4.“The infidels should not think that they can get away from us. Prepare against them whatever arms and weaponry you can muster so that you may terrorize them.” [The Qur’an (8:59)].

Islam bashers say that this verse is enough to accuse Islam of being the religion of terrorists. It orders its adherents to utilize whatever weaponry and arms to terrorize non-Muslims and it accuses them of being infidels.

Now let’s read the previous verse in its complete context in order to understand what it is actually saying. Allah says in the Qur’an:

“The worst creatures in the sight of Allah are those who reject Him and will not believe, those with whom you have made a covenant, and they break their covenant on every occasion and have no fear. Should you encounter them in war, then deal with them in such a manner that those who follow them should abandon their schemes and may take warning. And if you learn of treachery on the part of any people, throw their treaty back at them, so as to be on equal terms, for Allah does not love the treacherous. Let not the deniers [of Islam] think that they can evade destiny. They cannot frustrate [Allah’s purpose]. They have not the power to do so. Prepare the strength you can muster against them, and any cavalry with which you can overawe Allah’s enemy and your own enemy as well, and others besides them whom you do not know but are known to Allah. Anything you spend in the way of Allah will be repaid to you in full. You will not be wronged. Then if they inclined to make peace, make peace with them, and put your trust in Allah. Surely, it is He who is All-Hearing and All-Knowing. Should they seek to deceive you, Allah is enough for you: it was He who strengthened you with His help, and rallied the faithful around you, and bound their hearts together. Even if you had spent all that is on the earth, you could not have bound their hearts together, but Allah has bound them together. Surely, He is Mighty and Wise.” [The Qur’an (8:55-63)].

These verses as obvious are speaking about non-Muslim people with whom Muslims have a peace covenant but they break it. The verses describe them as treacherous. They make their schemes trying to abolish Islam and destroy the Muslim community neglecting their peace covenant. The verses do not order the Muslims to wage war against those traitors but they say that if Muslims encounter them in war, then they should deal with them in such a way that would frighten others who follow those traitors and support their schemes. The verses order Muslims to prepare themselves and muster as much power as they can, so as to be ready to defend themselves against the attacks of those traitors. They should muster this power to overawe their enemies, hinder them from betrayal and dishearten them from attacking the Muslim communities. In other words, the verses are saying: “If you wish for peace then prepare for war.”

Amazingly, Islam bashers neglect all of the preceding verses and trim out only verse (8:59) from between the context. But the worst forgery of all is when they neglect the two verses following the one they quote. The next two verses stipulate that if the above plan succeeds in forcing those enemies to incline towards peace again, then Muslims should accept it from them and put their trust in Allah to protect them against any further treason. In my opinion, any person who has the least sense of justice should be able to realize how keen the verses are on the lives of those traitors, may they realize that they were wrong, and change their way.

The Qur’anic context is clear, it doesn’t need elaborated explanation. Please read it again and decide for yourself whether this is a religion of terrorism or of justice.

5.“Truly, if the Hypocrites stir up sedition, if the agitators in the City do not desist, We shall urge you to go against them and set you over them. They shall have a curse on them. Whenever they are found, they shall be seized and slain without mercy -a fierce slaughter- murdered, a horrible murdering.” [The Qur’an (33:60)].

Again, Islam bashers say that this verse further proves that Islam is terrorism and it orders its blood thirsty adherents to kill their opposition in sadistic ways. Now let’s read the previous verse in its complete context in order to understand what it is actually saying. Allah says in the Qur’an:

“Those who affront believing men and believing women without their having deserved it (i.e. done any wrong) shall bear the weight of slander and flagrant sin. O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and wives of the believers that they should draw over themselves parts of their shawls [when in public], so as to be recognized and not harmed. Allah is most forgiving and most merciful. If the hypocrites and those who have tainted hearts and the scandal mongers of Madinah do not desist, We shall surely give you authority over them and their days in that city will be numbered. Accursed, wherever they shall be, they will be seized and killed without mercy. Such has been Allah’s way with those who have gone before them. You shall find no change in the ways of Allah.” [The Qur’an (33:58-62)].

