Written by Zed
This article will mainly focus on explaining the surah 9 of the holy Quran, Surah At-Tawbah, the repentance. This Surah is by far one of the most misunderstood and the most misquoted surah of the Quran.
I am going to explain this Surah as a whole because it is necessary in order to correctly understand and interpret the verses within such as:
Quran (9:29) says: “Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture - [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.”
Quran (9:123) says: “O you who have believed, fight those adjacent to you of the disbelievers and let them find in you harshness. And know that Allah is with the righteous.”
Quran (9:5) says: “And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.”
To start off, let's look at the verse that comes before the verse 5, and the one that comes after it:
Quran(9:1-4) says:
[This is a declaration of] disassociation, from Allah and His Messenger, to those with whom you had made a treaty among the polytheists.(9:1)
So travel freely, [O disbelievers], throughout the land [during] four months but know that you cannot cause failure to Allah and that Allah will disgrace the disbelievers.(9:2)
And [it is] an announcement from Allah and His Messenger to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage that Allah is disassociated from the disbelievers, and [so is] His Messenger. So if you repent, that is best for you; but if you turn away - then know that you will not cause failure to Allah. And give tidings to those who disbelieve of a painful punishment.(9:3)
Excepted are those with whom you made a treaty among the polytheists and then they have not been deficient toward you in anything or supported anyone against you; so complete for them their treaty until their term [has ended]. Indeed, Allah loves the righteous [who fear Him](9:4)
Quran (9:6) says:
"And if any one of the polytheists seeks your protection, then grant him protection so that he may hear the words of Allah. Then deliver him to his place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know."
Historical context:
The first verse explain that the treaty of peace that was established between the Muslims and the polytheists was broken by the polytheists. In the second verse of Surah At-Tawbah, Allah told the polytheists that they may travel freely for 4 months and either leave the city and never come back or accept Islam and live as normal citizens.
Then, in the third verse, Allah tells them that it will be best for them to believe and live in the city rather than to turn away. However the forth verse explain that for those polytheists that did not break the treaty, keep the treaty between you and them until the treaty ends. Indeed, Allah loves the righteous.
After these 4 months pass, kill those polytheists that broke the treaty wherever you find them, but, if they seek your protection then grant them protection so they may hear the words of Allah then deliver them to a place of safety.
It is, thus, clear that this verse does not command Muslims to kill the disbelievers wherever they are. It clearly commanded the Muslims to give those who broke the peace treaty 4 months to either: leave the city and never come back, or to accept Islam and live as normal citizens. It is also clear that the Muslims are commanded to protect and continue the treaty with those that have not broken it from among the polytheists.
Quran verse 29 of Surah At-Tawbah: Now, let’s come to the most controversial verse in the Quran that is commonly, intentionally, misinterpreted.
Firstly, the last part of the verse "- [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.” is often taken out. But, what does Jizyah mean? Well, Jizyah is state tax, tax that all citizens pay to their government. So, here, Allah says to fight those who do not pay Jizyah. Now, you need to understand that there is no Islamic state in the world today, thus, there is no country, as of today, that Jizyah is enforced in. The USA is not an Islamic state, nor is the UK, nor is France, thus, no one should take this verse as an excuse to kill innocent people there.
This verse clearly does not tell Muslims to kill those who disbelieve. Firstly, this verse only applies in an Islamic state. Secondly, this verse commands Muslims to fight only those who do not pay Jizyah. Thirdly, fight does not mean kill. Thus, this verse does not permit terrorism or the killing of innocent people.
Quran, verse 123 of Surah At-Tawbah: This verse can be easily understood if it’s read within its context.
The verse is in a section of the Surah which was revealed talking about the hypocrites who show as if they’re Muslim but, in reality, they hate Islam and work against it.
This verse came down to Muslims when the tribes around the Muslim Community allied with the pagan Arabs of Makkah in order to exterminate the Muslim Community. This took place at the time when there were a lot of hypocrites within the Muslim Community that were working with the pagan Arabs and their allies.
So, when this verse says ‘fight those adjacent to you of the disbelievers’ it tells the Muslims to fight the tribes adjacent to them as they were working with the pagan Arabs to exterminate the Muslim Community. This teaches us to fight those who fight us and does, indeed, promote self-defense.
In conclusion, it is clear that these verses are all put out of context in order to intentionally misinterpret them and change their meaning to make Islam look like it’s an aggressive, terrorism-promoting religion.
I urge you to read the verses themselves within their context and decide for yourself. Don’t let hate preachers convince you lies, and strive towards finding out the truth before judging the religion of ¼ of the World’s population.
This article was written as part of Operation Islam, if you wish to help you can post in this forum thread, or join us on United Against Injustice server.