7. The Sword Verse
We must also comment on another verse much referred to but notoriously misinterpreted and taken out of context - that which became
labeled as the "Sword Verse":
Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolators wherever you find
them, take them and besiege them and prepare for them every ambush. Quran 9:5
The hostility and "bitter enmity" of the polytheists and their fitna (persecution)
(Quran 2:193; 8:39) of the Muslims grew so great that the unbelievers were determined to convert the Muslims back to paganism or finish them off.
They would persist in fighting you until they turn you back from your
religion, if they could. Quran 2:217
It was these hardened polytheists in Arabia, who would accept nothing other than the expulsion of the Muslims or their reversion to
paganism, and who repeatedly broke their treaties, that the Muslims were ordered to treat in the same way - to fight them or expel them.
Even with such an enemy Muslims were not simply ordered to pounce on them and reciprocate by breaking the treaty themselves;
instead, an ultimatum was issued, giving the enemy notice, that after the four sacred months mentioned in 9:5
above, the Muslims would wage war on them. The main clause of the sentence
"kill the polytheists" is singled out by some Western scholars to represent the Islamic attitude to war; even some Muslims take this view and allege that this verse abrogated other verses on war. This is pure
fantasy, isolating and decontextualising a small part of a sentence. The full picture is given in
9:1-15, which gives many reasons for the order to fight such polytheists. They continuously broke their agreements and aided others against the
Muslims, they started hostilities against the Muslims, barred others from becoming
Muslims, expelled Muslims from the Holy Mosque and even from their own homes. At least eight times the passage mentions their misdeeds against the Muslims. Consistent with restrictions on war elsewhere in the
Qur'an, the immediate context of this "Sword Verse" exempts such polytheists as do not break their agreements and who keep the peace with the Muslims (9:7). It orders that those enemies seeking safe conduct should be protected and delivered to the place of
safety they seek (9:6). The whole of this context to v.5, with all its
restrictions, is ignored by those who simply isolate one part of a sentence to build their theory of war in Islam on what is termed
"The Sword Verse" even when the word "sword" does not occur anywhere in the
Qur'an.
8. Cessation of Hostilities
Once the hostility of the enemy ceases, the Muslims must stop fighting (Quran
2:193; 8:39):
And if they incline to peace, do so and put your trust in God. Even if they intend to deceive
you, remember that God is sufficient for you. Quran 8:61-2
When the war is over, the Qur'an and hadith give instructions as to the treatment of prisoners of war and the new relationship with the non-Muslims. War is certainly not seen as a means in Islam of converting other people from their religions. The often-quoted division of the world into
dar al-harb and dar al Islam is seen nowhere in the Qur'an or hadith, the only authoritative sources of Islam. The scholars who used these expressions were talking about the warring enemies in countries surrounding the Muslim lands. Even for such scholars there was not a dichotomy but a
trichotomy, with a third division, dar al-sulk, the lands with which the Muslims had treaty obligations.
The Qur'an and hadith talk about the different situations that exist between a Muslim state and a
neighboring warring enemy. They mention a state of defensive war, within the prescriptions specified
above, the state of peace treaty for a limited or unlimited period, the state of
truce, and the state where a member of a hostile camp can come into a Muslim land for special purposes under safe
conduct.7
9. Sanctity of Treaties
The Prophet and his companions did make treaties, such as that of Hudaybiyya in the sixth year of the
hijra and the one made by 'Umar with the people of Jerusalem.8 Faithfulness to a treaty is a most serious obligation which the
Qur'an and hadith incessantly emphasize:
Believers, fulfill your bonds. Quran 5:1
Keep the agreements of God when you have made them and do not break your oaths after you have made them with God as your bond ...
Quran
16:91
Covenants should not be broken because one community feels stronger than another.
Quran 16:92
Breaking treaties puts the culprit into a state lower than animals (Quran 8:55). As stated
above, even defending a Muslim minority is not allowed when there is a treaty with the camp they are in.
10. Prisoners of War
There is nothing in the Qur'an or hadith to prevent Muslims from following the present international humanitarian conventions on war or prisoners of war. There is nothing in the
Qur'an to say that prisoners of war must be held captive, but as this was the practice of the time and there was no international body to oversee exchanges of
prisoners, the Qur'an deals with the subject. There are only two cases where it mentions their treatment:
O Prophet! Tell the captives you have, "If God knows goodness in your heart He will give you better rewards than have been taken from you and forgive you. He is
forgiving, merciful ".And if they intend to be treacherous to you, they have been treacherous to God in the past and He has put them into your hands.
8:70-1
When you have fully overcome the enemy in the battle, then tighten their
bonds, but thereafter set them free either by an act of grace or against ransom.
47:4
Grace is suggested first, before ransom. Even when some were not set free, for one reason or
another, they were, according to the Qur'an and hadith, to be treated in a most humane way
(Q.76:8-9; 9:6o; 2:177). In the Bible, where it mentions fighting, we find a different picture in the treatment administered to conquered
peoples, for example:
When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their
gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace with you in
battle, lay siege to that city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your
hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the
city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.