Hypocrisy is the gravest sin in Allah’s sight. Allah says in the Qur’an: “Verily hypocrites shall dwell in the lowest depths of the hellfire, and never will you find for them any helper.” [The Qur’an (4:145)]. That’s because the harm that could be inflicted by hypocrites on any community is the worst of all. The most lethal enemy is the one you can’t recognize or sense his presence. Those who stab people in the back are the lowest of the low. I believe that all people can agree on that.

The above verses are speaking about hypocrites who claimed to be Muslims or allies of Muslims during the prophet’s time. They mingled with the Muslim community in Madinah, some even prayed with Muslims inside the mosque and acted like sincere believers when in public. But when they were alone together, they made schemes seeking to inflict as much harm as they can on the Muslim community. They spread harmful rumors, molested chaste women whenever the circumstances permitted them to do so, they threw abominable accusations against innocent men and women in order to smear their reputation, when Madinah fell under attack, they refused to fight in its defense, they even conspired with the enemies to strike a fatal blow to their Muslim fellow citizens, etc.

When the sedition of this fifth column became unbearable and took a dangerous course threatening the Muslim community, those verses were revealed ordering the prophet to tell the Muslim women that they should cover their faces when in public so that the hypocrites wouldn’t dare claim that there was any seduction from the women’s side. The verses also warned the hypocrites to desist from harming people or else they shall be driven out from Madinah, and Allah shall cast His curse upon them, so wherever they would reside, they would be killed without any mercy by the dwellers of the new place who wouldn’t bear their twisted attitude and treachery. Prophet Muhammad never harmed anyone of the Madinite hypocrites, though he knew each and every one of them. Whenever he was incited against any of them, he said, “I don’t want the people to say: ‘Muhammad is killing his companions’.”

Throughout the Qur’an, you can read many verses that speak about hypocrites and their schemes. They are always given grave warnings against their attitude and its consequences in this life and the hereafter. Hypocrites have no religion or creedal convictions of any kind, they are not even agnostics. They are slaves to their own desires and welfare. They don’t care at all about what or who is harmed in the process of achieving their goals. Such creatures are like a virus among the human race, it must be fought against and quarantined in order to avoid its harm. If its harm continues, then it must be abolished.

6.“We reject you. Hostility and hate have come between us forever, unless you believe in Allah only.” [The Qur’an (60:4)].

Islam bashers use this verse to indicate that Islam promulgates hatred and enmity against those who reject it.

Now let’s read the previous verse in its complete context in order to understand what it is actually saying. Allah says in the Qur’an:

“O believers, do not take those who are enemies of Mine and of yours as allies. Would you show them affection when they have rejected the truth you have received, when they have driven you and the Messenger out [from your homeland simply] because you believe in Allah, your Lord. If you have left your homes to strive for My cause and out of a desire to seek My goodwill, how can you secretly offer them friendship? I know all that you conceal and all that you reveal. Whoever of you does this will surely stray away from the right path. If they gain ascendancy over you, they will behave towards you as enemies and stretch out their hands as well as their tongues with evil intent, they long for you to renounce your faith. Neither your relatives nor your children will be of any help to you on the Day of Resurrection. He will judge between you, and Allah sees all that you do. Indeed you have an excellent example in Abraham and those who followed him, when they said to their people, ‘We disown you and whatever you worship besides Allah. We renounce you. Enmity and hatred shall endure between us and you, until you believe in Allah alone.’ [The exception was] when Abraham said to his father, ‘I shall indeed pray for [Allah’s] forgiveness for you, although I do not have it in my power to obtain anything from Allah on your behalf.’ They prayed, ‘O our Lord, in You we have placed our trust and to You we turn in repentance and to You is the final return. Our Lord, do not make us a prey for those who deny the truth, and forgive us our Lord, You are the Almighty, the Wise One.’ Surely, there is a good example in them for you, for those who place their hopes in Allah and the Last Day. Whoever turns away will surely learn that Allah is Self-sufficient and worthy of all praise. It may well happen that Allah will create goodwill between you and those of them with whom you are now at enmity—for Allah is all powerful, most forgiving and merciful. Allah does not forbid you as regards to those who did not fight you on account of faith, and did not expel you from your homes, that you deal justly and kindly with them. Verily Allah loves those who maintain justice. Allah only forbids you to make friends with those who have fought against you on account of your faith and driven you out of your homes or helped others to do so. Any of you who turn towards them in friendship will truly be transgressors.” [The Qur’an (60:1-9)].

