Author: Ophelia Benson

The Qur’an, Muslims believe, is the final revelation of the creator of
the universe, a book dictated by an angel to the final in a long line
of prophets sent by Allah to guide human affairs and to make known the
will of the creator for how we should order our lives. Indeed, time and
again, it makes this bold claim, so this really seems a non-negotiable
article of faith and statement of reality. As such, it is said to be
a book whose message is universal in scope, and whose message is not
historically or geographically specific or conditioned, but which speaks
with equal relevance to us all, in all places and at all times. Islam,
the religion proclaimed by the Qur’an, means simply ‘submission’, and
we are called to acknowledge the divine origins of the book and to submit
our will and intellect to the proposition that this book and this religion
constitute the undeniable pinnacle of moral teaching and literary creativity,
and that we must all adopt this ‘total way of life’ or face stern consequences
after death.

As a non-Muslim, coming to the Qur’an unburdened by the heavy
influence of communal reinforcement that is given by being brought up
to accept these notions as self-evidently true, I am at a complete loss
as to understand how anyone can hold such a high opinion of a book which,
it turns out, is so crude, so blatantly a product of a specific time and
place, and so filled with childish threats and superstition. Reading
the Qur’an is an arduous task, for in translation at least it is not a
book whose literary style naturally commands admiration in the reader;
in fact it is an exceedingly tedious book, made up of a collection of
disjointed and often self-contradictory texts, filled with tiresome repetition
of certain key phrases and themes, and brimming over with threats of
torture and torment for those who will not accept its authority. It seems
to me vitally important in a time in which this book and this religion
are proclaimed so widely and so loudly to be the Truth and to be beyond
criticism that those of us who value the fruits of the Enlightenment –
rational, secular thought and discourse, freed from the often horrific superstitions
of ignorant men of the past – should endevour to both examine and critically
evaluate Islam and its much vaunted ‘holy book’.

The Enlightenment and the huge social changes it ushered in are
precious gifts that it is our duty to protect against the forces of
resurgent irrationalism in the world today. The values and achievements
of the Enlightenment are things which should be open to all, regardless
of skin colour or ethnicity: in short, they are not simply a luxury for
white Western elites. In seeking to ‘understand’ Islam and in offering
an unthinking and servile ‘respect’ for the Qur’an, many feel they are
championing the cause of minorities and protecting them from bigotry and
Western ‘cultural imperialism’. This is utter condescending nonsense. There
is no reason why brown skinned people should be left in the chains of superstition
and there is no reason why the things many of them hold dear should be beyond
rational criticism. Beliefs have consequences, and in the case of this
particular religion one of those consequences is that many of its followers
feel duty-bound to attempt to roll back the Enlightenment and to ‘Islamify’
the West. This is an unpopular statement to make, considered in the minds
of many self-proclaimed liberals and progressives to border on ‘bigotry’
or to actually constitute a form of ‘racism’. But bigotry and racism are
enemies of Enlightenment rationalism – they belong to precisely the same
realm of irrational, petty, provincial thinking that produced competing
religions, all proclaiming to be bearers of the Truth without a shread
of real evidence, and all quite unsatisfactory if we are to be serious
about developing further together as a global community in the years to
come.

In this article, I shall look at exactly what the Qur’an says,
and I hope to demonstrate to the reader quite what a divisive, primitive,
and insulting book it actually is; not to provoke hostility towards Muslims,
nor to be deliberately and gratuituously offensive, but for the important
reasons outlined above.

The intended readership of the Qur’an – universal or localised?

As already noted, mainstream Muslims proclaim the Qur’an to be
the final revelation of the creator of the universe, a book given in
a specific time and place, but a book whose message is not dependent
on that time and place. Hypothetically, the belief goes, the Word of
God could have been given anywhere in the world, in an place, time, or
language, and its message would have been exactly the same. Given the Qur’an’s
constant proclamation that it is of divine origin, we would be safe in assuming
that its message will be found to be universally applicable, equally relevant
to all, and lacking signs that it is culturally or historically conditioned.
In fact, unsurprisingly, this is far from the case.

The readership of the Qur’an is clearly presupposed to be male,
and this is a book for men, by men. We find numerous examples of the
audience being given information and instructions about women, in texts
that speak of women in the third person. So, for example, we read statements
such as ‘Your wives are a tilth for you’ (2.223), ‘And those of you who
die and leave wives behind’ (2.240), ‘And when you divorce women’ (2.231),
‘And when you have divorced women’ (2.232), ‘And Allah has made wives
for you from among yourselves, and has given you sons and grandchildren
from your wives’ (16.72), ‘when you marry the believing women’ (33.49),
‘Enter the garden, you and your wives; you shall be made happy’ (43.70),
‘when you divorce women’ (65.1), and so in, in passage after passage.

The readership of the Qur’an is also clearly presupposed to be
made up of Arabs. So, we read ‘Surely We have revealed it — an Arabic
Quran — that you may understand’ (12.2), ‘And thus have We revealed
it, a true judgment in Arabic’ (13.37), ‘In plain Arabic language’ (26.195),
‘An Arabic Quran without any crookedness, that they may guard (against
evil)’ (39.28), ‘A Book of which the verses are made plain, an Arabic
Quran for a people who know’ (41.3), ‘Surely We have made it an Arabic
Quran that you may understand’ (43.3). Most telling of all, we read ‘And
if We had made it a Quran in a foreign tongue, they would certainly have
said: Why have not its communications been made clear? What! a foreign (tongue)
and an Arabian!’ (41.44)

So much for the much vaunted universal message for a universal
audience. There is plenty more evidence that the Qur’an, more than simply
being a book specifically tailored for Arab men, is also a book firmly
situated in a particular place and time. Animals and food are written of
in the Qur’an, often in the many passages presenting the natural world
as evidence of Allah as creator, and the choice of animals and food, and
the uses of animals that are referred to, situate the text both historically
and geographically. So, for example, we read of camels – important animals
for Arabs but irrelevant as examples for readers in places such as Europe,
where they were largely unknown at the time of the writing of the Qur’an:

And (as for) the camels, We have made them of the signs of the
religion of Allah for you; for you therein is much good; therefore mention
the name of Allah on them as they stand in a row, then when they fall
down eat of them and feed the poor man who is contented and the beggar;
thus have We made them subservient to you, that you may be grateful (22.36).

Will they not then consider the camels, how they are created?
(88.17)

We read of working animals, again situating the Qur’an as a product
of its time, as opposed to being a universal trans-historical book.:

And He created the cattle for you; you have in them warm clothing
and (many) advantages, and of them do you eat.
And there is beauty in them for you when you drive them back
(to home), and when you send them forth (to pasture).
And they carry your heavy loads to regions which you could not
reach but with distress of the souls; most surely your Lord is Compassionate,
Merciful.
And (He made) horses and mules and asses that you might ride upon
them and as an ornament; and He creates what you do not know (16.5-8).

Allah is He Who made the cattle for you that you may ride on
some of them, and some of them you eat (40.79).

Of the ‘gardens of bliss’ promised to believers after death, we
read that there will be ‘thornless lote-trees, and banana-trees (with
fruits)’ (56.28-9). Elsewhere, we read of palm trees, grapes, olives,
pomegranates and clover (6.99, 12.49, 13.4, 16.11, 16.67, 17.91, 18.32,
23.19, 36.34, 80.28). All of these were useful examples for the Arabs
of Muhammad’s time, but are useless as examples for many people in other
places and other times. Of how much relevance is talk of bananas to the
Inuit? How many Scandinavians would have found palm tress a meaningful
example? The claim that the Qur’an’s message is of equal relevance to all
people in all times is revealed to be utterly bogus.

Central concerns of the Qur’an – universally relevant or historically
situated?

Reading the Qur’an, we find that huge chunks of the text are devoted
to Muhammad’s disputes with his fellow Arabs and their rejection of his
message. If the message of the Qur’an transcends time and place, then why
is there so much talk of this issue? We read much of the ‘polytheists’
– those who followed the traditional Arab religions of Muhammad’s time,
and how many of them have rejected the message of Islam and scoffed at Muhammad’s
claim to be a prophet, and we also read of Jews and Christians (‘followers
of the Book’) who likewise rejected the Qur’an :

Those who disbelieve from among the followers of the Book do not
like, nor do the polytheists, that the good should be sent down to you from
your Lord, and Allah chooses especially whom He pleases for His mercy, and
Allah is the Lord of mighty grace (2.105).

And those who disbelieve say: This is nothing but a lie which
he has forged, and other people have helped him at it; so indeed they
have done injustice and (uttered) a falsehood (25.4).

And those who disbelieve say: Why has not the Quran been revealed
to him all at once? Thus, that We may strengthen your heart by it and
We have arranged it well in arranging (25.32).

And they wonder that there has come to them a warner from among
themselves, and the disbelievers say: This IS an enchanter, a liar.
What! makes he the gods a single God? A strange thing is this, to be
sure! (38.4-5)

He it is Who sent His Apostle with the guidance and the true religion,
that He may make it overcome the religions, all of them, though the
polytheists may be averse (61.9).

Those who disbelieved from among the followers of the Book and
the polytheists could not have separated (from the faithful) until there
had come to them the clear evidence: An apostle from Allah, reciting pure
pages, Wherein are all the right ordinances (98.1-3).

So, we read that many Arab polytheists of Muhammad’s time rejected
his new monotheistic religion, calling it a lie that he had invented,
questioning why the whole Qur’an was not ‘revealed’ at one time, and calling
Muhammad himself an ‘enchanter’ and a ‘liar’. These are records of arguments
that Muhammad had with those he tried to convert to his new faith, but
teach us absolutely nothing of value for how to live in the modern world.

For those who accept Muhammad’s claims, the Qur’an promises numerous
rewards after death, with a life of bliss in gardens of paradise, complete
with an unending supply of delicious food and drink, as well as wives
and a life of relaxation and pleasures. But for those who reject Muhammad
and his message (largely the aforementioned polytheists), the author of
the Qur’an, with seemingly endless repetition, offers threats and promises
of unspeakable suffering after death. As we shall see, the author seems
to relish the thought of the infliction of these punishments with great enthusiasm,
and a sadistic and perverse mentality is clearly in evidence.

What does the Qur’an say about non-Muslims?

In their proper historical context, the following texts from the
Qur’an can be seen as threats made by Muhammad to people of his time who
rejected his message. However, for Muslims the Qur’an is not a text that
refers only to the time of Muhammad, but instead offers a universal message
for all peoples and all time, given by God and perfect in its every statement.
Given this is the case, the Qur’an calls upon Muslims today to understand
the fate of those who do not accept Islam to be an eternity of unending
torture and torment, not simply of a ‘spiritual’ variety, but in literal,
corporeal terms. If you are an atheist or a follower of another religion
(there may be some exceptions among Jews and Christians, as we will
see later), then here is what the perfect Word of God has to say to about
you:

Surely those who disbelieve, it being alike to them whether you
warn them, or do not warn them, will not believe. Allah has set a seal upon
their hearts and upon their hearing and there is a covering over their eyes,
and there is a great punishment for them (2.6-7).

Allah is the enemy of the unbelievers (2.98).

(As for) those who disbelieve, surely neither their wealth nor
their children shall avail them in the least against Allah; and these
are the inmates of the fire; therein they shall abide. (3.116).

Let it not deceive you that those who disbelieve go to and fro
in the cities fearlessly. A brief enjoyment! then their abode is hell,
and evil is the resting-place.(3.196-7).

[S]urely Allah will gather together the hypocrites and the unbelievers
all in hell (4.140).

[A] painful chastisement shall befall those among them who disbelieve
(5.73).

And (as for) those who disbelieve and reject Our communications,
these are the companions of the flame (5.86).

And they who reject Our communications are deaf and dumb, in utter
darkness; whom Allah pleases He causes to err and whom He pleases He
puts on the right way (6.39).

And (as for) those who reject Our communications, chastisement
shall afflict them because they transgressed (6.49).

And leave those who have taken their religion for a play and an
idle sport, and whom this world’s life has deceived, and remind (them)
thereby lest a soul should be given up to destruction for what it has
earned; it shall not have besides Allah any guardian nor an intercessor,
and if it should seek to give every compensation, it shall not be accepted
from it; these are they who shall be given up to destruction for what they
earned; they shall have a drink of boiling water and a painful chastisement
because they disbelieved (6.70).

Who then is more unjust than he who rejects Allah’s communications
and turns away from them? We will reward those who turn away from Our
communications with an evil chastisement because they turned away (6.157).