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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. Otherwise they will teach you to follow all the
detestable things they do in worshipping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy20:1O-189
11.
Resumption of Peaceful Relations
We have already seen in the Qur'an 22:41 that God promises to help those who, when He has established them in a land after
war, " ... establish worship and pay the poor-due and enjoin what is good and forbid
iniquity".
In this spirit, when the Muslim army was victorious over the enemy, any of the defeated people who wished to remain in the land could do so under a guarantee of protection for their
life, religion and freedom, and if they wished to leave they could do so with safe conduct. If they chose to stay among the
Muslims, they could become members of the Muslim community. If they wished to continue in their faith they had the right to do so and were offered security. The only obligation on them then was to pay
jizya, a tax exempting the person from military service and from paying zakat, which the Muslims have to pay - a tax considerably heavier than the
jizya. Neither had the option of refusing to
pay, but in return the non-Muslims were given the protection of the state. Jizya was not a
poll-tax, and it was not charged on the old, or poor people, women or children.10
12.
Humanitarian Intervention
Humanitarian intervention is allowed, even advocated in the Qur'an, under the category of defending the oppressed. However it must be done within the restrictions specified in the
Qur'an, as we have shown above. In intervening, it is quite permissible to co-operate with
non-Muslims, under the proviso:
Co-operate in what is good and pious and do not co-operate in what is sinful and
aggression. Quran 5:2
13.
International Co-operation
In the sphere of war and peace, there is nothing in the Qur'an or hadith which should cause Muslims to feel unable to sign and act according to the
modern international
conventions, ,and there is much in the Qur'an and hadith from which modern international law can benefit. The Prophet Muhammad remembered an alliance he witnessed that was contracted
between some chiefs of Mecca before his call to prophet-hood to protect the poor and weak against oppression and said:
I have witnessed in the house of lbn Jud'an an alliance which I would not exchange for a herd of red camels, and if it were to be called for now that Islam is
here, I would respond readily.11
There is nothing in Islam that prevents Muslims from having peaceful, amicable and good relations with other nations when they read and hear regularly the
Qur'anic injunction, referring too members of other faiths:
God does not forbid you front being kind and equitable to those who have neither made war on you
account of your religion nor driven you from your homes. God loves those who are equitable.
Quran
60:8
This includes participation in international peace-making and peace-keeping efforts. The rule of arbitration in violent disputes between groups of Muslims is given in the
Qur'an:
If two, of the believers take up arms against one another, make peace between them. If either of them commits aggression against the
other, fight against the aggressors until they submit to God's judgment. When they submit make peace between them in equity and
justice. God loves those who act in justice. 49:9
This could, in agreement with rules of Islamic jurisprudence, be applied more generally to disputes within the international community. For this
reason, Muslims should, and do, participate in the arbitration of disputes by international bodies such as the United Nations.
Modern international organizations and easy travel should make it easier for different
people, in accordance with the teachings of the Qur'an, to "get to know one
another", "co-operate in what is good" and live in peace. The Qur'an affirms:
There is no virtue in much of their counsels: only in his who enjoins charity, kindness and peace among
people... Quran 4:114
Excerpted from "Understanding The
Quran" by Muhammad Abdel Haleem
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NOTES:
1. See Chapter 6 below.
2. Slay them wherever you find them: Humanitarian Law in Islam, by James
J.Busuttil, Linacre College, Oxford., in Revue de Droit Penal Militaire at de Droit de la
Guerre,
1991, pp. 113-40.
3. See chapter 6 below.
4. See A- M. al-'Aqqad, op.cit.. (Cairo, 1957) pp, 187-91, quoting a survey by Ahmad Zaki Pasha.
5- See for example 3:169-72; 9:120-1 and many hadiths in the chapters on jihad in the various collections of
hadiths.
6. Busuttil, op. ,cit. P.127. The rendering he uses runs: Idolatry is worse than
carnage. This corrupts the meaning. It is clear from the preceding words, "those who have turned you out that fitna means persecution. This meaning is borne out by the identical verb (turning out/expelling) preceding the only other verse (2:217) where the
expression, "fitna is worse than killing" appears. Here the statement is clearly explained: Fighting in [the prohibited month] is a grave (offence) but graver is it in the sight of God to prevent access to the Sacred Mosque and drive out its people."
7. 'Aqqad, op.cit.,pp.204-9.
8. See Chapter 6.
In the 'New Testament Jesus gives the high ideal that if someone hits you on one
check, you should turn the other cheek. Pardon and forgiveness on the individual level is also highly recommended in the
Qur'an. "Good and evil deeds are not alike, Requite evil with good, and he who is your enemy will become your dearest
friend, but none will attain this attribute save those who patiently endure; none will attain it save for those who are truly
fortunate" (4 1:34-5). And see 45:14. But when it comes to the places of worship being subjected to destruction and when
hopeless, old men, women and children are persecuted and when unbelievers try to force believers to renounce their
religion, the Qur'an considers it total dereliction of the duty for the Muslim state not to oppose such oppression and defend what is right.
10. See Chapter 6.
11. Red camels were proverbial in Arabia as the best one can have.
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