Recently, as she tends to do, my mother handed me a leaflet she thought I might find interesting. As shown in the header image, the leaflet is entitled "Islam's Response to Extremism", and it attempts to make the case that "Extremism is therefore against all religions and Islam in particular. The very meaning of Islam is 'peace', security, and giving a guarantee of protection against all forms of harm".
This is the standard message of Muslims in the Western world, and I have to admire it. We do not even need to jump straight to accusations of "taqiyya", it is entirely possible, and I dare say even likely, that the majority of Muslims who present this message genuinely believe it. The problem is, regardless of how sincere each individual Muslim is, a peaceful interpretation of Islam is simply unsustainable.
To illustrate this, let's examine the verse prominently displayed on the leaflet's cover. "Whosoever killed a person... it shall be as if he had killed all mankind." This verse is repeated again on the middle page of the inner leaflet, this time rendering it "... whosoever killed a person ... it shall be as if he had killed all mankind; and whoso gave life to one, it shall be as if he had given life to all mankind."
On the surface, this teaching sounds very beautiful. But what are those dots? As is shown by the expanded citation within the leaflet, these indicate that the citation is incomplete. And indeed it is, in both cases. In fact, in the header image, you see the whole verse in my own copy of The Critical Qur'an.
To be as charitable as possible, we will ignore the fact that the leaflet itself actually cites the wrong verse. It is actually verse 32 that contains the "killing all mankind" citation. But what does this verse actually say? In full, with no omissions, it says "For that reason, we decreed for the children of Israel that whoever kills a human being for anything other than manslaughter or corruption on the earth, it will be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoever saves the life of one person, it will be as if he had saved the life of all mankind. Our messengers came to them of old with clear proofs, but afterwards, indeed, many of them committed excesses on earth."
In context, backing up a little more, we see that "that reason" is linked to Cain and Abel. Cain, allegedly, threatened Abel before he killed him, Abel basically says "I won't even kill you in self defence so your sin will be on your own head", Cain follows through on his threat, a raven shows him how to bury Abel, Cain repents, and then we move on to verse 32.
What's particularly interesting is that this is not an original concept to Islam. Quite the opposite, it comes from Mishnah Sanhedrin, while ironically missing out the full context. The actual tradition highlights that Abel's "bloods", rather than "blood", called out to God, and thus by killing Abel, Cain had also killed all of his descendants. Muhammad was a known plagiarist even in his day, being called "all ears". Even Qur'an 68:15, among other verses, tells us that people accused Muhammad of plagiarism.
But we need not even go beyond the verse in question to show that this comes from a former source; Muhammad tells us "For that reason, we decreed for the children of Israel that whoever kills a human being for anything other than manslaughter or corruption on the earth, it will be as if he had killed all mankind...". So the question is, is this what is being decreed for the Muslims also? Ironically, the actual verse 33 says no:
"The only reward for those who make war upon Allah and his messenger and struggle to sow corruption on earth will be that they will be killed of crucified, or have their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, or be expelled from the land. Such will be their degradation in this world, and in the hereafter, theirs will be an awful doom."
This radically changes the context of the teaching which previously seemed so beautiful. The Qur'an affirms that the Jewish tradition, namely that killing a an except for manslaughter or corruption on earth is bad, comes from God. But it then goes on to say "...but afterwards, indeed, many of them committed excesses on earth.", and follows it up with "The only reward for those who make war upon Allah and his messenger and struggle to sow corruption on earth will be that they will be killed..." etc. So is the charge for Muslims "keep what we decreed for the children of Israel"? No, it's an expansion of the decree, allowing the killing of those who "...make war upon Allah and his messenger and struggle to sow corruption on earth..."
But what does this mean? One could argue, though only through ignorance of Islamic sources, that "making war upon Allah and his messenger" still refers to self defence. Self defence, of course, is a totally reasonable excuse to kill. Barbarians raise their swords against your community, you raise your swords in return. It's only natural, and if they suffer and die for it, it's on their own heads. The problem with this is that Muhammad himself was the aggressor in many situations. He was one of the most dangerous and violent men in all history, even boasting "I have been sent with the shortest expressions bearing the widest meanings, and I have been made victorious with terror, and while I was sleeping, the keys of the treasures of the world were brought to me and put in my hand." (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 220, emphasis mine).
But even if we do class "making war against Allah" as a literal description of military aggression, what about "sowing corruption on earth"? This charge is as ambiguous as the Western "crime" of "hate speech". Just as merely using biologically accurate pronouns can be considered "hate speech", the mere criticism of Islam, especially when it comes from ex-Muslims, is sowing corruption. And what do you think Muhammad would think of the other sins of the West? Internet porn, strip clubs, gay bars, bars in general, bacon, Muhammad cartoons, do we imagine this power hungry warlord, who once permitted a man to stab a woman in the gut for disparaging him, would frown upon his people for terrorising this culture?
It is a disgusting act of hubris and hatred to paint all Muslims with the same brush. Not all Muslims are extremists. Not all Muslims are practicing taqiyya. Nevertheless, regardless of the motives of individual motives, the fact cannot be denied that Islam is not a religion of peace, but of submission. Specifically, submission to an extremist false prophet. Most Muslims today live far more moral lives than their prophet, but there's a reason Islam produces more violence than any other religion the world over, and has been doing for centuries.
In this article, I have examined only one of the verses cited by the leaflet. This is a popular verse to cite in defence of Islam, and is prominently displayed on the cover. But the goal of this article isn't to show that Islam is a violent religion, as this proves literally nothing. If Allah is really God, and really hates non-Muslims that much, we should all become Muslims and, as 9:29 says, "Fight against those who do not believe in Allah or the last day, and do not forbid what Allah and his messenger have forbidden, and do not follow the religion of truth, even if they are among the people of the book, until they pay the jizyah with willing submission and feel themselves subdued." But what this example does show us is just how easy it is to twist the Islamic, or indeed any religious texts, changing religions entirely.
As we have done in this article, we should always scrutinise what we hear. Just because a verse comes from the Qur'an, or even the Bible, does not mean it is being cited accurately. Therefore, when you receive a leaflet, when you come across a YouTube video, when you hear a talk online or in person, even when you come across a Bible Brain article (especially when you come across a Bible Brain article), do not take what you hear at face value. Do some digging, test what we say. That way, whether someone is sincerely encouraging you to copy their errors, or even if someone is actively trying to deceive you, you will be spared many mistakes.
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