Violence in the Quran

The Quran, the holy book of Islam, contains verses believed by Muslims to be revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad at different times and under different circumstances – some exhorting violence against enemies and others urging restraint and conciliation. Because some verses abrogate others, and because some are thought to be general commands while other refer to specific enemies, how the verses are understood and how they relate to each other "has been a central issue in Islamic thinking on war" according to scholars such as Charles Matthews.

Quotes

Quotations from the Qur'an, as translated and explained in the The Message of the Qur'an by Muhammad Asad.

• (2:190) AND FIGHT in God's cause against those who wage war against you, but do not commit aggression - for, verily, God does not love aggressors. (2:191) And slay them wherever you may come upon them, and drive them away from wherever they drove you away - for oppression is even worse than killing. And fight not against them near the Inviolable House of Worship unless they fight against you there first; but if they fight against you, slay them: such shall be the recompense of those who deny the truth.
  • p. 61. Explanation by Muhammad Asad (See footnote 167): "This and the following verses lay down unequivocally that only self-defence (in the widest sense of the word) makes war permissible for Muslims."

• (2:192) But if they desist - behold, God is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace. (2:193) Hence, fight against them until there is no more oppression and all worship is devoted to God alone; but if they desist, then all hostility shall cease, save against those who [wilfully] do wrong.
  • p. 62

• (2:194) Fight during the sacred months if you are attacked: for a violation of sanctity is [subject to the law of] just retribution. Thus, if anyone commits aggression against you, attack him just as he has attacked you - but remain conscious of God, and know that God is with those who are conscious of Him.
  • p. 62

• (2:216) FIGHTING is ordained for you, even though it be hateful to you; but it may well be that you hate a thing the while it is good for you, and it may well be that you love a thing the while it is bad for you: and God knows, whereas you do not know.
  • p. 69. Explanation by Muhammad Asad (See footnote 201): "Insofar as it relates to fighting, this verse must be read in conjunction with 2:190-193 and 22:39: but it expresses, in addition, a general truth applicable to many situations."

• (8:56) AS FOR THOSE with whom thou hast made a covenant, and who thereupon break their covenant on every occasion, not being conscious of God - (8:57) if thou find them at war [with you], make of them a fearsome example for those who follow them, so that they might take it to heart; (8:58) or, if thou hast reason to fear treachery from people [with whom thou hast made a covenant], cast it back at them in an equitable manner: for, verily, God does not love the treacherous!
  • p. 308

• (9:5) And so, when the sacred months are over, slay those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God wherever you may come upon them, and take them captive, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every conceivable place! Yet if they repent, and take to prayer, and render the purifying dues, let them go their way: for, behold, God is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace.
  • p. 316. Explanation by Muhammad Asad (See footnote 7): "Read in conjunction with the two preceding verses, as well as with 2:190-194, the above verse relates to warfare already in progress with people who have become guilty of a breach of treaty obligations and of aggression."

• (9:29) [And] fight against those who - despite having been vouchsafed revelation [aforetime]- do not [truly] believe either in God or the Last Day, and do not consider forbidden that which God and His Apostle have forbidden, and do not follow the religion of truth [which God has enjoined upon them] till they [agree to] pay the exemption tax with a willing hand, after having been humbled [in war].
  • p. 324. Explanation by Muhammad Asad (See footnote 40): "In accordance with the fundamental principle - observed throughout my interpretation of the Qur'an - that all of its statements and ordinances are mutually complementary and cannot, therefore, be correctly understood unless they are considered as parts of one integral whole, this verse, too must be read in the context of the clear-cut Qur'anic rule that war is permitted only in self-defence (see 2:190-194, and the corresponding notes)."

• (22:39) PERMISSION [to fight] is given to those against whom war is being wrongfully waged - and, verily, God has indeed the power to succour them -: (22:40) those who have been driven from their homelands against all right for no other reason than their saying, "Our Sustainer is God!" For, if God had not enabled people to defend themselves against one another, [all] monasteries and churches and synagogues and mosques - in [all of] which God's name is abundantly extolled - would surely have been destroyed [ere now].
  • p. 656

• (33:60) THUS IT IS: if the hypocrites, and they in whose hearts is disease, and they who, by spreading false rumours, would cause disturbances in the City [of the Prophet] desist not [from their hostile doings], We shall indeed give thee mastery over them, [O Muhammad] - and then they will not remain thy neighbours in this [city] for more than a little while: (33:61) bereft of God's grace, they shall be seized wherever they may be found, and slain one and all.
  • p. 827

Quotes about violence in the Quran

• Some passages containing interpretation of some chapters of the Koran quoted out of context cannot be allowed to dominate or influence the main aim and object of this book. It is dangerous for any court to pass its judgement on such a book by merely looking at certain passages out of context... In my opinion it cannot be said that [the] Koran offers any insult to any other religion. It does not reflect any deliberate or malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of non-Muslims. Isolated passages picked out from here and there and read out of context cannot change the position.
  • Judge Bimal Chandra Basak, in a judgement regarding a controversial Writ Petition in 1985 at the Calcutta High Court alleging that the Koran violated Indian law because the Quran contains intolerant verses. As quoted in Spencer, Robert (2015). The complete infidel's guide to the Koran. Chapter 12

• The same logic leads to another and a very ominous conclusion. Jihad cannot be regarded as something which happened only in the past. On the contrary, it is an ever-present possibility in India. The Quran will create a jihad whenever and wherever the “infidels” provide an opportunity. Pious Muslims in every place and at all times, are taught to see, or seek, or provoke situations in which solutions prescribed by the Quran can be practised.
  • S. R. Goel, The Calcutta Quran Petition (1986)

• With due regard, to the Holy Book of ‘Quran Majeed’, a close perusal of the Ayets shows that the same are harmful and teach hatred and are likely to create differences between Mohammedans on one hand and the remaining communities on the other.
  • Z.S. Lohat (Metropolitan magistrate), Delhi, on 31 July 1986. Commenting about allegedly intolerant verses in the Quran in a court case against I. S. Sharma (Vice-President of the All India Hindu Mahasabha). Quoted in S.R.Goel, The Calcutta Quran Petition (1986) ISBN 9788185990583 [1]

• The Quranic exposition on resisting aggression, oppression and injustice lays down the parameters within which fighting or the use of violence is legitimate. What this means is that one can use the Quran as the criterion for when violence is legitimate and when it is not.
  • Chandra Muzaffar (2002). Rights, religion and reform: enhancing human dignity through spiritual and moral transformation. Taylor & Francis. p. 345.

• The Quran sanctions violence to counter violence. If one studies the history of Arab tribes before Islam and fierce fighting they indulged in one would be convinced that the philosophy of passive resistance would not have worked in that environment.
  • Kumar, Arvind (1998). Encyclopaedia of Human Rights, Violence and Non-violence: Non-violence and societal control. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. p. 187. ISBN 9788126101511.

• Violence and cruelty are not in the spirit of the Quran, nor are they found in the life of the Prophet, nor in the lives of saintly Muslims.
  • Rejwan, Nissim (2004). The many faces of Islam: Perspectives on a resurgent civilization. HarperCollins. p. 151. ISBN 9780813030975.