Is there a contradiction between verse 256 of the chapter of al-Baqara and verse 29 of the chapter of at-Tawba?

- Is there compulsion in religion or not?
- A friend of mine says that there is a contradiction between verse 256 of the chapter of al-Baqara and verse 29 of the chapter of at-Tawba; he denies the Sublime Creator saying that it cannot be the work of Allah to say one thing in one verse and to do something different in another verse.
- What should be the answer to give to such people?

Dear Brother / Sister,

“Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things.” (al-Baqara, 2/256)

“Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” (at-Tawba, 9/29)

The compound “dinul-haqq (the religion of truth: the true religion)” is stronger than the compound “din haqq (true religion)” and it states that Islam is based on the principle of submission to the truth and that it regards the right of Allah as the basis of all rights, expressing the sanctity of rights.

The second verse states that the People of the Book do not believe in Allah and the hereafter truly and that they do not accept the true religion because they do not recognize Allah as perfect and free from deficiencies and they cannot understand the true nature of the hereafter.

In order to fight them, it was necessary to wait for them to attack first. The Prophet (pbuh) fought the polytheist Arabs only when they took up arms to destroy Islam. As for Christians, he prepared against them only when they prepared forces and attacked the Islamic state in order to eliminate the Muslims; he did not raid and did not take advantage of the fact that the other side was not ready to fight. On the contrary, he returned from the expedition without fighting.

The aim of jihad is not to force non-Muslims to accept Islam, but to ensure that there are no forces to oppose Islam. Jizya is a small tax that the Islamic state collects from its non-Muslim citizens. It is not more than the amount of zakah given by Muslims. It is collected in return for the services rendered by the state.

So, fight against those who do not believe in Allah, do not take the hereafter into consideration, do not regard haram what Allah and His Messenger have rendered haram, and do not accept the true religion as their religion, that is, some of those who were given the divine scripture: those who are unbelieving, disrespectful and unjust until they bring and pay jizya with their own hands by feeling debased. That is, fight those unjust, disrespectful and aggressive ones among the People of the Book who oppose the truth if they do not accept Islam until they are exhausted and accept and promise to come under the protection of Islam and respectfully pay jizya, which has been incumbent on them, with their own hands and without forgetting their inferior state. Thus, fulfill the orders of the true religion, by collecting taxes per person from them, by not giving up belief in Allah and the Hereafter, by not indulging in haram and by observing the rights and law. It is clear that you have no right to wage war or to collect jizya if you forget about Allah and the Hereafter and do what they do, disregard haram and halal, do not regard harm what Allah and His Messenger have made haram, do not follow the Book and Sunnah and do not act in accordance with the true religion. Those qualities are not the qualities of those who make jihad, but those who will be waged war against them. They are the reasons for paying jizya, not collecting jizya. The right of such people is not victory, but defeat, not to collect jizya, but to pay jizya.

“Jizya” is a noun referring to a kind of debt payment derived from the verb (jaza daynahu), which means he paid his debt. It means the tax that the person who has agreed to pay it will pay in accordance with his own promise in return for the protection of his life and freedoms; and it becomes a tax that has to be paid on that condition. Although it is also said that it is the Arabic version of a Persian word, there is no feature of it to be taken into account in terms of shar’iah and law.

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