And (as for) those who reject Our communications and turn away
from them haughtily– these are the inmates of the fire they shall abide
in it (7.36).

Surely (as for) those who reject Our communications and turn away from
them haughtily, the doors of heaven shall not be opened for them, nor shall
they enter the garden until the camel pass through the eye of the needle;
and thus do We reward the guilty. They shall have a bed of hell-fire and
from above them coverings (of it); and thus do We reward the unjust. (7.40-1).

What! do the people of the towns then feel secure from Our punishment
coming to them by night while they sleep? What! do the people of the
towns feel secure from Our punishment coming to them in the morning while
they play? What! do they then feel secure from Allah’s plan? But none feels
secure from Allah’s plan except the people who shall perish (7.97-99).

Evil is the likeness of the people who reject Our communications
and are unjust to their own souls. Whomsoever Allah guides, he is
the one who follows the right way; and whomsoever He causes to err, these
are the losers. And certainly We have created for hell many of the jinn
and the men; they have hearts with which they do not understand, and they
have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they
do not hear; they are as cattle, nay, they are in worse errors; these
are the heedless ones. (7.177-9).

Whomsoever Allah causes to err, there is no guide for him; and
He leaves them alone in their inordinacy, blindly wandering on (7.186).

I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve (8.12).

And had you seen when the angels will cause to die those who disbelieve,
smiting their faces and their backs, and (saying): Taste the punishment
of burning (8.50).

Surely the vilest of animals in Allah’s sight are those who disbelieve,
then they would not believe (8.55).

Allah will bring disgrace to the unbelievers (9.2).

[A]nd announce painful punishment to those who disbelieve (9.3).

The idolaters have no right to visit the mosques of Allah while
bearing witness to unbelief against themselves, these it is whose doings
are null, and in the fire shall they abide (9.17).

Allah has promised the hypocritical men and the hypocritical women
and the unbelievers the fire of hell to abide therein; it is enough for
them; and Allah has cursed them and they shall have lasting punishment
(9.68).

O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites
and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the
destination (9.73).

And never offer prayer for any one of them who dies and do not
stand by his grave; surely they disbelieve in Allah and His Apostle and
they shall die in transgression (9.84).

Surely those who do not hope in Our meeting and are pleased with
this world’s life and are content with it, and those who are heedless
of Our communications: (As for) those, their abode is the fire because of
what they earned (10.7-8).

Whoever desires this world’s life and its finery, We will pay
them in full their deeds therein, and they shall not be made to suffer
loss in respect of them. These are they for whom there is nothing but
fire in the hereafter, and what they wrought in it shall go for nothing,
and vain is what they do (11.15-16).

They shall have chastisement in this world’s life, and the chastisement
of the hereafter is certainly more grievous, and they shall have no protector
against Allah. A likeness of the garden which the righteous are promised;
there now beneath it rivers, its food and shades are perpetual; this
is the requital of those who guarded (against evil), and the requital
of the unbelievers is the fire (13.34-5)

Hell is before him and he shall be given to drink of festering
water: He will drink it little by little and will not be able to swallow
it agreeably, and death will come to him from every quarter, but he
shall not die; and there shall be vehement chastisement before him. The
parable of those who disbelieve in their Lord: their actions are like
ashes on which the wind blows hard on a stormy day; they shall not have
power over any thing out of what they have earned; this is the great error
(14.16-18).

Therefore do not think Allah (to be one) failing in His promise
to His apostles; surely Allah is Mighty, the Lord of Retribution. On
the day when the earth shall be changed into a different earth, and the
heavens (as well), and they shall come forth before Allah, the One, the
Supreme. And you will see the guilty on that day linked together in chains.
Their shirts made of pitch and the fire covering their faces (14.47-50).

(As for) those who do not believe in Allah’s communications, surely
Allah will not guide them, and they shall have a painful punishment
(16.104).

Whoever desires this present life, We hasten to him therein what
We please for whomsoever We desire, then We assign to him the hell; he
shall enter it despised, driven away (17.18).

And whomsoever Allah guides, he is the follower of the right way,
and whomsoever He causes to err, you shall not find for him guardians
besides Him; and We will gather them together on the day of resurrection
on their faces, blind and dumb and deaf; their abode is hell; whenever
it becomes allayed We will add to their burning (17.97).

We have prepared for the iniquitous a fire, the curtains of which
shall encompass them about; and if they cry for water, they shall be
given water like molten brass which will scald their faces; evil the
drink and ill the resting-place (18.29).

Surely you and what you worship besides Allah are the firewood
of hell; to it you shall come (21.98).

And (as for) those who strive to oppose Our communications, they
shall be the inmates of the flaming fire (22.51).

And (as for) those who disbelieve in and reject Our communications,
these it is who shall have a disgraceful chastisement (22.57).

And when Our clear communications are recited to them you will
find denial on the faces of those who disbelieve; they almost spring upon
those who recite to them Our communications. Say: Shall I inform you of
what is worse than this? The fire; Allah has promised it to those who disbelieve;
and how evil the resort! (22.72)

Think not that those who disbelieve shall escape in the earth,
and their abode is the fire; and certainly evil is the resort! (24.57)

As to those who do not believe in the hereafter, We have surely
made their deeds fair-seeming to them, but they blindly wander on. These
are they who shall have an evil punishment, and in the hereafter they
shall be the greatest losers (27.4-5).

And (as to) those who disbelieve in the communications of Allah
and His meeting, they have despaired of My mercy, and these it is that
shall have a painful punishment (29.23).

They ask you to hasten on the chastisement, and most surely hell
encompasses the unbelievers; On the day when the chastisement shall
cover them from above them, and from beneath their feet; and He shall
say: Taste what you did (29.54-5).

Will not in hell be the abode of the unbelievers? (29.68)

And as to those who disbelieved and rejected Our communications
and the meeting of the hereafter, these shall be brought over to the
chastisement (30.16).

[S]urely He [Allah] does not love the unbelievers (30.45).

And of men is he who takes instead frivolous discourse to lead
astray from Allah’s path without knowledge, and to take it for a mockery;
these shall have an abasing chastisement. And when Our communications
are recited to him, he turns back proudly, as if he had not heard them,
as though in his ears were a heaviness, therefore announce to him a painful
chastisement (31.6-7).

And whoever disbelieves, let not his disbelief grieve you; to
Us is their return, then will We inform them of what they did surely
Allah is the Knower of what is in the breasts. We give them to enjoy
a little, then will We drive them to a severe chastisement (31.23-24).

And as for those who transgress, their abode is the fire; whenever
they desire to go forth from it they shall be brought back into it, and
it will be said to them: Taste the chastisement of the fire which you
called a lie. And most certainly We will make them taste of the nearer
chastisement before the greater chastisement that haply they may turn.
And who is more unjust than he who is reminded of the communications of
his Lord, then he turns away from them? Surely We will give punishment to
the guilty (32.20-22).

Surely (as for) those who speak evil things of Allah and His Apostle,
Allah has cursed them in this world and the here after, and He has prepared
for them a chastisement bringing disgrace (33.57).

Surely Allah has cursed the unbelievers and has prepared for them a
burning fire, to abide therein for a long time; they shall not find a protector
or a helper. On the day when their faces shall be turned back into the fire,
they shall say: O would that we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Apostle!
And they shall say: O our Lord! surely we obeyed our leaders and our great
men, so they led us astray from the path; O our Lord! give them a double
punishment and curse them with a great curse (33.64-8)..

So Allah will chastise the hypocritical men and the hypocritical
women and the polytheistic men and the polytheistic women (33.73).

And (as for) those who strive hard in opposing Our communications,
these it is for whom is a painful chastisement of an evil kind (34.5).

[T]hose who do not believe in the hereafter are in torment and
in great error (34.8).

And (as for) those who strive in opposing Our communications,
they shall be caused to be brought to the chastisement (34.38).

(As for) those who disbelieve, they shall have a severe punishment
(35.7).

This is the hell with which you were threatened. Enter into it
this day because you disbelieved (36.63-4).

And thus did the word of your Lord prove true against those who
disbelieved that they are the inmates of the fire (40.6).

Surely those who disbelieve shall be cried out to: Certainly Allah’s
hatred (of you) when you were called upon to the faith and you rejected,
is much greater than your hatred of yourselves (40.10).

Have you not seen those who dispute with respect to the communications
of Allah: how are they turned away? Those who reject the Book and that
with which We have sent Our Apostle; but they shall soon come to know,
when the fetters and the chains shall be on their necks; they shall be
dragged into boiling water, then in the fire shall they be burned (40.69-72).

Therefore We will most certainly make those who disbelieve taste
a severe punishment, and We will most certainly reward them for the evil
deeds they used to do. That is the reward of the enemies of Allah —
the fire; for them therein shall be the house of long abiding; a reward
for their denying Our communications (41.27-8).

And (as for) those who dispute about Allah after that obedience
has been rendered to Him, their plea is null with their Lord, and upon
them is wrath, and for them is severe punishment (42.16).

Woe to every sinful liar, who hears the communications of Allah
recited to him, then persists proudly as though he had not heard them;
so announce to him a painful punishment. And when he comes to know
of any of Our communications, he takes it for a jest; these it is that
shall have abasing chastisement. Before them is hell, and there shall
not avail them aught of what they earned, nor those whom they took for
guardians besides Allah, and they shall have a grievous punishment. This
is guidance; and (as for) those who disbelieve in the communications of
their Lord, they shall have a painful punishment on account of uncleanness
(45.7-11).

And on the day when those who disbelieve shall be brought before
the fire: You did away with your good things in your life of the world
and you enjoyed them for a while, so today you shall be rewarded with
the punishment of abasement because you were unjustly proud in the land
and because you transgressed (46.20).

That He may cause the believing men and the believing women to
enter gardens beneath which rivers flow to abide therein and remove from
them their evil; and that is a grand achievement with Allah and (that)
He may punish the hypocritical men and the hypocritical women, and the
polytheistic men and the polytheistic women, the entertainers of evil
thoughts about Allah. On them is the evil turn, and Allah is wroth with
them and has cursed them and prepared hell for them, and evil is the resort
(48.5-6).

And whoever does not believe in Allah and His Apostle, then surely
We have prepared burning fire for the unbelievers (48.13).

Therefore woe to those who disbelieve because of their day which
they are threatened with (51.60).

So woe on that day to those who reject (the truth), those who
sport entering into vain discourses. The day on which they shall be
driven away to the fire of hell with violence (52.11-13).

And if he is one of the rejecters, the erring ones, he shall have
an entertainment of boiling water, and burning in hell. Most surely
this is a certain truth. Therefore glorify the name of your Lord, the
Great (56.92-6).

So today ransom shall not be accepted from you nor from those
who disbelieved; your abode is the fire; it is your friend and evil
is the resort (57.15).

And (as for) those who disbelieve and reject Our communications,
they are the inmates of the fire, to abide therein and evil is the resort
(64.10).

But what is the matter with them that they do not believe, and
when the Quran is recited to them they do not make obeisance? Nay!
those who disbelieve give the lie to the truth. And Allah knows best
what they hide, so announce to them a painful punishment (84.20-24).

Has not there come to you the news of the overwhelming calamity?
(Some) faces on that day shall be downcast, laboring, toiling, entering
into burning fire, made to drink from a boiling spring. They shall have
no food but of thorns, which will neither fatten nor avail against hunger
(88.1-7).

So today those who believe shall laugh at the unbelievers; On thrones,
they will look. Surely the disbelievers are rewarded as they did (88.34-6).

And (as for) those who disbelieve in our communications, they
are the people of the left hand. On them is fire closed over (90.19-20).

Surely those who disbelieve from among the followers of the Book
and the polytheists shall be in the fire of hell, abiding therein; they
are the worst of men (98.6).

These are clearly not the writings of a rational mind. Deranged
by religious delusions, the author or authors of these passages would
no doubt be considered mentally ill or psychologically unbalanced were
this ‘holy’ book to be written today. Yet, as a religious text, the Qur’an
is all too often given a special exemption from normal criticism, and
we are told that we must show it ‘respect’, despite the hateful attitude
it takes towards those who do not accept Islam. Around the world, children
are taught to revere the Qur’an as the very words of the creator of the
universe, as a perfect book with a timeless message, yet how can texts
like those I have just cited do anything but instill a negative or contemptuous
attitude towards non-Muslims? And why would anyone in their right mind
claim that this book should be held up as the most important book ever
written, or even as a great work of literature?

Sadly, there is worse to come.

