may not their hatred, but their ignorance of Islam and
Muslims that led them toward such conclusion. They may have heard or
read some quotation from the holy Qur’an about Jihad against unbelievers
or infidels and understood that Islam advocates preaching of religion
through violence.
The problem is not in quotation, but in interpretation. Not
only the Qur’an, but the holy Bible also orders for Jihad or war
against unbelievers in a way a non Christian reader may understand that
the Bible teaches violence, hatred and intolerance.
Bible says: “Kill every male among the little ones, and
kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the
women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive
for yourselves.” The Bible, Numbers 31/17-18.
Here a reader may understand that God orders for Genocide
and holocaust. Everybody agrees that sometimes war may be inevitable.
Where there is a state, there must be some options for war to protect
the sovereignty and interests of the state and its people. All peace
loving people may agree to this extent, but they always try to avoid
war. In case of war they try to avoid harming non-combat people and
consider such atrocities as war crimes. But here God commands to kill
all non-combat male, female and children, except young unmarried woman
for the entertainment of that holy people.
God says: “And when the LORD the God hath delivered it tnto
thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the
swore; but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that
is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto
thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD
thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which
are very far from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
But of the cities of these which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an
inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth; but thou
shalt utterly destroy them.” The Bible, Deuteronomy 20/13-16.
Here a reader may claim that God encourages His devotees to
occupy land of other people and to free that occupied land from the
poison of infidels and unbelievers He orders for wholesale destruction
by killing every human being and every breathing animal.
God says: “He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed”. Exodus 22/20.
It may be interpreted as an open license for indiscriminate killing of all non-Jewish or non-Christian people.
He also says: “For mine Angel shall go before thee, and
bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites,
and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them
off. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do
after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite
break down their images.” (Exodus 23/23-24)
He also says: “Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a
covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be
for a snare in the midst of thee: But ye shall destroy their altars,
break their images, and cut down their groves”. (Exodus 34/12-14)
A reader may understand that it is a Divine instruction to
deny religious freedom and liberty to non-Jewish and non-Christians. He
may fill that God loves violence towards unbelievers and pagans. So He
orders His people to be violate and non-tolerant towards them.
It may be mentioned that all these are irrevocable Divine
orders to be fulfilled as Jesus says: ” For verily I say unto you, Till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from
the law (Torah), till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break
one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be
called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and
teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven”.
Matthew 5/18-19.
James says: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from
above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1/17.
From these quotations one may conclude that God orders to
kill every infidel, destroy their religious institutes and deny their
religious freedom. He may also claim that for this open license
Christian churches and government throughout the history killed millions
of Jews, Muslims, so called witches and so called ‘heretics’. He may
also understand that for these Divine instructions they are killing
hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Iraq and elsewhere.
As we stated before, war may be inevitable to protect
sovereignty and interests of people and state. In the case of war
peace-loving people try to make war less destructive. But from numerous
quotations of the Bible one may claim that the holy prophets of God were
not eager to make war less destructive. On the contrary, they were
eager to fulfill such divine orders of wholesale killing and
destruction. We find stories of such genocide and massacre in many books
of the holy Bible. In 1 Samuel we find an example of such massacre:
“And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the
Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the
inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of
Egypt. And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman
alive….”. 1 Samuel 27/8-9.
Another example of massacre and brutal killing: “And David
gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against
it, and took it…. And he brought forth the people that were therein,
and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of
iron, and made them pass through the brickkiln: and thus did he unto all
the cities of the children of Ammon”. 2 Samuel 12/29-31.
God says: “My servant David, who kept my commandments, and
who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in
mine eyes”. I King 14/8.
Here a reader may conclude that all such massacre and holocaust of David are considered right and praiseworthy by God.
In his letter to Hebrews St. Paul says: “And what shall I
more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak,
and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the
prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of
fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong,
waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”
Hebrews: 11/32-34.
