Chapter III. Religion and Violence
3.9. Islam and violence
3.9.1. Some Qur‟anic references justifying violence
In Qur‟an and in Hadith there is a lot of references mentioning violence. But they need to be well interpreted in the context they were written before any implementation. This is very big work which must be done by Muslim and Christian leaders in educating their believers.
Surah 9:5 says: When the sacred months are past, kill the idolaters wherever you find them, and seize them, besiege them, and lie in wait for them in every place of ambush; but if they repent, pray regularly, and give the alms tax, then let them go their way, for God is forgiving, merciful.670
Surah 3:56; 3:151 asserts: “Soon shall we cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority.” This speaks directly of polytheists, yet it also includes Christians, since they believe in the Trinity, and Jews who refused to recognize Muhammad as prophet (ie. what Muhammad incorrectly believed to be 'joining companions to Allah')671
Surah 4:74 affirms: “Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward.” The martyrs of Islam are unlike the early Christians, led meekly to the slaughter. These Muslims are killed in battle, as they attempt to inflict death and destruction for the cause of Allah.
Here is the theological basis for today's suicide bombers. 672
Surah 17:16 states: “And when We wish to destroy a town, We send Our commandment to the people of it who lead easy lives, but they transgress therein;
thus the word proves true against it, so We destroy it with utter destruction.” Note
670 Ibid.
671 The Qur‟an verses of violence, What does religion of peace teach about violence, <http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/quran/023-violence.htm>, 31st December 2012.
672 The Qur‟an verses of violence, What does religion of peace teach about violence, <http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/quran/023-violence.htm>, 31st December 2012.
that the crime is moral transgression, and the punishment is "utter destruction."
(Before ordering the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden first issued Americans an invitation to Islam). 673
3.9.2. Some Hadith references justifying violence674
Hadith is the next authoritative source of law and conduct after the Qur‟an; records the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. The Arabic texts Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim are generally considered by Sunni Muslims to be the most authentic collection of the Prophet‟s sayings.675 Hadith gives powerful authentication for violence utilized against infidels or those who, having once converted to Islam, renounce the faith and return to their former state. The brutality of these passages is overwhelming. It is from these early teachings and acts of the Prophet that we see contemporary Muslims feeling justified in their acts of aggression.676
Bukhari 52:177: Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.677
Bukhari 52:256: The Prophet passed by me at a place called Al-Abwa or Waddan, and was asked whether it was permissible to attack the pagan warriors at night with the probability of exposing their women and children to danger. The Prophet replied, "They (i.e. women and children) are from them (i.e. pagans)."678 In this command, Muhammad establishes that it is permissible to kill non-combatants in the process of killing a perceived enemy. This provides justification for the many Islamic terror bombings.
Bukhari 52:220: Allah's Apostle said, "I have been made victorious with terror (cast in the hearts of the enemy).679
673 Ibid.
674 The Qur‟an verses of violence, What does religion of peace teach about violence, <http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/quran/023-violence.htm>, 31st December 2012.
675 John Hunwick and Eve Troutt Powel, The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam, Markus Wiener Publishers, Princeton, USA, 2007, P.5.
676 Phil Parshall, Ibid, p.98
677 http://muflihun.com/bukhari/52/177 678 http://muflihun.com/bukhari/52/256 679 http://muflihun.com/bukhari/52/220
Bukhari 8:387: Allah's Apostle said, I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.' And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them except legally and their reckoning will be with Allah.680
Muslim 1:30: It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah.681
Muslim 19:4321: It is reported on the authority of Sa'b b. Jaththama that the Prophet of Allah (Peace be upon him), when asked about the women and children of the polytheists being killed during the night raid, said:
They are from them.682
Muslim 19:4294: It has been reported from Sulaiman b. Buraid through his father that when the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) appointed anyone as leader of an army or detachment he would especially exhort him to fear Allah and to be good to the Muslims who were with him. He would say: Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war, do not embezzle the spoils;
do not break your pledge.683
Muslim 20:4645 : ...He (the Messenger of Allah) did that and said: There is another act which elevates the position of a man in Paradise to a grade one hundred (higher), and the elevation between one grade and the other is equal to the height of the heaven from the earth. He (Abu Sa'id) said: What is that act? He replied: Jihad in the way of Allah! Jihad in the way of Allah!684
680 http://muflihun.com/bukhari/8/387 681 http://muflihun.com/muslim/1/30 682 http://muflihun.com/muslim/19/4321 683 http://muflihun.com/muslim/19/4294 684 http://muflihun.com/muslim/20/4645
Only those who participate in jihad deserve paradise without any checks and reservations. To illustrate this notion, Bukhari relates the story of a woman asking Muhammad if her son, who was killed in the battle of Badr, is in paradise, and he replied that her son is in a higher paradise.685 David Bukay says that the link “between martyrdom and paradise was probably the most potent factor that Muhammad brought to the annals of warfare”686, because it “offering a promise of immortality.”687
Many Surahs and Hadiths start with the word Fight, “Fighting in the fully developed Islamic system, on the other hand, become a highly ideological issue despite the added benefit of material gain in the form of spoils.”688 A man came to the Prophet Muhammad, and asked: One who fights furiously, one who fights valiantly, one who fights in order to be seen; which of these is in the path of God? He answered; one who fights so that God‟s word will be superior is in path of God. 689 Fighting was initiated by Muhammad in the willingness of protecting Medina and its community.690
As it was discussed above, Jihad “is not merely a struggle; it is a struggle for the cause of God.