Next page

The Qur’an and the ‘Abrahamic religions’

In modern discussions of religion and its place in a pluralistic
society, much is often made of three ‘great monotheisms’ – Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam – and their apparent similarities. Liberal apologists
for Islam in particular like to refer to the shared backgrounds of these
‘Abrahamic faiths’ and to claim that the Qur’an shows respect for Jews
and Christians as fellow ‘people of the Book’. As it turns out, when
looking at what the Qur’an actually says, it is by no means clear that
Muhammad had a lot of respect for Jews and Christians, and there is little
consistency in his message regarding them and their respective religions.

According to the Qur’an, it contains a ‘perfect’ message from the
creator of the universe, and it is held that previously two peoples have
been granted books similar to the Qur’an – Jews and Christians – but that
they have somehow deviated from and corrupted the original revelations.
As such, Jews and Christians are held to be Muslims who have strayed from
the original path given by Allah, and the Qur’an is seen to ‘correct’ the
supposed ‘errors’ found in the Old and New Testaments (i.e. wherever they
disagree with the Qur’an) and to finalise God’s message to humanity.

By way of contrast, a rather more obvious and plausible intepretation
of the elements of the Qur’an that overlap with Judaism and Christianity
is that Muhammad took what he liked from the Old and New Testaments and
ignored the rest; or, in the case of Jesus, simply fabricated new sayings.
Muhammad clearly admired aspects of Judaism and Christianity and when he
set out creating his own Arab monotheism borrowed heavily from their sacred
texts, in particular from the Hebrew Bible. In the Qur’an, we find many
of the Israelite characters taken over by Muhammad as ‘prophets’ of Islam,
with their Jewish names replaced by Arab names. Likewise, Jesus becomes
‘Isa’, a ‘prophet’ of Islam who bears almost no relation to the Jesus of
the New Testament and is instead found exhorting his listeners to follow
‘Allah’. The claim that the Qur’an shows respect to the ‘prophets’ of Judaism
and to Jesus is rendered problematic by what the Qur’an does with these
characters. Take Abraham, for example – a foundational figure in Judaism.
In the Qur’an, Abraham becomes ‘Ibrahim’ and it is claimed that he was
a Muslim; indeed, Adam is presented as the first Muslim, and every character
‘borrowed’ from the Old and New Testaments are seen as Muslims, not Jews
in the religious sense:

And they say: Be Jews or Christians, you will be on the right
course. Say: Nay! (we follow) the religion of Ibrahim, the Hanif,
and he was not one of the polytheists (2.135).

Ibrahim was not a Jew nor a Christian but he was (an) upright
(man), a Muslim, and he was not one of the polytheists (3.67).

Say: We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us, and
what was revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Yaqoub and the
tribes, and what was given to Musa and Isa and to the prophets from their
Lord; we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do
we submit (3.84).

And who has a better religion than he who submits himself entirely
to Allah? And he is the doer of good (to others) and follows the faith
of Ibrahim, the upright one, and Allah took Ibrahim as a friend (4.125).

Surely We have revealed to you as We revealed to Nuh, and the
prophets after him, and We revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq
and Yaqoub and the tribes, and Isa and Ayub and Yunus and Haroun and
Sulaiman and We gave to Dawood (4.163).

Surely Ibrahim was an exemplar, obedient to Allah, upright, and
he was not of the polytheists (16.120).

Then We revealed to you: Follow the faith of Ibrahim, the upright
one, and he was not of the polytheists (16.123).

And when We made a covenant with the prophets and with you, and
with Nuh and Ibrahim and Musa and Isa, son of Marium, and We made with
them a strong covenant (33.7).

And so on.

In the Qur’an, we find numerous references to the Biblical Lot
(‘Lut’ in the Qur’an) and his escape from the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah, including the assertion (taken from the Old Testament) that
one of the ‘sins’ leading to God’s wrath was homosexuality:

And (We sent) Lut when he said to his people: What! do you commit
an indecency which any one in the world has not done before you? Most
surely you come to males in lust besides females; nay you are an extravagant
people. And the answer of his people was no other than that they said:
Turn them out of your town, surely they are a people who seek to purify
(themselves). So We delivered him and his followers, except his wife; she
was of those who remained behind. And We rained upon them a rain; consider
then what was the end of the guilty (7.80-4).

And (We sent) Lut, when he said to his people: What! do you commit
indecency while you see? What! do you indeed approach men lustfully rather
than women? Nay, you are a people who act ignorantly. But the answer
of his people was no other except that they said: Turn out Lut’s followers
from your town; surely they are a people who would keep pure! But We delivered
him and his followers except his wife; We ordained her to be of those
who remained behind. And We rained on them a rain, and evil was the rain
of those who had been warned (27.54-8).

And (We sent) Lut when he said to his people: Most surely you are
guilty of an indecency which none of the nations has ever done before
you; What! do you come to the males and commit robbery on the highway,
and you commit evil deeds in your assemblies? But nothing was the answer
of his people except that they said: Bring on us Allah’s punishment, if
you are one of the truthful. He said: My Lord! help me against the mischievous
people. And when Our messengers came to Ibrahim with the good news, they
said: Surely we are going to destroy the people of this town, for its people
are unjust (29.28-31).

The Jesus of the Qur’an, ‘Isa’, is also a Muslim and another ‘prophet’
of Allah. So, on the lips of this de-Judaised Jesus we find expressions
such as:

I have come to you indeed with wisdom, and that I may make clear
to you part of what you differ in; so be careful of (your duty to) Allah
and obey me: Surely Allah is my Lord and your Lord, therefore serve
Him; this is the right path (46.63-4).

O children of Israel! surely I am the apostle of Allah to you,
verifying that which is before me of the Taurat and giving the good
news of an Apostle who will come after me, his name being Ahmad (61.6).

Isa son of Marium said to (his) disciples: Who are my helpers in
the cause of Allah? The disciples said: We are helpers (in the cause)
of Allah (61.14).

All of this raises the question of how much the Qur’an really shows
‘respect’ for Judaism and Christianity, given it basically raids their
books, renames their ‘prophets’, and places plainly unhistorical Islamic
sayings on their lips. Some say that imitation is the highest form of flattery,
so perhaps this is the most charitable interpretation of this use of
material lifted from the Bible, but when it comes to the Qur’an’s verdict
on Jews and Christians themselves, the flattery is much less in evidence.

The Qur’an and the ‘People of the Book’

Having co-opted key figures from Judaism and Christianity, claiming
them as Muslims in the Qur’an, the question arose as to how to explain
the fact that Jews and Christians largely rejected Islam and proclaimed
doctrines radically different to Muhammad’s. The answer came in the form
of denigrating Jewish and Christian belief as deviant forms of Islam. Given
everyone from Adam onwards is claimed to have been a Muslim, any religion
following from this must by definition be a corruption of the original.
We have already seen some of the volumenous condemnation of Arab polytheists
that is found in the Qur’an, but with Jews and Christians the position is
somewhat more complex.

While creating a narrative which claims figures from the Old Testament
as Muslims, Muhammad nonetheless did not go so far as to write Jews out
of the picture altogether. Drawing on the many instances in the Old Testament
in which the Israelites are condemned for their sinfulness, apostasy,
and so on (condemned in these texts by fellow Israelites and YHWH, the
God of Israel, of course), the Qur’an presents the Jews in an essentially
negative light. We read of ‘the iniquity of those who are Jews’
and ‘their hindering many (people) from Allah’s way’ (4.160), that ‘many
of them certainly act extravagantly in the land’ (5.32), that dietry laws
were given to the Jews ‘on account of their rebellion’ against God (6.146),
and that the Israelites made ‘mischief in the land twice’ and behaved
‘insolently with great insolence’ (17.4). Of the ‘prophets’ sent by Allah,
we read that the Israelites ‘killed’ (2.91, 3.181, 4.155) and ‘slew’ them
(3.21, 3.112). Jews are also held to be responsible for seeking to have
Jesus killed, but in the Qur’anic account, Jesus was not actually crucified
but instead was raised to heaven:

Therefore, for their breaking their covenant and their disbelief
in the communications of Allah and their killing the prophets wrongfully
and their saying: Our hearts are covered; nay! Allah set a seal upon them
owing to their unbelief, so they shall not believe except a few.
And for their unbelief and for their having uttered against Marium a grievous
calumny.
And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium,
the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him,
but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein
are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but
only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure.
Nay! Allah took him up to Himself; and Allah is Mighty, Wise.
And there is not one of the followers of the Book but most certainly believes
in this before his death, and on the day of resurrection he (Isa) shall
be a witness against them.
Wherefore for the iniquity of those who are Jews did We disallow to them
the good things which had been made lawful for them and for their hindering
many (people) from Allah’s way.
And their taking usury though indeed they were forbidden it and their devouring
the property of people falsely, and We have prepared for the unbelievers
from among them a painful chastisement (4.155-61).

What we see are the basic building blocks for Muslim anti-Semitism
over the centuries: the conviction that Jews are a people in rebellion
against God, a defiant and arrogant people that killed His messengers and
sought to kill Jesus, a people made up of usurers and thieves, and a people
who try to ‘hinder’ Muslims from following Islam.

When it comes to Christianity, Muhammad presents Jesus as a prophet
of Islam, counts his mother as a Muslim, and also views those who agreed
with his supposed Islamic teachings (such as the disciples – see 5.111)
as Muslims. Muhammad appears to know the Jewish scriptures in far more
detail than canonical Christian writings, and offers very few quotes from
the New Testament in the Qur’an (one such example is his use the idea of
‘the camel pass[ing] through the eye of the needle’ (7.40), which on Jesus’
lips refers to the difficulty of the rich entering heaven (Matthew 19:24),
while in the Qur’an this saying is not attributed to Jesus and refers to
those who reject the Qur’an). He certainly does seem to have been influenced
by various non-canonical and heterodox Christian ideas and writings in
circulation at the time. For example, the Qur’an repeats a miracle story
of Jesus bringing clay birds to life (5.110), which is also found in the
pre-Qur’anic non-canonical Christian work ‘The Infancy
Gospel of Thomas‘. Likewise, the idea that Jesus only appeared to
be crucified while actually being raised to heaven (‘they did not kill him
nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so’) was believed in some
heterodox Gnostic Christian circles. In his work ‘Against Heresies’, the
Church Father Irenaeus expounds the doctrine of a Gnostic writer called Basilides,
who claimed of Jesus’ crucifixion:

Wherefore he did not himself suffer death, but Simon, a certain
man of Cyrene, being compelled, bore the cross in his stead; so that this
latter being transfigured by him, that he might be thought to be Jesus,
was crucified, through ignorance and error, while Jesus himself received
the form of Simon, and, standing by, laughed at them.

Amongst the Gnostic writings discovered at Nag Hammadi in Egypt
in 1945 there is a Gnostic ‘Apocalypse of Peter‘
which also presents a substitute for Jesus being crucified:

And I said “What do I see, O Lord? That it is you yourself
whom they take, and that you are grasping me? Or who is this one,
glad and laughing on the tree? And is it another one whose feet and
hands they are striking?” The Savior said to me, “He whom you saw
on the tree, glad and laughing, this is the living Jesus. But this
one into whose hands and feet they drive the nails is his fleshly
part, which is the substitute being put to shame, the one who came into
being in his likeness. But look at him and me.

Another Gnostic Christian parallel is found in this Jesus passage in the
Qur’an:

And when Allah will say: O Isa son of Marium! did you say to men, Take
me and my mother for two gods besides Allah he will say: Glory be to Thee,
it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say); if
I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it; Thou knowest what is
in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind, surely Thou art the great
Knower of the unseen things (5.116).

The idea of a Trinity made up of a Father, Mother, and Son has never been
a part of orthodox Christian doctrine, but the Qur’an is aware of it,
so one may safely assume that either Muhammad had misunderstood Christian
belief or had encountered Christians presenting this vision of the Trinity.
The ‘Gospel of the
Egyptians‘, another text found at Nag Hammadi, includes the lines:

Three powers came forth from him; they are the Father, the Mother, (and)
the Son, from the living silence, what came forth from the incorruptible
Father. These came forth from the silence of the unknown Father.

