We are vigilant of the misguidance of Christianity and other right wing rule structures. It is a good time to circle the hermeneutic to Islam for a moment. Particularly when witnessing how the BBC seeks to institutionalize and normalize the idea that Islam has had a long cultural, intellectual and demographic place along The Silk Road and into Europe, it is time for a de-institutionalization and de-normalization of this particular son of Abraham and its coercion.

           

We are vigilant of the J.Q., its patterns and its occupation of seven major choke points - including the choke point of religion which birthed Islam. Lets take a look at the notion that Islam is not coercive of itself.

Thanks to TT Metzger for forwarding this story. He adds: WE ARE BORN FREE, BUT ENSLAVED BY RELIGION!

Renowned scholar IQ al Rassooli is Liberty GB’s expert advisor on Islam. He is an Iraqi-born native Arabic-speaker who has dedicated much of his life to the study and critical analysis of Muhammad, the Qur’an, Hadiths, Shariah, Arabic and Islamic history -

“There is No Compulsion in Islam”

The phrase, “There is No compulsion in Islam” has been handed out by Muslims to non-Muslims that I find it best to compile some facts about this misconception by both non-Muslims and Muslims, to clear up this misinformation. Whether the phrase soothes the conscience of Muslims or they feel that this justifies Islam as a religion of Peace like Christianity, or that they truly believe that it is so, it is totally untrue. It also stumps non-Muslims into silence because of the lack of knowledge of the Quran. So it is essential that somewhere this phrase is properly analysed. The phrase is part of the verses of a couplet which must be read together to make any sense. But there are also other interpretations/abrogations that I will explain later.

[Quran, Sura 2.256]

“There is no compulsion in religion; truly the right way has become clearly distinct from error; therefore, whoever disbelieves in the Shaitan and believes in Allah he indeed has laid hold on the firmest handle, which shall not break off, and Allah is Hearing, Knowing”.

[Quran, Sura, 2.257]

“Allah is the guardian of those who believe. He brings them out of the darkness into the light; and (as to) those who disbelieve, their guardians are Shaitans who take them out of the light into the darkness; they are the inmates of the fire, in it they shall abide”.

Both verses together certainly convey a different message than the typical apologist snippet from Sura 2:256. The pair of complete verses show the Quran’s respective policies for Muslims (believers) and non-Muslims (disbelievers). Believers are warned not to slip into disbelief, and disbelievers are warned to become believers — or else.

In other words, according to this passage, THERE IS COMPULSION IN ISLAM, despite the initial “no compulsion” statement. Sura 18:29, itself, bears some similarities to the Sura 2:256-257 pair:

Quran, Sura 18:29:

“Say: (It is) the truth from the Lord of you (all). Then whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve. Lo! We have prepared for disbelievers Fire. Its tent encloseth them. If they ask for showers, they will be showered with water like to molten lead which burneth the faces. Calamitous the drink and ill the resting-place!”

The policy in the Quran does not appear to be “Believe it or not,” but instead is “Believe it or else!”

The damnation of disbelievers in Sura 2:257 and Sura 18:29 is consistent with Allah’s policy throughout the Quran. There are over 250 separate damnations of disbelievers in the Quran. True believing Muslims, on the other hand, are promised with the reward of Paradise in the Hereafter. Despite its 250+ separate condemnations of disbelievers to hell-fire for the crime of disbelief, the Quran says many times that Allah is “Forgiving” and “Merciful.”

The Quran says that disbelievers who do good works do so in vain, because they are going to hell anyway (Suras 5:5, 18:104-106, also 18:30, 33:19, 47:1, 47:32).

This contradicts the claim that Allah is forgiving and merciful. (Indeed, it refutes the claims that he is at all wise and just). Were these statements all made by the same author?! Given the contradictions among the statements in the Quran, what are we to make of it when we read, “There is No Compulsion in Islam”?