For the cause of God is an essential condition for Jihad in Islam.”691 That is why violent Jihad for the cause of God has become difficult to understand not only for non-Muslims, but for Muslims themselves. Today some of them are opposed to the violence committed by Jihadist movements which muddles all initiatives of peace. Because of that observation “Islam has been looked upon in the West as a mortal danger.”692
685 David Bukay, The Religious Foundations of Suicide Bombing, <http://www.meforum.org/1003/the-religious- foundations-of-suicide-bombings>, 17th August 2016.
686 Ibid.
687 Ibid.
688 Reuven Firestone, Ibid, p.91.
689 Ibid, p.103.
690 Ibid.
691 S.Abul A‟La Maududi, Ibid, p.7.
692 Abdullah Mohammed Sindi, The Western Christian terrorism against the Arabs, <http://www.radioislam.org/sindi/croisades.htm>, 18th October 2012.
3.9.3. Bible quotations justifying Violence693
The Bible, like the Qur‟an includes many texts coloured by violence and cruelty. But at the same time the history of Christianity is described by the dichotomy violence and love or violence and peace.
But in terms of ordering violence and bloodshed, any simplistic claim about the superiority of the Bible to the Qur‟an would be wildly wrong. In fact, the Bible overflows with texts of terror, to borrow a phrase coined by Phyllis Trible, a US professor of Old Testament at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. The Bible contains far more verses praising or urging bloodshed than does the Qur'an, and biblical violence is often far more extreme, and marked by more indiscriminate savagery. The Qur‟an often urges believers to fight, yet it also commands that enemies be shown mercy when they surrender. Some frightful portions of the Bible, by contrast, go much further in ordering the total extermination of enemies, of whole families and races - of men, women, and children, and even their livestock, with no quarter granted.694
In Christianity we have seen warrior popes, justification of slavery, forced conversion, anti-Semitism ideology, and other forms of violence. But the comparison of weather Islam is more violent than Christianity or vice versa, is not necessary. The most important message which both religions have to transmit is peace.
Psalm137: Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.695
Numbers 31:17: Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.696
Deuteronomy 2:32-34:When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz,the LORD our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down,
693 Philip Jenkins, Dark passages,
<http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/03/08/dark_passages/?page=full>, 28th February 2015 694 Ibid
695 http://www.biblestudytools.com/psalms/137.html 696 http://www.biblestudytools.com/numbers/31.html
together with his sons and his whole army. At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed them men, women and children. We left no survivors.697
Deuteronomy 20:16-18 However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.
Completely destroy them the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites as the LORD your God has commanded you.698
1 Samuel 15:3: Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.
Hosea 13:16: The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open.
Judges 21:10: So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Jabesh Gilead and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children.699
2 Rois 2:23-24: From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. Get out of here, baldy!
they said. Get out of here, baldy! He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.700
As we read some of the killings were “under direct divine command.”701 According to Professor Philip Jenkins in “modern times, we would call this genocide. If the forces of Joshua and his successor judges committed their acts in the modern world, then observers would not hesitate to speak of war crimes.”702
697 http://www.biblestudytools.com/deuteronomy/2.html 698 http://www.biblestudytools.com/deuteronomy/20.html 699 http://www.biblestudytools.com/judges/21.html 700 http://www.biblestudytools.com/2-kings/2.html 701 Philip Jenkins, Dark passages,
<http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/03/08/dark_passages/?page=full>, 28th February 2015.
702 Ibid.
3.10. Islamic conquest
There is abundant documentation about Islamic conquests in the early days of its expansion.
Among the most authoritative books devoted to recounting the conquests are: Ibn Ishaq's (d. 767) Sira (Life of Muhammad), the oldest biography of Muhammad;
Waqidi's (d. circa. 820) Maghazi (Military Campaigns [of the Prophet]);
Baladhuri's (d. 892) Futuh al-Buldan (Conquests of the Nations); and Tabari's (d.923) multi-volume Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk, (History of Prophets and Kings).703
Soon after the death of Muhammad in 632, the second caliph, Omar, started the Muslim conquests. Syria was conquered around 636, Jerusalem in 637, Egypt 641, Spain in 711, Iran, and the Persian Empire in 650. Other North African countries in 689, Spain, Asia Minor, Middle East were taken at the beginning of 8th century.
In other words as it is shown on the map, “by the end of the 11th century the forces of Islam had captured two-thirds of the Christian world. Palestine, the home of Jesus Christ, Egypt, the birthplace of Christian monasticism, and Asia Minor, where St. Paul planted the seeds of the first Christian communities.”704
703 Raymond Ibrahim, The historical reality of the Muslim conquest,
<http://www.meforum.org/3182/history-muslim-conquests>, 9th November 2012.