Here the reader may understand that Paul praises such massacres and brutal killings by David and other Prophets of God.
Matthew says: “And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of
the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord,
thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he
answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him,
saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and
said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then
came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and
said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to
dogs.” Matthew 15:22-26
A prejudiced reader may conclude here that this is the
philosophy for such brutality and violence. The non-Jewish or
non-Christian people are sub-human beings like dogs. These dogs may be
provided with help or assistance if that does not harm the ‘children of
God’. If the interests of the children contradict those of the dogs,
then the dogs may be mercilessly killed.
Mr. Pope and his supporters will conform that the above
mentioned verses are correctly quoted from the holy Bible, but they may
not agree to the interpretation and conclusion. They may brand such
explanation and conclusion as biased, prejudiced or intentional
misinterpretation. Out of their ignorance or biased mentality they are
doing the same in interpreting ‘Jihad’ of Islam.
Jihad in Islam is nothing but ‘state war’. Even ‘holy war’
is not the meaning of ‘Jihad’. Both ‘crusade’ and ‘holy war’ are pure
Christian terms invented by Christian popes to encourage Christians to
invade Muslim countries. Jihad in Islam means endeavor. In political
term it means ‘war against enemies of the Muslim State’. Generally the
enemies of the Muslim states are non-Muslims. This is why state enemies
are termed as non-believers or infidels. But it does never mean that the
Qur’an gives open license to kill infidels like the holy Bible. There
are many preconditions for Jihad, such as:
(1) Statehood and order of the head of the state, (2) being
attacked by the enemies, (3) accepting every opportunity of peace, (3)
limiting the war only in combatant enemies, etc.
People of Madina embraced Islam through absolutely peaceful
propagation and they chose Muhammad (Peace and Blessings be upon him)
as head of their state. When Muslims of Madina were attacked by their
enemies, God permitted them to fight. God says in the Qur’an: “To those
against whom war is made, permission is given (to fight), because they
are wronged; and verily, Allah is Most Powerful for their aid.” (Sura
Hajj XXII: 39)
Prophet Muhammad (e) says: “Head of the state is the shield behind whom war to be waged” (Bukhari & Muslim)
The Qur’an says: “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)”. (Sura Anfal VIII: 61)
Allah says in the Qur’an: “Fight in the cause of Allah
those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not
transgressors” (Sura Baqara II: 190)
So war must be limited with combatant enemies of the state.
Even in the battlefield it is prohibited for a Muslim fighter to kill a
woman, child, sick, old man, monk or any non-combat person. Prophet
Muhammad (e) says: “In the name of Allah and for His cause you fight, do
not break faith, do not kill any woman, child, sick or old man, do not
mutilate any human body, do not destroy any well, do not cut any tree
except that prevent you from your enemy, do not kill an animal except
for use and be friendly and merciful, for Allah loves those who are
merciful.” (Abu Daud, Baihaqi)
One may compare these Islamic instructions about ‘Jihad’
with above mentioned Biblical instructions to kill every male, female,
children and even every breathing animal. One may also compare between
the wars of Biblical prophets and those of the Prophet Muhammad (e). I
think no reasonable person can deny that Islamic concept and practice of
Jihad meets the modern concept of war. Nobody can imagine a state
without option of war. We may all agree that the doctrine of wholesale
forgiveness, such as “whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek,
turn to him the other also” is to be followed in personal affairs, not
in state affairs. We may not ask any state to leave its duty to defend
sovereignty and security of its people. When a state is attacked by its
enemies, we can not ask it to open its another frontier for the enemy.
All we can do to keep war- when it is inevitable- as less destructive as
possible and prevent targeting non-combatant people. This is the Jihad
doctrine of Islam.
Islam prohibits violence, hatred and force in religion.
There may be war for this reason or that, but not a single Muslim can
ever think of insulting other people’s religion or to force someone to
embrace Islam. Allah says: “Revile not ye those whom they call upon
besides Allah, lest they out of spite revile Allah in their ignorance.