One way of looking at Sura 2:256-2:25 is as just another contradictory pair of propositions in the Quran. Nevertheless, it is important to consider how the verse has traditionally been understood by respected commentators. Ibn Kathir’s tafsir (commentary) on verse (ayah) 2:256 explains:

“(There is no compulsion in religion), meaning, ‘Do not force anyone to become Muslim, for Islam is plain and clear, and its proofs and evidence are plain and clear. Therefore, there is no need to force anyone to embrace Islam. Rather, whoever Allah directs to Islam, opens his heart for it and enlightens his mind, will embrace Islam with certainty. Whoever Allah blinds his heart and seals his hearing and sight, then he will not benefit from being forced to embrace Islam.’ It was reported that the Ansar were the reason behind revealing this Ayah, although its indication is general in meaning.”

In other words, the truth of Islam is so obvious and clear that only a fool, an evil fool worthy of eternal damnation (Sura 2:257), would fail to accept its validity. This clarifies the probable intended meaning of the verse somewhat, but the contradictory concepts remain:

It is wrong to force anyone to become a Muslim (and other tafsirs agree on this point), but if they don’t become a Muslim, Allah will burn them in hell. But more than that, as will be shown later in this article, the Quran says that disbelievers will be punished in this world by Allah and by Muslims who are acting according to Allah’s policies (i.e., the Quran and Mohammad’s example). The only way that the disbelievers can escape these punishments in the world and in the hereafter is to convert to Islam.

As we will see, according to the Quran, there is plenty of compulsion in religion…

The apologists’ snippet from Sura 2:256 is misleading when presented to those who have not read the Quran (e.g., most non-Muslims), because the snippet belies the strong interrelationship between belief, obedience, fear, and submission in Islam. The word “Islam” in fact means “submission” or “surrender.” These aspects of belief are emphasized throughout the Quran. Obedience is a major aspect. For example, Iblis (Satan) first becomes a “disbeliever” when he refuses to bow prostrate before Adam in accordance with Allah’s orders (Suras 7:11, 20:116-117,18:50, 38:74-76). In that story, Iblis does not deny that Allah exists. Rather, he disobeys what Allah commands him to do. It’s disobedience, arrogant defiance, that gets him into trouble with Allah, and that makes him a disbeliever. The apologists who present the Sura 2:256 snippet likely are familiar with such verses as 49:14-17:

Quran, Sura 49:14-17:

“The wandering Arabs say: We believe. Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Ye believe not, but rather say ‘We submit,’ for the faith hath not yet entered into your hearts. Yet, if ye obey Allah and His messenger, He will not withhold from you aught of (the reward of) your deeds. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. The (true) believers are those only who believe in Allah and His messenger and afterward doubt not, but strive with their wealth and their lives for the cause of Allah. Such are the sincere. Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Would ye teach Allah your religion, when Allah knoweth all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, and Allah is Aware of all things? They make it a favour unto thee (Muhammad) that they have surrendered (unto Him). Say: Deem not your Surrender a favour unto me; but Allah doth confer a favour on you, inasmuch as He hath led you to the Faith, if ye are earnest.“

And consider 8:1-2:

Quran, Sura 8:1:

“They ask thee (O Muhammad) of the spoils of war. Say: The spoils of war belong to Allah and the messenger, so keep your duty to Allah, and adjust the matter of your difference, and obey Allah and His messenger, if ye are (true) believers. 8:2: They only are the (true) believers whose hearts feel fear when Allah is mentioned, and when His revelations are recited unto them they increase their faith, and who trust in their Lord.”

Those passages show that the elements of fear, obedience, and submission, are linked to faith/belief. In 49:14, submission and obedience are necessary for faith.

That all sounds like compulsion.

According to Sura 49:17, Allah himself compels people to Islam. The following verses also confirm the assertion that it is Allah that either guides people to Islam or leads them astray.

