11/12/06, Opinion-Editorial, printed in the Kalamazoo Gazette (Michigan)
“Reason, rationality, not violence, draws people to Islam”
By Ayesha Mangla and Shazia Sohail
Media frenzy over the provocative papal remarks about Islam had considerably died down until Diether Haenicke's Oct. 18 column, "Papal courage or clumsiness," appeared. One does not know whether to chide the pope or Haenicke for their lack of knowledge of Islam, or to reprimand Muslims for proving them correct with their inordinate reaction.
Haenicke's assertion "that the Muslim faith was originally established through war and conquest" is absolutely false. This misconception is based on medieval orientalists' views that require clarification.
About the myth that Islam spread by sword, religious scholar Karen Armstrong wrote in The Guardian on Sept. 18, "With disturbing regularity, this medieval conviction surfaces every time there is trouble in the Middle East. Yet until the 20th century, Islam was a far more tolerant and peaceful faith than Christianity. The Quran strictly forbids any coercion in religion and regards all rightly guided religion as coming from God; and despite the western belief to the contrary, Muslims did not impose their faith by the sword. . . . But the old myth of Islam as a chronically violent faith persists, and surfaces at the most inappropriate moments."
In the same article she also notes, "Jesus had told his followers to love their enemies, not to exterminate them. It was when the Christians of Europe were fighting brutal holy wars against Muslims in the Middle East that Islam first became known in the West as the religion of the sword . . . at a time when European social order was deeply hierarchical, despite the egalitarian message of the Gospel, Islam was condemned for giving too much respect to women and other menials."
There are no incidents from Prophet Muhammad's life that condoned force for conversion. In fact, once when a follower bragged about killing a non-believer because he thought he was only pretending to accept Islam to save his own life, Prophet Muhammad turned red in the face and exclaimed three times, "How could you have possibly made that assessment to kill him? Did you open his heart to see if he really accepted Islam? How could you kill him? How could you kill him? How could you kill him?"
The pope and Haenicke fail to differentiate between the true teachings of Islam and some of its followers' unIslamic behavior. One cannot blame Islam for the death penalty to an Afghan for apostasy or for forbidding Christians to proselytize or posses a Bible in Arab countries, because these actions are firmly against Quranic teachings. How can a Bible be forbidden from Arab lands when a Muslim's faith is incomplete without belief in all the revealed books? To believe in all the revealed books is one of the five pillars of Islam.
Or how can a Catholic cathedral not be allowed in Saudi Arabia when the Quran admonishes us to protect all houses of worship? Non-Muslim scholar Dr. D.W. Leitz, in rebutting this false charge of violent jihad based his argument on the Quran itself and said, "All these arguments, advanced to prove that the purpose of jihad was to spread Islam by force, are contradicted by the Quran. The Quran says that the purpose of jihad is to protect mosques, churches, synagogues and cloisters." (22:41 Quran)
Therefore, if some Arab nations or Muslim leaders are not following the true Islamic teachings, one cannot blame Islam or Prophet Muhammad. Similarly, it would be foolish to blame Jesus Christ for all the horrifying atrocities committed by his followers during the Crusades or the Spanish Inquisition.
By ignoring Quranic teachings and verses like, "Invite to the path of thy Lord with wisdom and comely admonishment and dispute with them in the best of manners," (16:126) and "There is no compulsion in religion," (2:257) Muslims seem to have invited the punishment promised by the Quran, "Say, 'He has power to send punishment upon you from above you or from beneath your feet, or to confound you by splitting you into sects and make you taste the violence of one another.'" (6:66)
By destroying churches and burning effigies of the pope and issuing death sentences, Muslim fanatics once again have proved their own idiocy. They have evaded their responsibility of refuting the allegations leveled against Prophet Mohammad, who won hearts and minds with nothing but supreme courtesy and high morals. This would have been the time to correct the pope that the verse,
"There is no compulsion in religion" was not revealed during the early period of Islam's powerlessness, as he suggested, but in Medina, a place where Muslims were not only free from Meccan persecution, but also when the prophet was chief of the city and held power.