Thus have We made alluring to each people its own doings. In the end
will they return to their Lord, and we shall then tell them the truth of
all that they did.” (Sura An’am VI: 108)
He says: “And dispute ye not with the People of the Book,
except with means better (than mere disputation), unless it be with
those of them who inflict wrong (and injury); but say, “We believe in
the Revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to
you; our God and your God is One; and it is to Him we bow (in Islam).”
(Sura Ankabut XXIX: 46)
He says: “Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth
stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects Evil and believes in Allah
hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And
Allah heareth and knoweth all things”. (Sura Bakara II: 256)
Before coming of the Prophet (e) to Madina a number of
youth of Madina embraced Judaism. When their parents embraced Islam,
they wanted to forcibly covert them to Islam. The Prophet did not let
them to do so. He said, No compulsion in Faith. So let them follow the
religion of their own choice. (Tabari, Ibn Kasir, Ibn Hibban)
Nowadays we hear some western secular pundit calling to
‘convert Muslims to Christianity.’ We find some American or European
well-learned secular politicians and scholars are eager to destroy
Muslim Holy Places in Makkah and Madina for crime of unknown Muslim
terrorists of Afghanistan or Iraq. Celebrated conservative columnist and
commentator Ann Coulter wrote “we should invade their countries, kill
their leaders and convert them to Christianity.” It is very likely that
these famous and distinguished politicians and columnists will become
policy makers of USA or other countries.
A few misguided and deviated Muslim youth may be involved
in violence. They may wrongly call their violence and terror activities
as ‘Jihad’. They are not waging their so-called ‘Jihad’ to occupy other
people’s land or to convert other people to Islam. They are doing so to
protest occupation of their land, express their anger or to revenge
killing of their people. Certainly they are wrong in the way of protest
and we condemn their terror activities. All Muslim states and
organizations are condemning them. Not a single Muslim state or any
known Muslim organization is supporting violence.
On the other hand Mr. Bush and his supporters are involved
in crusade and violence in the name of God. Mr. Bush told us that it is
God who instructed him to invade Iraq. Mr. Blair also put the burden on
God. We can not, or at least, should not condemn them, because they have
very noble cause for killing of thousands of human beings, including
indiscriminate killing in Faluja and other places. But we are really
horrified, frightened and shocked with the philosophy of forcible
conversion!
We see that the most ignorant and violent Muslim terrorists
are not going to insult other people’s religion. The people of Mr. Pope
desecrated the holy book of Muslims and they made insulting cartoons of
the holy Prophet of Muslims. Muslims all over the world protested such
actions. They burnt US or Danish flags of effigies of their politicians.
But we did not hear a single illiterate mullah of Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Indonesia, India or any other country burnt or insulted a
copy of the Bible or an effigy of Jesus Christ, or made insulting
cartoon of Jesus.
We do not find any ignorant and violent mullah is asking to
convert any Christian to Islam. Such an ignorant mullah may ask to kill
Mr. Bush, not for being a Christian or an American, or a defender of
freedom and democracy, but for being occupier of their land and killer
of their people. He may ask destruction for America or Israel, also for
the same reason, not for being a democratic state, or for religion of
the people of America or Israel. But he will never ask to kill
Christians or covert them to Islam.
In light of the above we hoped and expected that Mr. pope
say to Mr. Bush that God can not order you to kill thousands of human
being in Iraq. He should have told his own people that killing and
forcible conversation is not the way of God. But his statement did not
fulfil our expectation. He condemned Islam for violence, but did not ask
Christians to shun violence.
We do not know the reason. Some may suggest that it is
because the non-Jewish or non-Christian people are dogs as described by
Jesus Christ. Violence against dogs is not good, but it is not so
horrible. But violence against human beings or children of God is
horrible. This is why Mr. Pope advised Muslims only. We can not agree
with such a view. We hope that Mr. Pope will clarify the reason.