By Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi, New Age Islam
26 February 2018
In
the first part, we mentioned two apparently conflicting statements to
decide between two verses 2:190 and 22:39, as to which one of them was
the first revealed to permit fighting. We knew earlier that the verse
(2:190) is considered to be the first in the chronological order of
revelation to permit fighting and that the same is the preponderant
statement (qaul-e-rajih), while others differ from this statement and
regard 22:39 as the first verse which permitted fighting. We also
presented therein some possible reasons to reconcile [tatbiq] these two
conflicting statements. Now in this second part, we will think over the
verse 22:39 which is additionally known as another verse to permit
fighting.
Allah the Most High says,
“Permission
(to fight in defence) is granted to those against whom (aggressive) war
is waged. (This permission is granted to them) because they were
oppressed and Allah is doubtlessly All-Powerful to help them (the
oppressed) (22:39). They are those who were unjustly expelled from their
homes simply because they said: ‘Our Lord is Allah.’ And had Allah not
been repelling one (aggressive) class of human society by the other
(through defensive struggle), the cloisters (temples), synagogues,
churches and mosques (i.e., religious centres and places of worship of
all religions) would have been ruined where Allah’s Name is abundantly
commemorated. And whoever helps (the Din [Religion] of) Allah, Allah
surely helps him. Allah is indeed All-Powerful, Ever-Dominant.”
(22:39-40)
This
verse 22:39 indicates that it is categorically forbidden to beat or
kill anyone without the permission of Allah Almighty. This was the
reason that when Hadrat Moses (peace be upon him) hit the Qubti a blow
in anger, which killed him, he himself said, “This is devilish work”. He
said so because he was not permitted by Allah to fight the infidels.
(Tafsir Ruhul Bayan 22:39). The verse 22:39 implies that the permission
of fighting in defence was granted to those who were oppressed and had
already been expelled from their homes “simply because they said: “Our
Lord is Allah”.
Commenting on the cause of revelation (shane nuzul) of this verse (22:39), Mufti Naeemuddin Muradabi writes,
The
infidels were persecuting the Noble Companions in the sacred city of
Makkah. Every day the Noble Companions would come in the presence of the
holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in a state
where either someone’s head was broken, or hand was badly damaged, or
someone’s fool was bandaged. They were trying to seek permission from
the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) to retaliate but Messenger of Allah
(peace be upon him) would exhort them to exercise patience as Allah
Almighty had not as yet granted permission for Jihad- to wage war
against the infidels. After arrival in Madina, this verse was revealed,
after which permission was granted to the Noble Companions for Jihad.
(Tafsir-e-Khazainul Irfan on Kanzul Iman-22:39)
In
this verse the permission of fighting in defence was granted to the
noble companions of the prophet (peace be upon him), but were first
commanded to have patience when facing the oppression of the Arab’s
infidels. Interpreting this verse 22:39, Ibn Zayd said, “ten years after
the command of forgiving polytheists and disbelievers [mushrikin and
kuffar] had been issued, this verse 22:39 was revealed to permit
fighting in defence (Jamiul Bayan 19100/Tibyan al-Quran vol. 7, p. 763)
Allama Peer Karam Shah Azhari writes commenting on the verse 22:39,
For
disseminating the Divine Message and inviting the pagan Arabs to affirm
their belief in the Oneness of Allah, the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him) climbed the hillock Safa. In response, they flew
into a rage and were violently opposed to him. Surprisingly enough, the
same people who once held him in a high esteem and applauded him to be
the most truthful and trustworthy person had then stooped to brand him
as crazy poet and mischief-monger. Everything went topsy-turvy. Those
who embraced the religion chosen for them by Allah were subjected to all
sorts of indignities and persecutions. Hadrat Bilal was rolled on the
glowing embers. Yasir and his wife Samiya were wounded with spears. Not
to speak of the poor and the helpless, even the blue-blooded could not
go unmolested. For instance, Osman’s uncle would tightly wrap him in a
fresh animal skin, and throw him in the scorching sun. The searing sun,
profuse sweat and foul smell of the skin would choke his breath and be
unbearably excruciating and painful. Similarly, Abu Bakr was once
subjected to such a cruel and painful torture that he lay unconscious
for a long time.