The Qur’an clearly condemns such a conception of God, but also condemns
the orthodox view of Jesus as Son of God, as opposed to simply a human
prophet sent to call the few Jews who had remained true to Islam. The rejection
of Jesus by the majority of the Jews of his time is presented as further
evidence of their deviation from Islam (which their ‘prophets’ supposedly
expounded), while the early Christians are presented as loyal Muslims.
The fact that from early on in Christian history Jesus was presented as
divine, not simply as a prophet, is taken as yet more evidence of deviation
from the true faith. Consequently, while the Qur’an is generally more vocal
in condemning Jews than Christians, orthodox Christian belief is nonetheless
scorned:

O followers of the Book! do not exceed the limits in your religion, and
do not speak (lies) against Allah, but (speak) the truth; the Messiah, Isa
son of Marium is only an apostle of Allah and His Word which He communicated
to Marium and a spirit from Him; believe therefore in Allah and His apostles,
and say not, Three. Desist, it is better for you; Allah is only one God;
far be It from His glory that He should have a son, whatever is in the
heavens and whatever is in the earth is His, and Allah is sufficient for
a Protector (4.171).

Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah, He is the Messiah, son
of Marium; and the Messiah said: O Children of Israel! serve Allah, my Lord
and your Lord. Surely whoever associates (others) with Allah, then Allah has
forbidden to him the garden, and his abode is the fire; and there shall be
no helpers for the unjust. Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah
is the third (person) of the three; and there is no god but the one God,
and if they desist not from what they say, a painful chastisement shall
befall those among them who disbelieve (5.72-3).

And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say:
The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths;
they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy
them; how they are turned away! They have taken their doctors of law and
their monks for lords besides Allah, and (also) the Messiah son of Marium
and they were enjoined that they should serve one God only, there is no god
but He; far from His glory be what they set up (with Him) (9.30-1).

They say: Allah has taken a son (to Himself)! Glory be to Him: He is
the Self-sufficient: His is what is in the heavens and what is in the
earth; you have no authority for this; do you say against Allah what you
do not know? Say: Those who forge a lie against Allah shall not be successful.
(It is only) a provision in this world, then to Us shall be their return;
then We shall make them taste severe punishment because they disbelieved
(10.68-70).

And say: (All) praise is due to Allah, Who has not taken a son and Who
has not a partner in the kingdom, and Who has not a helper to save Him
from disgrace; and proclaim His greatness magnifying (Him) (17.111).

And warn those who say: Allah has taken a son. They have no knowledge
of it, nor had their fathers; a grievous word it is that comes out of
their mouths; they speak nothing but a lie (18.4-5).

And they say: The Beneficent God has taken (to Himself) a son. Certainly
you have made an abominable assertion. The heavens may almost be rent
thereat, and the earth cleave asunder, and the mountains fall down in
pieces, that they ascribe a son to the Beneficent God. And it is not worthy
of the Beneficent God that He should take (to Himself) a son (19.88-92).

Nay! We have brought to them the truth, and most surely they are liars.
Never did Allah take to Himself a son, and never was there with him any
(other) god– in that case would each god have certainly taken away what
he created, and some of them would certainly have overpowered others; glory
be to Allah above what they describe! (23.90-1)

He, Whose is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and Who did not
take to Himself a son, and Who has no associate in the kingdom, and Who
created everything, then ordained for it a measure (25.2).

When the Qur’an appears to make favourable mention of Jews and Christians
it is important to bear these texts in mind. It is often asserted that
the Qur’an promises salvation not just to Muslims but also to some among
the ‘People of the Book’ – Jews and Christians – yet in reality the Qur’an
is clear that the only Jews and Christians who will not be sent into the
flames in the afterlife are in fact those who reject core Jewish and Christian
beliefs and submit to Islam. Given holding Jesus to be the Son of God and
believing in a triune God are key Christian beliefs and the Qur’an utterly
condemns them as ‘abominable lies’, it is clear that most Christians are,
according to the Qur’an, ‘disbelievers’ whose ‘abode is the fire’, and that
they are consequently damned to ‘severe punishment’ along with the rest
of us.

In some places, the Qur’an appears to promise salvation for some Christians
and Jews:

Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians,
and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last day and does
good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear
for them, nor shall they grieve (2.62).

They are not all alike; of the followers of the Book there is an upright
party; they recite Allah’s communications in the nighttime and they adore
(Him). They believe in Allah and the last day, and they enjoin what is
right and forbid the wrong and they strive with one another in hastening
to good deeds, and those are among the good (3.113-4).

But these texts, taken out of context, are deceptive. For example, the
Qur’an states that ‘Surely those who believe and those who are Jews and
the Sabians and the Christians whoever believes in Allah and the last day
and does good — they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve’ (5.69).
On its own, this appears to state that Jews and Christians can gain salvation
along with Muslims. However, a few lines later we read:

Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah, He is the Messiah, son
of Marium; and the Messiah said: O Children of Israel! serve Allah, my Lord
and your Lord. Surely whoever associates (others) with Allah, then Allah has
forbidden to him the garden, and his abode is the fire; and there shall be
no helpers for the unjust. Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah
is the third (person) of the three; and there is no god but the one God,
and if they desist not from what they say, a painful chastisement shall
befall those among them who disbelieve (5.72-3).

This indicates that where the Qur’an appears to hold out salvation to Christians,
it does not mean actual Christians at all, but rather people who were Christians
and now reject Christian beliefs that do not accord with Islam. The same
also holds true for Jews. Some passages appear to state that Jews can be
saved, but these are not in fact followers of Judaism, but rather Jews who
have accepted Islam.

In places, the Qur’an appears to speak favourably of Christians who have
not accepted Islam. For example, we read that:

Certainly you will find the most violent of people in enmity for those
who believe (to be) the Jews and those who are polytheists, and you will
certainly find the nearest in friendship to those who believe (to be) those
who say: We are Christians; this is because there are priests and monks
among them and because they do not behave proudly (5.82).

However, again, placing this in context, it is followed by the claim

And when they hear what has been revealed to the apostle you will see
their eyes overflowing with tears on account of the truth that they recognize;
they say: Our Lord! we believe, so write us down with the witnesses (of
truth). And what (reason) have we that we should not believe in Allah and
in the truth that has come to us, while we earnestly desire that our Lord
should cause us to enter with the good people? Therefore Allah rewarded
them on account of what they said, with gardens in which rivers flow to abide
in them; and this is the reward of those who do good (to others). And (as
for) those who disbelieve and reject Our communications, these are the companions
of the flame (5.83-6).

In other words, while Christians are called ‘the nearest in friendship’
to Muslims, they are still condemned if they do not go on to convert to
Islam. Note also the claim that the most violent enemies of Muslims include
Jews: more fuel for the fire of Islamic anti-Semitism.

It turns out that even the apparently respectful references to Christian
priests and monks and the assertion that Christians ‘do not behave proudly’
are torn to pieces in other sections of the Qur’an, where we read:

Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do
they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion
of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax
in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.
And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians
say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths;
they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy
them; how they are turned away!
They have taken their doctors of law and their monks for lords besides
Allah, and (also) the Messiah son of Marium and they were enjoined that
they should serve one God only, there is no god but He; far from His glory
be what they set up (with Him).
They desire to put out the light of Allah with their mouths, and
Allah will not consent save to perfect His light, though the unbelievers
are averse.
He it is Who sent His Apostle with guidance and the religion of
truth, that He might cause it to prevail over all religions, though the
polytheists may be averse.
O you who believe! most surely many of the doctors of law and the
monks eat away the property of men falsely, and turn (them) from Allah’s
way; and (as for) those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend
it in Allah’s way, announce to them a painful chastisement,
On the day when it shall be heated in the fire of hell, then their
foreheads and their sides and their backs shall be branded with it; this
is what you hoarded up for yourselves, therefore taste what you hoarded
(9.29-35).

So, while one text speaks admiringly of Christian monks, in this passage
we see them condemned, along with orthodox Christian belief. Muslims are
told to fight Jews and Christians until they submit, and then to impose
a tax on them ‘in acknowledgment of [Muslim] superiority and [that] they
are in a state of subjection’. A response could be that both texts stand,
and that the second refers only to corrupt, wealth hoarding monks. The problem
with this is that the second text roundly condemns orthodox Christian belief
(which was taught by the same priests and monks spoken of as ‘nearest in
friendship’ to Muslims in the first text), as indeed does the first. Neither
text actually shows any genuine respect for Christian belief. The first
text speaks admiringly of Christians, but then goes on to condemn those
among them who will not convert to Islam to hell, while the second speaks
universally negatively of Jews and Christians and also condemns them to
hell. This is also a key text supporting the idea that Jews and Christians
living in Muslim countries should lead a subservient existence as second
class citizens (the Dhimmi) and should pay a special tax to their
Muslim overlords.

Given this, it should come as little surprise to find that the Qur’an
contains many more passages in which Jews and Christians are condemned:

And they say: None shall enter the garden (or paradise) except
he who is a Jew or a Christian. These are their vain desires. Say: Bring
your proof if you are truthful.
Yes! whoever submits himself entirely to Allah and he is the doer
of good (to others) he has his reward from his Lord, and there is no
fear for him nor shall he grieve.
And the Jews say: The Christians do not follow anything (good) and
the Christians say: The Jews do not follow anything (good) while they
recite the (same) Book. Even thus say those who have no knowledge, like
to what they say; so Allah shall judge between them on the day of resurrection
in what they differ (2.111-3).

Surely We have sent you with the truth as a bearer of good news
and as a warner, and you shall not be called upon to answer for the companions
of the flaming fire.
And the Jews will not be pleased with you, nor the Christians until
you follow their religion. Say: Surely Allah’s guidance, that is the
(true) guidance. And if you follow their desires after the knowledge that
has come to you, you shall have no guardian from Allah, nor any helper
(2.119-20).

And they say: Be Jews or Christians, you will be on the right course.
Say: Nay! (we follow) the religion of Ibrahim, the Hanif, and he was
not one of the polytheists.
Say: We believe in Allah and (in) that which had been revealed to
us, and (in) that which was revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq
and Yaqoub and the tribes, and (in) that which was given to Musa and
Isa, and (in) that which was given to the prophets from their Lord, we do
not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit.
If then they believe as you believe in Him, they are indeed on the
right course, and if they turn back, then they are only in great opposition,
so Allah will suffice you against them, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing
(2.135-7).

And certainly Allah made a covenant with the children of Israel,
and We raised up among them twelve chieftains; and Allah said: Surely I
am with you; if you keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate and believe in My
apostles and asslst them and offer to Allah a goodly gift, I will most certainly
cover your evil deeds, and I will most certainly cause you to enter into
gardens beneath which rivers flow, but whoever disbelieves from among
you after that, he indeed shall lose the right way.
But on account of their breaking their covenant We cursed them and
made their hearts hard; they altered the words from their places and they
neglected a portion of what they were reminded of; and you shall always
discover treachery in them excepting a few of them; so pardon them and
turn away; surely Allah loves those who do good (to others).
And with those who say, We are Christians, We made a covenant, but
they neglected a portion of what they were reminded of, therefore We excited
among them enmity and hatred to the day of resurrection; and Allah will
inform them of what they did.
O followers of the Book! indeed Our Apostle has come to you making
clear to you much of what you concealed of the Book and passing over much;
indeed, there has come to you light and a clear Book from Allah;
With it Allah guides him who will follow His pleasure into the ways
of safety and brings them out of utter darkness into light by His will
and guides them to the right path.
Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely, Allah — He is the Messiah,
son of Marium. Say: Who then could control anything as against Allah when
He wished to destroy the Messiah son of Marium and his mother and all
those on the earth? And Allah’s is the kingdom of the heavens and the
earth and what is between them; He creates what He pleases; and Allah has
power over all things,
And the Jews and the Christians say: We are the sons of Allah and
His beloved ones. Say: Why does He then chastise you for your faults?
Nay, you are mortals from among those whom He has created, He forgives
whom He pleases and chastises whom He pleases; and Allah’s is the kingdom
of the heavens and the earth and what is between them, and to Him is the
eventual coming (5.12-18).

O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends;
they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for
a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the
unjust people (5.51).