This was also an opportunity to remind the pope that while persecution in the name of religion is the repetitive theme in the history of human aggression, with the Catholic church being no exception, freedom of conscience is the Quran's repetitive theme. Prophet Muhammad was asked again and again to proclaim, "This is the truth from your Lord; let him who will, believe, and let him who will, disbelieve." (18:30) And, "Remind them, for thou art an admonisher. Thou hast no authority to compel them." (88:22-3) The Quran clearly states, "If thy Lord had enforced His will, surely all those on earth would have believed, without exception. Will thou, then, force men to become believers?" (10:100) So how could Prophet Muhammad force anyone to accept Islam irrationally and condone something that the Quran rejected? People are drawn toward the truth of Islam because of its inherent beauty and reason and rationality. In fact, not a single incident can be cited from the prophet's life of condoning force for conversion.
When the prophet married Khadija, she offered him all her slaves and assets. Prophet Muhammad freed all of them and distributed her assets among the poor. One young slave named Zaid refused to leave the prophet's company, even when his parents came to fetch him, because he was so impressed with his conduct and compassionate love for him. Zaid said, "I love the prophet more than my parents." Hearing this, the prophet adopted him as his son.
Once, when a funeral procession went by, the Prophet Muhammad stood up as a mark of respect. He was told that it was the funeral of a Jewish man. The prophet replied, "Was he not a human being?" This is how Prophet Muhammad established religious tolerance and mutual respect among various faiths and created an atmosphere of love and peace, unlike today's fanatics.
Instead of having a violent reaction to these false allegations, Muslims need to first regain pride in their true history, which has been summed up accurately by religious scholar Thomas Arnold's observation that, "Islam has gained its greatest and most lasting missionary triumphs in times and places in which its political power has been weakest." The areas of largest Muslim population, i.e. Malaysia, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, never had a Muslim conqueror. The increase in their Muslim population was because of peaceful conversion by traveling mystics, roving missionaries, and the imams of the village mosques.
It is true that "if the balance between reason and faith is not solidly established, then our world will fall into the hands of political and religious fanatics." There is no faith that invokes reason more than Islam. There are about 750 verses of the Quran that urge the believers to ponder over the nature of things and use reason and rationality to attain truth. Islam clearly asserts that there is no contradiction between the word of God and the work or act of God (nature and science): "And He pressed into service for you the night and the day and the sun and the moon; and the stars too have been pressed into service by His command. Surely, in that are Signs for a people who make use of their reason." 16:13)
The pope's statement that the wise do not need force, power or weapons was observed by His Holiness Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, more than a 100 years ago. He said, "The religion that can easily establish its truth and superiority by sound intellectual arguments, heavenly signs or other reliable testimony, does not need the sword to threaten men and force a confession of its truth from them."
Members of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community have no qualms about accepting the pope's "invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect," his professed intention, since they have engaged in such dialogue for more than 100 years and won hearts and minds with love and sound intellectual arguments according to their motto, "Love for all, hatred for none." It has enabled them to deliver the message in 24:55, "And if you obey him (Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him), you will be rightly guided. And the Messenger is only responsible for the plain delivery of the Message." His Holiness Mirza Tahir Ahmad, the fourth successor of the founder of Ahmadiyyat noted, "Swords can win territories, but not hearts. Force can bend heads, but not minds."
Anyone who believes in this myth that Islam spread through force is recommended to read "Life of Muhammad" by His Holiness Mirza Bashir-ud-din Mahmud Ahmad or "Murder in the Name of Allah" and "Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge and Truth" by His Holiness Mirza Tahir Ahmad. These books can be read or purchased at www.alislam.org/books/.
Detailed response to the pope's accusations can also be found at http://www.alislam.org/topics/response-to-pope/
Assessing-Pope-Benedicts_Remarks_Concerning_Islam.html.
Ayesha Mangla is a resident of Portage and Shazia Sohail is resident of Hillsborough, Calif.
Editor's Note: The Kalamazoo Gazette is the primary source of news and information for the residents of Kalamazoo County, Michigan. It reaches 60% of adults (age 18+) in Kalamazoo County on Sunday.
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