Understanding Islam: The Verse of The Sword (Great Read!)

Family Security Foundation ^ | 6/22/06 | Scott McKay

[wagglebee]

Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the jizya (poor-due), then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

-          Qu’ran, 9:5

 

If the above might look familiar, it’s known as Ayat al-Sayf, or the Verse of the Sword. And unfortunately, it’s quite a significant passage in governing the relationship between Muslims and the rest of the world.

 

Obviously, as is true with any passage from the Holy Books of the world’s great religions, this one is open to various interpretations. But for nearly 1400 years, it has provided a major impetus in fueling the imperialist zeal behind Islamic jihad in the military sense most of us understand that word to signify.

 

In fact, many prominent and mainstream Islamic scholars throughout the length of that 1400 years, including a prominent, active Saudi cleric named Sheikh Muhammad Saalih al-Munajid (whose pronouncements can be found at www.islam-qa.com), not only fail to denounce this rather noxious passage but claim that because it was laid down as part of the last chapters, or Suras, of the Qu’ran, it abrogates or negates some 124 other Qu’ranic passages seen as more tolerant and friendly to those of us who aren’t Muslims.

 

It would be easy – and comforting – to dismiss the rantings of people like al-Munajid as simply crackpot theology not informing any significant proportion of the Muslim world. More moderate Muslim elements say that the Verse of the Sword only really applied to pagans and polytheists who tooled around the Arabian deserts during Muhammad’s time in the 7^th century. Other passages say that because Christians and Jews are “People of the Book” they shouldn’t be dealt with in such harsh terms.

 

But we dismiss this at our peril, for two main historical reasons.

 

First, we must remember that Islam has spread by the sword since its earliest days. Muslim armies, infused with the zeal of Qu’ranic verses like the one above, spread from Arabia in every direction until the Dar al-Islam, or Islamic community, stretched from Morocco and Spain in the Atlantic to Indonesia in the Pacific. And when those armies conquered a given territory and the usual three days of rape and pillae were finished, the survivors were given three choices, as loosely described in the Verse of the Sword – convert to Islam, pay the jizya, or face execution. In other words, this isn’t idle verse – it’s standard operating procedure. If it wasn’t, we might still call the place Constantinople and not Istanbul.

 

Second, once the forces of Islam had imposed their rule on a given territory and set about governing the population of that territory, the second option opened up the subjugated peoples to the wonderful world of what’s known as dhimmitude. A dhimmi, or “protected person,” is one who essentially accepts second-class citizenship. Paying the jizya, which is translated as a poll tax or poor-due and which is paid by non-Muslims to the Muslim governing authority, isn’t something you do with an American Express Card or a check. Those subject to the tax would under Islamic Sharia law have to physically appear to pay it on demand of the authority, and to submit to a particularly demeaning ceremony in accordance with Qu’ranic verse requiring that “they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” (Qu’ran 9:29)

 

And being treated worse than the IRS typically treats folks in a tax audit isn’t all. According to Islamic tradition, dhimmis are forced to wear hairstyles and clothing identifying them as non-Muslim, forbidden from building structures taller than Muslims build, forbidden from displaying crosses or other religious symbols on churches and synagogues, ride on saddles or own weapons, among other things.

 

Being treated in such a manner over time tends to have the effect of making it inconvenient – to say the least – to resist conversion to Islam in a newly-Islamic country. This largely explains how there was once a thriving Christian majority in most of what is now the Islamic world – North Africa, Egypt, what is now the Holy Land, Asia Minor and Central Asia, for example – and now there are scant few Christians or Jews in any of those areas.

 

Dhimmitude is largely a thing of the past, because Islamic rule has had a rather tough run over the past century or so – in particular since Kemal Ataturk led Turkey away from Sharia and toward a secular republic in 1924. But on the other hand you won’t see any Catholic churches in Riyadh or Tehran, and the occasional stories about interfaith relations coming out of places like Pakistan and Indonesia hardly inspire confidence that diversity and tolerance in Islamic societies is a major strength.