Say: O followers of the Book! do you find fault with us (for aught)
except that we believe in Allah and in what has been revealed to us and
what was revealed before, and that most of you are transgressors?
Say: Shall I inform you of (him who is) worse than this in retribution
from Allah? (Worse is he) whom Allah has cursed and brought His wrath
upon, and of whom He made apes and swine, and he who served the Shaitan;
these are worse in place and more erring from the straight path.
And when they come to you, they say: We believe; and indeed they
come in with unbelief and indeed they go forth with it; and Allah knows
best what they concealed.
And you will see many of them striving with one another to hasten
in sin and exceeding the limits, and their eating of what is unlawfully
acquired; certainly evil is that which they do.
Why do not the learned men and the doctors of law prohibit them
from their speaking of what is sinful and their eating of what is unlawfully
acquired? Certainly evil is that which they work.
And the Jews say: The hand of Allah is tied up! Their hands shall
be shackled and they shall be cursed for what they say. Nay, both His
hands are spread out, He expends as He pleases; and what has been revealed
to you from your Lord will certainly make many of them increase in inordinacy
and unbelief; and We have put enmity and hatred among them till the day
of resurrection; whenever they kindle a fire for war Allah puts it out,
and they strive to make mischief in the land; and Allah does not love
the mischief-makers.
And if the followers of the Book had believed and guarded (against
evil) We would certainly have covered their evil deeds and We would certainly
have made them enter gardens of bliss
And if they had kept up the Taurat and the Injeel and that which
was revealed to them from their Lord, they would certainly have eaten
from above them and from beneath their feet there is a party of them keeping
to the moderate course, and (as for) most of them, evil is that which they
do
O Apostle! deliver what has been revealed to you from your Lord;
and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message, and Allah
will protect you from the people; surely Allah will not guide the unbelieving
people.
Say: O followers of the Book! you follow no good till you keep up
the Taurat and the Injeel and that which is revealed to you from your
Lord; and surely that which has been revealed to you from your Lord shall
make many of them increase in inordinacy and unbelief; grieve not therefore
for the unbelieving people (5.59-68).

According to these passages from the Qur’an, Jews and Christians
are ‘cursed’, ‘apes and swine’, servants of Satan, ‘unbelieving’, and
‘evil’. Muslims are informed that they should not becomes friends of Jews
or Christians who are ‘unjust people’ and ‘friends of each other’ . These
‘companions of the flaming fire’ are presented as corrupters of Islam who
will not rest until Muslims reject Islam and follow them. Despite the apparently
varying positions on Jews and Christians found in the Qur’an, it is very
clear that it shows them no intrinsic respect, condemns their beliefs,
and warns Muslims not to trust or associate with them. At best, Muslims
are enjoined to ‘pardon them and turn away’ (5.13), while at worst they
are commanded to ‘fight’ them ‘until they pay the tax in acknowledgment
of superiority and they are in a state of subjection’ (9.29).

Having already found that large sections of the Qur’an are devoted
to nothing more than claiming Allah as creator of the universe, the finality
and superiority of Islam, eternal rewards for Muslims, eternal punishment
for non-Muslims, and lengthy condemnation of followers of other religions
(often using the most insulting and degrading language), let us now examine
some of its other teachings.

Next page

Warfare in the Qur’an: Defensive and Offensive

In the Qur’an there are a number of passages dealing with how warfare
should be conducted, and it is worth quoting from some of these at length:

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.
And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence
they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do
not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in
it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of
the unbelievers.
But if they desist, then surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
And fight with them until there is no persecution, and religion should
be only for Allah, but if they desist, then there should be no hostility
except against the oppressors.
The Sacred month for the sacred month and all sacred things are (under
the law of) retaliation; whoever then acts aggressively against you, inflict
injury on him according to the injury he has inflicted on you and be
careful (of your duty) to Allah and know that Allah is with those who
guard (against evil) (2.190-4).

Fighting is enjoined on you, and h is an object of dislike to you;
and it may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you, and it
may be that you love a thing while it is evil for you, and Allah knows,
while you do not know.
They ask you concerning the sacred month about fighting in it. Say:
Fighting in it is a grave matter, and hindering (men) from Allah’s way and
denying Him, and (hindering men from) the Sacred Mosque and turning its
people out of it, are still graver with Allah, and persecution is graver
than slaughter; and they will not cease fighting with you until they turn
you back from your religion, if they can; and whoever of you turns back from
his religion, then he dies while an unbeliever– these it is whose works
shall go for nothing in this world and the hereafter, and they are the inmates
of the fire; therein they shall abide (2.216-17).

Surely those who disbelieve spend their wealth to hinder (people) from
the way of Allah; so they shall spend it, then it shall be to them an
intense regret, then they shall be overcome; and those who disbelieve
shall be driven together to hell.
That Allah might separate the impure from the good, and put the impure,
some of it upon the other, and pile it up together, then cast it into
hell; these it is that are the losers.
Say to those who disbelieve, if they desist, that which is past shall
be forgiven to them; and if they return, then what happened to the ancients
has already passed.
And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion
should be only for Allah; but if they desist, then surely Allah sees what
they do.
And if they turn back, then know that Allah is your Patron; most
excellent is the Patron and most excellent the Helper.que and turning
its people out of it, are still graver with Allah, and persecution is
graver than slaughter; and they will not cease fighting with you until
they turn you back from your religion, if they can; and whoever of you
turns back from his religion, then he dies while an unbeliever– these it
is whose works shall go for nothing in this world and the hereafter, and
they are the inmates of the fire; therein they shall abide (8.36-40).

We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve, because
they set up with Allah that for which He has sent down no authority, and
their abode is the fire, and evil is the abode of the unjust.
And certainly Allah made good to you His promise when you slew them
by His permission, until when you became weak-hearted and disputed about
the affair and disobeyed after He had shown you that which you loved;
of you were some who desired this world and of you were some who desired
the hereafter; then He turned you away from them that He might try you;
and He has certainly pardoned you, and Allah is Gracious to the believers.
When you ran off precipitately and did not wait for any one, and the
Apostle was calling you from your rear, so He gave you another sorrow instead
of (your) sorrow, so that you might not grieve at what had escaped you,
nor (at) what befell you; and Allah is aware of what you do.
Then after sorrow He sent down security upon you, a calm coming upon
a party of you, and (there was) another party whom their own souls had
rendered anxious; they entertained about Allah thoughts of ignorance quite
unjustly, saying: We have no hand in the affair. Say: Surely the affair
is wholly (in the hands) of Allah. They conceal within their souls what
they would not reveal to you. They say: Had we any hand in the affair,
we would not have been slain here. Say: Had you remained in your houses,
those for whom slaughter was ordained would certainly have gone forth to
the places where they would be slain, and that Allah might test what was
in your breasts and that He might purge what was in your hearts; and Allah
knows what is in the breasts.
(As for) those of you who turned back on the day when the two armies
met, only the Shaitan sought to cause them to make a slip on account of
some deeds they had done, and certainly Allah has pardoned them; surely
Allah is Forgiving, Forbearing.
O you who believe! be not like those who disbelieve and say of their
brethren when they travel in the earth or engage in fighting: Had they
been with us, they would not have died and they would not have been slain;
so Allah makes this to be an intense regret in their hearts; and Allah gives
life and causes death and Allah sees what you do.
And if you are slain in the way of Allah or you die, certainly forgiveness
from Allah and mercy is better than what they amass.
And if indeed you die or you are slain, certainly to Allah shall
you be gathered together (3.151-8).

And what reason have you that you should not fight in the way of Allah
and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, (of) those
who say: Our Lord! cause us to go forth from this town, whose people are
oppressors, and give us from Thee a guardian and give us from Thee a helper.
Those who believe fight in the way of Allah, and those who disbelieve
fight in the way of the Shaitan. Fight therefore against the friends
of the Shaitan; surely the strategy of the Shaitan is weak (4.75-6).

What is the matter with you, then, that you have become two parties
about the hypocrites, while Allah has made them return (to unbelief)
for what they have earned? Do you wish to guide him whom Allah has caused
to err? And whomsoever Allah causes to err, you shall by no means find
a way for him.
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.
Except those who reach a people between whom and you there is an alliance,
or who come to you, their hearts shrinking from fighting you or fighting
their own people; and if Allah had pleased, He would have given them power
over you, so that they should have certainly fought you; therefore if they
withdraw from you and do not fight you and offer you peace, then Allah
has not given you a way against them.
You will find others who desire that they should be safe from you
and secure from their own people; as often as they are sent back to the
mischief they get thrown into it headlong; therefore if they do not withdraw
from you, and (do not) offer you peace and restrain their hands, then
seize them and kill them wherever you find them; and against these We have
given.you a clear authority (4.88-91).

The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle
and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should
be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off
on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace
for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous
chastisement,
Except those who repent before you have them in your power; so know
that Allah is Forgiving, Merciful (5.33-4).

In the manner of the people of Firon and those before them; they disbelieved
in Allah’s communications, therefore Allah destroyed them on account of
their faults; surely Allah is strong, severe in requiting (evil).
This is because Allah has never changed a favor which He has conferred
upon a people until they change their own condition; and because Allah is
Hearing, Knowing;
In the manner of the people of Firon and those before them; they rejected
the communications of their Lord, therefore We destroyed them on account
of their faults and We drowned Firon’s people, and they were all unjust.
Surely the vilest of animals in Allah’s sight are those who disbelieve,
then they would not believe.
Those with whom you make an agreement, then they break their agreement
every time and they do not guard (against punishment).
Therefore if you overtake them in fighting, then scatter by (making
an example of) them those who are in their rear, that they may be mindful.
And if you fear treachery on the part of a people, then throw back to
them on terms of equality; surely Allah does not love the treacherous.
And let not those who disbelieve think that they shall come in first;
surely they will not escape.
And prepare against them what force you can and horses tied at the frontier,
to frighten thereby the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides
them, whom you do not know (but) Allah knows them; and whatever thing you
will spend in Allah’s way, it will be paid back to you fully and you shall
not be dealt with unjustly.
And if they incline to peace, then incline to it and trust in Allah;
surely He is the Hearing, the Knowing.
And if they intend to deceive you– then surely Allah is sufficient
for you; He it is Who strengthened you with His help and with the believers
And united their hearts; had you spent all that is in the earth, you
could not have united their hearts, but Allah united them; surely He is
Mighty, Wise.
O Prophet! Allah is sufficient for you and (for) such of the believers
as follow you.
O Prophet! urge the believers to war; if there are twenty patient ones
of you they shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a hundred of you
they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because they are
a people who do not understand.
For the present Allah has made light your burden, and He knows that
there is weakness in you; so if there are a hundred patient ones of you
they shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a thousand they shall
overcome two thousand by Allah’s permission, and Allah is with the patient.
It is not fit for a prophet that he should take captives unless he has
fought and triumphed in the land; you desire the frail goods of this world,
while Allah desires (for you) the hereafter; and Allah is Mighty, Wise.
Were it not for an ordinance from Allah that had already gone forth,
surely there would have befallen you a great chastisement for what you had
taken to.
Eat then of the lawful and good (things) which you have acquired in
war, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah; surely Allah is Forgiving,
Merciful.
O Prophet! say to those of the captives who are in your hands: If Allah
knows anything good in your hearts, He will give to you better than that
which has been taken away from you and will forgive you, and Allah is Forgiving,
Merciful.
And if they intend to act unfaithfully towards you, so indeed they acted
unfaithfully towards Allah before, but He gave (you) mastery over them;
and Allah is Knowing, Wise (8.52-71)..

(This is a declaration of) immunity by Allah and His Apostle towards
those of the idolaters with whom you made an agreement.
So go about in the land for four months and know that you cannot weaken
Allah and that Allah will bring disgrace to the unbelievers.
And an announcement from Allah and His Apostle to the people on the
day of the greater pilgrimage that Allah and His Apostle are free from
liability to the idolaters; therefore if you repent, it will be better
for you, and if you turn back, then know that you will not weaken Allah;
and announce painful punishment to those who disbelieve.
Except those of the idolaters with whom you made an agreement, then
they have not failed you in anything and have not backed up any one against
you, so fulfill their agreement to the end of their term; surely Allah
loves those who are careful (of their duty).
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.
And if one of the idolaters seek protection from you, grant him
protection till he hears the word of Allah, then make him attain his place
of safety; this is because they are a people who do not know.
How can there be an agreement for the idolaters with Allah and with
His Apostle; except those with whom you made an agreement at the Sacred
Mosque? So as long as they are true to you, be true to them; surely Allah
loves those who are careful (of their duty).
How (can it be)! while if they prevail against you, they would not
pay regard in your case to ties of relationship, nor those of covenant;
they please you with their mouths while their hearts do not consent; and
most of them are transgressors.
They have taken a small price for the communications of Allah, so
they turn away from His way; surely evil is it that they do.
They do not pay regard to ties of relationship nor those of covenant
in the case of a believer; and these are they who go beyond the limits.
But if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, they
are your brethren in faith; and We make the communications clear for
a people who know.
And if they break their oaths after their agreement and (openly) revile
your religion, then fight the leaders of unbelief– surely their oaths
are nothing– so that they may desist.
What! will you not fight a people who broke their oaths and aimed
at the expulsion of the Apostle, and they attacked you first; do you fear
them? But Allah is most deserving that you should fear Him, if you are believers.
Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to
disgrace, and assist you against them and heal the hearts of a believing
people (9.1-14).

