How do you explain the verse Bakara 191?
Submitted by on Mon, 20/07/2009 - 00:02
Dear Brother / Sister,
In Matthew (5/39-40), “But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well” is present, but the following is also present in Matthew (10/34) “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword”
That verse in the Quran does not order violence; it orders that the mischievous people (people causing fitna) who are the source of violence, chaos and war be punished. It is necessary for the peace of the humanity that those people who disturb the peace of the community be purged from the community.
Fitna in Arabic means to put gold into the fire in order to remove the foreign matter in gold. It may also mean testing, trying, torture, misfortune, trouble, sin and disorder. To spread polytheism and atheism, to make someone convert from the religion, to transgress the prohibitions (harams) of Allah, to disturb the peace, to banish people from their countries are all kinds of fitna. In the verse above, it means to torture in order to make someone convert from the true religion. Makkan polytheists had tortured some of the Companions of the Prophet in the haram (forbidden) months (the months in which fighting is prohibited); they could not bear the torture and they were martyred. That verse permitted the declaration of war in order to stop the torture because that kind of torture was more important than showing respect to haram months. Although the reason of the revelation is special, the decree is general because it expresses the comparison of fitna to killing.
Man should avoid doing injustice to others; he should also try to prevent others from doing injustice. It is a duty.
Questions on Islam
- "If they say, summarize the Bible, I will say, 'love'. If they say, summarize the Quran, I will say, 'love in Makkan verses, grudge, hatred, enmity, killing, war and sword in Madinan verses'." Will you inform me about the issue?
- What is the reason for the difference between Jesus and the Prophet Muhammad’s conveying the message?
- Does Jihad mean “either Islam or death”?
- Like the verses of al-Baqara, 2/191 and at-Taubah, 9/29, how can the verses of violence in the Qur’an be universal?
- verse of the sword
- What is the purpose of Jihad?
- How did the Bible change?
- What are the principles and rules, which Muslims have to abide when war is inevitable?
- “And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter……” (al-Baqara,191) What does this verse mean?
- A verse that is misinterpreted: "And slay them wherever ye catch them."