Quran, Sura 16:93:

“And had Allah willed, He could have made you (all) one nation, but He sends astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills. But you shall certainly be called to account for what you used to do.”76:29-31: “Verily! This (Verses of the Qur’an) is an admonition, so whosoever wills, let him take a Path to his Lord (Allah). But you cannot will, unless Allah wills. Verily, Allah is Ever All-Knowing, All-Wise. He will admit to His Mercy whom He will and as for the Zalimun, (polytheists, wrong-doers, etc.) He has prepared a painful torment.” 10:99-100: “And if thy Lord willed, all who are in the earth would have believed together. Wouldst thou (Muhammad) compel men until they are believers? It is not for any soul to believe save by the permission of Allah. He hath set uncleanness upon those who have no sense.” 49:7: “And know that the messenger of Allah is among you. If he were to obey you in much of the government, ye would surely be in trouble; but Allah hath endeared the faith to you and hath beautified it in your hearts, and hath made disbelief and lewdness and rebellion hateful unto you. Such are they who are the rightly guided.“ 5:3: “…This day have those who disbelieve despaired of your religion, so fear them not, and fear Me. This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion…”

The above verses say that Allah controls a person’s choice of religion. Allah has even compelled believers to love faith (in Islam) and hate disbelief (in Islam). These passages state that Allah is actually controlling peoples’ thoughts and regulating their emotions and preferences —

“you cannot will, unless Allah wills“!

In other words, the believer’s will must be one with Allah’s, a “single-minded slave of Allah.” Verse 10:99, which says that Mohammad should not try to compel people to become believers, is inconsistent with much of the Quran (see below), and is, arguably, abrogated or cancelled by the later verses

“ABROGATION”.

It is imperative to point out to readers one of the most important pieces of information that not a single scholar of Islam brings to the fore. This is the fact that all that humanity knows about Muhammad’s Quran and the miracles that allegedly happened to him are the assertions by Muhammad and only Muhammad that he had encountered them.

  There are no other eyewitnesses to all of these events. None of Muhammad’s wives or intimate companions ever heard Muhammad talk to the Angel Gabriel. There is not a single witness to 23 years of alleged revelations to Muhammad.

  In a nutshell all that humanity knows about Muhammad are Muhammad’s unsubstantiated, unwitnessed and uncorroborated words that leave a huge question mark regarding their veracity.

  Abrogation means to overrule, to make null and void or to overturn earlier revelations and or commandments by the later ones.

  The Quran is unique among all the holy scriptures of other peoples since it is the only one that allows the God of Muhammad, Allah, to keep changing his mind regarding his alleged revelations to Muhammad. This means that Allah revealed something to Muhammad at an earlier time but later on changed the revelation.

  Any intelligent human being would ask the following logical question: How is it conceivable for any God, any omniscient God, not to know beforehand everything?

  As shocking a realisation as this is, the fact remains, none the less, that Muhammad’s Quran contains abrogated and abrogating verses in 71 suras (chapters) out of 114 comprising 62% of all the suras of the Quran that have had verses changed, overruled or deleted.

  This shows Muhammad’s Allah as a God bereft of foresight, with a fickle mind and incapable of assessing the weaknesses and strengths of Muhammad or his followers; this is of course a blasphemous characterisation of any omniscient divinity.

  Neither in the Hebrew Bible nor in the New Testament are there such verses. The God of Israel is not shown to give one command one instance and then change it either immediately, shortly afterwards or much later because He did not realise that it was too onerous to be fulfilled by mere humans.

The verse that allows Allah to abrogate was revealed in

Quran, Al Baqara 2:106

“None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten but We substitute something better or similar; knowest thou not that Allah hath power over all things?”

Why would any omniscient God not know beforehand the weaknesses or strengths of His creation? Surely it is blasphemy to impugn to the Almighty human weaknesses and vulnerabilities?

Why would any almighty God change His mind and replace earlier ordinances with others?

