Is Islam Violent?

Many people, when they hear the words "Islamic" or "Muslim," their first thought is terrorism and violence. This association is a direct result of media after 9/11 and other terrorist attacks, instilling fear in the citizens of America to post a face to the enemy. However, by doing this, America itself created racism in its citizens.

Many would argue that Islam is not a peaceful religion because of the terrorist attacks we associate with Muslim people. However, Muslims that are true in faith would never associate with people who could commit such harm against others. Kindness to others, no matter who the recipient is or believes in, is such a huge element of Islam.

For those who do not know, Islam is made up of five main pillars, five fundamental practices: faith, prayer, hajj (journey to the House of Allah), fasting, and charity. To look more into the last two, one of the reasons why fasting is so important to Muslims is to keep them humble, and to remind them of what some people have to go through and what they should be grateful for. It is also believed to keep them close to God, and if for some reason you are unable to fast on one of the prescribed days (such as for illness or pregnancy), you could instead feed a homeless/needy person for every day you miss, but it must be the same amount as you would feed a member of your own family. This one pillar gives great insight into why Islam is such a caring and giving religion. If you cannot fulfill your own duties, give to others to make up for your sin.

And for the last pillar mentioned, charity (also known as zakat or alms) is something prescribed yearly based on your income. Some Muslim applications, like the popular Muslim Pro app, have built in zakat calculators to figure out how much you should give. This can be to needy people or donations to charities. This is a huge part of Islam. It is also mentioned in the Islamic holy text, the Quran, that you should take care of your neighbors and those around you.

Now, to dive a little bit deeper, there are some people who I have seen make comments, in person and on social media, about how the Quran encourages violence against unbelievers. This is such a huge controversial discussion.

Before I delve into the evidence and Quranic verses, I must make this one point. The Quran was written 1400 years ago by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and since then it has not been changed or altered in any way. How can this be true? Because it is the duty of every Muslim man and woman to memorize surahs (chapters of the Quran) for prayer, many of which memorize the entire book. The Quran has also been preserved in which many of the early copies of the holy text are kept in museums today.

Be careful of trusting everything that you read. I read an article published on jacksonville.com which used the following verse to support the argument that Islam encourages violence against nonbelievers.

The verse as they wrote it:

Surah 2:191: "And kill them (non-Muslims) wherever you find them … kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers (non-Muslims)."

The actual verse:

Surah 2:191: "And kill them (nonbelievers) wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al-Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers."

Not much different, but the writer at jacksonville.com left out a crucial detail. He was quoting Surah 2:191 to support his argument, but neglected Surah 2:190.

Surah 2:190: "Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed, Allah does not like transgressors."

"Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you." Crucial evidence that the author neglected. Surah 2:191 has nothing to do with fighting innocent nonbelievers. Surah 2:190 firmly dictates that whatever is said in Surah 2:191 only pertains to those that fight you first. Islam is a peaceful religion, and would not call for death to innocent people.

Another very controversial verse of the Quran is Surah 9:5, the Verse of the Sword. It was brought up in the jacksonville.com article and I wanted to bring some light to it.

Surah 9:5: "And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them go on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."

Again, this is a quoted Surah simply without context. If you look at the beginning 14 verses of Surah 9, you will see the context to it. This passage is referring to polytheists that a Muslim made a treaty with, in which the polytheist broke their promise to the agreed terms.

Surah 9:13: "Would you not fight a people who broke their oaths and determined to expel the Messenger, and they had begun the attack upon you the first time? Do you fear them?"

Surah 9:7: "How can there be for the polytheists a treaty in the sight of Allah and with His Messenger, except for those with whom you made a treaty at al-Masjid al-Haram? So as long as they are upright toward you, be upright toward them. Indeed, Allah loves the righteous."

Surah 9:6: "And if any one of the polytheists seeks your protection, then grant him protection so that he may hear the words of Allah. Then deliver him to his place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know."

These verses provide the necessary context for the critical interpretation of Surah 9:5. Surah 9:7 claims that it is righteous to be good to others (nonbelievers included) as long as they are good to you. Surah 9:1-14 clearly set out the evidence for the context.

If you are reading about the Quran online, make sure you are going to an Islamic application to look at the correct quotation of the verse you are looking at, and the contextual verses before and after. So much of the misconstrued data coming through social media is from people who take things out of context.

You also need to take into account the fact that this was written 1400 years ago and has not been touched since. This is why I brought it up earlier in this post. The amount of war and violence, especially over religion, at the time needs to be considered. There was a lot of defensive war in Prophet Muhammad's time (peace be upon him) which needed to be addressed.

Oftentimes people will look at one verse of the Quran and form their opinions and judgments. If you take the time to look at the Quran in its entirety as a whole, you will see more verses that promote peace than those that speak of war.

Surah 2:190: "Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress (commit aggression). Allah does not like the transgressors (aggressors)."

Surah 2:194: "Fighting in the sacred month is for aggression committed in the sacred month and for all violations is legal retribution. So whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in the same way that he assaulted you. And fear Allah and know that Allah is with those who fear Him."

Surah 8:61: "And if they incline to peace, then incline to it also and rely upon Allah. Indeed, it is He who is the Hearing, the Knowing."

Surah 16:90: "Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immortality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded."

References:

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/opinion/columns/mike-clark/2015/02/03/islam-quran-itself-preaches-violence-against-nonbelievers/985431007/

https://discover-the-truth.com/2014/03/04/quran-95-sword-verse/

https://www.quora.com/What-does-Surah-9-5-of-the-Quran-mean

Muslim Pro -- The Holy Quran