O you who believe! the idolaters are nothing but unclean, so they shall
not approach the Sacred Mosque after this year; and if you fear poverty
then Allah will enrich you out of His grace if He please; surely Allah is
Knowing Wise.
Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor
do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow
the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until
they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state
of subjection (9.28-9).

Allah has promised to the believing men and the believing women gardens,
beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them, and goodly dwellings in
gardens of perpetual abode; and best of all is Allah’s goodly pleasure;
that is the grand achievement.
O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites
and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination.
They swear by Allah that they did not speak, and certainly they did
speak, the word of unbelief, and disbelieved after their Islam, and they
had determined upon what they have not been able to effect, and they did
not find fault except because Allah and His Apostle enriched them out of
His grace; therefore if they repent, it will be good for them; and if they
turn back, Allah will chastise them with a painful chastisement in this
world and the hereafter, and they shall not have in the land any guardian
or a helper (9.72-4).

O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to
you and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those
who guard (against evil) (9.123).

Surely Allah will defend those who believe; surely Allah does not
love any one who is unfaithful, ungrateful.
Permission (to fight) is given to those upon whom war is made because
they are oppressed, and most surely Allah is well able to assist them (22.38-9).

Allah knows indeed those among you who hinder others and those who
say to their brethren: Come to us; and they come not to the fight but
a little,
Being niggardly with respect to you; but when fear comes, you will
see them looking to you, their eyes rolling like one swooning because of
death; but when the fear is gone they smite you with sharp tongues, being
niggardly of the good things. These have not believed, therefore Allah
has made.their doing naught; and this is easy to Allah.
They think the allies are not gone, and if the allies should come
(again) they would fain be in the deserts with the desert Arabs asking
for news about you, and if they were among you they would not fight save
a little.
Certainly you have in the Apostle of Allah an excellent exemplar for
him who hopes in Allah and the latter day and remembers Allah much.
And when the believers saw the allies, they said: This is what Allah
and His Apostle promised us, and Allah and His Apostle spoke the truth;
and it only increased them in faith and submission.
Of the believers are men who are true to the covenant which they made
with Allah: so of them is he who accomplished his vow, and of them is
he who yet waits, and they have not changed in the least
That Allah may reward the truthful for their truth, and punish the
hypocrites if He please or turn to them (mercifully); surely Allah is Forgiving,
Merciful.
And Allah turned back the unbelievers in their rage; they did not
obtain any advantage, and Allah sufficed the believers in fighting; and
Allah is Strong, Mighty.
And He drove down those of the followers of the Book who backed them
from their fortresses and He cast awe into their hearts; some you killed
and you took captive another part.
And He made you heirs to their land and their dwellings and their
property, and (to) a land which you have not yet trodden, and Allah has
power over all things (33.18-27).

(As for) those who disbelieve and turn away from Allah’s way, He shall
render their works ineffective.
And (as for) those who believe and do good, and believe in what has
been revealed to Muhammad, and it is the very truth from their Lord,
He will remove their evil from them and improve their condition.
That is because those who disbelieve follow falsehood, and have given
them their dowries, taking (them) in marriage, not fornicating nor taking
them for paramours in secret; and whoever denies faith, his work indeed
is of no account, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers.
So when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks
until when you have overcome them, then make (them) prisoners, and afterwards
either set them free as a favor or let them ransom (themselves) until
the war terminates. That (shall be so); and if Allah had pleased He would
certainly have exacted what is due from them, but that He may try some
of you by means of others; and (as for) those who are slain in the way
of Allah, He will by no means allow their deeds to perish (47.1-4).

And whoever does not believe in Allah and His Apostle, then surely
We have prepared burning fire for the unbelievers.
And Allah’s is the kingdom. of the heavens and the earth; He forgives
whom He pleases and punishes whom He pleases, and Allah is Forgiving,
Merciful.
Those who are left behind will say when you set forth for the gaining
of acquisitions: Allow us (that) we may follow you. They desire to change
the world of Allah. Say: By no means shall you follow us; thus did Allah
say before. But they will say: Nay! you are jealous of us. Nay! they do
not understand but a little.
Say to those of the dwellers of the desert who were left behind: You
shall soon be invited (to fight) against a people possessing mighty prowess;
you will fight against them until they submit; then if you obey, Allah
will grant you a good reward; and if you turn back as you turned back before,
He will punish you with a painful punishment (48.13-16).

And if those who disbelieve fight with you, they would certainly turn
(their) backs, then they would not find any protector or a helper.
Such has been the course of Allah that has indeed run before, and
you shall not find a change in Allah’s course.
And He it is Who held back their hands from you and your hands from
them in the valley of Mecca after He had given you victory over them; and
Allah is Seeing what you do.
It is they who disbelieved and turned you away from the Sacred Mosque
and (turned off) the offering withheld from arriving at its destined
place; and were it not for the believing men and the believing women, whom,
not having known, you might have trodden down, and thus something hateful
might have afflicted you on their account without knowledge– so that
Allah may cause to enter into His mercy whomsoever He pleases; had they
been widely separated one from another, We would surely have punished
those who disbelieved from among them with a painful punishment (48.22-25).

O you who believe! do not take My enemy and your enemy for friends:
would you offer them love while they deny what has come to you of the
truth, driving out the Apostle and yourselves because you believe in Allah,
your Lord? If you go forth struggling hard in My path and seeking My pleasure,
would you manifest love to them? And I know what you conceal and what you
manifest; and whoever of you does this, he indeed has gone astray from
the straight path.
If they find you, they will be your enemies, and will stretch forth
towards you their hands and their tongues with evil, and they ardently
desire that you may disbelieve.
Your relationship would not profit you, nor your children on the day
of resurrection; He will decide between you; and Allah sees what you do
(60.1-3).

It may be that Allah will bring about friendship between you and those
whom you hold to be your enemies among them; and Allah is Powerful; and
Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
Allah does not forbid you respecting those who have not made war against
you on account of (your) religion, and have not driven you forth from
your homes, that you show them kindness and deal with them justly; surely
Allah loves the doers of justice.
Allah only forbids you respecting those who made war upon you on account
of (your) religion, and drove you forth from your homes and backed up
(others) in your expulsion, that you make friends with them, and whoever
makes friends with them, these are the unjust (60.7-9).

Looking at these passages, we can see that a number
of Islamic justifications for war are found in the Qur’an:

1. War to prevent a land, people, or community that has embraced Islam
from external attackers (‘those who wage war against Allah and His apostle
and strive to make mischief in the land’).
2. War to protect Muslim communities from oppression and persecution
(‘fight with them until there is no persecution’, ‘whoever then acts aggressively
against you, inflict injury on him according to the injury he has inflicted
on you’).
3. War against ‘idolators’ (‘slay the idolaters wherever you find
them’, ‘Fight those who do not believe in Allah … until they pay the
tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection’).
4. Warfare in which the cause is unspecified (‘when you meet in battle
those who disbelieve’).

All of these forms of warfare are problematic to the extent that the
Qur’an in no way gives clear definitions of the context in which the attacks
and fighting has taken place. The idea of fighting a people who are persecuting
Muslims among them seems fairly clear, but the notion of a people who ‘wage
war against Allah’ is ambiguous: are they attacking a Muslim land or community
in an unprovoked manner, or are they attacking Muslims because those Muslims
are seeking to subjugate their land to Islam? Either way, the Qur’an’s
answer to the question of how to defend Muslims is brutal, and it states
of such ‘disbelievers’: ‘they should be murdered or crucified or their
hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should
be imprisoned’ (5.33). Only those who ‘repent before you have them in your
power’ (5.34) are allowed to escape this.

The case of commands to make war on ‘idolators’ seems to refer mainly
to Arabia (home to the ‘Sacred Mosque’) and appear to be orders to wipe
out the last vestiges of pre-Islamic Paganism from the land (given polytheism
and idolatry are closely linked concepts). However, looking at 9.28-9
it is again unclear as to whether the ‘idolators’ of 9.28 are seperate to,
or equated with, the Jews and Christians referred to in 9.29, where Muslims
are commanded to ‘Fight those who do not believe in Allah … out of those
who have been given the Book’. Either way, in these texts, the object seems
to be simply to subjugate those who will not accept Islam, including Jews
and Christians. Muslims are commanded to ‘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’ (9.5). So, here the Qur’an
claims that Muslims should ‘slay’ or take into captivity those who do not
accept Islam and give them a chance to submit to Islam. According to 9.5,
so long as these captives pray to Allah and pay a tax for the poor, they
will then be left alone. Indeed, 9.11 states that ‘if they repent and keep
up prayer and pay the poor-rate, they are your brethren in faith’. However,
‘if they break their oaths after their agreement and (openly) revile your
religion, then fight the leaders of unbelief — surely their oaths are nothing
— so that they may desist’ (9.12). These texts state that if ‘idolators’
are attacked by Muslims and then submit to Islam they then become ‘your
brethren in faith’. If this submission was in fact a ruse and they later
go on to ‘revile’ Islam they must again be put to the sword until they again
submit, this time paying the tax ‘in acknowledgment of superiority and
they are in a state of subjection’ (9.29).

In the passages that speak of war in general terms, it is unclear
why the Muslims are meeting non-Muslims in battle. Perhaps again
the battle is defensive, but perhaps the Muslims have been attacked by those
who do not wish to submit to Islam, or, again, perhaps the Muslims are engaging
in an attack to subjugate ‘idolators’ or ‘unbelievers’. According to 60.9,
‘Allah only forbids you respecting those who made war upon you on account
of (your) religion’, yet according to other texts, especially those referring
to ‘idolators’, Muslims need show no respect to those who refuse to accept
Islam. Such ambiguity marks out the all too human and contradictory nature
of the Qur’an, and while 60.9 sounds reasonable, the other passages sound
like the ravings of a religious maniac. Again, even if 60.9 sounds reasonable,
it is far from clear what making war ‘on account of (your) religion’ actually
means. For example, it could be used to refer to an army making war on
account of refusing to submit to Muslim attempts to subjugate a people
to Islam. In other words, Qur’anically speaking, a non-Muslim military attack
on Muslims which was an attempt to halt Muslim expansionism and imperialism
would still be counted as an act of aggression against Islam, as opposed
to a defensive act on the part of the non-Muslim army which did not wish
to submit to Islam.

What all these texts have in common is that they present warfare entirely
in religious terms, and in terms of the concerns of Muslims only. We read
nothing, for example, of Muslims being called to wage war on behalf of
a nation of non-Muslims who are suffering persecution from other non-Muslims.
And even if they were called to do so, such a command would certainly be
accompanied by the requirement to ‘convert’ these people to Islam. The resulting
concern for fellow Muslims, and a perceived sense of international brotherhood
amongst Muslims, in a sense mirrors other forms of ‘in-group’ solidarity,
such as ethnonationalism. While Muslims are not a ‘race’, the Qur’an encourages
them to see the world in a similar way to that of ethnonationalists, who
present the concerns of ‘their people’ as paramount and who foster a sense
of global ‘unity’. That such a sense of exclusivist solidarity continues
among many Muslims today is clearly illustrated by the demonstrations that
have occurred regarding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and in the ongoing
conflicts in the Middle East. In the run up to the invasion of Afghanistan
and Iraq, Muslims across the world mobilised en-masse to protest. Similarly,
the recent Israeli operations in Gaza brought many Muslims onto the streets.
But when it comes to conflicts and issues in which Muslims are not involved,
the level of concern shown by Muslims for these issues is dramatically less.
How many Islamic organisations take part in demonstrations in solidarity
with Tibet? Palestine is presented as an important issue by and for Muslims
because it involves the perceived occupation of ‘Muslim land’, while the
Chinese occupation of Tibet hardly gets a look-in when it comes to most
Muslim organisations’ list of priorities because it is not an issue that
is seen to affect Muslims or Islam.