Why would such a God especially replace earlier ones with similar ones? Why similar? Why not reveal the better ones from the very beginning?

The reader is entitled to ask such questions that require intelligent and logical answers. Can any Muhammadan Muslim provide any logical answers?

Quran, Al Nisa 4:82

“Do they not ponder over the Qur’an? Had it been the word of any other but Allah they would surely have found a good deal of variation in it, much discrepancy and incongruity … those who check and scrutinize will know it.”

The Quran is here challenging the reader to find variations, discrepancies and/or abnormalities in its narrative. The answers to the challenge are actually and incredibly provided by the Quran and Hadiths themselves. An enormous deal of variation is exactly what is found in the Quranic verses.

There is also of course the issue of the Satanic Verses which were repeated by Muhammad who did not recognise them as coming from Satan.

It is as if by divine justice that the Quranic challenge has been met and our case against the veracity and alleged divine origin of the Quran is rested.

Quran, Al Ra’d 13:38

“It was not for any Apostle to come up with a miracle or sign unless it was granted by Our permission. For every age there is a Book revealed. Ar-Rahman abrogates, blots out, or confirms [whatever He wants].”

Quran, Al Nahl 16:101

“And when We exchange a verse in place of another verse and Allah knows very well what He is sending down they say, ‘Thou art a mere forger!’ Nay, but the most of them have no knowledge.”

The reader should be aware of the very unusual transition in the verse above from “We exchange … another verse” to “and Allah knows … down”.

Why and how could Allah speak in the first person [We] at the beginning of the verse and then move immediately and without any logical or grammatical reason to the impersonal [and Allah] in the second part of the same verse? It is precisely because Allah “knows very well what He is sending down” that he has absolutely no reason to change his mind and abrogate or make forgotten an earlier ‘revelation’.

Even the illiterate and unlearned Arabs of Mecca found it intellectually and theologically fraudulent to believe in such a fickle, indecisive and fallible Allah.

Let me now give you one glaring example of what and how abrogation is achieved:

Quran, Al Anfal (Spoils of War) 8:65

“O apostle! Rouse the believers to the fight. If there are twenty amongst you patient and persevering they will vanquish two hundred: if a hundred they will vanquish a thousand of the unbelievers: for these are a people without understanding.”

In this verse, Allah is putting very onerous odds for the Muhammadans to achieve in reality. No matter how brave and capable people may be, ten to one odds in a fight are almost impossible to realise.

When Muhammad’s followers heard this verse they were appalled and correctly pointed out to Muhammad how onerous and impossible such odds are. This of course necessitated the‘revelation’ of another verse “immediately after this one” for much reduced odds of two to one instead; as in the following abrogating verse.

This sura also clearly exposes Islam to be a belief system that not only encourages violence but actually makes it a sacred duty for Muhammadans to kill anyone who does not believe in Muhammad’s version of Islam.

Not only is the “All Forgiving Allah” exhorting his followers to kill anyone who is not a Muslim, but he is also saying that all non-Muslims are so stupid that they will be unable to defend themselves and therefore deserve death.

Quran, Al Anfal 8.66

“For the present Allah hath lightened your [task] for He knoweth that there is a weak spot in you: but [even so] if there are a hundred of you patient and persevering they will vanquish two hundred and if a thousand they will vanquish two thousand with the leave of Allah: for Allah is with those who patiently persevere.”

Verses 65 and 66 represent a major trend in the Quran whereby Muhammad, finding it difficult for his followers to achieve or implement a Quranic condition, creates a follow-up verse of made-to-order ‘revelations’ reducing and/or lightening the burden upon them, hence abrogating the earlier one.

If the Quran was given by God, these verses make a mockery of His prescience. It should be obvious that the Almighty should already know what the followers of Muhammad are or are not capable of and should not need to abrogate, change, modify or lighten any of them. Each should have been a perfect fit for the occasion (see Bukhari Hadith 6:175).

