The biggest
lie about Koran ever told:
Today’s
Islamic scholars have a pleasure in showing the "NO
COMPULSION IN RELIGION VERSE" (Koran 2:256). But these Islamic
scholars who accuse the critics of using koranic verses out of context
must check out the context of this verse. This is exactly what we will do:
But before we go into this we have to see when and why a
verse was said by Muhammad (1) and does he contradict his earlier verses
in that process (2)? In that case what happens (3)?
To know why and when Muhammad said some thing as a revelation
(1) we need to make use of the chronology of the koranic verses obtained
from the Hadiths and Siras, and the tafsir will also help us in this
issue. Though there is no standard and accepted chronology of the Koran
The
Egyptian standard edition gives the following chronological order of the
Suras, with the verses said to date from a different period given in
parentheses:
XCVI, LXVIII
(17-33, 48-50 Med.), LXXIII (10 f., 20 Med.), LXXIV, I, CXI, LXXXI,
LXXXVII, XCII, LXXXIX, XCIII, XCIV, CIII, C, CVIII, CII, CVII, CIX, CV,
CXIII, CXIV, CXII, LIII, LXXX, XCVII, XCI, LXXXV, CVI, CI, LXXV, XCV, CIV,
LXXVII (48 Med.), L (38 Med.), XC, LXXXVI, LIV (54-6 Med.), XXXVIII, VII
(163-70 Med.), LXXII, XXXVI (45 Med.), XXV (68-70 Med.), XXXV, XIX (58, 71
Med.), XX
(130 f. Med.),
LVI (71 f. Med.), XXVI (197, 224-7 Med.),XXVII, XXVIII (52-5 Med., 85
during Hijrah), XVII (26, 32 f., 57, 73-80 Med.), X (40, 94-6 Med.), XI
(12, 17, 114 Med.), XII (1-3, 7 Med.), XV, VI (20, 23, 91,114, 141, 151-3
Med.), XXXVII, XXXI (27-9 Med.), XXXIV (6 Med.), XXXIX (52-4 Med.), XL (56
f. Med.), XLI, XLII (23-5, 27 Med.), XLIII (54 Med.), XLIV, XLV (14 Med.),
XLVI (10, 15, 35 Med.), LI, LXXXVIII,XVIII (28, 83-101 Med.), XVI (126-8
Med.), LXXI, XIV (28 f. Med.), XXI, XXIII, XXXII (16-20 Med.), LII, LXVII,
LXIX, LXX, LXXVIII, LXXIX, LXXXII, LXXXIV, XXX (17 Med.), XXIX (1-11
Med.), LXXXIII Hijrah, II (281 later), VIII (30-6 Mec.), III, XXXIII, LX,
IV, XCIX, LVII, XLVII (13 during Hijrah), XIII, LV, LXXVI, LXV, XCVIII,
LIX, XXIV, XXII, LXIII, LVIII, XLIX, LXVI, LXIV, LXI, LXII, XLVIII, V, IX
(128 f. Mec.), CX.
The Encyclopedia of Islam, op cit, also details three
Western Islamic scholars chronology of the Qur’an. (Noldeke was one of
the greatest Qur’anic scholars from the West). This is the chronological
order of the last Medinan Suras listed in their work:
Weil: 2, 98,
62, 65, 22, 4, 8, 47, 57, 3, 59, 24, 63, 33, 48, 110, 61, 60, 58, 49, 66,
9, 5.
Noldeke and
Blachere: 2, 98, 64, 62, 8, 47, 3, 61, 57, 4, 65, 59, 33, 63, 24, 58, 22,
48, 66, 60, 110, 49, 9, 5.
[NOTE:
Traditional Western dating breaks the chronological order of the Qur’an
up into 3 or 4 groups. The last group (sometimes called "late Medinan")
is presented above. There are earlier suras in both lists above, however,
for space’s sake, and editing time, only the last sura grouping is
presented. Note that sura 9 is the second to last in all
these three scholar’s groupings.]
Canon Sell in "The Historical Development of the
Qur’an", page 204, details that Jalalu-d-Din as-Syuti (a great
Muslim Qur’anic scholar) lists chapter 9 second to last, and Sir William
Muir (a great Western Islamic scholar) lists chapter 9 as last. All of the
above-mentioned references also list chapter 5 near the chronological end,
if not at the very end. The Hadith of Sahih Bukhari, volume 6, book 60, #
129 (or 5.59.650), Hadith states: "The last Sura that was revealed
was Bara’a…" So Sura 9 was considered by him to be one of the
last, if not the last revealed chapters of the Qur’an. Therefore, the
works of six top scholars, (3 Muslim, 3 Western), all agree that chapter 9
is either the last or second to last chapter to be spoken or revealed by
Muhammad. Consequently, since this chapter
So, here we see
that sura 2 has been revealed at an earlier period of Muhammad’s life
time when he didn’t have adequate power to be aggressive, but in
contrast, sura 9 has been revealed at a time close to his death when he
was powerful enough to be aggressive.
Do Muhammad’s later revelations contradict the
earlier ones? (2) The answer is yes.