The above verses comprise the complete laws when it comes to taking friends and allies from among non-Muslims. This chapter was revealed in a certain incident, so let’s get to know it so that we may understand what the verses are saying. When Muslims immigrated to Madinah, some of them left their families behind knowing that the Makkan pagans wouldn’t inflict any harm on them, this was mainly because they still had some pagan relatives in Makkah. It happened that a companion named Hateb Ibn-Belta’ah who was a very sincere Muslim, migrated to Madinah and joined the prophet leaving behind his family in Makkah. Hateb was originally from Yemen, so he had no relatives at all in Makkah. When the pagans violated the treaty of Hudaybiah, the prophet decided to retrieve Makkah from their hands. Out of fear that the Makkan pagans might persecute his family when they learn about this, Hateb took allies secretly from among the Makkan pagans. He sent them news about the conquest out of fear that they might inflict harm on his helpless family or kill them. He only did this because he was sure that the prophet will be victorious no matter what the pagans did or how strong and well prepared they were.

The prophet received revelations telling him of Hateb’s mistake and that his letter was carried by a woman named so and so who was on her way to Makkah. He immediately ordered ‘Ali Ibn Abi-Taleb and Al-Zubair Ibn Al-‘Awwam to pursue the caravan, arrest that woman and retrieve Hateb’s letter. When they brought back the letter and the prophet had it read to him, he summoned Hateb to confront him with it. Hateb said, “I never did this to harm Islam or the Muslims because I knew for sure that Allah will grant victory to His Prophet irrespective of whether the Makkans came to know about our preparations or not.”
‘Omar Ibn Al-Khattab was enraged and wanted to kill Hateb for this treason, but the prophet stopped him and said, “He has told you the truth.”
‘Omar couldn’t find Hateb’s answer convincing but the prophet responded saying:
“He attended the battle of Badr (i.e. indicating that he cannot be a hypocrite). What can I say, perhaps Allah looked at those who attended Badr and said, ‘0 People of Badr, do whatever you like, for I have forgiven you’.” [Recorded by Bukhari]
On hearing this, ‘Omar calmed down and said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.”

Hateb’s mistake was forgiven and it was at this incident that this chapter of the Qur’an was revealed. Any kind of alliance or friendship between Muslims and non-Muslims must be built on the basis of mutual respect and peace relationship. Any relation out of that perspective is unlawful. What’s truly disgusting in what Islam bashers do when they quote verse (60:4) is that, they trim the first part of the verse and totally neglect the rest of the context, which states clearly that Allah does not hinder Muslims from dealing kindly and fairly with those who do not fight against them or despise their religion, but He only forbids them to befriend those who have fought against Muslims on account of faith and have driven them out from their homes or helped others to do so. This makes me wonder, who is the one promoting “hatred” and who is the one promoting “accepting the other” in here?! I leave the answer for the intelligence of the reader.

I hope that the previous six examples were enough in making it clear that the Qur’an—like any other book—needs truthful inspection and examination in order to grasp fair knowledge about it. Reading a single quote from amidst its verses is totally misguiding, whether it’s done by Muslims or non-Muslims. Those fancy figures that attack it without any knowledge, and hinder others from reading it in a fair manner are only driving themselves astray. Allah says about them in the Qur’an:

“Say, ‘O people of the Book (i.e. Christians and Jews), why do you reject the verses of Allah while Allah is witness to what you do?’ Say, ‘O people of the Book, why do you hinder the believers from the way of Allah, trying to create crookedness in it, while you yourselves are witnesses (to Allah’s religion)? Allah is not oblivious of what you do’.” [The Qur’an (3:98-99)].

May Allah guide us to the truth and never forsake us for our whims.

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Written by: Ehab Shawky