The most important abrogating verse in Muhammad’s Quran is 9.05, which is called the Fighting Verse:

Quran, Al Tauba 9.05

“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.”

According to Al Suyuti’s Al Itqan fi Ulum al Quran, this single verse abrogated, overruled, made null and void 124 earlier, conciliatory verses.

Since the Quran and its interpreters repeatedly mention the inviolability and eternal character of Allah’s rules and regulations, how can they at the same time explain away the most controversial cases of the abrogated and abrogating suras which number 71, that is 62% of the Quran?

In addition to the above anomaly, the reader should also be aware of the missing and forgotten verses that are mentioned in the Hadiths (traditions about Muhammad).

Why and what for would Allah, the Omniscient, the All Knowing, change his mind at what he had already announced and ‘replace’ it with one ‘equal’ or ‘better’ than the first?

What would the purpose be of changing one verse for an equal?

Why change it if it is only for an equal?

Does Allah break his own promises and instructions?

Does Allah hence have more than one preserved tablet in Heaven?

If so, which one of them is the correct one?

It all sounds more than just blasphemy and mumbo jumbo. It is an insult to the Almighty and to the intelligence of all human beings who accept such profanity and idiocy of a concept or dogma.

All the abnormalities, ambiguities, stupidities and contradictions in the Quran are instantly and summarily resolved when the listener/reader absorbs and accepts these simple and unchallengeable conclusions:

There is not a single letter, let alone a word, a verse or a chapter in the Quran that could have been revealed by any omniscient divinity because in reality, every letter, word, verse and chapter in the Quran is the product of Muhammad’s imagination, his alter ego, his biography, but very cleverly projected into the unsuspecting mouths of Allah and Gabriel to give them the aura of sanctity and divinity.

Allah, Gabriel and Muhammad are one and the same: Muhammad.

Muhammad used Allah and Gabriel as props to give his alleged revelations a cloak of sanctity and divinity but in reality it is all otherwise totally Muhammad’s.

The Quran was recited and authored by Muhammad over an incredibly long period of 23 years and since Allah is not God and most certainly not the God of Jesus, Moses and Abraham, then Muhammadan Islam is not a religion but a cult belief system, the Cult of Muhammad.

Those who doubt what is being revealed here can read much more in the following written by the followers of Muhammad: Jamal al Din al Juzi in his Nawasikh al Quran; Abu Ja’afar al Nakhass, al Nasikh wal Mansukh.

  ——

Renowned scholar IQ al Rassooli is Liberty GB’s expert advisor on Islam. He is an Iraqi-born native Arabic-speaker who has dedicated much of his life to the study and critical analysis of Muhammad, the Qur’an, Hadiths, Shariah, Arabic and Islamic history.

IQ’s book trilogy entitled, Lifting the Veil: The True Faces of Muhammad and Islam, is available from Amazon.

Some other articles by IQ al Rassooli:

The BBC’s Misrepresentation of Islam

The Islamisation of Europe

I Accuse

IQ al-Rassooli on the Islamic Murder in Woolwich

http://www.libertygb.org.uk/news/when-allah-contradicts-himself-quranic-principle-abrogation

COMMENTS:

To any inquiring mind this question should have arisen as soon as the concept of abrogation arose in the Quran:

(1)Why and what for would Allah, the Omniscient, the All Knowing, change his mind at what he had already announced and ‘replace’ it with one ‘equal’ or ‘better’ than the first?

(2) To the discerning it is clear that the Quran with all its contradictions and errors are the work of man, Muhammad.

Allah, Gabriel and Muhammad are one and the same: Muhammad.

Muhammad used Allah and Gabriel as props to give his alleged revelations a cloak of sanctity and divinity but in reality it is all otherwise totally Muhammad’s.

The Quran was recited and authored by Muhammad over an incredibly long period of 23 years and since Allah is not God and most certainly not the God of Jesus, Moses and Abraham, then Muhammadan Islam is not a religion but a cult belief system, the Cult of Muhammad.