Many Islamists present events such as the wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq and the ensuing Western occupation of those countries as evidence
of a ‘war against Islam’. This is not simply the result of paranoia and
hyperbole, but is in fact directly derived from the worldview found in
the Qur’an itself. Because the Qur’an presents every instance of hostility
in which Muslims are involved as having religious significance, an understanding
of current world events from an orthodox Qur’anic perspective will by necessity
view issues such as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as being religiously
significant. When Osama bin Laden denounces the presence of Western troops
in Saudi Arabia, he is not simply presenting a grievance about perceived
Western interference or imperialism in religious language: he is speaking
in the language of the Qur’an. When Western Muslims offer justifications
for and ‘understanding’ of Jihadist attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan
and Iraq, they are simply being loyal followers of the Qur’an. What would
Muhammad be doing were he around today? Through reading the Qur’an, it should
be clear that he would be sending Islamic fighters to Iraq, Afghanistan,
the Palestinian territories, and elsewhere to fight the ‘unbelievers’ who
are ‘occupying Muslim land’.

When Jihadists travel to Iraq to launch attacks on Western troops,
they are heeding the call of the Qur’an – the call to fight against the
armies of the ‘disbelievers’. As a predominantly non-Muslim army that currently
maintains a military presence in Iraq – an Islamic country – Western troops
are, from a Qur’anic point of view, oppressors and occupiers, and the very
agents of Satan: ‘Those who believe fight in the way of Allah, and those
who disbelieve fight in the way of the Shaitan. Fight therefore against
the friends of the Shaitan; surely the strategy of the Shaitan is weak’ (4.76).
Likewise, the presence of Israelis – ‘disbelieving’ Jews – on what has been
‘consecrated’ as ‘Muslim land’ represents in the Qur’anic worldview an act
of oppression against Islam and Hamas are simply following the commands of
the Qur’an when they seek to ‘cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve’
(3.151). After all, as we have seen, the Qur’an warns Muslims that Jews are
amongst ‘the most violent of people in enmity for those who believe’, that
they are known for ‘hindering many (people) from Allah’s way’, that they
are ‘cursed’, that they serve Satan, and that they were ‘made apes and swine’
by Allah. Hamas dreams of a future in which a mighty Islamic victory will
be won with the destruction of the State of Israel, and it is not hard to
see from where they draw their inspiration: ‘Fight those who do not believe
in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His
Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those
who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of
superiority and they are in a state of subjection’. The fact that Hamas are
hugely out-gunned by Israel does not matter. After all, does not the Qur’an
speak of believers fighting ‘against a people possessing mighty prowess’?
And does it not offer the promise that ‘you will fight against them until
they submit’? And, indeed, it also promises Muslims that ‘if there are
twenty patient ones of you they shall overcome two hundred, and if there
are a hundred of you they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve’.
And what if many Muslims fall in the fight against Israel? Of what matter
is that when every Jew killed by a Hamas fighter is destined for eternal
hellfire and every Muslim who falls fighting against Israelis is destined
for eternal joy in the gardens of paradise? Muslims who do not adhere to this
simplistic and dangerous view of the world do so not because of the
Qur’an, but in spite of it.

The Qur’an’s passages on warfare are obviously writings referring to
events in a specific time and place. They are not a collection of instructions
on the ethics of modern warfare, and they provide absolutely no useful
material for guiding political leaders and military commanders on how
or when to prosecute a military campaign today. The Qur’an understands
warfare in terms of localised battles on horseback using swords, not in
terms of tanks, machine guns, missiles, and fighter jets. But the fundamental
problem we face with the Qur’an is that it consistently and repeatedly claims
itself to be the perfect words of the creator of the universe. Consequently,
if this ridiculous claim continues to be adhered to by billions of people
around the world, we are placed in grave danger that people who take the
Qur’anic view of the world seriously will mix its centuries old superstitious
and supremacist content with access to modern weapons of mass destruction.
What seems absolutely clear from reading the Qur’an on warfare is that
it is farcical to describe Islam as intrinsically a ‘religion of peace’,
unless by ‘peace’ one means a state in which resistance to the dominance
of Islam is vanquished. A society in which everyone bows towards Mecca
in ‘acknowledgment of [the] superiority’ of Islam, and in which those who
do not accept Islam are kept ‘in a state of subjection’ may well be on
paper a ‘peaceful’ society, but this peace comes at the cost of human freedom
and is bought with the blood of those who refuse it.

Next page

The ethical and legal rulings of the Qur’an

Islam is a religion founded on the principle of unquestioning submission
to the supposed will of God; indeed, the word Islam means submission. On
the topic of how human beings should conduct their lives, the Qur’an explicitly
demands an unthinking, uncritical acceptance of its rulings. As such, it
presents a totalitarian vision of the ordering of human affairs. Of Allah,
the Qur’an states that ‘He cannot be questioned concerning what He does’
(21.23) and that ‘the command of Allah is a decree that is made absolute’
(33.38). Likewise, Muhammad appears to be beyond criticism and beyond question:

The Prophet has a greater claim on the faithful than they have
on themselves (33.6).

Certainly you have in the Apostle of Allah an excellent exemplar for
him who hopes in Allah and the latter day and remembers Allah much (33.21).

And it behoves not a believing man and a believing woman that they should
have any choice in their matter when Allah and His Apostle have decided
a matter (33.36).

Let’s examine some of these ‘absolute decrees’ over which we do not have
any choice.

In the Qur’an we find the basis for many of the well known aspects of Muslim
practice. For example, we find that the eating of meat from pigs is forbidden
(2.173, 5.3), that fasting during Ramadan is required (2.185), that Muslims
should participate in the Hajj (2.196), that drinking alcohol is
forbidden (2.219, 5.90), that gambling is forbidden (2.219, 5.90), that
earning interest on loans is forbidden (2.275-6), that washing is required
before prayer (5.6), that women should wear head coverings (24.31), and
that sex outside of marriage is forbidden (4.24, 24.2-3, 60.12).

For some acts, punishment is to be given in this world, while for some,
eternal punishment will follow after death. In terms of worldly punishments,
we find rulings such as the following:

O you who believe! retaliation is prescribed for you in the matter
of the slain, the free for the free, and the slave for the slave, and the
female for the female (2.178).

And (as for) the man who steals and the woman who steals, cut off their
hands as a punishment for what they have earned, an exemplary punishment
from Allah; and Allah is Mighty, Wise (5.38).

(As for) the fornicatress and the fornicator, flog each of them, (giving)
a hundred stripes, and let not pity for them detain you in the matter of
obedience to Allah, if you believe in Allah and the last day, and let a
party of believers witness their chastisement. The fornicator shall not
marry any but a fornicatress or idolatress, and (as for) the fornicatress,
none shall marry her but a fornicator or an idolater; and it is forbidden
to the believers (24.2-3).

If the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease and the agitators
in the city do not desist, We shall most certainly set you over them, then
they shall not be your neighbors in it but for a little while; Cursed:
wherever they are found they shall be seized and murdered, a (horrible)
murdering. (Such has been) the course of Allah with respect to those who
have gone before; and you shall not find any change in the course of Allah
(33.60-2).

So, in the Qur’an we find a primitive system of ‘justice’ based on retaliation,
the cutting off of hands, flogging, and ‘murdering’. Such brutal notions
underpin the Shari’ah law system of which we hear so much.

While murder and theft are universally regarded as criminal acts, the
Qur’an demands vicious punishments for misconduct in the private sphere and
lays down many rulings on marriage. According to the Qur’an, anyone having
sex outside of marriage should be whipped a hundred times, without pity,
and before witnesses. This is not simply a ruling against adultery, for ‘fornication’
covers any kind of sexual activity which is not taking place between a husband
and wife. Therefore, in a society governed by the Qur’an, cohabiting couples
or gay couples could expect to be dragged before a ‘party of believers’
and severely flogged. Assuming these ‘fornicators’ then repented of their
supposed ‘sin’, they would only ever be allowed to marry other ‘fornicators’
because ‘Bad women are for bad men and bad men are for bad women. Good
women are for good men and good men are for good women’ (24.26). As for
freedom of choice or for gay rights, when it comes to Qur’an, you can forget
it.

The question of arranged marriages has become a thorny issue in recent years,
especially in regard to Muslim communities in the West. It is often stated
that arranged marriages are not a part of Islam and derive from other cultural
traditions. However, one searches the Qur’an in vain for any condemnation
of ‘marriages’ of this sort, which simply tells Muslims to ‘marry those
among you who are single and those who are fit among your male slaves and
your female slaves’ (24.32) and that ‘Allah has made wives for you from among
yourselves’ (16.72). As noted earlier, the Qur’an clearly presupposes a male
audience and it frames issues of marriage and divorce in terms of instructions
to a male readership. For example, we read that Muslim men must ‘not marry
the idolatresses until they believe’ and must ‘not give (believing women)
in marriage to idolaters until they believe’ (2.231). Men are instructed
what to say and do regarding their wives when ‘they ask you about menstruation’:
‘Say: It is a discomfort; therefore keep aloof from the women during the
menstrual discharge and do not go near them until they have become clean;
then when they have cleansed themselves, go in to them as Allah has commanded
you’ (2.222). With the exception of the period of mentruation, men are told
that ‘[y]our wives are a tilth for you, so go into your tilth when you like’
(2.223). Likewise, regarding the termination of marriages, we read instructions
on ‘when you divorce women’ (2.231) and ‘when you have divorced women’ (2.232).

The Qur’an clearly presupposes polygamy, defined, of course, in terms
of men having multiple wives, not women having multiple husbands. Marriages
are easily ended and in order to divorce a woman, the man simply pronounces
twice that he is divorcing her (2.229); however, in the Qur’an no such right
exists for women wishing to divorce their husbands. Various provisions are
made for the fair treatment of divorced women and the Qur’an tells men to
‘set them free with liberality’ (2.231), but it still reminds the reader
regarding women that ‘the men are a degree above them’ (2.228).

When it comes to Muhammad and his wives, the Qur’an addresses him directly:

O Prophet! surely We have made lawful to you your wives whom
you have given their dowries, and those whom your right hand possesses out
of those whom Allah has given to you as prisoners of war, and the daughters
of your paternal uncles and the daughters of your paternal aunts, and the
daughters of your maternal uncles and the daughters of your maternal aunts
who fled with you; and a believing woman if she gave herself to the Prophet,
if the Prophet desired to marry her — specially for you, not for the (rest
of) believers (33.50).

Clearly, then, Muhammad was offered quite a selection of potential wives.
One of his wives in particular has been the subject of much controversy.
This is hardly surprising, given what we read in the Hadith collection of Imam al-Bukhari:

Narrated ‘Ursa:

The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with ‘Aisha while she was six
years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years
old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death).

Muhammad’s marriage to ‘Aisha is clearly particularly problematic given
the Qur’an’s claim that ‘you have in the Apostle of Allah an excellent exemplar’
and that, regarding his decisions, ‘it behoves not a believing man and
a believing woman that they should have any choice in their matter when
Allah and His Apostle have decided a matter’.

The existence of records of Muhammad’s marriage to ‘Aisha (and his reported
intercourse with her at only nine years of age) are used as justifications
for child marriage in the Muslim world today. In June 2008, LBC TV in Lebanon
aired an interview with Dr. Ahmad Al-Mub’i, a Saudi Marriage Officiant,
who stated: ‘The
Prophet Muhammad is the model we follow. He took ‘Aisha to be his wife when
she was six, but he had sex with her only when she was nine’. In the same
month, a story emerged from Yemen involving a nine year old girl who ‘walked
out of her husband’s house … and ran to a local hospital, where she complained
that he had been beating and sexually abusing her for eight months’. As
the New York Times reported at the time: ‘Hard-line Islamic conservatives,
whose influence has grown enormously in the past two decades, defend it,
pointing to the Prophet Muhammad’s marriage to a 9-year-old’.

The case of ‘Aisha clearly demonstrates the fact that Islam developed
in a place and time incredibly far removed from modernity. Perhaps Muhammad’s
behaviour regarding ‘Aisha was normal and acceptable for the period, just
as undoubtedly the ideas and world view found in the Qur’an were acceptable
at the time it was written, but the danger inherent in the Qur’an and in
the uncritical admiration of Muhammad that it encourages is all too obvious
in the examples of child marriages in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The ethical and legal rulings of the Qur’an are clearly the work of a
deeply conservative and reactionary mind. They are not presented with any
kind of logical argument to back them up, but that is entirely to expected
in a pre-modern book proclaimed to contain the very words of the creator
of the universe. So, just how impressive are the moral and legal aspects
of the Qur’an? It is a book that encourages blind submission to a system
that presupposes a male dominated society, that presents women as something
akin to property, that strips human beings of the right to make their own
decisions in the private sphere, that bans the free expression and enjoyment
of sexuality outside of inflexible laws that are stifling and homophobic,
that accepts the validity of slavery, and that seeks to control human behaviour
through threats of violence and death, coupled with threats of eternal torment
after death.