 

What’s the point of this little history and theology lesson? Specifically this – when you ask “What do these people want from us?” after seeing the standard soliloquies of Osama bin Laden or bombs going off in front of a church, a pizza parlor or a bus stop someplace, it’s nothing more than people acting on a verse they saw in the Qu’ran.

 

And unfortunately, the interpretations of that verse which create the atrocities we see aren’t extreme. Fundamentalist, maybe. But not extreme.

[wagglebee]

And this is why we cannot "reason" with them, we cannot "appease" them, we must destroy the jihadists.

[penelopesire]

Dhimmitude(with taxes and no guns) sounds like the democrat 'plan'...lol

[RS]

Curious -

He writes about a quote that he admits is open to various interpretations, but starts his quote with " Then, ".

It would seem that the only way to begin to understand what this line is sayig is to have some reference about what the " Then, " refers to.

[highlander_UW]

Best presentation I've seen...spot on.

[SkyDancer]

Interesting how they've put the Koran into chapter and verse, just like the Bible ... IOW - making it out to be like the Bible, but isn't the true word of God ......

[sageb1]

Good find!

You may be interested in a response I posted earlier this morning here.

The thread is Home front fears in war on terror ~

[eleni121]

Read the rest of it ..the author clearly states the significance of these abominable words.

[Tribune7]

“What do these people want from us?”

[B.O. Plenty]

Enemy of islm bump

[RS]

The only problem is that you CANNOT understand these words without taking into account the " Then, "

For example -

Then, as the clock struck midnight, he threw the switch and electricity coursed through her body.


What does this mean ?

It is some diabolical killer ?

... a legal execution of a diabolical killer ?

.... or perhaps some strange way of describing a late-night emergency room defibrillation procedure ?



Back to the topic at hand -


How can he possibly deem others interpretation of the verse as not being extreme WITHOUT himself having a full understanding of what it says ?

[anglian]

[TheBattman]

slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them

How do you slay folks, and THEN take them captive????

[RS]

"How do you slay folks, and THEN take them captive????"

Good point - Now we have to take into account if the English translator truely understood what it was saying ...

[TheBattman]

Is that the "prophet" Mohammed's true form???

[Tribune7]

Yup, so if you think those Danish cartoons cause a flap . . .

[dalight]

and when you think about Mt. Solodad.. its hard to imagine we haven't already been subdued..

[anglian]

Now we have to take into account if the English translator truely understood what it was saying ...

Translations: AA - Ahmed Ali

NQ - The Noble Qur'an

PK - Pickthal

SH - Shakir

YU - Yusuf Ali

AA - But when these months, prohibited (for fighting), are over, slay the idolaters wheresoever you find them, and take them captive or besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every likely place. But if they repent and fulfil their devotional obligations and pay the zakat, then let them go their way, for God is forgiving and kind.

NQ - Then when the Sacred Months (the Ist, 7th, 11th, and 12th months of the Islâmic calendar) have passed, then kill the Mushrikûn (see V.2:105) wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for them each and every ambush. But if they repent and perform As- Salât (Iqâmat-as-Salât), and give Zakât, then leave their way free. Verily, Allâh is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.[]

PK - Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

SH - So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

YU - But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, an seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.

Muslims are ordered to fight all non-Muslims until they cease being non-Muslims via either conversion at swordpoint or payment of an oppressive tax.

[anglian]

Muhammad himself thought it was meaningless as he led his most important raids during the "forbidden" months. - Craig Winn(prophetofdoom.net)

[RS]

But how do you reconsile TheBattman's very interesting point - How do you slay someone AND capture them ?

ALL of your translations use the same basic wording, yet what sense does it make ?

Obviously you can choose to ignore it, but then how can you honestly say that you understand what it it telling you ?

[RS]

Your " PROFITofDoom " neglects to source a lot of his statements... does he give a source for this one ?