(3) Thus is becomes clear that the cult of Muhammad has NO DIVINE connections and can be classified as an Absolute Totalitarian Supremacist Cult. This cult has no place in a civilised world.

There is no contradiction, of course, if it is understood to mean “don’t compel people to become believers yet, at this time, in these circumstances (but compel them later when you have the power to do so).”

The following passage makes clear that Allah has full control over religious belief; Allah himself makes it impossible for the disbelievers to grasp his message, and then he punishes them for not grasping it!

Quran, Sura 2:6-10:

“Verily, those who disbelieve, it is the same to them whether you (O Muhammad Peace be upon him) warn them or do not warn them, they will not believe. Allah has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearings, (i.e. they are closed from accepting Allah’s Guidance), and on their eyes there is a covering. Theirs will be a great torment.And of mankind, there are some (hypocrites) who say: “We believe in Allah and the Last Day” while in fact they believe not. They (think to) deceive Allah and those who believe, while they only deceive themselves, and perceive (it) not! In their hearts is a disease (of doubt and hypocrisy) and Allah has increased their disease. A painful torment is theirs because they used to tell lies.“

The above passages demolish the general claim that ‘there is no compulsion in Islam.’ In theory, non-Muslims could dismiss these verses as irrational fatalist mythology about some ancient tyrant of a god. Unfortunately, the reality is that hundreds of millions of Muslims believe these to be true statements about the non-Muslims, and this affects how they perceive and act toward non-Muslims. Some non-Muslims who are learning more about Islam are concerned about the real behaviour of some of Islam’s more zealous followers. This legitimate and healthy fear, which Islamist activists misleadingly call “Islamophobia,” is nothing new. Mohammad (Allah) was keenly aware of this, as illustrated by this verse, 59:13.

“You [Muslims] are certainly greater in being feared in their hearts than Allah; that is because they are a people who do not understand.”

Actually, non-Muslims’ legitimate fear of zealous Islamists, in Mohammad’s time, throughout history, and today, arises out of a clear understanding of the real threat posed. Mohammad boasted of the effectiveness and critical importance of this “terror” (i.e., fear of being killed), according to this report (Hadith):

“Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, ‘I have been sent with the shortest expressions bearing the widest meanings, and I have been made victorious with terror (cast in the hearts of the enemy), and while I was sleeping, the keys of the treasures of the world were brought to me and put in my hand.’

Abu Huraira added: Allah’s Apostle has left the world and now you, people, are bringing out those treasures (i.e. the Prophet did not benefit by them).”

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 220.

Whether verse 2:256 is abrogated or not, taken together with verse 2:257, it is basically consistent with the entire Quran:

Strict believers, who reject all religions except Islam, are safe, but disbelievers are going to receive the maximum penalty. All of the “compulsion” (persecution, subjugation, threats, etc.) directed against non-Muslims still applies. That is, they’re still guilty of the worst crime and must be punished in this world and in the hereafter.

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Editor’s note: Clearly al Rassooli is not looking to challenge Christianity or Judaism in this analysis; whereas MR’s position is critical of all Abrahamic religion.

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Patrick Le Brun details history and dynamics of Islamic terrorism.

Against the notion of moderate Islam he suggests a Trump-like deal making approach - being harder on Islam in its entirely from the start.

Trump’s deal-making will not be sufficient (it will rather be exploited) and Le Brun’s recommendation as such is not strict enough.

Neo-liberal and Jewish interests stand in the way of a proper solution to a religion beyond “deals” - Islam, rather, is to be illegal in our lands; ultimately, aliens, irrespective of religion, are to be deported, or left behind from a re-done system of citizenship, until European nations and territories are well over 95% native European.

I.e., there is no deal to be struck with Islam. It is out.

Insufficient prescription aside, his overall description and analysis of Islam and its terrorist strategy is scholarly and informative.