Besides
inflicting physical torture, they stooped to make them the butts of
their playful jokes. They raised baseless objections to the verses
revealed by Allah, derided the injunctions of Shariat. In brief, they
left no stone unturned. Although the Muslims suffered heartless
oppression, torture and abuse for thirteen years, yet they were not
allowed to exact a measure of retaliation. They were commanded to
persevere patiently. During the thirteenth year after the declaration of
his Prophet-hood, Allah commanded the prophet (peace be upon him) and
his companions to migrate. They carried out Allah’s command worshipfully
and migrated to Yathrib –nearly 300 miles away from Makkah. Still the
animosity of the inveterate enemies of Islam had not subsided. They
inflicted fresh injuries on the Muslims; robbed them of the peace of
mind and heart. A band of pagan Arabs would raid the pastures of the
Muslims and take away their cattle. If they encounter a lonely Muslim,
they would not hesitate in killing him mercilessly.
For
as long as 14 or 15 years, the Muslims suffered insults, outrages and
injuries at the hands of their persecutors. They bore all these
indignities with the utmost humility and patience. When the aggression
and ruthlessness of the pagan Arabs grew more hotly than ever, Allah
granted permission to the believers to take up arms in their own defence
and make the mischief-loving pagan Arabs believe that the torch of
Islam – that lights up darkness – would never be allowed to be blown
out. Likewise the flag held aloft for the dissemination of the truth
will never be let down, however hot they might grow. This torch will
remain lit until the doomsday. And the flag of the truth will continue
to flutter so long as the world exits. (Zia-ul-Quran, Vol: 3; p.218)
Having
taken into account the cause of revelation [shan e nuzul] and context
of the afore-mentioned Quranic verse 22:39, we need to go forward to
tackle the most important issue. The modern terrorist organizations are
applying the Quranic verses and ahadith to implement the anti-Shariat
matters, that is, to implement the forbidden acts. There is no doubt
that we find numerous Quranic verses and ahadith which deal with the
war-related situations. However it should also be noted that if we
gather all the Quranic verses and ahadith together and apply the right
methodological approaches in order to understand the purpose of Islam,
we will indeed find, with the blessing of Allah Almighty, that Islam
aims merely at eliminating oppression, establishing peace, justice and
tranquillity. However this does not mean that any country or
organization should commit oppression in the name of eradicating
oppression, or kills the innocent civilians in the name of protecting
the citizens of any country. Islam categorically prohibits such an
act.
From
the verse mentioned above (22:39), it has become clear that the
permission of fighting was granted only to those who were oppressed and
expelled from their homes simply because they said, “Our Lord is Allah”
and accepted Islam. Later the fighting took place between Muslims and
the Arab pagans. This fighting was the result of the kuffar’s oppressing
the Muslims. When the oppression was eliminated and the Muslims got
all-freedom to practice their religion [the Din of Allah] and when they
had two options; either to live peacefully or to wage war, they
preferred peace-treaty to war. After the conquest of Makkah, the
extraordinary rights that were given to the non-Muslims are as under:
freedom of religion, protection of life, wealth and respect. As long as
there was a peace-treaty among Muslims and non-Muslims, they lived
peacefully. In today’s context, we have full freedom to practice our
Islam. Therefore it is immensely necessary that we practice our Islam in
our homes, living peacefully with all other fellow citizens. No matter
whether Muslims live in minority or majority, wherever they have
peace-agreement or something like that in any form of the law, it is
forbidden to violate that type of peace-agreement. It is clearly
reported in numerous books of ahadith and fiqh that if any Muslim kills
the peaceful citizens from among the non-Muslims, “he shall not smell
the fragrance of Paradise though its fragrance can be smelt at a
distance of forty years (of travelling)”. This hadith implies that the
violator of the peace-treaty shall be given punishment in the Hereafter.
In the first part of the article, we quoted the Quranic verse which
reads, “And fulfil the covenant [promise]. Verily the covenant will be
questioned about” (17:34). The word ‘covenant’ also applies to the
treaty of peace the violator of which will be questioned.
This
article as a whole teaches the terrorist organizations that they cannot
derive from the above mentioned verse (22:39), any sort of
justification for committing any act of terrorism, nor for killing
Muslims or non-Muslims of any country in order to fulfil their
ambitions. Without understanding the real purpose of Islam, if they
continuously commit acts of terrorism and kill the innocent civilians,
they shall be doing nothing but an act of inventing a lie against
Islamic Shariat. Thus they shall become an example of those inventors of
a lie who are referred to, in this speech of Allah Almighty, “And who
is more unjust than one who invents a lie against Allah” (6:93)
-----
A
regular Columnist with NewAgeIslam.com, Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi Dehlvi is
an Alim and Fazil (Classical Islamic scholar) with a Sufi background and
English-Arabic-Urdu Translator.
Part one of the article:
7:19 PM
Moderate Islamist here
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