His earlier verses which were much more tolerant were
replaced by his later verses which were aggressive and intolerant. And the
irony is that the Koranic verse Q 4:82 rules out this discrepancy. Now the
question is do the muslims accept this? Yes, they do.
In "Islam:
Muhammad and His Religion", page 66, the great Islamic scholar
Arthur Jeffery wrote: "The Qur’an is unique among sacred scriptures
in teaching a doctrine of abrogation according to which later
pronouncements of the Prophet abrogate, i.e.: declare null and void, his
earlier pronouncements. The importance of knowing which verses abrogate
others has given rise to the Qur’anic science known as "Nasikh
wa Mansukh", i.e.:
"the Abrogators and the Abrogated".
The revered work "al-Nasikh
wal-Mansukh" (The Abrogator and the Abrogated) deals in great
detail with many subject matters addressed in the Qur’an wherein there
appears to be some conflict or contradiction. The book goes through every
sura (chapter), pointing out in full detail every verse which has been
canceled, and the verse(s) which replace it. The author notes that out of
114 suras, there are only 43 which were not affected by this concept. If
there no contradiction why was such a branch of science ever needed?
So, it is clear that a lot of the earlier verses have
been abrogated by the later ones and verse 2:256 we are analyzing is one
among them.
Now on to our third query, what happens in that case?
Ibn Warraq
summarizes the Muslim concept of abrogation as follows:
"Contradictions
do abound in the Koran, and the early Muslims were perfectly well aware of
them; indeed they devised the science of abrogation to deal with them. It
is a very convenient doctrine that, as one Christian unkindly put it,
‘fell in with that law of expediency which appears to be the salient
feature in Muhammad’s prophetic career’. According to this doctrine,
certain passages of the Koran are abrogated by verses revealed afterward,
with a different or contrary meaning. This was supposedly taught by
Muhammad himself, at Sura 2, verse 105: 'Whatever verses we cancel or cause you to forget, we
bring a better or its like.' …Now we can see how useful and
convenient the doctrine of abrogation is in bailing scholars out of
difficulties- though, of course,
it does pose
problems for apologists of Islam, since all the passages preaching
tolerance are found in Meccan (i.e., early suras), and all the passages
recommending killing, decapitating and maiming, the so-called Sword Verses
are Medinan (i.e., later); ‘tolerance’ has been abrogated by
‘intolerance’. For, the famous Sword verse,
Sura 9, verse
5, 'Slay the idolaters wherever you find them,' is claimed to have
canceled 124 verses that promote tolerance and patience."
Now as our three most important questions regarding
the context of passages have been answered we will go into the historical
context of the verse 2:256
An analysis
of verse 2:256:
Here is the verse
“Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from
Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most
trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and
knoweth all things.”- Koran 2:256
This is the verse that is often shown to us, when we
say Islam is not a religion of peace.
Now look at the verses that have been highlighted in
bold. It says there is no compulsion in religion because Truth stands out clear from Error.
That is, Islam is true
and other religions are false. Then onto the line that follows this one, whoever
rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy
hand-hold. i.e. those
who reject other religions and embrace Islam. Many apologists may argue
that what Allah is talking about (as error and evil) need not necessarily
be about other religions, in that case, those who say this must also
accept that other religions are also true and they are not evil. If they
do accept that how can they justify Allah when he says “Allah is the
only true god”? And why does he need to send a prophet to guide people
who are already in the course of truth?
So we can clearly see even when revealing this sura,
which the islamists show to prove the tolerance of Islam. Muhammad and his
god didn’t stop their torment against the other religions. Hence,
Muhammad’s tolerance towards other religions in any time in his entire
life may well be a myth. That’s because some body who says to be a
prophet of god had no urge to be tolerant to what he believes to be
falsehood and evil, in fact the job of a prophet is to eradicate these
from the world.
We haven’t still dealt with the context of this
verse. So, let’s get on with that aspect of it.
The
reason why this verse was revealed is clear from this line Hadith (Abu Dawud, Book 14, Number 2676):
Book 14, Number
2676:
Narrated
Abdullah ibn Abbas:
When the
children of a woman (in pre-Islamic days) did not survive, she took a vow
on herself that if her child survives, she would convert it a Jew. When
Banu an-Nadir were expelled (from
Arabia
), there were some children of the Ansar (Helpers) among them. They said:
We shall not leave our children. So Allah the Exalted revealed; "Let
there be no compulsion in religion. Truth stands out clear from
error."
So, the reason for this revelation is that when the
Banu an-Nadir Jews were expelled from
Arabia
, they didn’t want to leave their children behind and didn’t want
convert to Islam for which the prophet reveals that “Let
there be no compulsion in religion. Truth stands out clear from error”
Now
let us hear tafsir Ibn Kathir on this (pages 37,
38):
Allah says: "There is no compulsion
in religion", meaning: do not force anyone to embrace Islam because
it is clear, and its proofs and evidences are manifest. Whoever Allah
guides and opens his heart to Islam has indeed embraced it with clear
evidence. Whoever Allah misguides, blinds his heart and has set a seal on
his hearing and a covering on his eyes cannot embrace Islam by force.
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