704 Church in history, <http://www.churchinhistory.org/pages/leaflets/the-crusades.htm> , 10th November 2012.
Mapspreadofislam.jpg
In the Muslim countries these conquests are narrated in classrooms in order to illustrate courage, power, and glory. “Their rapidity and decisiveness are regularly portrayed as evidence that Allah was in fact on the side of the Muslims.” 705 The spread of Islam by arms is a religious duty upon Muslims in general, meaning that jihad must continue to be done until the whole world is under the rule of Islam.706 That is why, fighting in Arab countries cannot surprise anybody because according to Professor Reuven Firestone, the most that we know of the pre-Islamic period from the Arabic sources is about its battles and wars, and the records of these are found in a literature known as Ayyam al-Arab, meaning literally, „Days of Arabs‟ but more accurately translated as battle-Days of Arabs.707
For Muslims, fighting was natural; some comments even suggest that fighting was part of Arab daily life.708
Another root cause of fighting was probably “competition over limited arable land under the stress of the population growth, and the old pre-Islamic system of blood revenge that developed
705 Raymond Ibrahim, The historical reality of the Muslim conquest,
<http://www.meforum.org/3182/history-muslim-conquests>, 9th November 2012.
706 Ibid.
707 Reuven Firestone, Ibid, p.36.
708 Ibid.
within the nomadic tribal system of the Arabian steppe which caused havoc in the confined area in and around Medina.”709 It is in that violent context that; Islam was born, and the Prophet Muhammad “institutes in fact a big reform in the region where the strongest made the law, the life style was wild, barbaric and not organized.”710 For example, Muhammad offered hope to solve the terrible blood conflict which was dividing Medina.
A Medina agreement was established by Muhammad a believer may not kill a believer on account of an unbeliever, and may not help an unbeliever against a believer. The security of God is one; the protection granted by the least of them is binding on all of them. The believers are in relationship with one another to the exclusion of other people.711
History has demonstrated that the attempt teachings, agreements, and regulations did not prevent tensions and internal wars among human being and particularly among Muslims.
The first violent civil war of Islam was the battle of Siffin in 657 qualified as “the first Fitnah”or war among Muslims. It is widely seen as of decisive importance in dividing the Muslims into three major traditions, Sunnis, Shias, and Kharijis, which have persisted until today. Although this division may be an over-simplification of a much more complex process of community formation, the events narrated here are certainly of great importance in the early history of Islam.
That civil war was the struggle between the caliph 'Ali and his rival and eventual successor as caliph, Mu'awiyah, the first caliph of the Umayyad dynasty for controlling Muslim empire. The battle ended when the Syrian supporters of Mu'awiyah described as having attached Qu'ranic texts to their lances, and the subsequent negotiations between the two rivals which resulted in the dispute's being put to arbitration.712
709 Ibid, p.115.
710 Anank Nayak, Ibid, p.233.
711 Reuven Firestone, Ibid, p.118.
712 History of Al Tabari, <http://www.sunypress.edu/p-2079-the-history-of-al-tabari-vol-17.aspx>, 03rd August 2014.
3.11. Christian and Muslim positions on violence in Rwanda
In Rwanda, we are eyewitnesses of the religious dynamics in the violent context of genocide, even if the majority of Rwandan‟s population declares itself to be Christian. About 90% of Christians while killed their fellow Christians and a very small minority protected their fellows from killings. There was an appreciable courage in some Imams who during the Rwandan genocide asked publicly to Muslims to refrain from killing and touching human blood. This shows that “religion had potentialities for reducing and suppressing violence by its teachings” 713 during the genocide in 1994.
3.11.1. Role of Christian Church in Violence
Before the genocide, Rwanda was a religious country widely considered to be one of the most successful examples of Christian mission work. In 1991 about 90% of the population was Christian, but Christians killed their brothers and sisters in Christ and churches became places of mass execution.714 This violence committed in the church provoked a tension between the Roman Catholic Church (the largest and most influential) and the Rwandan government which accused Christian missionaries of being the root cause of violence and later the Church to be involved in genocide.
Tension and violence started from the early days of Church missions and colonization in Rwanda. For Oscar Gasana, “the real colonizers of Rwanda were neither the Germans before 1916, nor the Belgians between 1916 and 1962 but the Roman Catholic missionaries of the order of the missionaries of Africa, the White Fathers.”715They were involved and influencial in all social, economic, and political decisions. This can be justified when German colonial authorities
“addressed to Roman Catholic missions, and openly denouncing what they saw as an
713 Anank Nayak, Ibid, p. 355.
714 Henrieke Buit, GOD spends the day elsewhere, but He sleeps in Rwanda, Master thesis, Utrecht University, 2011, p.4, <http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/student-theses/2012-0222-
201046/Final_Version_Thesis_Henrieke_Buit.pdf>, 19th November 2012.
715 Oscar Gasana and Vern Neufeld Redekop, Implication of Religious leaders in mimetic structures of violence, in Journal of religion and society, Supplement series 2, 2007, pp117-137., p.127. see also <http://moses.creighton.edu/jrs/2007/2007-9.pdf>, 20th August 2016.