What would a society based on the Qur’an look like?

For orthodox Muslims, the Qur’an is a perfect book and Muhammad is the
model human. If we accepted both of those assertions to be correct, then
what form would a society based on those ideas take?

• Non-Muslims, with the possible exception of some Jews and Christians,
  would be banned from the country, for ‘Allah is the enemy of the unbelievers’
  (2.98), who are ‘unjust’ (6.157), ‘evil’ (7.177), and ‘the vilest of animals
  in Allah’s sight’ (8.55). Children would be raised to have contempt for
  non-Muslims, who are destined for eternal torment in the flames of hell.
• Jews and Christians would be second class citizens, banned from
  proselytising or publicly declaring their faith, seen as ‘unjust’, and shunned
  by Muslims, for ‘whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely
  he is one of them’ (5.51).
• Jews would be seen as untrustworthy and anti-Semitism would almost
  certainly be endemic.
• All criticism of Islam, the Qur’an, and Muhammad would be banned.
• The society would be male dominated and men would have multiple
  wives.
• Women would be required to wear the hijab or a similar garment.
• Arranged marriages would be permitted, as would child marriages. 
• Homosexuality would be outlawed and any sexual activity outside
  marriage would result in public floggings.
• The criminal justice system would be based on retaliation and enforced
  with violent punishments. All court cases would be brought before religious
  leaders.
• Slavery would be permitted.
• Consumption of pork and alcohol would be forbidden, as would ‘games
  of chance’.
• Evolutionary biology would be rejected in favour of creationism.
• Studying, learning, and reciting the Qur’an would be seen as the
  most important aspect of a child’s education.

This society represents the antithesis of Enlightenment thinking and
the liberal, secular, free societies that have developed with the modernisation
of the West. Almost every aspect of social and intellectual progress that
has been made over the last couple of centuries would be undone by a society
such as this. In short, we would see a society with many similarities to
countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistian under the Taliban.
The people of those countries are not intrinsically, genetically inclined
towards living in socially backward, superstitious, and brutal regimes.
At the very heart of the problems seen in the Middle East and beyond lies
a deep reverence for the Qur’an and an attempt to puts its teachings into
practice. Put simply, strict Islamic societies quickly become failed societies,
and the Qur’an underpins the backwardness and stagnation that we see in
many majority Muslim countries. Many like to point to the supposed ‘golden
age’ of Islam, and talk of successful, tolerant societies of the past that
were (nominally) Muslim. However, they are missing the point. Muslim societies
of the past that did not represent a totalitarian theocratic nightmare were
only so because of a lacklustre approach to enforcing the teachings and rulings
of the Qur’an. Muslims are liberal and questioning and thoughtful precisely
when they throw off the shackles of Islam. When we encounter self-professed
Muslims exhibiting the qualities that we associate with a modern, rational,
and cosmopolitan outlook, this is not the result of their proclaimed devotion
to Allah, Muhammed, and the Qur’an, but rather it is the result of the influence
of, and their acceptance of, secularism and Enlightenment values.

Islam, ‘Islamism’, and the importance of intellectual honesty

At present, many apologists for Islam, including a large number of non-Muslims,
claim that there is a wide gulf between authentic Islam and ‘political
Islam’ or ‘Islamism’. Islam, they say, is a personal religious belief system
based on respect for others and reverence for the creator of the universe,
whereas Islamism is some kind of totalitarian perversion. Islam, they claim,
is a religion that has been ‘hijacked by extremists’. This is obviously
a nice idea to have, given it splits Muslims up into ‘normal citizens just
like you and me’ (‘Muslim moderates’) and right-wing theocrats (‘Islamists’).
But is such a simple destinction logical or accurate? Given what we found
having delved into the Qur’an, this idea of Islam Vs Islamism seems to be
wholly artificial. The fact of the matter is that the Qur’an quite clearly
advocates ‘political Islam’. Indeed, ‘political Islam’ is a misnomer for
Islam itself is by definition political. Islam as presented in the Qur’an
is, quite simply, Islamism, and the Qur’an is a manual for the Islamification
of societies. Muhammad, the supposed ‘prophet’ of Islam, was by modern standards
an Islamist – indeed, he was the very first Islamist. The Qur’an does not
present itself as having a message that is one of many valid options. It
doesn’t provide arguments in its favour that can be rationally evaluated.
It simply demands submission and backs this demand up with gruesome threat
after threat of both violence in this world and in the afterlife.

Having said that, it is certainly not the case that everyone identifying
themself as a Muslim is an Islamist seeking to transform the society they
live in along the lines of the Qur’an and the Hadith. There are indeed
moderate Muslims and I have met plenty. The Roman Catholic Church commands
its followers to reject the use of contraception, but that hasn’t stopped
huge numbers of self-identified Catholics from using it. Likewise, the Qur’an
tells Muslims that God hates unbelievers, but every day I meet Muslims
who do not give the impression that they see me as a ‘vile animal’. However,
there are, unfortunately, large numbers of Muslims in the West who to varying
degrees hold views wholly incompatible with a pluralistic society based
on individual rights and who would very much like to see objectionable
Qur’anic teachings put into practice. There are also large numbers of Muslim
so-called ‘community leaders’ who spend much of their time complaining about
how the West isn’t accomodating enough to Muslims, how they are ‘offended’
by this or that, and how we must show ‘respect’ for Islam (by which they
mean we should adopt a pandering and subservient position regarding this
one particular religion). Various recent studies have highlighted the worrying
views held by many Muslims in the West. For example, in 2008 The Centre for
Social Cohesion produced a report entitled
‘Islam on Campus: A survey of UK student opinions’. The study, based on a
poll of 1,400 students as well as field work and interviews, revealed of
British Muslim students that:

• 32% said killing in the name of religion can be justified.
• 60% of active members of campus Islamic societies said killing
  in the name of religion can be justified.
• 50% would be unsupportive of a friend’s decision to leave Islam.
• 24% do not feel that men and women are fully equal in the eyes
  of Allah.
• 59% felt it was important to Islam that Muslim women wear the hijab.
• 54% were supportive of an Islamic political party to represent
  the views of Muslims at Parliament.
• 28% said Islam was incompatible with secularism.
• 40% said that they thought that it was unacceptable for Muslim
  men and women to mix freely.
• 25% said they had not very much or no respect at all for homosexuals,
  as opposed to 4% of non-Muslim students.
• 57% said that British Muslim servicemen should be allowed to opt
  out of taking part in military operations in Muslim countries.

A 2007 poll of
1,000 of the wider Muslim population in Britain conducted by the think
tank Policy Exchange found that:

• 86% of Muslims feel that religion is the most important thing in
  their life.
• 36% of 16 to 24-year-olds believe if a Muslim converts to another
  religion they should be punished by death.
• 74% of 16 to 24-year-olds would prefer Muslim women to choose to
  wear the veil.
• 58% believe that ‘many of the problems in the world today are a
  result of arrogant Western attitudes’.
• Only 37% accept that ‘one of the benefits of modern society is
  the freedom to criticise other people’s religious or political views, even
  when it causes offence’.

A 2006 Populus poll for The Times found that 37% of British Muslims believe that ‘the Jewish
community in Britain is a legitimate target “as part of the ongoing struggle
for justice in the Middle East”‘.

A 2005 Daily Telegraph poll found that 32% of British Muslims agreed with the notion that ‘Western
society is decadent and immoral and that Muslims should seek to bring it
to an end’.

As a whole, then, around a third of British Muslims hold views that would
be described as ‘Islamist’. In reality, that means 1 in 3 British Muslims
are clearly significantly influenced by the ideas found in the Qur’an. If
a massive 86% of British Muslims claim that religion is the most important
thing in their life and a significant 63% were unwilling to agree that ‘one
of the benefits of modern society is the freedom to criticise other people’s
religious or political views’ then this still indicates a problem, and with
the Muslim population reportedly growing ten times faster than the rest of society it is a problem that needs
addressing. The way to address the problem of large numbers of people adhering
to a belief system that is directly opposed to Enlightenment thinking, secularism,
and liberalism is to reaffirm our commitment to those ideals. We need to
stop cowering in fear of being accused of ‘bigotry’ or ‘Islamophobia’, or
‘racism’, or any of the other labels that are all too often attached to those
who dare to critically examine Islam, and we also need to be firm in our rejection
of far-right political parties and organisations that are attempting to make
problems related to Islam ‘their issue’ and who are seeking to slide a racist
agenda in under the guise of ‘defending the West’. As a committed anti-racist
I will not be told by genuine bigots that they ‘speak for me’, because they
most certainly do not.

It is a worrying situation when only 37% of British Muslims see validity
in being able to criticise religious beliefs, but such a number is perhaps
unsurprising given the patronising attitude that many ‘politically correct’
liberals have adopted with regard to Muslims and Islam. Because Muslims
in the West are a minority group, and a group made up largely of members
of ethnic minorities, a strange form of self-censorship has been adopted
regarding Islam, the Qur’an, and Muhammad. Where anti-Semitism, homophobia,
and other forms of intolerance are found in Muslim communities, all too often
the reaction from liberals is a kind of embarassed attempt at ‘explaining’
or excusing these views, or they are simply glossed over. Likewise, when
some Muslims work themselves up into a frenzy over supposed ‘insults’ to
their religion, the reflexive reaction among all too many is simply to cave
in and apologise. This is a pathetic and hypocritical approach to take to
what is, after all, an ideology. In the West, we don’t hold back from criticising
Marxism for fear of ‘offending’ Marxists, and we don’t adopt an uncritical
stance with regard to the Bible either (quite the opposite). There is no
valid reason why we should treat Islam and the Qur’an any differently. There
seems to be a kind of condescending attitude towards Muslims which has served
only to enbolden reactionaries and encourage even ‘moderates’ to feel they
should have a special exemption from having their beliefs challenged. The
novelist Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane, offers excellent criticism of this approach:

It is striking, she points out, how, in the name of respect for
minorities, minority voices themselves get silenced. The liberal idea of
respect, Ali notes, is patronising: ‘It is a kind of moral superiority. What
liberals mean when they talk about respect is that they can handle complex
fiction, ambiguity, criticism, but other people can’t, especially people in
minority communities, because they are too sensitive’.

For Ali, the giving of offence is not just inevitable. It is also important
because it is ‘necessary for social progress’. Women, she points out, are
often the ones to pay the price for prohibitions against giving offence.
In the past, liberals recognised the importance of free speech to the overcoming
of social iniquities. Today, too many liberals see ‘a clash between freedom
of expression and the defence of minority communities’.

Ali is absolutely right. Criticism is indeed necessary for social progress,
and it was criticism of religious authority that helped usher in modernity
in the West. By refusing to criticise Islam, and by allowing the Qur’an to
go basically unchallenged, we are doing nothing to advance the cause of
ethnic minority communities in the West and we fail to understand what lies
beneath many of the vast social problems in the Middle East. Having examined
the Qur’an, I am of the view that it is vitally important that we shed the
light of reason on its contents loudly and widely. If self-proclaimed Muslim
moderates mean what they say when they claim to be moderates and opposed to
Islamism and Shari’ah, we also need to see a lot more criticism of the Qur’an
coming from Muslims themselves.

I cannot personally see how the Qur’an and Islam can ultimately be ‘saved’.
Given the sheer level of backward, violent, and hateful content in the Qur’an,
it seems quite impossible to me that it can ever be ‘reinterpreted’ in the
same way that liberal Christian thinkers have sought to reinterpret the New
Testament. It seems clear that the Qur’an offers an either/or scenario to
the reader. Either you submit totally or not at all. Either the Qur’an is
the perfect, revealed Word of God or it’s not. Either Muhammad was a ‘prophet’
or he was not. Either you follow God or you follow Satan. Either you are
a ‘good’ person or you are a ‘bad’ person. Either you agree with religiously
sanctioned murder, floggings, and the chopping off of hands or you rightly
reject this for the barbarity that it is. Let’s hope there is a middle ground,
at least for now. But most of all let us hope for the continuing success
of the values of the Enlightenment, values we should promote, cherish, and
seek to protect and defend. And as supporters of freedom and rationalism
let’s have the courage of our convictions to say we really don’t care if
people think that the Qur’an is ‘holy’ – we still have the right to criticise
it. We should also make it clear that we don’t give a damn about stupid words
like ‘Islamophobia’ and we will not cower in fear of such censorious labels.
Nothing should be beyond criticism, least of all a book that shows such utter
contempt for those who do not accept its claims.